Holy Smokes! This is a long post! I foolishly laid down to rest/think/ponder last night at 7 p.m. I foolishly woke up at 9 p.m. Who does that? To top it off, I chugged some pop as soon as I got up. Needless to say, I later lay in bed trying to go to sleep when I just couldn't take the lying-still-with-jitters-in-the-dark. No more! Regardless of heading back to work and school the next day, I had to get out of bed and jot down the thoughts swimming in my head. I'll blame it on that darn sugary pop. Anyway. My jotting got going and as I had lots of wakefulness, I let it rip out on the key board. I hope it makes sense because once 12:45 rolled around, I was losing patience for organizing my thoughts. So, what you see is what you get. I hope it makes sense. Mostly, I hope it makes sense for me because I'll go back and read it one day and it better make sense. So there. Enjoy, if you dare read the mini-novel of thoughts digested during the early morning hours...
So today in Young Women’s (I’m an advisor for 16-18 year-old girls at church) the lesson had something to do with the effect that we can/how to come to know Christ. One of the leaders made a comment about the way Christ treated people. She gave the example of how he treated “the adulterous woman” when she was brought before Him and the other men (click HERE for the quick story). A thought struck me… For the Savior to be able to treat her in such a manner, with such dignity, He probably didn’t view her or classify or know her as “the adulterous woman”. He didn’t recognize her by her sin. Did He see her as the woman, the spirit that she was before descending to this lone and dreary wasteland called Earth? Did He see her not as an adulteress, but as a divine daughter of His Father? Did He see her in her future full potential, a perfect individual, a ruler and future God? How easy and quick it is in human nature to evaluate/judge a person by immediate or present circumstances, circumstances for which we have such a narrow and sometimes blinded scope of perspective.
I got to further thinking… If we are to become as our Father, we must do as He does to become as He is. Logical, right? One of my childhood friends gave a speech at his high school graduation. I wasn’t there, but saw a video of it much later. His speech was much anticipated and ended up being very brief. I haven’t forgotten it. To begin, he quoted a famous philosopher saying (in essence) that it is our actions that determine what/who we are. He then provided another philosopher’s counter statement saying (in essence) that our actions are determined or stem from who/what we are. He then quoted Scooby-Doo, yes Scooby-Doo, in a manner that in the moment seemed juvenile and irreverent for such a graduation setting. The statement he made was something to the affect of “Maybe the great philosopher Scooby-Doo said it right when he said ‘Do-be-do-be-do’.” His whole speech probably took a whole 2 or 3 min. The audience laughed and graduation went right on with the traditional procedures. I’ve since thought about that quick speech many a time.
There is a fine balance between doing -becoming/being and our doings stemming from that becoming/being. Did that make sense? It’s such an interrelated process (the Scooby-Doo connection made it visual for me). The adulterous woman was mid process of the do-be-do-be-do, and to think that the typifying savior for her turn of doing/being was the Savior who stood right before her. How fortunate for her, right? I find it interesting that the scriptures didn’t include a follow-up of what came from her experience. Did the woman take advantage of her opportunity, truly commune with her Lord, or was she relieved and thankful to get out of a stoning moving forward to carry on with her daily life without that crucial communion? Knowing her outcome wasn’t the intended point of the story, I guess. With the story ending in such a way, I think that I can easily fit myself into her place. Don’t I stand in that same manner before the Savior every Sunday as I, in earnest need, am presented with the opportunity to take the sacrament? Though I have the earnest need, do I wait in reverent anticipation for communion, or are my thoughts quick, trite, and right back on to my Monday to-do list at the flicker of thought? I may not commit adultery very often (all right, I don’t ever) but I do have the same opportunity as that “adulterous” woman to come before the Savior covered in dirt and sin. In fact, unlike the “adulteress”, it isn’t a once in a life-time opportunity for me. I can experience it every week. How blessed and fortunate I am. I wish I could be more instrumental in providing others with the opportunity to receive such numerous, priceless opportunities as I have to sit present before the Lord. I stand in awe that I have those opportunities at my fingertips not just once in a lifetime but every Sunday at 11 o’clock a.m.
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