This brings new meaning to the scripture at the end of Matthew chapter 11, which reads “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” It may seem paradoxical, but we have the most to gain if we give over our lives to the Lord and place all of our trust in Him. By relying on the saving and enabling power of His atonement, we will be able to accomplish all things He would have us do.

Another interesting nuiance came up today in class as we were discussing John 13:34, which reads “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” The point was brought up that it is often easy to love or say we love those that we have no dealings with, such as people in a far away country. The real test, however, is if we love those we actually deal with on a day-to-day basis. It seems paradoxical, but often the people in our lives that are hardest to love are those we know the best. While we know the most outstanding and commendable qualities of these people – our friends, our family – we also have an intimate knowledge of their greatest weaknesses, shortcomings, and flaws. It seems as though we often show the least love to those we profess to love the most. And here is where Christ comes in. He knows us all, perfectly and completely. As much as we think we know our best friend or our brother, we cannot begin to approach the level of understanding of the Savior, for He knows each of us better, even, than we know ourselves. He knows everything about our friends and family, yet He loves them unconditionally, with a perfect love that knows no bounds. It is this kind of love that we are commanded to have for our fellow beings.

Some of us are quite good at loving our friends and neighbors, if not in this way, then at least in a way that attempts to approach it. However, some us also forget another application of this scripture. I realized today that we each know *ourselves* better than we know anyone else, and that this can make us hard to love. I personally recognize so many of my weaknesses, inadequacies, and flaws that it can sometimes become overwhelming. My pride, my selfishness, my ingraditude – all of these things weigh me down more or less at one time or another. But here is the miracle – Christ knows me, too! He knows that I have struggles and imperfections; He knows that I can be unkind; He knows that I don’t always measure up to my own standards – but He loves me still! He loves me so much and so purely that He died for me – for me! He suffered for my sins and my pains and my griefs and my inadequacies, and He has promised to help me overcome them all, if only I will turn to Him and let Him. How grateful I am for this knowledge that I, the hardest to love of all, has been promised the mercy and grace of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

An interesting point was made toda

So I prayed for charity. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 13 we read: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing” (verses 1-2). I truly felt that I was in the right in this situation, but I also knew that there are two sides to every story. I also know this girl very well, and know that she would never intentionally hurt me in any way, but that didn’t keep me from feeling hurt at her behavior. But no matter how “right” I was, it didn’t matter if I didn’t have charity. “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth (verses 4-8). Needless to say, I have a ways to go in developing this Christlike love. However, I really think that because I tried to have charity in this situation, I was able to come through it okay.

I love the parable found in Luke 15, commonly known as the parable of the prodigal son.  The younger son of a rich man asks his father for the sum of his inheritance and travels to a far country, where he wastes it “with riotous living.  And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want” (v. 13-14).  Sometimes I feel like that prodigal son – I want not to wait for the blessings in store for me, but to have them now, on my timetable, and in full.  Sometimes I feel like I take all that I have been given for granted and fritter my knowledge and blessings away in the pursuit of momentarily gratifying but eternally insignificant pursuits.  It is at these times, when I feel like I’m in the middle of a spiritual famine, that I begin “to be in want” of something more – that I sense that I am living far below my privileges.  It is at these times when I “c[o]me to [my]self” (v. 17) that I long for the strength and assurance that comes from a life founded on Christ.  Not that I stray far, mind you – I think that I am a good person who tries to do right – but I am sometimes so painfully aware of how much better I could be.  But no matter our spirituality, our race, or our gender, when we truly come to ourselves and realize that we need Christ in our lives, we can always run to Him.  And He, like the father of the prodigal son, will welcome us with gladness and rejoicing.

I love Rembrandt’s depiction of this parable:  the utter humility of the son, who has returned without hope of regaining his former inheritance; the peace and relief of the aged father, who likely thought he would never see his son again; the soft light that emanates from the painting into the very heart of the viewer.  For me, this painting captures the simple yet profound message of the parable of the prodigal son.

“I wonder if you sisters fully understand the greatness of your gifts and talents and how all of you can achieve the “highest place of honor” in the Church and in the world. One of your unique, precious, and sublime gifts is your femininity, with its natural grace, goodness, and divinity. Femininity is not just lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes. It is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your qualities of your capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each of you possesses it. Femininity is part of your inner beauty.

“One of your particular gifts is your feminine intuition. Do not limit yourselves. As you seek to know the will of our Heavenly Father in your life and become more spiritual, you will be far more attractive, even irresistible. You can use your smiling loveliness to bless those you love and all you meet, and spread great joy. Femininity is part of the God-given divinity within each of you. It is your incomparable power and influence to do good. You can, through your supernal gifts, bless the lives of children, women, and men. Be proud of your womanhood. Enhance it. Use it to serve others.”

