Remembering the Fall of Jericho

The scriptures are full of dates, places and events. Many of these are have significant symbolic meaning to Latter-day Saints. In fact there is a certain consistency within our scriptures about the importance of dates, days, times and seasons, as well as anniversary celebrations of many types.

SCRIPTURE:           “And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me.” –Moses 6:63

            I have had a fascination with calendars of various kinds throughout my life. So, I have pondered why the Lord so often makes mention of certain dates and anniversaries, and why all the feasts and festivals? …it all comes down to remembering! The act of remembering is sacred.

            It has become obvious to me over the years that the Lord expects us to learn from these events. He is the master teacher and the scriptures are our classroom. He is constantly watching over us. I am grateful for all of these things that are written for my learning. I can read them on a physical level and then ponder them on a spiritual level, and perhaps even receive insight into how they might be meaningful in my own life. In other words, liken them unto myself. My expression of this in prayer to my Heavenly Father pays Him the reverence I owe deity. My debt of gratitude is the essence of  my act of remembering.

THOUGHTS: Each Sunday (after Christ’s resurrection the members of the church kept the observance of Lord’s day as a weekly commemoration of His resurrection)  we promise to remember the Savior and His great atoning sacrifice as we partake of the sacrament.

            The Lord placed us on this earth created with the sun and moon to give us day and night, weeks and months, years and seasons. This was recorded in scriptures for us, clarifying the importance of each period of creation that was called a day. Days are important.

            Were dates important to the Savior? Yes. Although we celebrate His birthday with the rest of the world, we know from revealed modern revelation that he was born on April 6^th. We remember this season each year with General Conference held the first week of April.

            Malachi prophesied that Elijah would return (Malachi 4:5.) He did return to restore the Priesthood keys after the Savior, Moses, and Elias appeared in the Kirtland temple on April 3, 1836. I remember an amazing article appearing in the June edition of the 1985 Ensign by John Pratt that proposes that this date corresponded with the resurrection of the Savior on April 3, 33 on our calendar. 

Pratt’s second articleappearing in July of that year shows how the day that the restoration of Priesthood keys in 1836 was chosen by the Lord for its symbolic importance and “that even the timing of the Lord’s death and resurrection was foreshadowed in the Passover ceremony.”  

These articles can easily be looked up on lds.org in the Ensign magazines library. The topics addressed are complex and the articles are lengthy but some of you may find them fascinating.

            The knowledge of an exact date for Jesus’ birth and resurrection is not necessary for our salvation, nor is the knowledge of an exact date for his second coming. The point I’d like to make here is that dates are important to the Lord.

            One of John Pratt’s articles was quoted by Ronald P. Millett in an article for Meridan Magazine (now found at http://www.ldsmag.com) entitled “Does the Year 2012 Have any Prophetic Significance?” It was available online in 2009 but is no longer in their archives that I could discover. Millet talks about how several major ancient calendar’s (when brought up to date using scientific astronomic recalculations) can be seen to correlate with certain holy days or sacred events. There are apparently nine such calendars including the Mayan, Gregorian, Hebrew, etc.

            Millett notes: “The religious chronology summary document on johnpratt.com is, I believe, perhaps the richest treasure on John Pratt’s site summarizing his research over the years. Working together for the past fifteen years, and having seen as John worked on these calendars and how impossible these correlations would be if these calendars were uninspired, I stand as a second witness with John that the Lord truly must have revealed these sacred calendars to his prophets through the ages and that He himself appears to use them in scheduling important sacred events.”

            Millet goes on the say that although certain dates or configurations of astronomical phenomena appearing on a repeated basis are not good for predicting an event, “It is only reported … so that in case something of religious significance does occur, it will be a witness that God had planned it millenia  ahead of time.” And he likes Pratt’s approach of “using these anniversary dates to celebrate the importance of this event in the past, rather than presuming to predict anything that might occur in the future.”

SCRIPTURE: “  I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

“Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

“I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

“Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.” –Isaiah 48:3-6

In 1Nephi 20: 6 this last verse reads easier: “Thou hast seen and heard all this; and will ye not declare them? And that I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.” In verse 7, “They are created now, and not from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest them not they were declared unto thee, lest thou shouldst say—Behold I knew them."

