Monday, October 20, 2008

Many Fathers

Today at church, these thoughts came and I wrote them down:

Who is God? Opinions vary, some say He is dead or never existed. We were just created by chance, crawled out of the oceans. My Mormon religion is clear on this subject: All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. (This comes from our Proclamation on the Family issued in 1995.)

What a lot of information is packed there. I can understand it easily, and it makes sense. I am a spirit child of heavenly parents and also have earthly parents who created my physical body. I was sent here to earth to learn and progress but was not left alone without guidance. That's where my earthly parents come in as teachers. Our Heavenly Father has not left us alone but pleads with us, in the scriptures, to call home through the instrument of earnest faithful prayer. Yet there are many of us who don't take that opportunity or even believe in Him. I met an athetist once that told me very adamantly that he didn't believe in God. I responded that I'm sure God believes in you.

Which brings me to the subject of how we visualize God. Some see Him as an unknown power that fills the Universe and yet is so small, He can dwell in our hearts. I have a hard time with that definition and instead see God as a loving father with an immortal body who is there to support, guide and bless each of us in our lives just as a real father or grandfather would do.

I was looking into the eyes of my grandfather Vernon's photo two posts back, as a little child of two or three I am pulling on his hand to take him to see something. As I look into my grandfather's face, I see fatherly love. I see the face of God as I picture Him. My Grandpa became a substitute father to me when my earthly father died when I was five. (The above photo is l-r my great uncle Malin, my grandpa Harold and his father Joseph with my dad Stanley in the back. Notice the similarities between fathers and sons.)

5 comments:

  1. You were very blessed with all your fathers, Lin.

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  2. What a beautiful photo of fathers!I always enjoy your insights and explanations to go along with the pics.

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  3. This is a lovely and thoughtful post Lin...

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  4. IL remember not too long after my father passed away, I had some heartache that I was dealing with and one night after getting out of a hot bath, I wrapped myself in a towel and dropped to my knees just missing him so much! I wanted to talk to him about what to do. I pulled myself into a cocoon and wept, and wept... Soon, I found myself saying out loud, "Oh daddy! Where are you? I need your help!" Then it dawned on me... I needed to feel the same sense of longing and passion when I cried out to my Heavenly Father. It was one of those "Ah ha!" moments for me. I began to think of Our Father in Heaven in a more personal light... and life has never been the same.

    When I see pictures of my father and his father and his grandfather I like to look for facial characteristics that remind me of my brother or my sons...or me.
    I also look for resemblances in photographs of my mom and grandmother and so on. I think my daughter looks quite a lot like my grandma. I wish to heck someone in my family would have inherited her gorgeous coloring!! She had
    Dresden skin...pale, ice blue eyes, thick black hair. She was a beauty!!

    Enjoyed this post, Lin.

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  5. What a thoughtful post and beautiful tribute to your loving grandfather. This post is a great way to teach kids about faith. Thanks, Lin.

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