Choose Wisely

 

While drifting back and forth between getting up and starting my day or remaining under the covers enjoying the last vestiges of dreamland, I was supposed to be thinking about a meaningful message to share with everyone, one that might soothe anxieties left over after this past week’s presidential election.  The longer I enjoyed the comfort of my surroundings, the more it became clear what I was to write about; and it had little if anything to do with politics.

I was reminded of a talk given by Douglas Callister many years ago, Your Refined Heavenly Home.  His introduction to that talk continues to hold my attention and acts as an anchor for my hopes and goals.

“The nearer we get to God, the more easily our spirits are touched by refined and beautiful things. If we could part the veil and observe our heavenly home, we would be impressed with the cultivated minds and hearts of those who so happily live there. I imagine that our heavenly parents are exquisitely refined. In this great gospel of emulation, one of the purposes of our earthly probation is to become like them in every conceivable way so that we may be comfortable in the presence of heavenly parentage and, in the language of Enos, see their faces “with pleasure.”’

Isn’t that an odd thought to have lingering in your mind prior to getting out of bed?  It gets worse, that thought was coupled with a scene from the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, specifically the part where the ancient knight who’d been guarding the Holy Grail cup observed the drinking from the ornate cup rather than the true Holy Grail cup. “He choose, poorly.”

It didn’t take much imagination to figure out that Christ would have had a simple cup, not some fancy or elaborate cup.  Sometimes the simplest of items are exquisitely refined.  

Look at the nearly invisible purple flower that springs up in the middle of your lawn and consider its beauty.  If you were too busy while mowing the yard its intricate design might have been overlooked; but you weren’t too busy and stopped momentarily to appreciate its creation, no more or no less than an orchid on display at the local flower shop.

Elder Callister’s promptings were intended to have us expand our thoughts, our aspirations to a higher level, to see ourselves as offspring of Heavenly Parents.  Why settle for mediocrity when we’re supposed to be heirs to His Kingdom.  He then quoted Brigham Young to drive home the idea of the need for spiritual refinement.

“We are trying to be the image of those who live in heaven; we are trying to pattern after them, to look like them, to walk and talk like them.” To prepare us to do this, the 13th article of faith encourages: “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” Refinement is a companion to developed spirituality. Refinement and spirituality are two strings drawn by the same bow.”

It was at this time that I wondered how we would be dressed in His Kingdom.  Would we be in fancy clothes that are custom tailored from the finest materials?  The answer came back quickly, no; we’d probably be dressed in pure white or perhaps we’d be in the robes of the Holy Priesthood.  We’d be happiest dressed that way, the symbolic garments worn while performing ordinances in the Temple, the House of the Lord. Yes, that’s the way the Lord would have us while in His presence.

Would there be a grand piano with Rachmaninoff or Tchaikovsky playing their favorite pieces? Maybe there’s a never-ending bookshelf containing works by imaginative writers like Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury and William Shakespear; each book being read aloud by the author in such a way as to carry us into his world?  I sort of doubt that.

God tends to limit His words; being an individual of action, not needing to, perhaps not having to explain the magnificence of creation.  When God described the grand creational process of this earth, He said in measured tones that “it was good.”  God left the flowery language for poets and writers so they’d have something to do instead of punching a time clock at the steel mill.

Being aware of the thoughts of others as they try to describe His creations is the ultimate library. It’s hard to beat listening to the creation story while attending the Temple, “Here is matter unorganized”, how’s that for an understatement? Then there’s one of the more important statements made by our Father in Heaven, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”

Appreciating thoughts expressed by someone who has a completely different point of view, that is one of the goals we should reach for, spirituality at the highest level.  We are expected to take all these wonderful expressions with us after we leave mortality.  Isn’t that what Elder Callister wants us to understand?

There you have it, grounds to have me committed.  I’m caught between mortality and the eternities, hoping we all arrive in one piece, our testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ leading us home.  Oh please, choose wisely.