            I think God wants us to know that it is He who has planned this all for us. So why did I entitle this post “Remembering the Fall of Jericho?”  In this article by Millet the last paragraph reads: “In this same article, (“Joshua’s Seventieth Jubilee,” Meridian Magazine, May 18, 2006 by John P. Pratt) two modern dates are noted in the footnotes that would make good anniversary dates for the fall of Jericho.

            “If the Fall of Jericho symbolizes a great future earthquake and if that earthquake follows the pattern of EF holy days, then the indicated day might be Sat. 31 Dec 2011, (TODAY) which is the day 14 Autumn (Tabernacles) in the year 17 MID AUTUMN (“Deluge Day,” being both the day and year of the Great Flood) on the Enoch Fixed calendar. That combination only occurs once in 364 years, and it occurred on the day Noah entered the ark (see Ark Day in “Tsunami”, section 2.4, Table 1). Moreover, that coming day is also 13 Serpent (Sacred Round), the same as the Fall of Jericho. The next day Sun 1 Jan 2012 (TOMORROW) is 1 Skull, and that same article also indicated that deadly earthquakes are associated with the day Skull (Sacred Round). I am not making an earthquake prediction here because that is only one of a multitude of sacred dates on which a future great earthquake could occur. But it would not be surprising to me that after such an earthquake happens, it might turn out that it was somehow prefigured by the Fall of Jericho.”

            So today, I am rereading Joshua chapters 1 through 6, looking up Jericho in the Bible Dictionary and pondering such things as, Why would the Lord want ALL of the tribes of Israel to participate in the defeat of Jericho when several already had their lands of inheritance on the other side  of the Jordan River? Why would all of the men of war from each of the twelve tribes circle the walled city and seven priests bearing before the ark of the covenant seven trumpets of rams’ horns:? Why did they do this once a day for six days and then on the seventh day, circle the city seven times, make a loud blast and then all the people would shout with a great shout? The people obeyed and the walls came tumbling down.

            “So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

            “And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.” –Joshua 6:20-21

In remembrance, although I do not completely understand the historical necessity of destroying everyone and everything to prepare a clean place for the Lord’s people, I have thought about my own emergency preparedness in case of disaster/earthquake. I have remembered those who perished in the Indonesian Tsunami and the more recent Japanese earthquake. There have been many opportunities for service in these natural disasters. All I can say is that I hope it isn’t the BIG one in California, because I love the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Years Day and count California as my home state.

            I would like to think that the Fall of Jericho might symbolize the falling of all the walls and barriers in the countries of the world where we are not able yet to preach the gospel. Perhaps the “great wall” of China will fall, or North Korea, or other countries, like in the Middle East. To the intellectual mind, these seem impossible, but to the Lord, nothing is impossible.

E-Books of Remembrance

The meaning of a Book of Remembrance is changing in our digital age.

SCRIPTURE: “But the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works; consequently, the books spoken of must be the books which contained the record of their works, and refer to the records which are kept on the earth.” --Doctrine and Covenants 128:7

Joseph Smith was explaining Revelation 20:12 in a letter to the Saints in 1842, where he was talking about directions on baptism for the dead and it began to clarify what these "books" were.

THOUGHT: Those of you who have done some family history research have used some of these books or records to identify a specific individual in order to provide temple ordinances for them. These books or records might include census records; birth and marriage registries (these once were actually recorded in large legal registry books;) death records as well as church and cemetery records; land, probate and county court records; and lastly family bibles, histories and biographies.

            You, as a member of the Lord’s church, will be judged from your own books  (journal, personal and family histories) and your compiled Book of Remembrance. Remember, Nephi wrote more than what we find in the compiled record that appears in our Book of Mormon.

            Now, ponder the name of my Blog. Notice the rest of the verse from Malachi 3:16.

            “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.”

            There is a very important concept to remember in our day. A book can be made using more than paper and can be written with tools other than pencil, pen, ink or print. The plates Joseph translated from were engraved on metal. The Mayans and Egyptians carved into stone tablets, stele, or onto tomb walls.

            No longer are books hand copied by monks in monasteries or printed with a hand operated printing press by a publisher, as when the first edition of the Book of Mormon was made. It was only a couple of decades ago when most of us were using a typewriter to make a document and then ran off copies on a copy machine at the local quick print shop.