I love this quote. It reminds me of how we have talked in my New Testament class about how the Savior elevated women above the lowly status they held in contemporary Jewish society. We, as women, have unique gifts, but we have to cultivate them or they simply won’t do us any good.

I really feel that one of my gifts is being able to communicate with people. I think that this is one of the strongest reasons why I want to serve a mission – because I think that I have the wonderful knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the God-given blessing of the ability to share it. I also think that dedicating 18 months of my life to serving the Lord would help me to grow in patience, humility, and faith. And I know that what I have has made me happy, and that it can make other people happy as well. I think this is in part why the Savior commanded us to carry His gospel to all nations – because our Heavenly Father loves all of His children and wants us to be happy, and the only way we can really do that is to follow Jesus Christ.

My roommate recently told me about her views on keeping the Sabbath day holy. She said that the most important part of our Sabbath day observance is our attitude. Why do we do the things we do on Sunday? Why do we postpone other activities for Monday through Saturday? My roommate suggested that if we went into our Sunday with the intention of worshipping God and serving Him and His children, we would always keep the Sabbath day holy. If we are trying to use the Sabbath for its intended purpose, we won’t have to worry about defiling it. If, on the other hand, we approach the Sabbath lightly, with the attitude that it is our day for leisure and play, we have the wrong outlook. I think this relates well to Christ’s chastisements of the Pharisees in the New Testament: perhaps their rules made people keep the Sabbath, but they were enforced not for the purpose of worshipping God, but for some other purpose. I also think this applies to our everyday lives: if we honestly examine our hearts and motivations, doing what one of my former teachers called a “gut check,” I think we will be able to tell if what we are doing is right or wrong.

A couple of days ago, though, I stopped, stepped back and looked at my life from a distance. It is moments like these, moments of exceptional clarity, that I can truly see what my life is about. Not that all of my questions have been answered, and not that I’m suddenly stress-free, but clearing my head and calming my thoughts brings a peace that makes this whole process a lot easier.

I truly believe that this peace came to me in large part as a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. In all my striving for the answers to my questions, I have tried to include the Lord and plead for his guidance in my life. I don’t always do as good as I should – I should try to be kinder, more patient, more believing – but I think that I have been blessed because of my faith.

And this is when I realize that I shouldn’t be afraid. It is these times that I realize that faith and fear cannot coexist. Perhaps it can be said to me, and to each of us who strives to have faith in and follow Jesus Christ, as the angel said to the Marys when they found the empty tomb: “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified” (Matt. 28:5). If we seek that Jesus, we truly have no need to fear.

I recently came across this video on the internet: http://hillel.harvard.edu/media/videos/550.  I believe it is a segment from an inter-faith forum held at Harvard University. This particular clip is of an interview with a young Latter-day Saint (Mormon) woman that is currently a junior at Harvard. As I watched this video, I was impressed by the knowledge and wisdom this girl, only twenty years old, displayed. She knew enough about her religion that she could answer the questions thoroughly and intelligently, and I think she probably helped clear up some questions that members of the audience had. Probably more than anything, I was also very impressed with this young woman’s conviction in her beliefs. Even in a place of secular learning in which some might say religion is trivialized (I don’t really know, that’s just a guess on my part), she found the inner strength to profess her beliefs. I was so struck by that – a college-aged girl, not so unlike myself, was given an opportunity to share what she knows is true, and she took it. That is something that I would like to have the opportunity to do, and which I pray for regularly.

As I continue my study of the New Testament this semester, I look forward to learning more about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. I hope that as I come to better understand Him and His gospel, I will better be able to stand as one of His followers, and do as Peter directs here:

“Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

I think my favorite thing about the class thus far has been a chance to see the text in a new light. It has given me a whole new perspective to think that what we now regard as holy scripture was originally written mostly as a history or biography rather than a sacred text. I think this has two implications: 1) By viewing the New Testament for what it was originally intended, we can gain insights that we would otherwise miss. 2) By recognizing that the New Testament can and does teach lessons about righteous living and how to be a better Christian, we can glean knowledge that may not have necessarily been intended by the authors, but that is nonetheless true and beneficial to our spirituality. I think this is where the gift of the Holy Spirit plays a big part – if we live worthy of Christ’s spirit, it can whisper to our hearts and help us understand and live the kind of life we, as His followers, should live. And I think that there is tremendous power in that.

So this is my unofficial goal for my semester in New Testament: to view the Gospels in a new light, to see them truly as a “new testament” to the divinity and reality of our Savior, and to learn something new each time I read them.