Our new friend and neighbor here at our apts was asking me the other day why we have scriptures, and why people continue to read them. I told her that they are a witness of God's love for us, and a witness of his reality. People continue to read and study them because as we read them we become overwhelmed with His Spirit and feel the truthfulness in our hearts of His love for us. You have to read them with an open heart and an open mind, and let them teach you. They are hard to understand at times, but the Spirit teaches you what you need to hear. I told her that I never used to read scriptures. I always thought you had to be some hardcore-Bible-banging-super-Christian to enjoy the scriptures. Not so--they are for everyone, even a tired Mama at the end of a long day.
As I sat on the couch with my Book of Mormon, I was reading about Christs' resurrection, and what happens when we die. I was overcome with feeling, once again, that this life is so short and so fleeting. I reminded myself again that I need to be strong and unmoveable in what I believe--in what I know is truth. I know there is truth in the scriptures because I have felt it, and I have felt God's love for me again and again.
The next morning I woke up, and checked my email. There was some very heartbreaking news from my friend that her baby nephew had passed away, just 2 months old, from SIDS (sudden-infant-death-syndrome). Just like that, he was gone; unexplainable, and unforeseen. I've mourned and cried for that family this week. I've slept restlessly each night, holding onto my little Jonah, waking up constantly to make sure he's okay, that he's breathing. I've wept in my prayers, asking God to bring this family peace and healing. I've forced myself to come to my own terms of peace, realizing that anything can happen in this life, and this is mortality, as painful as it is. For me, losing a child is probably the worst pain I can think of. I am literally haunted by the accounts I hear of mortality taking it's natural course on loving families such as this one. You just never know.
However, I know this family will find peace, because they have the scriptures. They have the word of God reminding them that their little baby boy will be resurrected like Jesus, and they will all be reunited as a family someday. As I've been thinking about them this week, I was reminded once again to be strong and unmoving in what I believe, in what I know is truth. Life is just too short to wonder. Life is just too unpredictable to not be grounded in truth.
This is a beautiful blog post my friend wrote about her nephew.
Goodbye, baby Daniel
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