            Now we have the convenience of sitting in front of a computer in our own home, entering our stories into digital format via word processing software, and printing it off on our own inexpensive printer.

If we had no fingers to type with, there is voice recognition software we could use that will translate our spoken words into a printed digital format. I have often thought how much easier it would be to read selected journal entries from over the years and family stories that I have only in print form, into this type of software program. How much faster than typing would this be?

            The rich text software that allows us to scan a printed document then allows us to edit that text, is another fabulous tool we can use. What an amazing time to be living. I suspect there will be more and more advanced technology that will help us. Perhaps some of our Latter-day Saint youth will soon be on the cutting edge of this technology, discovering and creating concepts that we, the older generation, could never have thought of in our wildest “star-trek” dreams.

CONSIDER THIS: What is a modern book? A book can now be in the form of a CD or DVD or read on an ipad, iphone, enotebook, Nook or Kindle; it can be a digital full media video presentation; it can be a website; it can be a story told in blog form; it could be found posted on a social networking site shared with other members of the family; and it might also take the form of a family tree on Ancestry.com.

            The format of a book, our books, are not what matters in the eternal scheme of things. It is the fact that we’ve compiled them…in remembrance.

QUOTE: “Let all the records be had in order, that they may be put in the archives of my holy temple, to be held in remembrance from generation to generation, saith the Lord of Hosts,” (the archives formed to hold temple records in our day is NewFamilySearch, its format is digital, and it is accessed via the internet in cyberspace.)

            “Let us therefore, as a church and as a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” –Doctrine and Covenants 128:24

This is just the beginning and I have no doubt the youth will be creating things we never dreamed of to communicate. In early February a conference called RootsTech will be held at BYU, and experts from all over the world will be sharing and dreaming and creating the future of books of remembrance...E-Books of Remembrance. For those of you young people who have the Spirit of Elijah, Go visit Helping in the Vineyard at vineyard.lds.org

Remembering is Reverence

SCRIPTURE: “A Book of Remembrance was kept,” –Moses 6:5

            On my granddaughter’s first birthday and I wanted to make sure that I would see her, so I called and asked her mom to put her on the phone. Then I told her I loved her, and said, “Happy Birthday.” I got a gurgle of delight sound from her and my daughter said she began licking and kissing the phone.

            Earlier when I’d told my husband about my plans for some balloons and a cupcake for her, he’d said, “You know she won’t know what it’s all about; she’s too young.” You might suspect my response. “Oh yes, she will!” Let me clarify this by saying that her spirit will; and the little one year old will find joy and delight in the balloons, cake and photos, and know that her grandma loves her. She’ll feel that love.

            I don’t know how many birthdays I’ll share with her, but in celebrating each one I remember her birth, an ordinance day. The first anniversary of that event will set a pattern and be an example for her parents. For convenience sake, they may choose to celebrate on the weekend, with friends and a party in later years, but I want that little grandchild to know that the day when she entered mortality is special to me.

            Remembering and reverencing should be recorded. That is what our own personal Book of Remembrance is for.

MY QUESTION FOR YOU: When we show our children the family’s Book of Remembrance is it all just pedigree charts and family group sheets? Or is it really interesting with photos, or presented as a video or DVD?

            When we turn to the scriptures for guidance and instruction, we see the Lord’s pattern of what this book should contain. The scriptures themselves, each book by each author, is a history of sacred events and revelation recorded,  as well as of genealogies and patriarchal blessings proclaimed.

            Nephi’s statement, “I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents,” begins his record. He reverenced his father, Lehi, and his mother, Sariah. He said that he was taught in the learning of his father, that although he had many afflictions, he felt highly favored of the Lord all of his life. He then says, “Yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

            “Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.

            “And I know that the record which I make is true; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge.” –1 Nephi 1:1-3

            We too, will write in our own words, select from our own experiences those things that we will include in our Book of Remembrance. We do not have to be a great writer; just write how we speak and our personality will show through for our descendants. They will watch us grow as we express ourselves from  a young adult’s perspective to our matured reminiscences as a grandparent.

