Gifts for remembering Christ at Christmas

I have learned today that monetary gifts at Christmas are not a gift at all. Monetary gifts leave no remembrance of the occasion because they float away and leave no reoccurring memory of the gift or the sacrifice of the one that was made when the gift was given.   I believe a monetary gift breeds selfishness and materialism, the opposite to what is intended at Christmas.  Why did I give such for Christmas?  Because of Love and generosity, I suppose.

I wonder what a true gift would be that would enhance ones memory of the occasion for which the gift was given?  It seems as though it would require a great deal of thought, not only about the occasion, but about the gift itself.  I have begin to believe that we should think very deeply about the occasions where gifts are given and make them more meaningful.  An example of this thought was rendered by my son and his wife when I was given a gift due to COVid.  It was a sacrament tray for two people, for bread and water,  and was made by hand from exotic wood and engraved with the name of a favorite hymn with an embroidered clothe for a covering.  All of which was given on my birthday.  

The occasions where gifts are given are for the most part, birthdays, Easter, and Christmas.  Anyway, this was my thought and I'll try to repent in the future.  I want to be generous and kind to those in need, but, a monetary gift for Christmas is not always a good gift.  

RHB

Directed
A number of years ago, after Anita, my wife, passed, and after I bought my place in Bountiful, I began to wonder about my future and its relationship to the economy.  I decided that I needed a rainy day fund that would be independent of banks, government regulations, etc, so began over a period of several weeks to put cash away for such a rainy day.

 Prior to this time,  Randy, my son, gave me a combination safe that was part of a demolition where he worked.  His employer gave it to him but it needed a new combination which he obtained from a dealer in combination safes.  It was extremely heavy, but with the help of Kevin we got it to Overton where my winter home is located. It was in this safe that I put away the cash that I collected over the year.  I apparently forgot that I had put it away as I never opened the safe to view the contents.  

I started this bog entry a number years ago and I have almost forgotten the punch line.  But the essence of this entry was that I needed several thousand dollars while in Overton and one day when my Shauna was over we decided to clean out the safe because I was going sell out and move.  I had totally forgotten the saving I had and when discovered the cash it was like money from heaven.  

 Godliness unto Perfection

    The gospel contains such a nested set of principles that one cannot isolate one from another as we try to speak about a particular principle.  The gospel is obviously a way of life and one cannot pick upon a particular principle and work upon it without bringing all principles into play. All the Gospel principles must be brought into play if we are to bring repentance into our lives so we can live with our Father-in-heaven and His son.

 "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot." Moroni 10:32-33

 

Those words of Moroni are a distillation of a gospel principle to bring about our salvation and eternal life.

To become perfected in Christ is to deny all ungodliness.  To deny ourselves of all ungodliness takes super-human effort.  It means to control our physical bodies, our passions, our desires for materials, etc.  It means to be not of the world.

 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticing's of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. Mosiah 3:19

To be an enemy of God is to yield to ungodliness and the natural man and he will  be an enemy to god forever unless he becomes a saint.  A saint is a person who yields to the enticing's of the holy spirit.  Can anyone be a saint?  Yes, but only through the atonement of Christ whereby the Holy Spirit is offered as a constant companion through repentance, baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost.

In other words, to be perfected in Christ requires us to yield to the enticing's of the holy Ghost which will help us to deny ourselves of all ungodliness.  When we are perfected in Christ and deny not the power of God, then we become sanctified by the grace of god through the shedding of the blood of his son.

We cannot in an of ourselves be perfect and obtain a seat in His kingdom.  It will only come through the grace of god which is in the covenant of the father unto the remission of our sins.

Oh, how he wants us to become perfected in Christ that we may return to His presence.

This super-human effort mentioned earlier can be achieved through the receipt of the Holy Ghost and by making a conscious effort to make decisions to overcome faults and correct weakness, to deny ourselves all ungodliness.

Someone said:  "Bad will be the day for every man when he becomes content with life that he is living, with the thoughts he is thinking, and the deeds he is doing; when there is not forever beating at his door of his soul some great desire to do something better"  "We cannot be big people and think little thoughts".

 It takes super-human effort to change, but what is the power of the holy Ghost?  Is it not super-human?

Duty is that area of performance where we do not only what we ought to do, but do it when we should whether we like it or not.  Bad habits are an enemy to our progress in denying ourselves of ungodliness.  The nature of man is always the same.  It is our bad habits that require great effort to change.

As noted earlier we must develop the capacity to endure to the end.  Enduring What?  Enduring is in perfecting ourselves in Christ.  President Kimball said:   "Let us hold fast to the iron rod. The Savior urged us to put our hand to the plow without looking back. In that spirit we are being asked to have humility and a deep and abiding faith in the Lord and to move forward-trusting in him, refusing to be diverted from our course, either by the ways of the world or the praise of the world."

 

We cannot wonder aimlessly, continually deciding whether to go east or west and find the desired journey's end.   Prayer and study of scripture is that rod by which we can know absolutely that we are on the correct path.  If we fail to hold onto this rod, we will become lost not knowing how to become perfected in Christ and being unable to deny ourselves ungodliness.

