So I’ve been
thinking about this talk for some time now and thinking about the topic Brother
Tolman gave to me of “the influence of the Holy Ghost.” Now several thoughts
ran through my mind detailing the different attributes of the Holy Ghost and
how it has blessed my live. But then I thought of something I hadn’t before.
The Holy Ghost is not an it, the Holy Ghost is a He.
He is the third member of the Godhead, working in perfect unity with
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, fulfilling several roles to help us live
righteously and receive the blessings of the gospel as a personage of spirit.
After we are
baptized we have the opportunity to receive this “unspeakable gift of the Holy
Ghost” when we are confirmed a member of Christ’s church. In True to the Faith
we read, “quote Before baptism, a person can feel the influence of the Holy
Ghost from time to time and through that influence can receive a testimony of
the truth. After receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, a person has the right
to the constant companionship of that member of the Godhead if he or she keeps
the commandments. End of quote” Now I know many of you have young cousins or
siblings or nieces and nephews who are just learning the art of how to get into
everything. The parents of these children or some other caregivers are always
at their side in an attempt to make sure they do not hurt themselves, get into
things they shouldn’t and when worse comes to worst and these children are sad
and crying often because no matter what their parents did, they were determined
to still explore until they got scared or even hurt. The caregivers do not
respond angrily but with soft words of peace and comfort and sometimes with a
little bit of exasperation, to ease the troubled hearts of these children and
to let them know that they are truly loved. Does not the Holy Ghost respond to
our lives in such a way? Does He not constantly stand by our side so we “may
always have His Spirit to be with” us if we remain worthy by keeping the
commandments and coming unto Christ?
Now the attributes
of the Holy Ghost are varied and He is often spoken of as a Comforter, a
Witness, a Protector, a giver of gifts and a Sanctifier. Indeed, to quote the
gospel principles manual, whilst “Heavenly Father is our Father and ruler,
Jesus Christ is our Savior, The holy Ghost is the revealer and testifier of all
truth.” As we read in 2 Nephi 31:18,
“the Holy Ghost . . . cwitnesses of
the dFather
and the Son”. He witnesses of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ
and his role as the Savior and Healer of worlds without end. He witnesses of power
and glory of our Heavenly Father as the Ruler of the universe and He witnesses
of the Father’s eternal, infinite and individual love for each and every one of
us as His children. I can think of no more powerful reminder the Holy Ghost
gives to us but of how much our Heavenly Father and our Elder Brother Jesus
Christ love us. Heavenly Father gives us the Holy Ghost’s presence as a free
gift of love. And think of it, the Holy
Ghost himself is a being of infinite and eternal love and compassion for us as
children of God as His mission is to help us come unto Christ and fulfill our
true destiny of becoming heirs of the kingdom of God. What a powerful testimony
of the Godhead’s love for us. I know many of you are reading the book “Man’s
Search for Meaning” by Viktor E. Frankl for the ward book club and I thought
the following quote from it describes almost perfectly the power of the love
which the Holy Ghost feels for us. And I quote, Now “Love is the only way to
grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can
become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves
him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the
beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is
not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love,
the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities.
By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes
these potentialities come true.” End of quote
As our constant
companion, guide, protector and reassuring friend He knows our hearts and minds
in a way only a member of the Godhead can and knows how to help us in our every
struggle. Last week, I was thinking about the path I am walking in my life kind
of having a hard day and was thinking about all the things I need and want to
do with my life. I felt I needed to go and do so much more but I was stuck
feeling that I didn’t know how to do enough. The thoughts came to me as a short
poem which says, “Nature is never finished. Trees live and grow and sprout and
fall and die But they are not finished. Trees decay and break and are soiled
and are soil. But they are not finished. (breathe/pause) They become. Books
leap off pages and imprint onto my conversation. Music extends in my ears and
whistles through my lips. People eternalize moments and my mind keeps them. There
is movement, there are cycles, there is change. (breathe/pause) They become. I
am not finished. I wake and run and wonder and smile. But I am not finished. I
hope and forget and sigh and love. But I am not finished. I become. Constantly.
I am not finished.”
Now at that time and throughout this whole
last week the Holy Ghost has helped me by His still, small whispers saying,
“You are not alone, you are loved, for you are a child of God and are entitled
to the infinite blessings of heaven if you go forth with faith and carry on.
Because you are not finished and I am not finished with you yet” He loves us
for who we are and what we can become and what we are becoming. It’s hard to
imagine how much the Holy Ghost loves us because every time we slack in our
commitment to stay on the strait and narrow path and wander into dark roads,
can you imagine how he feels if he has to leave us? This Being who has been our
caregiver since our spiritual infancy is sure to weep with the Father and the
Son when any of the children of God fall away and forget who they are. However,
the power of the Holy Ghost is never
lost to us and He is always ready to come to us again to comfort us and inspire
us as to how we can never leave the path again. Even though we are struggling
and imperfect, by constantly recommitting ourselves to the Lord’s way like we
did this afternoon with the sacrament, we can be on our way to being all that
The Father and the Son and The Holy Ghost know we can be. It is true that I am
not whole or complete yet. Yet. But because through the constancy of the gift
of love and strength that is the Holy Ghost, I know that if I follow the gospel
of Jesus Christ and remember that I am a child of Heavenly Father entitled to
all the blessings of His eternal kingdom if I remain faithful.
Terryl and Fiona
Givens wrote in their book “The God Who
Weeps” that “What we choose to embrace, to be responsive to, is the purest
reflection of who we are and what we love.” If we choose to embrace the
power of the Holy Ghost as witness of the truthfulness of the gospel and our
royal heritage, to respond to his every prompting or warning as a step towards
becoming our truest selves, we are well placed on the strait and narrow path
through this at times, dark, troubled, despondent world. The Holy Ghost is
given to us as a powerful token of our Father’s eternal love and by taking it
into our hearts and letting it radiate outwards from us through our love for
and our service to others, we openly and truthfully declare our love for Our
Father, Our Brother and last but not least Our constant Friend the Holy Ghost.
I quote the Givens’s again as I say “The divine nature of man, and the divine
nature of God are shown to be the same—they are rooted in the will to love, at
the price of pain, but in certainty of joy.” The members of the Godhead love us
so much that no matter how much sorrow and even pain we may cause them by our
disobedience and our wandering off the path, the simple act of recommitting
ourselves to following their way, we can bring them and ourselves true joy. We
will always find, not just momentary contentment or just plain happiness but
eternal joy and infinite love by following the direction of the Holy Ghost in
keeping the commandments of God the Father and Jesus Christ.
If you are interested in finding out more information on the Holy Ghost or any of the other points I made, please click on the "My Faith" button on the right side of the page to learn more!
