Spiritual Wounds

"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly . . ."

Just looking at this old World War I picture, while contemplating the spiritual battlefield we are in (Ephesians 6:12) stirs memories of the times when my heart has been so wounded I literally could NOT pick myself up, but when I could go no further on my own, angel friends and family have been there to carry me to a place of comfort, help and healing.

My dear friend Darla Isackson has written another wonderful article in Meridian Magazine, titled "Clay Feet and Childhood Wounds"

In that article she said, "Wounds we received five minutes ago, as well in the distant past can cause us problems. Our society is full of prickly possibilities for spiritual wounding. Pres. Henry B. Eyring said in a recent address, 'Our comrades are being wounded in the spiritual conflict around us . . . Spiritual wounds are not easily visible, except with inspired eyes.' ("Man Down!” April 4, 2009, General Conference). I remember an additional message urging us to treat others with gentleness and kindness. The main idea was that if we treat everyone as if they are wounded, most of the time we’d be right. How true!

So many people “put on a happy face,” and never let the pain show. Others may put on a grouchy face, partly to keep people at a distance to make sure their woundedness is not found out. We know so little of what goes on in the minds and hearts of those around us—and things are so seldom as they seem. The most successful, seemingly altogether people may be hiding serious emotional wounds. The women of the “Five Browns” comes to mind. How many have envied them? Who would have guessed? No wonder the Lord has told us not to judge. He is the only One who knows each person’s heart. In 1 Samuel 16:7 we read, 'The Lord seeth not as a man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.'"

When I Drive Up To The Pearly Gates

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing my neighbor's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with the children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

~Marjorie Pay Hinckley ~

I don't doubt that she did just that! That's exactly what I want to do.

Missionary Shoes

A Hampton Roads, Virginia newspaper asked a reporter to choose a "day in the life" and do a photo essay. He chose Mormon Missionaries. I loved this picture. It's what I want my spiritual shoes to look like, and it's a good reminder to me that every time I feel down, the minute I do a service for or lift another soul the sun comes out in my heart again! I've decided that it's not how many people have loved you in this life that counts—it's how many people YOU have loved! Lord, let me love like this missionary!

In the November 2000 Ensign Alexander B. Morrison said, "As you come to know 'that when ye are in the service of your fellow [men] ye are only in the service of your God' (Mosiah 2:17), you will seek to wear out your life in the service of the Master. He will wrap you about in the cloak of His redeeming love, and your life will be changed forever."

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/03/prayers-and-processions-mormon-missionaries