MY SUGGESTION: Include photographs of forefathers in your book of Remembrance. Be sure to have interesting stories about each person. These stories could be humorous, giving insight into the unique personality of the person. Or it might be a story about an act of service, or how they met their spouse. Most importantly it should be uplifting, not embarrassing. Perhaps it could describe a lesson learned or have a “moral to the story,” type of ending or it could document a spiritual experience they had.

CHALLENGE: Pick one person in your second or third generation (that’s a parent or grandparent) and find a photo of them and write a paragraph about them to include in your Book of Remembrance. The idea here is to begin remembering your forefathers; turn your heart toward them in remembrance.

            Set a goal of how often you will honor one specific person in your lineage, in a “spotlight moment,” during the coming year.

            If your parents are still alive, it would be obvious to get them to select a story (see above ideas) and a photo from the time period in which it occurred, then write it up to give to you. If you set a goal of one Sunday a month to remember one individual ancestor in this way, you will have twelve delightful inclusions in your Book of Remembrance. Yes, I know Sunday is a day of rest, but what more perfect day to add to our book!!! We remember the Lord and his sacrifice for us on this day, so why not remember a progenitor for their gifts to us in our Book of Remembrance.

My Grandmother's birthday is next Sunday, January 1, she would be 123 years old. Her name was Anne Mae Gough (1 Jan 1889 Sullivan, Moultrie, Illinois - 5 Jan 1963 Clarksburg, Moniteau, Missouri)

Anne Mae Gough about 1930

Anne Mae Gough and me

I knew my grandmother loved me because even though we lived half a continent apart, she would send little cards and gifts. She affectionately called me her Lover Lady. After her death, when I lived in Arkansas, I talked with a woman who had known her when she lived briefly in Arkansas. She gave me a couple of her recipes, told me how much she loved her chickens and that she was a nervous sort of person because she was scared of thunderstorms. She would run down the street to a friends house when thunder began. But, I remember other things, like taking a bath in a large metal tub in the middle of her kitchen where she'd pumped the water out of a real "pump" in her kitchen sink and poured it scalding hot from being heated on her wood burning stove. I remember the "out house" and her garden and chicken coop. My sister and I helped her handyman, Chub, paint the house one summer. And I remember one Christmas running out to play in the snow and stepping into a drainage ditch that had been covered over with snow and how warm and comforting the big feather bed was that night in a room warmed by a fireplace. Another brilliant memory of that Christmas was Chub cutting off a chicken's head and the red, red blood all over the white, white snow. Grandma's most famous recipe of course was fried chicken. It was fabulous. Colonel...eat your heart out. But alas, she never did write that one down.

Making the Effort to Ascend and Discovering a New Direction

Ancient Graffiti or a Message Board?

     

Signal Hill was used by early inhabitants to tell those, who knew how to look for and read the signs, where the best paths were located among the hot desert landscape.  In a place surrounded by mountains the passes were not obvious on the plain, so a hill was needed to give the traveler perspective. From its height one could learn the easiest and safest way to traverse a very hazardous land. The signs located on the top would often tell where to find water, warn of flooding, and give instructions on and how to get to other villages. This hill has symbols that might indicate which way was best to take flocks of sheep and goats so that they could traverse the desert safely and where water and grass might be found just to the north a few miles.

When a spiral opens on the lower side as if leading the viewer into a spiral maze. It takes the viewer up and circles around and keeps circling to the center. It is located on the top of the hill with a mountain in the background shaped similarly to the rock upon which the spiral is found. It means go over to that Mountain and find the easy access to more petroglyphs start low on the hill and ascend up the path, circling up until you get to the top of the hill and you will find more instructions. This spiral symbol always means ascending, according to La Van Martineau.1

            When a visitor to Saguaro Monument National Park’s Signal Hill climbs up the stairs made by the WPA to the top, there is just such a spiral pecked into a triangular shaped rock. When interpreted as I’ve indicated it says to go to that far mountain to the East and there ascend where you will find further instructions. In actuality this is a very famous set of petroglyphs accessible from a wash located on Picture Rocks Road just before you enter into the National Monument through the pass. This is relatively easy to find and in recent years has been vandalized. This disregard or disrespect for something that we do not understand is similar to how our scriptures are treated by people today who feel that they don’t have value for our day and time.

