HP Lesson - October 2013 - Your Wonderful Journey Home

Introduction - Three talks given to me to prepare a lesson from: Way too much to prepare.

1. President Uctdorf  - Your Wonderful Jouney Home
2. Elder Bednar
3. Elder  Ballard

The Opening line:

As you joyfully use the map your loving Father has provided for your journey, it will lead you to holy places and you will rise to your supernal potential.

LEARNER READINESS

SAY: Let's read about a journy that President Uctdorf took when he was young.

READ Quotation #1 – President Uctdorf

Quotation #1 – President Uctdorf

I grew up in Zwickau, in the former East Germany. When I was about 11 years old, my father fell under increased scrutiny as a political dissenter, and my parents felt that the only safe choice for our family would be to flee to West Germany. It was decided that the safest plan was to leave at different times and follow different routes to the West, leaving all our belongings behind.

Since my father was at greatest risk, he took the quickest journey, through Berlin. My older brothers headed north, and each found his own way west. My sister—who would have been the age of many of you here today—together with Helga Fassmann, her teacher in Young Women, and some others took a train that passed briefly through West Germany. They paid a porter to unlock one of the doors for them, and after the train crossed the West German border, they jumped from the moving train to freedom. How I admired my sister for her courage.

I was the youngest child, and my mother decided that she and I would walk across a mountain range separating the two countries. I remember that she packed a lunch as if we were going for a hike or a picnic in the mountains.

We took a train as far as we could and then walked for long hours, getting ever closer to the West German border. The borders were tightly controlled, but we had a map and knew of a time and a place where it might be safe to cross. I could sense my mother’s anxiety. She observed the area intensely to see if we were being followed. With each step, her legs and knees seemed to become weaker. I helped carry her heavy bag filled with food, vital documents, and family photos as we climbed up one last, long hill. Surely, she thought, we had passed the border by now. When she finally felt safe, we sat down and started to eat our picnic lunch. For the first time that day, I’m sure, she breathed more easily.

It was only then that we noticed the border sign. It was still far ahead of us! We were having our picnic on the wrong side of the border. We were still in East Germany!

Border guards could show up any moment!

My mother frantically packed up our lunch, and we hurried up the hillside as quickly as we could. This time we didn’t dare stop until we knew with certainty that we had reached the other side of the border.

Even though each member of our family had taken very different routes and experienced very different hardships along the way, eventually all of us made it to safety. We were finally reunited as a family. What a glorious day that was!

SAY: I found the story intriguing.  They all too different paths but ended up at the same place!

Q: Do we all have different paths on our journey on this earth?

READ Quotation #2 – President Uctdorf

Quotation #2 – President Uctdorf

What I have just told you is an experience that is to me a very precious journey. I can now look back on my life and recognize a number of such “journeys” I have taken over time. Not all of them involved crossing mountain ranges or political boundaries; some had more to do with overcoming trials or growing in spirituality. But they were all journeys. I believe that every life is a collection of individual “journey stories.”

SAY: Life is a collection of individual journey stories.  Be thinking about your own individual journey stories.  They may involve overcoming trials, growing in spirituality.

Q: What is the most important thing to have while traveling your path of life, your journey?  What have you found most useful? (money, grace, faith, knowledge of the plan, hope, health, a good companion, the Church, scriptures, etc.)

SAY: Elder Uchdorf goes on to discuss what we know about our pre earth life.  He then talks of what earth life would be like.

READ Quotation #3 – President Uctdorf

Quotation #3 – President Uctdorf

There were so many things that would be out of your control. Mortal life would be hard at times, filled with unexpected bends in the road: sickness, heartbreak, accidents, conflict.

Without a memory of your previous existence—without remembering that you once walked with your Father in Heaven—would you still recognize His voice amid all the noise and distractions of mortal life?

The journey ahead seemed so long and uncertain—so filled with risk.

It wouldn’t be easy, but you knew it was worth every effort.

READ Quotation #4 – President Uctdorf

Quotation #4 – President Uctdorf

So, there you stood on the edge of eternity, looking forward with unspeakable excitement and hope—and, I imagine, also with a degree of worry and fear.

In the end, you knew God would be just—that His goodness would triumph. You had participated in the great heavenly councils and knew that your Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, would provide a way for you to be cleansed from sin and rescued from physical death. You had faith that, in the end, you would rejoice and join your voice with a heavenly chorus singing praises to His holy name.

And so, you took a deep breath …

And a great step forward …

And here you are!

LEARNER INVOLVEMENT

SAY: So, here we are.

Q: How does if feel?

Q: Was it everything that you expected?

Q: How has the journey been?

Q: Why do we need a map?

READ Quotation #5 – President Uctdorf

Quotation #5 – President Uctdorf

He didn’t send you on this journey only to wander aimlessly on your own. He wants you to come home to Him. He has given you loving parents and faithful Church leaders, along with a map that describes the terrain and identifies the dangers; the map shows you where peace and happiness can be found and will help you plot your course back home.

SAY, President Uctdorf asks this question, Q: Now, where do you find this map?

