"Ice Fires on the Sabbath"

Some related factors to the fodder of Ice Fires in the Gospel:
1. Life is not fair: The challenge is to prepare and to respond with patience, understanding, forgiveness and to not take things done by others as personal attacks. We need to know that failure is not an end, and not to give up in the face of adversity.
(Reference: Job, the Apostles, Jesus)
2. We are our brother's (sister's) keeper: In prison camps a great wisdom is taught, we must be part of a team, or others, to be alone - is to be defeated of self-preservation. The highest value was to support the man next door.
(Home teaching, visiting teaching, the Second Great commandment all help to serve this purpose. However, we as individuals, can only share with others honestly - through the heart, and only then will we know what our brother or sister really needs.)
3. We can't worry about things we can't control: We can only control our attitude, the way we think about things. We only waste energy, time, and emotion trying to deal with situations over which you have not caused and cannot control. We have to find a way to take charge of those things you can control - take charge, we have to have control of our attitude.
(We can say we're sorry, we can be the first to extend a hand of fellowship, we can be the difference in having good feelings in areas where you are present.)
4. Courage is endurance in the presence of fear: Others will always try to manipulate us through fear or guilt. Guilt can mean feeling inadequate - feeling that we never measure up to expectations or that 'I'm not good enough.' Fear of failure can be a great motivator, but if these feelings get out of control, they can (and will) destroy us. There is never a reason to compromise honor, to compromise honor will begin depression and guilt, and will allow another to control us.
(Living our religion is an act of great courage in the latter-days. The ability to have already made decisions of honor, commitment, stewardship, love and obedience are the ingredients of showing courage instead of fear.)
5. Hatred is self-defeating: We cannot always prevent anger. It can be a healthy reaction to the adversity and unfairness we face in life. But, we cannot allow it to fester or develop into bitterness or hatred, anger becomes a destabilizing emotion. Anger like all emotions needs to be harnessed as a tool. In this manner anger gives us another meaningful tool rather than a detractor from our self-worth. This means we have to resist self-pity and by becoming fully engaged with our brothers and sisters - helping others and being encouraged by them.

“Ice Fires on the Sabbath”

cji

6/16/19

Touching the limbs of trees

sending forth pine smoke

heating intensely then gone

a couple hours of doctrine

partaking of the Sacrament

then into the world to play

playing always with the fire

ice fires of the Sabbath Day!

Copyright © 2019 – cji