---

1 The Rocks Begin To Speak, La Van Martineau, 1973 KC Publications, Las Vegas, Nevada, p 28

Ascend to the top of that mountain over there,

and discover more instructions.

 That is the message of the spiral on top of Signal Hill

 

The scriptures are our Signal Hill, where we can find instructions for safe passage and living water in a hostile world, so that our journey on earth will be a successful one. These were prepared by God’s prophets who have previously traveled the road of earth life. The ancient prophets saw us in the latter days and realized we needed a road map to guide us through dangerous times. Isaiah wrote not only for Israel in his day, but also imbedded there is the Lord, Jehovah’s message to us, his people, who would live in the latter days when we could understand his warnings. But who will read Isaiah and understand? Those who recognize the importance of what he has to say to us, having read Christ’s admonition to the Nephites that, “Great are the words of Isaiah.”

There are symbols and meanings to be found in the scriptures just as there is the spiral picture on the Picture Rocks behind my house. Their purpose is to lead you to a higher place where you can see a view of eternity and guide you through a modern hazardous landscape to safety.

Ascend the Hill for Further Instructions

Signal Hill

Behind my house, located in Saguaro National Monument Park, just a couple of miles as the crow flies, there is a small hill. It is called Signal Hill. Native American’s of former years have engraved petroglyphs upon the rocks located here. This is how the town where I live got its name, Picture Rocks. On the south side of the rocks high upon the face of this rocky outcropping, is a spiral along with many other pictures. Many have observed the spiral symbol in other places, too, and they think that it is a sign of the universe or some other such thing. Richard Hill the Park Ranger told me, “There are as many ideas about what a given symbol means as there are people studying it.” He continues, “I’ve studied them for years and have to conclude that we will never know their original meaning.” I suspect that the people of the world have thought the same thing about Isaiah’s words and other prophets in the bible.

This spiral on Signal Hill is located in a hard place to reach on this steep rocky slope, where it would be difficult to stand for any length of time to peck a complicated symbol. It would have to be important information to communicate, not just a doodle, for someone to take the time to peck out a hard to draw spiral carefully etched in this rock. The symbol is not obvious until you are really close to the hill.

I asked the ranger if he knew why the symbols were located there, because it wasn’t a very high hill and it was not easily seen from any of the roads nearby. He shrugged and said he didn’t know why. So I went and looked again at the hill and discovered something very interesting. It had a companion hill just to the northeast of it that was rounded and almost as high. They were just yards apart. What was the difference? The Signal Hill was formed by wonderful darkened volcanic rock thrust up from the earth’s interior. The other was just gently rounded and smooth, no rocks, just dirt with some cactus growing on it.  It was easy to climb.

A light went on in my understanding. If you want to write something, you must first have a suitable surface. Rocks darkened by volcanic action on the surface and with lighter matter underneath in the core would make a great “piece of paper” for writing upon. Ancient people would recognize this when they saw such rocks, and would straightway walk over to them to see if anyone had written some important directions to share with travelers. Indeed it would become a Signal Hill. I looked around and did not see any other suitable hills  or rocks except some really high inaccessible cliffs several miles away and too hard to climb for a person just passing through.

I will share a little known interpretation of the spiral symbol with you, one that most people do not know. The spiral symbol tells the traveler to ascend and find more petroglyphs that have either warnings or directions located on the top of the hill. They are written with orientation to the surrounding landscape and have to be interpreted right where they are located to have meaning. For instance, if written near a crack, the crack might indicated a river or divide; or the shape of the rock might be the exact same shape as a mountain nearby where a pass is located.

In the case of Signal Hill the writing on the southern face of the hill tells the traveler to go to the top of the hill for a better perspective and further instructions.

This hillside is a powerful symbol of us and our scriptures, or Scripture Hill. Hmmm, maybe, I have stumbled upon something. Just carrying them or having them on a shelf nearby does not let you see what is inside. That’s the easy thing. You have to open them. You have to be diligent and search or study them in order to find the true meanings therein.  

You must ascend to the top of the hill for further instructions.

