Heavenly Father - Poem

Heavenly Father

Father omniscient in heaven and earth

   Awakens each breath and beating heart

His word molds mountains and skies above

   While whispers the Spirit divine guidance and love

Wondrous brilliance shines Kolob afar

   Light carries and illuminates each child star

Attentive, personal, individual care

   For each godly embryo journeying here

Righteous, evil, or teetering indecision

   Receive equal rights of agency, not coercion

Salvation, opposition, planned from the start

   Gifting God’s Only Beloved Son’s willing life and heart

Pruning, replanting, finding lost sheep

   Wandering forgotten rescued and received

Ordinance, covenants, power and glory

   Bestowed essential part of family’s final story

Restoration, resurrection, one eternal round

   Salvation, exaltation each generation bound

The last, the first, the many, the one

   The father, the mother, the daughter, the son

Elohim, Abba, Father of heaven and earth     

   All glory, all honor for life’s birth and rebirth

Swell wide the heavens sing praises above

   For Father whose name is spoken with love

Janice Harten

Breath of Life - Poem

Breath of Life

The breath of life once given

To an infant long ago

Now ceased, still and quiet

In a body left below

From the realms of heaven

Spirit first entered in

Now taken back to Heaven’s home

Where it once began

Heart no longer beating

In this one, but faithful children

Reflect on tender memories

And the lives they were given

Flesh tired and worn, yet sacred

Performed its mortal task

Protected in an earthly tomb

To rest in peace at last

To await a day not distant

When the words 'Come Forth' are heard

And joyful spirit and flesh, again

Obey the Father’s word

By Janice Harten
Copyright © 2012 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

World of Discovery - Body

The past few months, I have undertaken a goal to scan and record digital copies of all our old videos and photographs, so they can be shared with our children.  Most recently I have been viewing photos of the day Bill and I were married.  Who are the people in those photographs?!  Time has changed our physical appearance dramatically, from our hair color to our middle.  We looked and felt invincible then, and were totally caught up in ourselves and our future together.  We could function on only a few hours of sleep, eat whatever we wanted, and enjoy hiking and camping.  Now, we experience fitful sleep, gain weight just looking at chocolate cake, and wonder if our knees will carry us down the hill if we attempt to go up it.

I remember, as a child, how excited I was to ride a bicycle for the first time.  I managed to learn quickly, and it gave me freedom I had not experienced before.  As the wind blew my hair, I enjoyed the control and feel of the handle bars in my hands and the power of the pedals under my feet.  I could go places more quickly and easily, and a whole new world opened up for me.  I wonder if this is at all similar to our spirits receiving physical bodies?

I can only imagine how excited I was to finally have my turn to come to earth and receive a physical body.  In the scriptures, we are told we shouted for joy!  (Job 38:7)  How thrilling to contemplate being able to see, hear, smell, taste, touch, speak and move with tangible, physical bodies of flesh and bone.  How significant the gift to conceive and bear children.  How interesting to learn how to use the life of spirit to direct the motion and choice of a new physical world.  What an interesting opportunity the Lord has given us, to see how we will use these temporal shells, before giving us permanent, immortal ones.

Life's difficulties are real, and I see friends and those I love, suffer from painful physical trials.  I do not look forward to growing less mobile or more round, ill or incapacitated.  But, I accept, that eventually our bodies have to stop completely, so our spirits can return to our heavenly home and report on this journey.

And so, I remember and am grateful for the life I have been given, even as my newly acquired but earthly aging, physical self, moans and creaks a little.  I think more carefully about what goes in and around it, and how it moves, so I might enjoy it a little longer.  And I wonder if I will look back with joy and satisfaction, not only on my new found freedom and expression, but with especial appreciation for the opportunity to endure sickness, aches, pains and even eventual death.  

One of the most profound moments in my life, was seeing the body of my mother, still, in death.  Gazing at her, I found myself realizing how much I do not know about the power we are given through this physical gift.  We have barely scratched the surface of our mortal understanding, as we contemplate life in heaven and the things we will be capable of doing with a resurrected body, joined once again to our tested and more developed spirit.  I testify that the power of the atonement will raise us from our death beds and allow us to stand in full majesty before our creator, the King of Kings.

Mosiah 16:8

8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.

What a world of discovery and joy awaits us in the heavens!

White Linen - Poem

White Linen

Twisted olive tree steadies a writhing soul

As red blood-drops, moisten the ground below

Sleeping friends unknowingly abandon one

Who is suffering beyond what mortal has done

Scourging and thorns punish innocent flesh

Cobbled stones carry their creator’s final step

Crucifix sign declares, ‘King of the Jews’

Permanent mark of nails, pierce hands and feet through

“Father, forgive them,” is perfect love’s reply

As the tormentors, his brothers, mock nearby

Finally, he calls, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani”

My God, my God, Why hast thou forsaken me?

Alone, he submits, choosing mortal death

To his Father in Heaven he commends his spirit

Earth shudders and mourns for its Lord of creation

As humanity, as foretold, their Savior they’ve forsaken

Body lays, carefully wrapped, in a borrowed tomb

Stone rolled, and guards the sacred Garden room

“In three days this temple, again, I will raise”

All who heard had not understood the prophetic phrase

White linen found lying in the sepulcher

The Savior’s bruised tabernacle no longer there

Women humbly ask where his body has been taken

Angels solemnly declare, “He is not here, for He is risen”

Having overcome the sins of the world

Making possible humankind’s wounds to be healed

Suffering all things from the beginning

That for the repentant, eternal life may be given

Having drunk out of the most bitter cup

That all mankind might be lifted up

Perfectly submitting to his Father’s will

Broken bread and clear water remind us still

By Janice Harten

Jan. 22, 2001

Copyright © 2012 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Transcendence - Poem

Transcendence -

Lazarus arose

   from sickness

   and wrapped death

To the astonishment

   of all

Except one

Whose power

   transcends sorrow

   and opens manmade tombs

To a realm

   of glory

By Janice Harten
Nov 28, 2008
Copyright © 2011 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.