“May Christ lift thee up”
More hope in his word
Harrowing: To draw a harrow over; to break up, crush, or pulverize with a harrow.
Oxford Dictionary
“It is called Gethsemane. Geth or gat means press, and shemen in Hebrew means oil. The place of the olive press. You can see presses still in Israel, for, after the processes of salt and vinegar and pressure, the olives are gathered, placed in a bag, and then with a huge crushing rock—to push it usually requires an animal—crushed until the oil flows. “The place of the olive press.”
“I pray that when your life, the life of attempted faithfulness, is bludgeoned and becomes wearing and wearying, you will remember that no great and good fruit comes easily, that you are the olive plants who were supposedly planted anew in him, and that only time and suffering and endurance can produce the peaceable and perfect fruit which he yearns for you to have.”
“Our emptiness will provide more room for the fulness of the gospel. The hollowing precedes the hallowing.”
To walk with Jesus means that at times we will walk in darkness. Trusting the Light of the World to lead us through the dark is the test. Sometimes the only way to see is by closing our eyes in desperate prayer, and with arms stretched upward, crying “Lord, save me.”
I write to you, dear friend, from the dark. To be hallowed is to be harrowed. And oh does it sometimes hurt.
Near the very end of The Book of Mormon, a story with the most heartbreaking of endings, a father attempts to console his son in spite of the imminent and literal destruction of their people. They have known that this tragic day was coming. It had been foretold centuries before. But these two soldier/prophets, Mormon and Moroni, are watching it happen. It is their wives, their children, and their loved ones who are being cut down in front of them. That must have been unbearable to witness. They had done everything in their power to keep it from happening, working tirelessly to encourage those they led to repent, to follow Christ, to lay down their weapons of war. But they would not.
Finally, as their “day of grace [had] passed” (Mormon 2:15) and their rejection of the Savior’s mercy became irreversible, Mormon points his son and each of us to the only true Source of consolation.
“My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.”
Moroni 9:25
I was reminded of this scripture while reading Marion D. Hanks’s recently published biography To Be a Friend of Christ (which you should totally add to your TBR list. (“TBR” means To Be Read, Mom.)
In the chapter titled “Following Jesus Christ,” Elder Hanks is quoted as follows:
“The key is to not let life and all of its problems, all that is happening in the world and in one’s own life, weigh us down. That isn’t what Christ is all about, so we shouldn’t let it all grieve us. Let Him LIFT US UP! And, let all that he represents rest in our minds forever.”
This isn’t the only place we are taught that Jesus came to lift us up. During His brief visit to the Americas, He taught believers that He had been “lifted up” upon the cross in order to draw us to Him.
14 And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—
15 And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works.
3 Nephi 27
It really starts with our thoughts, doesn’t it? It certainly does for me. When I am focused on myself, my mistakes, my failures, and all the ways I am falling short, the darkness within me grows. But the moment I replace those thoughts with thoughts of His Atonement, His teachings, His infinite love and mercy, light replaces darkness. And there is one way to change my self-defeating thought patterns that works better than anything else I have tried: Searching the scriptures.
As far back as I can remember this has been true for me. And it never fails to work. If I am spiraling toward despair and the voices of doubt are prevailing, even a few minutes of immersion in the scriptures narrows the distance between me and heaven and I am revived. Can I share a favorite story about the power of scripture study?
Several years ago, Brother Todd Parker, a professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU gave a talk titled “True Doctrine, Understood, Changes Attitudes and Behavior” that has been so meaningful to me. You will definitely want to read or watch it if you haven’t already done so.
Many years ago I was teaching released-time seminary. Life was good. I was married to a wonderful woman. We had been blessed with four small children. I was blessed to study and teach from the scriptures every day.
I came home from school one day to discover we were expecting child number five. There was good news and bad news. The good news was the blessing of another child. The bad news was that my wife got extremely ill during pregnancies. I knew it was going to be a rough road ahead. It seemed that everything that could go wrong did go wrong during the first three months of Debbie’s pregnancy.
This included the following:
1. Debbie was sick with morning sickness. She was in bed for more than four weeks and couldn’t even sit up.
2. I had taken a leave of absence from teaching seminary to get my doctoral degree. I was back in graduate school carrying fifteen credit hours.