Ascending the Mountain

Picture Rocks Road and the Pass into Tucson

Picture Rocks

            There is a magical place in the desert west of Tucson, Arizona called Picture Rocks and it is absolutely filled with magnificent symbolism. Picture Rocks Road is a country road and pierces the Tucson Mountains just where the morning light breaks from the East. I live a few miles down this curving road with Saguaro cactus standing like sentinels covering the hills. These unique ancient plants are huge. Some of them tower over 20 feet tall. They look like men with upraised arms. Many are over a hundred years old. The Native American inhabitants of this land revered them as sacred beings. Are they are trying to warn us? What stories could these Saguaro tell us? 

A never-ending stream of traffic passes by my house. Often I hear the siren of an ambulance or fire trucks rushing by in the dark, telling of someone who had not been paying attention or obeying the laws along this country road and there had been an accident. This road can be treacherous as it passes west through the Tucson Mountains into Saguaro National Monument Park. The speed limit is 45 mph and the signs are posted, “No Passing.”  Hundreds of people use this route every day to get from their homes to work or shopping. People who drive the same road over and over get to know every bump and curve in the road. They are lulled into a sense of security and often think of other things while driving. They can become distracted and that is the danger.

As members of the church are we bored or lulled to sleep when we hear the same things over and over? Or have we been lulled into a sense of security? Recently, economic and world events have shaken us up a bit. These are sirens in our life, reminding us that we must stay on the path and do what we promised our Heavenly Father we would do with our lives when we came down to earth from the spirit world.

Themes of my lIfe

If you want to follow someone's blog you probably want to know if there are going to be any topics you might be interested in reading about. Although I've started this blog with beginning of the year concepts of setting goals using your patriarchal blessing,  I've got many more topics planned to talk about. Last year I reviewed many of my past journals and wrote down a list of various themes that I found. Of course, I add new interests every month, but the ones listed below are the ones that seem pop up in my life again and again.

Themes of My Life

Solving the Mystery by Finding the Clues

Searching for Answers

Enjoying the Rhythm of Life

Letting Go and Moving On

Working to Understand Light

Searching for my Ancestors

Keeping a Book of Remembrance

Writing in a Journal

Taking Photographs as History 

Searching for Wisdom

Developing a Relationship with God as His Daughter

Understanding Myself as Israel

Becoming a Sister Scriptorian

Studying Isaiah

Studying Symbolism

Studying the Olive Tree

Studying the Bee

Studying Indian Picture Rocks

 

This photo was taken only a couple miles from my house and is why the place I live is called Picture Rocks. 

I call this photo "To Ascend the Mountain" and it's symbolism touches me in my very center of my being. This spiral, found in many native American pictographs (painted on) and petroglyphs (scratched into) rocks in the desert locations of the Southwestern and Western United States, has been given as many meanings and interpretations by the dozens of anthropologists and park rangers who've studied them. And I am going to tell you the story of what this means to me.

New Year's Resolutions: Select Five areas or less

Today, while reading your blessing, look for any scriptures that may be quoted in your blessing. Do some of the phrases sound familiar? Look to the scriptures and use the LDS bible topical guide and dictionary to look these phrases or words up.

“Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, … feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” –2 Nephi 32:3

When I was young, I would have thought that the words of Christ were only those in red in my old bible. Now as a more mature scriptorian, I realize that Christ’s words are the inspired words of all of his prophets, ancient and modern. They write through inspiration. They are also the inspired words of your stake patriarch as he place his hands upon your head and gave you your own blessing. A multitude of examples of blessings can be found in the Old Testament. This is not a new thing. God is the same now and forever; his principles are eternal, as are his laws and means of communicating with mankind.

Because you have the gift of the Holy Ghost given to you at your confirmation after baptism, you can ask God for inspiration and personal revelation.

MY SUGGESTION:   Feast upon the scriptures that will tell you all things what ye should do and listen  for that voice that is felt rather than heard as you read your patriarchal blessing to set goals for 2012.

Through your faith and study and prayers God will reveal to you the secret mysteries of your life’s mission because they are hidden in your patriarchal blessing. He will show you where you should set goals, if you will listen. You will delight in His words to you. You will find joy in the blueprint of your perfection.

