Peculiar

We are told that "Mormons" will be viewed as a peculiar people in the last days.  I have been thinking about what that means in the current moral climate within our nation and the world.  What does it mean to be peculiar?  If it means that we teach our children to be chaste, modest and not have premarital sex, and then to be faithful to their husband or wife after marriage, is that peculiar?  Is it peculiar to teach that our bodies are sacred and should be treated as a temple, and to avoid substances that would harm them, such as drugs, alcohol and tobacco?  How peculiar is it to value children and teach that it is a sacred responsibility to raise them in a loving home, with a father and a mother?  Or is it that we teach them to not swear, or take the name of God in vain, that they should be honest in all their dealings and pay a tithe to the Lord?  How about honoring their father and mother, respecting their teachers and obeying, honoring and sustaining the law?  Or, what about serving and treating their fellow men with respect?  Is it peculiar to teach faith in God, that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, and to pray for forgiveness and guidance?

If these things are what make someone peculiar, then may there be more peculiar people in the world!

Assembly - Poem

Assembly

Careful coordination of

   machine and human,

       assembly line

   sequentially moves

from station to station

One worker adds,

   then the next

   to the structure –

      sparks fly –

   securely welding

all together

Countless workers,

   each item touched –

      the manager, alone,

knows how much

Children leave home,

   discovered by another,

      traveling along

   assembly of

family, friend and stranger

Who is next

   to build upon

   son or daughter?

      helping weld

   individual and family

together

Carefully transported,

   priceless structure –

      and only God knows

the number

By Janice Harten

8/12/2008

Copyright © 2011 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple - Willing Hands and Hearts

As we drove through the fields and rolling hills of the midwest, from Des Moines, Iowa, to Omaha Nebraska, I tried to imagine the Pioneer Saints traveling in their covered wagons or pulling handcarts,  along this route.  The newly harvested fields and green landscape were beautiful from inside our comfortable car.  But, as I felt strong winds push sideways against the car, and saw groups of semi-trucks pulled over for safety, I realized the pioneers had traveled under very different circumstances.  Their journey was in the middle of winter and in freezing blowing snow.  Every step was a battle for life, and many lost their lives.  These were my people, my family, my heritage.

Temple stained glass windows, with Pioneer scenes

I regret we did not have time to explore a nearby church visitor site, with details about the pioneer's experience.  So, if you ever visit, allow an extra hour or two, to maybe pull a handcart!  But, we were lucky just to make this evening journey, during a week of business meetings in Des Moines.


We met a young woman, who was celebrating her twelfth birthday with her family, by attending the temple and doing baptisms for her ancestors.  I was impressed that she chose to serve others on that day.  I also thought of other young men and women I worked beside, just a week ago.  We participated in a service project, organized by our ward, to trim and clean up the grounds around the elementary school.  It was hot, challenging work, but they stayed for almost three hours, and they were cheerful.  Whenever I hear news events that would discourage me, I picture them.  They keep my hopes for the future alive and bright.  I see the faith and willingness to sacrifice, traveling from the pioneers of the past, into the hands and hearts of our modern-day youth.

Iowa Countryside

Fields once covered with perfectly planted rows of corn, now prepared for winter.  They stretch as far as the eye can see.

Atlanta Georgia Temple - Angel with Trumpet

While in Birmingham, I discovered we were only a little over two hours away from Atlanta.  So, on an afternoon when Bill could leave his work a little early, we made the drive.  Driving anywhere, in the Eastern United States is enjoyable, as there are so many beautiful landscapes and green vistas.  However, fall wet weather has begun, and the wind and late hour, kept us from walking outside for more than a few moments.

Beautiful woodwork is part of the newly refurnished Atlanta Temple.  But the chandeliers are always a highlight in every temple.  We especially enjoyed the large chandelier in the Celestial Room.



On top of most temples, is a gold plated statue of the Angel Moroni blowing his trumpet.  It is symbolic of heralding in the latter days, and the restoration and message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, before the coming of the Savior's return to the earth for his Millennial reign.

I found the following information on a search on lds.org:

The Salt Lake Temple, dedicated in 1893, was the first temple topped with an angel formally identified as Moroni. When Church President Wilford Woodruff (1807–98) asked non-LDS artist Cyrus Dallin to create a statue, Dallin declined. Knowing that Dallin’s parents had once been active Latter-day Saints, President Woodruff encouraged him to consult with his mother.

