I recently heard my wife have the following conversation. She was on the phone, so I heard only her side:
“No, she didn’t predict when he’d come.”
“Because she’s smarter than that. She’s been delivering babies long enough to know that any prediction is going to be wrong. But the chiropractor did, sorta.”
“No, he just said that everything’s lined up now, and he gave his permission.”
“Yeah, he said I could go into labor anytime now.”
Our Baby: Colter
As I heard this, a phrase from scripture came into my head: “of that day, and hour, no one knoweth; no, not the angels of God in heaven…” (JS-M 1:40). And I thought, ‘that’s a wise midwife.’
Nobody can predict when a baby will come no matter how long they’ve been in obstetrics. My wife’s good friend who had a baby about 5 months ago, was told by her OB that she wouldn’t have their baby until well after his due date, so he’d see her for a regular appointment in a week, a few days after the due date. The baby arrived 4 days later, on his due date.
My Grandfather, J Ballard Washburn, gave the devotional at BYU-Idaho this past Tues., the 9th of Feb. 2010. He entitled his talk “Our Mission In Life” with the “Our” referring to each of us, as a married couple, or individuals when we find our eternal companion, or “You and Your Sweetheart” as he parenthetically put it in the title.
Personally I really enjoyed the talk. He made some powerful points about putting one’s wife above himself, and the Lord above everything. He used two examples from his own life that he said he was ashamed to share, because they were bad examples, but that we can learn from them.
The room is mostly quiet, except for the occasional whisper, and the children. Toddlers talk softly and babies cry or make other noises. A wave of coughs and throat-clearing passes through the congregation, a single hack jumping from one person to the next until it has run its course. The organist silently practices the next hymn by touching the keys, without depressing them. A husband whispers to his wife. A high priest falls asleep. A twenty-something woman is lost in thought about her job.
One middle-aged woman weeps quietly. She’s watching a sacred drama as it is played out around her. Symbolically, God the Father kneels beside an altar. He says a prayer, consecrating the offering covered in linen laying upon the altar. The words do not consecrate the body for burial, but for the sake of all mankind. Upon finishing, he rises, pulls back the covering, and gathers the collected blood from the ritually sacrificed offering, passing it to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then goes about the room, offering the blood of the sacrifice to the whole church, just as it had done with pieces of the flesh moments before. He passes this token of the great sacrifice to each person, if they receive it.
Some accept it, others do not. Of those who accept, most are oblivious to their part in the drama. They partake mechanically, out of habit, and pass the sacred blood on to others, quickly returning to their whisperings, thoughts, and sleeping. Unlike the middle-aged woman, who fully realizes her part in the ritual drama, they see only a quiet opportunity to think, sleep, or practice the rest hymn. The flesh and blood offered them is only bread and water, an interruption.
Like many authors ranging from Victor Hugo and Shakespeare to James Redfield and James Ferrell, Dan Brown understands the power of a good fictional story. In reading his books, you realize that like the mentioned authors, he teaches ideas and concepts through a made up story instead of a true one. The advantages to this are twofold: 1. You don’t have to write a bibliography (or otherwise back up or defend what you say), and 2. More people will read it if the story’s engaging, regardless of the ideas being taught.
I remember laying in bed reading the DaVinci Code several years ago excited by the story, intrigued by the symbols and codes, and impressed by what seemed to be some restored-gospel truths about Christ and his possible marriage to Mary Magdalene. Originally I rejected the idea of the marriage, but after talking to some of my mentors of the time, decided that “we don’t know” is probably the only for-sure answer we are going to get for the time being.
My wife teaches the youth 14-18 Sunday school class in our ward. Today’s lesson was on the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. She said that in the manual it was in two parts, one all about the actual events of the martyrdom, and the rest about what might be called Joseph Smith’s “legacy,” essentially a list of all the things he accomplished. She felt there wasn’t time for both, and wondered which she should focus on?
Parallels
I understand the purpose of both, but personally a list of Joseph’s accomplishments belies the true purpose and meaning of what he did. I made a simple suggestion, and my wife followed the Spirit and put together a great lesson around the importance of Joseph Smith giving his life for the Savior. Among other things, she came up with this great list which she read to the class, allowing each student one guess as to who the list was describing:
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Tevya