QUOTE: “Seek for a testimony, as you would, (my dear sisters) for a diamond concealed. If someone told you by digging long enough in a certain spot you would find a diamond of unmeasured wealth, do you think you would begrudge time or strength, or means spent to obtain that treasure?… If you will dig in the depth’s of your own hearts you will find, with the aid of the Spirit of the Lord, the pearl of great price, the testimony of the truth of this work.”

—Zina D.H. Young, Third Relief Society General President, 1893, “Daughters in My Kingdom” 2011, Intellectual Reserve, page 56.      

Your diamonds of unmeasured wealth will be revealed to you and you will know what God wants you to be busy doing this next year.           

            List the areas of life mentioned in your blessing. Then select no more than five to set a goal in because I’ve learned from experience that more than that you’ll become discouraged and feel overburdened, overwhelmed, etc. Select a balance of the topics mentioned in your blessing, something like this: family, spritual growth, missionary work, temple work, community involvement. Quite frankly, I’d select only three. Pray which area of focus might be what the Lord would like you to focus on. Record your impressions as you read and reread your blessing. I suspect it will only take a couple readings for you to feel what the Lord would have you focus on in 2012.

New Year's still a few days away: start simple

When I began this process of setting goals at the beginning of the New Year, some 30 years ago, I didn't know what I was doing. And guess what? It still worked! I decided that I wanted to be who Heavenly Father wanted me to be, so I prayed for his help in understanding my Patriarchal Blessing. I received mine while in my early twenties and quite frankly, didn't know what most of it meant. I was a convert to the church and didn't have the Primary or Young Women's classes to give me a little background in the words that I found in my blessing. So, whether you are sixteen or sixty, begin by just reading it through once a day for the next few days, thus...

My Suggestion is that you start simple. Begin with prayer and just read it through once a day. Set a specific time and place to do this. Don't try to determine anything at this point. Just read and be open to any thoughts that come to you. Write these down if you wish in your journal, or start a three-ring binder or notebook.            

 

MY QUESTION FOR YOU: How often have you read your Patriarchal Blessing before this? Ponder if this is your own personal scripture revealed from God, how often do you think you should read it?

            We are told to study our scriptures daily. No, I’m not suggesting that you read your patriarchal blessing every day, except during this initial New Year's goal setting process, but shouldn’t you give it a regular place in your scripture study? 

            It doesn’t matter whether you have only recently received it and upon first reading were disappointed because it sounded so generic, or it didn’t answer one of your Life’s Questions, or if you’ve read it many times over many years. There are insights to be learned by a regular, diligent study of the Lord’s personalized message to you.

If you daily review your blessing these coming days, and pray with sincere intent to set goals in keeping with the Lord’s will, He will bring into you sphere of awareness a book, scripture, quotes, talks, friends and their comments and a guide in your scripture study that will seem like a bright spotlight. You will know when this happens because it will seem so very right, like a bolt of inspiration out of the blue, or an Ah, Ha Moment. You will have a joyous recognition that you are seeing God’s hand in your life.

Elder Packer's experience is very common (See previous post and  "Counsel to Youth" by Elder Boyd K. Packer pages 16-19 October Ensign 2011) Begin today. Read your Patriarchal Blessing and keep it simple, don't make a big project out of it.

I am hoping that you, too, will find out how the Lord blesses us as we take the time to STUDY his words to us through the inspired counsel of the stake patriarch. After 30 years, I’ve found hidden meanings in words and phrases that are in my own patriarchal blessing; discovered themes used to set annual goals; and gained a burning testimony that God knows me intimately and wants me to succeed in my life’s mission. May God bless you with such experiences.

Setting New Year's Resolutions using Your Patriarchal Blessing

January brings New Year's Resolutions. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) we have a special help given to us by Heavenly Father to keep us on the right track with our lives. It is called a Patriarchal Blessing. Members usually receive such a blessing when they are in their teen years. Many members do not read that blessing again for years. Some thirty years ago, I began a study of my own "personal scripture" and have discovered wonderful insights into who I am and what my mission on earth should be. Over the next couple weeks I would like to share some of these to help you get the most from your own blessing. 

The subject of patriarchal blessings were mention several times in talks given by the general authorities at the last General Conference held in October. My favorite is from the talk given by Boyd K. Packer.

