One Day or Count to Five

I'm an emotional guy that doesn't cry.

I know that sounds weird and obtuse like saying I like George Lucas.

It still remains a fact nevertheless and I have found myself trying to understand the emotions of the people in the BOM when Christ comes to visit. I'm interested in the social psychology during that period of time. It must have been surreal--even for those who were skeptics because right there in reality was Jesus and if that wasn't proof enough, He invited those in attendance to feel the prints in His hands.

There is also a lot of mention about how the people are unable to transcribe the ongoings while Christ is in the Americas, "Nevertheless, so great and marvelous were the words which he prayed that they cannot be written, neither can they be uttered by man" (3 Nephi 19:34). This fits in the literal sense in that perhaps they were forbidden to record the happenings because of the sacred nature of what was transpiring. I am under the impression that perhaps it was because they also could not comprehend the things that were being spoken. I don't mean that Christ was speaking in a different language but I mean that perhaps Christ's words were so pure and full of love and mercy that the people could not describe it, they did not have the vocabulary or the capacity to put into words what Christ was saying. Their language failed to give them the tools to translate into human words the prayers of the Lord...their mortal language failed them.

This inability to describe in words is perhaps a greater thing than I've realized. In an attempt to conceptualize, we are left with nothing except the fact that what was being said, in this case Jesus Christ's prayer to Heavenly Father, included grandeur and purpose that is beyond comprehension. Paul said, "Eye hath not seen, no ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).

The love of God has been explained to us, we have examples in the scriptures, we have the words of the prophets, but still, we cannot wrap our limited minds around the love of God...and that is a good thing nestled in a kind of ambiguity that leaves me feeling empowered by an indescribable love, an unfathomable sacrifice, and an ever complex compassion. At the end of the day, it is enough for me to hold on by faith to something as simple as the fact that, "I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things" (1 Nephi 11:17).

It is indeed this faith that I find myself reflecting on. I don't know why life gets tough. I don't understand why bad things happen to good people. But I do know that we are loved and that our eventual return is being counted on with a godly anticipation that we cannot possibly describe.

So, life has gotten a bit tough. More tougherer. I've got two options: give myself a day to wallow in it or count to five and move on. I'm more or less wallowing.

But everything is going to be okay. I don't have the specifics but I have the general idea and that is leaps and bounds.