Missed a week!
Two Sundays ago, Crista told me she felt inspired to tell me to read Grandpa Cook’s history, specifically the ancestor section. In Brandon Sanderson’s new book, Wind and Truth (not sure I’m a fan of everything in there, but it has some redeeming qualities), there are “Spren” which are spiritual ties to another realm to those who take oaths (make covenants). If they break those oaths, then the Spren dies, as does their tie to that Spren. Now I know this seems similar to some of our beliefs with the Holy Ghost, but I also see a parallel to the ties we have to our ancestors. Because I am listening to this almost forty hour book, I can’t give an exact quote, but he explains that the more the individual holds true to his oaths, the stronger the bond is between the individual and the spren. This made me think of my connection to my ancestors. The more I’ve learned about them and followed their legacy in living the gospel, the more I feel them in my life. I think that Crista’s prompt was an inspired one and I hope that as I continue to learn about my ancestors, I will see their hand more in my life. I think a big part of this is that they are already a part of my life (and those in my family), but because I don’t know them as well as I know my grandma and other spirits I’ve specifically felt, I don’t recognize them.
My mom and I had further discussions about one of my ancestors, in particular, Phineas Walcott Cook. He had several instances where he was offended by leaders of the church, including, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and others. BUT despite feeling wronged by them, he stayed. To me this teaches a few powerful lessons. 1) It shows me that Grandpa Cook understood that this church is made up of imperfect people, because the only perfect person that has ever lived was our Savior. 2) It shows me that despite the imperfections of the very President of the church, Phineas’s faith prevailed. He didn’t let the mistake of another deter his faith in the gospel. Our testimonies are not based on the leaders, but on our Savior and the Book of Mormon. Our church encourages any willing reader to pray to know for themselves if it is true and by the only source that offers absolute truth (the Holy Ghost), you can receive your own personal witness. It is something I have done time and again. I have had overwhelming feelings that have told me it is true, but I have also witnessed the fruits of the Book of Mormon and The Lord’s church. These evidences are enough for me.
I was going to post pictures from this past week, but I can’t get them to upload to the server and my IT guy is still out of the country. But we had a good time celebrating Veteran’s day and my dear friend took pictures of our kids for free. It was one thing I was going to let slide since Andy was gone, but she made sure my kids didn’t go a year without being documented. I also finished my shoe shelf! But I’ll have to post these pictures later when I figure out what I’m doing wrong with the upload.