Let us go forward holding onto the rod of prayer and scripture study having a faith in Christ and a love of God so that His grace will be sufficient for us; is my prayer for myself and all who read this blog.

8/11/1988

 A Sabbath Day Thought:

Yesterday, Sept 26, 2020, Kevin came from Las Vegas to help me assemble a 3-D printer that I previously purchased a few weeks ago.  The directions are on the internet for Assembly but since he had previously assembled his printer,same as mine, then I appreciated his help with mine.   We down -loaded a file to make a piggy bank and after some adjustments on the printer we started it to print.  Six hours later, I had a small piggy bank about as perfect as if it  was made  from a mold.  What a miracle!

 As I awoke for the Sabbath, the following thought came into my mind;  If man as imperfect as he is, can print a lifeless pig, what about God and his ability to make one that has life and purpose. Because of Him I came into this world when my spirit was combined with the DNA of my father's sperm with the DNA of my mother so that I have a DNA of my own, the only one of its kind in the world.  I grew to be born into a world of humans to learn to how choose right from wrong according to the teachings of my mother and to be taught the gospel of our Lord and Savior.  Now that is a miracle!

Through choices and experience, I have learned a little about life and salvation and to have loyalty to my redeemer after living nearly a century.  I will soon deposit my DNA in the ground and join the other departed spirits to await a resurrection and receive my reward according my faithfulness.  That resurrection will combine my DNA from the grave with my spirit to form an eternal me, to have life everlasting.    Now that is another miracle!

It is my eternal hope that all my children will make choices that will bring to them  life and salvation and eternal life.  

Hate

HATE

In response to the blog by Blake Brooks, I make the following comments:
A self analysis of hate is a good thing and if the result is love for fellow men or our neighbor then so much  the better for it.  From a religious point of view, that is also known as repentance.   Repentance from hate cannot alleviate the pain and suffering caused by hating.  What can be alleviated is the the damage done to our own soles.
One of the things committed by me as I was raising a family, was the I did not not teach enough about the Savior of mankind and His perfect example  to follow Him.  As he made His sacrifice for our sins and hung upon the cross in agony, "father , forgive them for they not what they do".  Of course we cannot be perfect but we can change our lives for the better.  Hate of people or persons is a sin and one should strive to love neighbor as self. At times, we yield to it, as it cannot be avoided, but then we must repent and follow the great exemplar., Jesus.  The only hate that is justifiable is hate of sin.
We can all do better and keep covenants we have made with Him.

A Family Episode

This photo taken from the collection of Francis Harvard Brooks about 1905

The following message was received from Chris Hebdon  on my Iphone on February 10, 2020.

Hi there sir, I found this message which I believe is from you on an Ancestry forum  ”I just discovered a photo taken at the business entry of the J.B. La Fourcade farm with a model T Ford sedan apparently with family members inside the vehicle.  My grandfather took the photo about 1905. I would be pleased to share it with you.” ( The forum is no longer available, but I probably sent it to Ancestry many years ago.)

“J.B. Lafourcade is my great grandfather on my dad’s side.  I would just love to see the photograph.”

 I responded by  saying I was pleased to hear from him and I requested his email:  chris.hebdon@yale.edu.

I told him in a message on the Iphone about my grandfather traveling in the area of southern California with his covered wagon that was equipped with a camera of his making and facilities in the wagon to develop photos and then selling them prospective buyers.

 His response was:

 “ That is so fascinating.  So you and I don’t have any relation then, just that you have one of your grandpa’s photos and it’s identified as LaFourcade or such? It will be interesting to see who is in the picture.

In trying to find the original photo, I had to resort to taking a picture of the image from a history document I had some time age that contained the photo.  So I sent him an email:

I haven't found the original yet so this is a copy of one that I had made for my grandpa's history. No we're not related but it has been interesting how we have been connected. I am 93 years old and emeritus faculty at Oregon state university.

Shortly after,  I found a digital copy and attached to the above email.  His response was:  

 What a joy to see this photo, thank you so much, Royal!

In case it is of interest, I attach a few photos of J.B. LaFourcade: a portrait from when he was middle aged, an two family photos from his 80th birthday.

The LaFourcades had winery operations in Cucamonga since around the 1900s. They struggled through Prohibition and eventually, after deaths, the ranch and all got sold out. That's why photos like your grandpa's are so valuable --- it's of a part of our family history that is gone. This same part of Cucamonga is now a pancake restaurant and yoga shop and chinese food center (looking not very different from any other part of L.A.). Interestingly, this exact spot that your grandfather photographed in the 80s was considered for historical status. But it at the time was a whorehouse and topless bar, and so the city didn't approve it. Instead they made some memorial plaques and a "Winer's Walk" with some info about the history of Cucamonga wine making.

Thanks again for your taking your personal time to look up a family photo so important to us.

A portrait of J.B. LaFourcade and his family at his *80th Birthday Party.