1. In the sacred scriptures.
2. In the words of prophets and apostles.
3. And through personal revelation from the Holy Ghost.

This map is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news, and the joyful way of a disciple of Christ. It is the commandments and example given to us by our Advocate and Mentor, who knows the way because He is the way.

LEARNER APPLICATION

SAY: I wanted to go a little deeper on the subject of Jesus Christ.

READ #6 Quotation from Brad Wilcox Talk "His Grace is Sufficient"

#6 Quotation from Brad Wilcox Talk "His Grace is Sufficient"

I have born-again Christian friends who say to me, “You Mormons are trying to earn your way to heaven.”

I say, “No, we are not earning heaven. We are learning heaven. We are preparing for it (see D&C 78:7). We are practicing for it.”

They ask me, “Have you been saved by grace?”

I answer, “Yes. Absolutely, totally, completely, thankfully—yes!”

Then I ask them a question that perhaps they have not fully considered: “Have you been changed by grace?” They are so excited about being saved that maybe they are not thinking enough about what comes next. They are so happy the debt is paid that they may not have considered why the debt existed in the first place. Latter-day Saints know not only what Jesus has saved us from but also what He has saved us for. As my friend Brett Sanders puts it, “A life impacted by grace eventually begins to look like Christ’s life.” As my friend Omar Canals puts it, “While many Christians view Christ’s suffering as only a huge favor He did for us, Latter-day Saints also recognize it as a huge investment He made in us.” As Moroni puts it, grace isn’t just about being saved. It is also about becoming like the Savior (see Moroni 7:48).

Q: Any thoughts on being changed by grace?

READ #7  Quotation from Brad Wilcox Talk "His Grace is Sufficient"

#7 - Quotation from Brad Wilcox Talk "His Grace is Sufficient"

Grace is not a booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather, it is our constant energy source. It is not the light at the end of the tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved somewhere down the road. It is received right here and right now.

SAY: These ideas about grace may be foreign to some. I know is has been foreign to me but I am beginning to understand it.  Q: Why is grace our constant energy source?

READ Quotation #8 – President Uctdorf

Quotation #8 – President Uctdorf

Of course, simply having a map doesn’t do any good unless you study it—unless you use it to navigate through life. I invite you to make it a high priority to study and apply God’s word. Open your heart to the Holy Ghost so that He can direct you along your journey through life.

Q: How does having a map help you through the difficult parts of the journey?

READ Alma 26:19-22

19 Oh then, why did he not consign us to an awful destruction, yea, why did he not let the sword of his justice fall upon us, and doom us to eternal despair?
20 Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at the thought. Behold, he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls.

Are there gulfs in journey?  What might they be?  How does one cross a deep chasim without going down to misery and woe, dirty waters of sin and forbidden paths?

READ Alma 26: 23-24

21 And now behold, my brethren, what natural man is there that knoweth these things? I say unto you, there is none that knoweth these things, save it be the penitent.
22 Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance ...

Conclusion

Christ came to the earth to be our Savior.  His journey included paying for our sins.  How do se show our love and appreciation for His sacrifice for His paying the debt?  By ever changing growing from grace to grace.  This is what is meant in the scriptures to exercise faith unto repentance.  If our journey has integrated these concepts we receive help we need from the Lord to endure to the end.

Amen.



The wilted tomato story




As we think about the imagery of succoring the weak, lifting up the hands which hang down, and strengthening feeble knees, I am reminded of a sweet seven-year-old showing her grandfather a small tomato plant she had started from seed as part of a second-grade school project.


She explained that from one tiny seed would come a plant. And if the plant were cared for, it would grow many tomatoes that would each have many seeds.


She said, “And if all of those seeds were planted and grew more tomatoes, and you planted all of those seeds, in a few seasons you would have millions of tomatoes.”


“All,” she said in amazement, “from one little seed.”


But then she said, “I almost killed my plant. I left it in a dark room and forgot to water it. When I remembered the plant, it was all wilted and dead looking. I cried because I thought of all of those millions of tomatoes that would never grow.”


She was then excited to tell her grandfather about the “miracle” that happened.


She explained, “Momma said maybe the plant wasn’t dead. Maybe all it needed was some water and some light to bring life back.


“And she was right. I gave the plant some water, and I put it in the window for light. And guess what?” she asked. “It came back to life, and now it’s going to grow millions of tomatoes!”


Her small tomato plant, so full of potential but so weakened and wilted from unintentional neglect, was strengthened and revived through the simple ministration of water and light by the little girl’s loving and caring hands.


Brothers and sisters, as the literal spirit children of our loving Heavenly Father, we have unlimited, divine potential. But if we are not careful, we can become like the wilted tomato plant. We can drift away from the true doctrine and gospel of Christ and become spiritually undernourished and wilted, having removed ourselves from the divine light and living waters of the Savior’s eternal love and priesthood power.


If any one of you feels your faith or your testimony of Heavenly Father’s plan is less than you know it should be, then turn more fully to the Savior. Let His light and His living water do for you and your family what a little water and light did in bringing life back to the weakened tomato plant.