Quote by Boyd K. Packer Ensign Nov 2011

"I had heard about patriarchal blessings but had not received one. In each stake there is an ordained patriarch who has the spirit of prophecy and the spirit of revelation. He is authorized to give personal and private blessings to those who come recommended by their bishops. I wrote to my bishop for a recommend.

"J. Roland Sandstrom was the ordained patriarch living in the Santa Ana stake. He knew nothing about me and had never seen me before, but he gave me my blessing. In it I found answers and instruction.

"While patriarchal blessings are very private, I will share a short quote from mine: “You shall be guided through the whisperings of the Holy Spirit and you shall be warned of dangers. If you heed those warnings, our Heavenly Father will bless you so that you might again be united with your loved ones.”

"That word if, though small in print, loomed as big as the page. I would be blessed to return from the war if I kept the commandments and if I heeded the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Although that gift had been conferred upon me at baptism, I did not yet know what the Holy Ghost was or how the promptings work.

"What I needed to know about the promptings I found in the Book of Mormon. I read that “angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, … feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”

"Perhaps the single greatest thing I learned from reading the Book of Mormon is that the voice of the Spirit comes as a feeling rather than a sound. You will learn, as I have learned, to “listen” for that voice that is felt rather than heard.

Nephi scolded his older brothers, saying, “Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words.”

"Some critics have said that these verses are in error because you hear words; you do not feel them. But if you know anything at all about spiritual communication, you know that the best word to describe what takes place is the word feeling.

"The gift of the Holy Ghost, if you consent, will guide and protect you and even correct your actions. It is a spiritual voice that comes into the mind as a thought or a feeling put into your heart. The prophet Enos said, 'The voice of the Lord came into my mind.' And the Lord told Oliver Cowdery, “Behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you.”

"It is not expected that you go through life without making mistakes, but you will not make a major mistake without first being warned by the promptings of the Spirit. This promise applies to all members of the Church."

Yes, You'll have to go find yours. Hopefully it is in your Book of Remembrance and easy to put you hands on. This is the most important advice I can give you:

Quote by Boyd K. Packer Ensign Nov 2011

I had heard about patriarchal blessings but had not received one. In each stake there is an ordained patriarch who has the spirit of prophecy and the spirit of revelation. He is authorized to give personal and private blessings to those who come recommended by their bishops. I wrote to my bishop for a recommend.

J. Roland Sandstrom was the ordained patriarch living in the Santa Ana stake. He knew nothing about me and had never seen me before, but he gave me my blessing. In it I found answers and instruction.

While patriarchal blessings are very private, I will share a short quote from mine: “You shall be guided through the whisperings of the Holy Spirit and you shall be warned of dangers. If you heed those warnings, our Heavenly Father will bless you so that you might again be united with your loved ones.”

That word if, though small in print, loomed as big as the page. I would be blessed to return from the war if I kept the commandments and if I heeded the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Although that gift had been conferred upon me at baptism, I did not yet know what the Holy Ghost was or how the promptings work.

What I needed to know about the promptings I found in the Book of Mormon. I read that “angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, … feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”

Perhaps the single greatest thing I learned from reading the Book of Mormon is that the voice of the Spirit comes as a feeling rather than a sound. You will learn, as I have learned, to “listen” for that voice that is felt rather than heard.

Nephi scolded his older brothers, saying, “Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words.”

Some critics have said that these verses are in error because you hear words; you do not feel them. But if you know anything at all about spiritual communication, you know that the best word to describe what takes place is the word feeling.

The gift of the Holy Ghost, if you consent, will guide and protect you and even correct your actions. It is a spiritual voice that comes into the mind as a thought or a feeling put into your heart. The prophet Enos said, “The voice of the Lord came into my mind.” And the Lord told Oliver Cowdery, “Behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you.”

It is not expected that you go through life without making mistakes, but you will not make a major mistake without first being warned by the promptings of the Spirit. This promise applies to all members of the Church."

GO FIND YOUR OWN BLESSING NOW OR ORDER ANOTHER COPY AT LDS.Org

Then, you are ready for a great adventure of self-discovery. 

The most important advice I can give you is to read your blessing prayerfully and ask Heavenly Father for His guidance in setting goals for 2012.