Dallin’s mother felt he should accept the commission. When he said he did not believe in angels, his mother asked, “Why do you say that? … You call me your ‘angel mother.’” ³ She encouraged him to study Latter-day Saint scriptures for inspiration, which he did. His design was a dignified, neoclassical angel in robe and cap, standing upright with a trumpet in hand. The original one-meter plaster model was completed by 4 October 1891, and a full-size model was sent to Salem, Ohio, where the statue was hammered out of copper and covered with 22-karat gold leaf. The 3.8 meter statue stands on a stone ball on the 64-meter central spire on the east side.

Replicas of the statue, fashioned in the 1930s by Torlief Knaphus and later cast by LaVar Wallgren, can be found on the Atlanta Georgia Temple and the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple.

Cyrus Dallin was born in Springville, Utah, on 22 November 1861. His family had joined the Church in England and immigrated to Utah in 1851. Once there, however, Dallin’s parents joined the Presbyterian Church. As a child, Cyrus loved sketching and modeling with clay. Eventually he studied art in Boston, Massachusetts. “I considered that my ‘Angel Moroni’ brought me nearer to God than anything I ever did,” he said. “It seemed to me that I came to know what it means to commune with angels from heaven.”

Birmingham - Historical Significance

In Birmingham Alabama, I visited areas of historical significance.  It was moving to be reminded of the things I have witnessed in my lifetime, and the efforts by many who have struggled for greater freedom.

Baptist Church next to Kelly Ingram Park
A gathering place for Civil Rights Leaders and those who marched

Kelly Ingram Park, Central to the Civil Rights Movement

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Plack Honoring Freedom Riders

Birmingham Alabama Temple - The Lord is in the Details

After attending a session in the Birmingham, Alabama Temple, Bill and I visited with some of the temple workers.  One of them shared the following story that occurred on the day the temple was dedicated.  As with all temple dedications, there was more than one dedication service, in order to allow more people to participate.  On that day, the temple ordinance worker we were visiting with, was approached by the Temple President, and was asked to find his sister, and get a sewing machine with notions (thread etc).  His sister did sewing as a hobby.  He was also asked to arrange for a place for the sewing machine to be used.  Locating a surface to sew on was a challenge.  The solution he came up with, was using a rectangular mortar slab, that had been used to hold the mortar when the corner stone was put in place.  It was washed off and set in one of the offices, for the sewing machine to sit on.  

After he located his sister, it was explained to them that President Hinckley made the mistake of bringing a pair of temple pants that were too small, and he was very uncomfortable.  As soon as the first temple dedication session was completed, he asked to have them adjusted.  What is most interesting, is that the sister who made the adjustment had needed, just the night before, to adjust her son's pants, in preparation for dedication day.  So, she knew just what to do.  I am touched by how merciful the Lord was in preparing her for this service, and allowing her to have a very personal experience serving the prophet.  Of course the Lord could have arranged for the President to have the right size of pants regardless, but I think this was an experience intended to strengthen the faith of those personally involved, including President Hinckley, and how his immediate needs were met.  President Hinckley mentioned this experience during the next dedicatory session.  This was such a small thing, yet it is the perfect example of how the Lord is aware and involved in the details of our lives.

The Birmingham Temple is one of the smallest of the temples.  It, and other small temples dotting nearby states, were built so that members would not have to travel such long distances to get their ordinance work done.  Another observation I made, was how personable and intimate the relationships are between the workers and the patrons, because they are fewer in number.

Nephi's purpose in writing

I sometimes wonder who, if anyone, will read what I have written.  And if no one reads it, what is it's purpose?  I am surprised, that in spite of a lack of readership, I feel a strong desire to continue writing about my thoughts, experiences, and testimony.

The other day, reading in the Book of Mormon I reread these passages, written by Nephi, 

"For the fulness of mine intent is that I may ^apersuade men to^bcome unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved.

Wherefore, the things which are ^apleasing unto the world I do not write, but the things which are pleasing unto God and unto those who are not of the world."

I thought about Nephi's purpose for keeping records, to bless his posterity, and anyone who would believe.  And he wrote not just one record, but at least two that he speaks of.  Nephi's record was written 600 years before the birth of Christ, and it was buried in the earth for many centuries after Christ's birth.  Yet, the Lord preserved it for a purpose, and his voice and testimony is now read and heard throughout the world.

