It's the Final Countdown!!

I wanted to share this song with all of you. 

Cause this is what will be going through my head for the next week.

You're welcome.

Holy Hymning

This is one of my absolute favorite hymns, called "Lead, Kindly Light."  You can listen to it here.

Lead, kindly Light amid th' encircling gloom; Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home; Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene-- one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus nor prayed that thou shouldst lead me on
I loved to choose and see my path but now, lead thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will.  Remembered not past years.

So long thy pow'r hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on
O'er more and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till the night is gone.
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

This is a much simpler hymn, actually in the Children's Songbook, called "My Heavenly Father Loves Me." You can hear a beautiful rendition of it here.

Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky
Whenever I feel the rain on my face, or the wind as it rushes by
Whenever I touch a velvet rose, or walk by a lilac tree
I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world Heavenly Father created for me.

He gave me my eyes that I might see the color of butterfly wings.
He gave me my ears that I might hear the magical sound of things.
He gave me my life, my mind, my heart; I thank him reverently
Of all His creations of which I'm a part, yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.

I think this last hymn speaks volumes.  It's "If You Could Hie to Kolob."  For my non-LDS friends, Kolob is the name of the place where God lives, as revealed to Abraham.  This is a beautiful piano arrangement by Chas Hathaway or this is the arrangement which I am learning to play by Aaron Waite.

If you could hie to Kolob
In the twinkling of an eye,
And then continue onward
With that same speed to fly,
Do you think that you could ever,
Through all eternity,
Find out the generation
Where Gods began to be?

Or see the grand beginning,
Where space did not extend?
Or view the last creation,
Where Gods and matter end?
Methinks the spirit whispers,
"No man has found 'pure space,'
Nor seen the outside curtains
Where nothing has a place."

The works of God continue
And worlds and lives abound;
Improvement and progression
Have one eternal round.
There is no end to matter;
There is no end to space;
There is no end to spirit;
There is no end to race.

There is no end to virtue;
There is no end to might;
There is no end to wisdom;
There is no end to light;
There is no end to union;
There is no end to youth;
There is no end to priesthood;
There is no end to truth.

There is no end to glory;
There is no end to love;
There is no end to being;
There is no death above.

There is no end to glory;

There is no end to love;

There is no end to being;

There is no death above.

Remember, to always have a hymn in your heart.  Have a happy day!

"Nevertheless at Thy Word I Will Let Down the Net."

Welcome, welcome, to this beautiful Sabbath day!!!  I absolutely love Sundays and the opportunity we all have to go and worship Christ and refresh ourselves for another week!!  It's simply amazing every Sunday to gather with my friends and feel their spirits testify of the truth which we all embrace!  Why can't everyday be Sunday?!

Today being Sunday, I came home and decided that I wanted to read the Ensign.  The latest issue I have is from March.  I was reading an article called "The Savior's Compassion" by S. Kent Brown (Emeritus Professor of Ancient Scripture, Brigham Young University).  It's really a wonderful article and I would highly recommend it to everyone (LDS or not) and you can read it by clicking on it above. :)  However, the message which I got from the article has very little to do with the message which Brother Brown shared.

If you recall from the New Testament, Christ met four of his apostles while on a boat: Peter, Andrew, James, and John.  The Savior was standing on Peter's boat, speaking to a congregation of eager listeners and when he had finished, he told Peter to row out further away from the shore and cast out the nets.  Peter told Jesus that the fishing had been horrible and they'd had no luck all night, but "nevertheless at thy word will I let down the net." (Luke 5:5, KJV)  This is where I found the message of Brother Brown's article.  Peter told Jesus that they, experienced fishermen, had had no luck throughout the night, but he still trusted this man from Nazareth  and let down the nets when he told him to do so.  Because of this, he and his brother, Andrew, along with James and John were blessed with so many fish there was barely enough room in both of their boats, the approximate dimensions of which are given in the article above.  And now, here comes the application :)

Oftentimes, the Lord asks us to things which we think there is no way we could possibly do.  My favorite example of this is tithing.  If you've ever been a college student, then you know how hard it is to make ends meet with a minimum wage job, especially in Provo, UT where there are very few jobs available.  Sometimes, we may question whether we can afford to pay the ten percent which the Lord asked of us.  We may think, like Peter, that the Lord is asking us to do something incredibly hard or incredibly pointless.  "I tried it last month and I just barely had enough to pay for rent and groceries; I've been looking for other sources of income, but I just can't find anything else.  I don't know if I can afford to give anything!  Besides, what's my fifty dollars really worth?  There are plenty of other people who pay their tithing." But, if we can be like Peter, and trust in the Lord and when the Lord tells commands us to, 'let down our nets' we can receive a blessing so great that there is not room enough for us to receive it!!  Peter didn't know how many fish they would catch by letting down the nets or if they would even catch any fish at all!  But he had seen Christ heal his mother-in-law and he knew that He was no ordinary man.  By acting on that small tiny bit of faith which Peter had, he received so many blessings that there literally was not enough room to receive all of them!  He had to call on James and John to come and help him and split the fish between the two boats, and even then there was enough fish in each boat to cause them to start to sink!  Just think what we could receive from the Lord is we could have the same faith which Peter demonstrated and simply do what he asks of us without hesitation.  Maybe then we could go to institute, despite the loads of studying we need to do.  We could make time for FHE, despite the paper we have due that week.  We could invite a friend to church, even though they may have already turned the invitation down.  We could act purely on faith and rely on the Lord to carry us through.

Wouldn't that be nice? I think so. :]