3. I was attempting to fill the role of mother while Debbie was ill. This included cleaning the house, doing laundry, fixing meals, tending kids, running errands, fulfilling nursemaid duties, and so on.
4. The dishwasher broke. I had no money to repair it. Dishes were done by hand.
5. Jana got an ear infection. She couldn’t hear me. I had to take her to the doctor.
6. I had to “farm out” the two youngest girls—ages two and four—during the day for different ward members to tend.
7. Because of all of the turmoil, I was up five to six times each night helping Debbie and consoling the children.
8. Jeremy, then age six, was throwing rocks at an icicle on the front of the house and broke the large picture window in the living room.
9. Jeremy also was chasing Jana and bumped a shelf of figurines. They crashed to the floor. My wife asked, “What was that?” I said, “Oh, nothing, dear.” The pile of pieces remained in a box for weeks awaiting the day when I would have time to glue them back together—which never happened.
10. Julie, age two, became ill. I took her to the doctor.
11. I had to take Debbie to the hospital several times for intravenous hydration. With all the vomiting, she got dehydrated regularly.
12. I was always at least 500 pages behind in my reading.
13. I was supposed to be doing a literature search for my dissertation.
14. I was serving as elders quorum president. Many hours of service were required.
15. Other things happened. A wind came up and blew the screen door right off the front of our house. It was lying out in the driveway.
16. I was in an education class in which I had to practice giving individualized intelligence tests. I tested most of the kids in the neighborhood. I began to doubt my own intelligence.
17. The straw that broke the camel’s back, I think, was that our scruffy little mongrel dog named Fluffy began her breeding cycle. We had no fence. It seemed as if we had male dog visitors from everywhere, all enamored with Fluffy.
I was at an all-time low. When you are at the bottom, there is no more bottom. I was drowning, being pulled down by an overwhelming whirlpool of duties that I couldn’t keep up with. And in the process I hadn’t opened a book of scripture in more than four weeks. Prior to all of this I had committed to teach an adult evening class on the Book of Mormon. It was too much. I felt I couldn’t do it, but I was committed.
So the night before the class was to begin, I found myself preparing during the only quiet time available: between midnight and 2 a.m. After about an hour of study I suddenly stopped. Something was different—very different. It took a few moments for me to realize what was happening. Then it came to me like a revelation from heaven. For the first time in four weeks I wasn’t depressed. It was also the first time in four weeks that I had immersed myself in scripture study.
A few months ago I read this story from Sister Sharon Eubank. I’ve thought about it a lot since then.
Need a third witness? (Yes, I do. I need every possible witness I can find.)
From the most recent general conference, President Russell M. Nelson gave us a prophetic invitation and promise in his concluding message The Lord Jesus Christ Will Come Again. I’ve thought again and again about his statement that “there is no limit to the Savior’s capacity to help you,” followed by his invitation to “devote time each week—for the rest of your life—to increase your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”
There is no limit to the Savior’s capacity to help you. His incomprehensible suffering in Gethsemane and on Calvary was for you! His infinite Atonement is for you!
I urge you to devote time each week—for the rest of your life—to increase your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. My heart aches for those who are mired in sin and don’t know how to get out. I weep for those who struggle spiritually or who carry heavy burdens alone because they do not understand what Jesus Christ did for them.
Jesus Christ took upon Himself your sins, your pains, your heartaches, and your infirmities. You do not have to bear them alone! He will forgive you as you repent. He will bless you with what you need. He will heal your wounded soul. As you yoke yourself to Him, your burdens will feel lighter. If you will make and keep covenants to follow Jesus Christ, you will find that the painful moments of your life are temporary. Your afflictions will be “swallowed up in the joy of Christ.”
Jesus is my light in the dark. He is my hope when all seems hopeless. Yes, I must believe that He is “mighty to save” even one as flawed and feeble as I. But I must also believe that He wants to save me, to lift me up, to help me turn away from the darkness of the day towards His resplendent, restorative, redemptive light. When I search for Him in the scriptures, He finds me. I hear Him calling to me. The scriptures are His voice. His words are living water. Mormon’s prayer for his son is my prayer for you.
May Christ lift thee up.
Once again, this was just what I needed today!
Loved this. ❤️ Much needed.