"Art Thou Greater Than He?"Out of the Best Books No. 5

Accompanied by a CD of three songs, this little book by singer-songwriter Kenneth Cope presents, in about twenty pages, the lyrics to his song "Greater Than Us All" with added pictures, quotes, and scriptural references. The back cover of the book summarizes the context of the song like this:

Long before Calvary and the crown of thorns, before Bethlehem, or Israel, or even Eden, Jesus demonstrated His matchless love.

I was not familiar with the song prior to reading through the book, but the lyric that I found most meaningful as I read and listened was this one:

Every heart felt of His love / For us He'd come

The accompanying scripture is 1 John 4:19: "We love Him, because He first loved us." What a magnificent expression of Jesus's love was evident in His willingness to become our Teacher, our Exemplar, our Savior, and our Redeemer! Because of His perfect love, He is greater than us all - which enables us to rely upon Him in our sorrows, our sins, our pains, and our afflictions (see Alma 7:11-13).

In D&C 122:8 is recorded the word of the Lord to Joseph Smith while he was imprisoned in Liberty Jail.

The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

In other words, nothing we can ever experience, no trial we must ever endure is greater than Jesus's power to comfort and heal! He is always with us!

Note of Explanation: Part of my 10-week plan for summer this year was to read one short, inspirational book each Sunday afternoon and ponder on what I can learn from it. This blog post represents part of my efforts to do that.

Feeling God's LoveOut of the Best Books No. 1

I am a fourteen-towel women
in a ten-towel-capacity life.
In Confessions of an Unbalanced Woman, Emily Watts describes her quest for "balance" - and then the epiphany that she doesn't actually want balance. Instead, she writes, "I want to find the one thing in my life that, if I get that right, it doesn't matter what the world throws onto the other side of the scale. It won't make any difference at all."

She found descriptions of that one thing in the scriptures:

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33).

Love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ (Moroni 10:32).

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us (Romans 8:35, 37).

That one thing, then, is love - God's love for us and our love for God.

Two of the several ideas Emily shares for feeling God's love in daily life are these:

Reverse your buts. A trick she learned in a management seminar, it works this way. Instead of thinking, "I love you, but you're driving me crazy." try thinking, "You're driving me crazy, but I love you." Or instead of "I have a great job, but it's really stressful." try "It's really stressful, but I have a great job." Isn't it amazing how different that feels?

Utilize the simple, three-step formula in D&C 90:24. 1) Search diligently for evidences of God's love. 2) Pray always. 3) Be believing. "Believe that your search is not in vain. Believe that you will find what you're looking for. Believe that [God's love] is there for you personally - not just as some abstract concept but as the most intimate, knowledge-filled, careful love you could ever know. Believe that if the Lord spoke to you today he would call you by name. He knows you that well." God's promised response to this formula is "And all things shall work together for your good" (D&C 90:24).

The words of Jesus to Martha in Luke 10:41-42 have been an answer to my prayers in the past - and they serve as a reminder of Emily Watt's message:

Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Note of Explanation: Part of my 10-week plan for summer this year is to read one short, inspirational book each Sunday afternoon and ponder on what I can learn from it. This blog post represents part of my efforts to do that.