I trust that some small good will come from my words, for the sake of my posterity, in the Lord's time.

Renewed - Poem

Renewed -

He glanced at her, his eyes grew wide

   “You are a beautiful maiden!”

She blushed and smiled with delight

   Then leaned over and kissed him

Thirty two years of married life

   His next words reawakened,

“Let me put my glasses on.”

   She said, “In case I am mistaken!”

Love and laughter intertwined

   Wrestling match ensued

Lighting sparkles in their eyes

   Feelings of youth renewed

 Janice Harten
Sept 4, 2010
Copyright © 2011 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Counseling and Comforting

I am astonished sometimes, by the ideas and thoughts that come to my mind, as I have discussions with my husband, or one of our children.  There are just moments when the right idea makes sense, and the direction seems clear, of what to do.

Tonight, we were talking about a business decision and discussion that needs to take place with one of the  company members.  I felt to suggest, he should focus on the plan and the way forward, rather than talking in circles about all that has happened in the past.  I also suggested that my husband remain perfectly steady and unflappable, and other people and things would eventually become steady, around him.  He is CEO, so it is essential that he maintain the course for the company and himself.  Other members need reassurance of the value they are to the company, and then they are happy and willing to contribute in the areas where their real talents lay.

I reminded him of the strength he has given me throughout our marriage.  When I thanked him for this, he quickly pointed out that I have done the same for him.  We reflected together on the time when our youngest son was born 3 months premature.  He was in intensive care for the first two months of his life.  I cried the first time I saw him in the incubator, and as I spoke to him he recognized my voice and quieted down.  I cried many times, when I saw the tiny marks on his skin, where the nurses searched for a place to move the life-saving IV needle, or the revised bandaid covers on his heels from where they pricked him again and again. His skin was so tender and new it was raw.  I cried to witness his battling spirit, in his tiny 2 lb body.  My husband was reassuring and devoted to me and our other four children at home.  The battle was on multiple fronts, as we dealt with financial decisions as well.  I reassured my husband, that we would make it.  We held each other and quietly sobbed on our pillows at night.  Each of us grieved at different moments and in different ways; when one was down the other was usually up, and vice versa.  It is a carefully choreographed existence, and the essence of the definition of "helpmeet".

Sunset

My husband left on a business trip this afternoon.  Seeking to comfort myself, I decided to go for a stroll to see the sunset; something he loves to do.  I grabbed one of his jackets and the camera.  I smiled when I put my hand in the pocket and found some "smarties".

Gardening - Poem

Gardening

Spring's seedlings of service

Yield Fall's bountiful harvest

Of red ripened hearts

With plump, tender parts

Weeded selfishness surrendered

Master gardener remembered

Janice Harten
Mar 15, 2009
Copyright © 2011 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Beware - Poem

Beware -

Canned peaches and pears

More over there

Pealing, filling

Over spilling

No shelves to spare

Tithes blessings beware

Janice Harten

Jan 20, 2011
Copyright © 2011 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

The Harvest!

This year we planted a garden, with the help and encouragement of our daughter and her husband.  We planted quite late in the season, so I didn't have much hope that we would harvest much produce.  Wow, was I wrong!  After we planted, I prayed over our little garden, and later I told a friend, that maybe next year I will only pray every other day!

The past few weeks, my daughter and I have been working hard to can and preserve what we have, both from the garden, and some peaches and pears we purchased.  I feel great satisfaction looking at the bottled fruit sitting on the kitchen table, or opening the freezer and seeing the bags of vegetables.  There is something especially satisfying about growing and preserving food together.

Hand to Hand - Poem

 Hand to Hand

Hand in Hand, a noble couple,

Kneel at Temple’s holy altar,

Covenanting with God and one another,

Forever joined and sealed together.

Soon their child, perfectly trusting, is

Swung high, both their hands tightly grasping,

Laughter, smiles and thrills escape,

As memories for eternity they make.

Precious others join their circled trio,

Looping, turning, closely linked, they go,

Occasionally one barely hanging on,

They lift and pull each other along.

Determined and connected to the end,

Until their circle, circles back again,

And together in eternity they finally land,

Holding God’s hand, to hand, to hand...

Janice Harten

Copyright © 2011 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.