The Foolish Man Built His House Of Gingerbread

I remember growing up, my grandma would give us a gingerbread house to make around Christmas time. All of us crowded around the long table - some of us sitting ON the table, much to the chagrin of my grandmother, I'm sure - so that we could put this house together!
Just last week I had the chance of a lifetime: to put together another gingerbread house. We all gathered around the end of the kitchen table to create our masterpiece.

I'm sure many are familiar with the story from the Bible of the wise man and the foolish man. The wise man built his home on a rock. The foolish man built his house on the sand. When the storms came and "beat upon the house," the home founded on a rock survived and the house built on the sand crumbled.
It's a pretty basic story. The children in Primary love to sing, "The wise man built his house upon a rock! The wise man built his house upon a rock! The wise man built his house upon a rock and the rain came tumbling down!"

Well, this time, the foolish man's house was made of gingerbread.

There were a couple of problems that were quick in making themselves known to us:
The first was that the frosting wasn't coming out quickly enough to properly cement the pieces of gingerbread together.
Second, the frosting, once we had it coming out of the bag in a thicker line, wasn't sticky enough to hold the massive pieces of gingerbread together. Irk.

We stuck all of the pieces together and they held...for about 2 minutes. In order to remedy the situation, Sister Harris held all of the pieces together while they were being decorated. Her patience was quite remarkable considering the number of people who were trying to work on the gingerbread house around her arms.

When everyone had decorated to their heart's content, Sister Harris slowly let go of the corners of the house.
Ever so slowly,

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What are we made of? And what is our FOUNDATION made of? If it's gingerbread, we're not going to last very long. (I can say that from personal experience.)
If, however, we are built on the foundation of our Savior, Jesus Christ, no storm, no matter how large, will ever be able to tear us down.
 "...however late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines." ("The Laborers in the Vineyard," General Conference April 2012)

No matter where we are now, we can choose to build our foundation on the perfect rock of Jesus Christ. All it takes is daily study of the scriptures, daily prayer, going to church, and seeking to access the power of the Atonement through worthily partaking of the sacrament each week.

See? It's simple! Let's not be built on (or of) gingerbread.

Turtles in the Road

A couple of days ago we were driving to the library. Nothing unusual about that. I noticed something in the middle of the lane next to me and dismissed it from my mind because that's also nothing unusual. As we got closer, however, I realized that it was a MOVING something!

"A turtle!"

"What??"

"A turtle! Oh no! Poor turtle! It's in the road!"
In the midst of traffic we couldn't stop to save him. I don't know what happened to him but I hope and pray that someone else had convenient compassion on him.
As we passed the poor little turtle in the road, my companion said, "Sometimes we're like little turtles in the road: surrounded by all these cars whizzing by, scared, don't know what's going on. Ah!"

A realization sparked in my mind: we ARE like little turtles in the road! We have no idea what we're doing, We often are scared to act because we see all of the evil and darkness in the world. Most things that we come up against are much much bigger than we are. We can't win on our own. We need someone or something else to save us from being run over. (Literally and figuratively.)
We need Someone to have "convenient compassion" on us.
Unfortunately, compassion and true empathy are rarely, if ever, convenient. In fact, 99.9% of the time, compassion and empathy will be extremely INconvenient.
Christ showed compassion on the man with palsy whose friends brought him before Christ by making a hole in the roof and putting their friend's bed through said hole. He also showed compassion on Jairus and his daughter.
In Mark 5, we read that, "...there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw [Christ], he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come, and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live."
Immediately Christ had compassion on Jairus' suffering and grief and followed him. While on the way to the home of Jairus, a woman who had suffered an issue of blood for 12 years knew that if she could but touch Christ's clothes, she would be made whole. As Christ passed her, she reached out "and touched his garment...and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague." Christ immediately stopped and asked who touched him.
Now, we have to remember that Christ was already on his way to help another friend and brother in need. Yet he stopped, anyway.
He looked around and waited for the woman to come forth. He knew who had touched his clothing. He stopped in order for this woman to come forth that everyone might see the miracle which had just occurred.
She came forward and told Christ and the multitude what had happened to her and Christ's words to her are some of my favorite in the entire New Testament: "Daughter, they faith hath made thee whole; go in peace and be whole of thy plague."

While He was speaking, a man came from the home of Jairus and told them that his daughter was dead. "Don't bother Christ anymore" was, in essence, what they tell Jairus.
Can you imagine the pain and grief that must have overcome Jairus? Knowing that he has come to the Lord in desperation and that He is now, apparently, unable to do anything.
Again Christ calmed wounded hearts and souls, this time with the simple words, "Be not afraid, only believe." He raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead.
In a short span of time, simply because he was willing to stop traffic and help two little "turtles in the road," lives were changed. In fact, lives were GIVEN because Christ was willing to stop and help.

So, compassion may not be convenient. In fact, sometimes it may seem to be a great inconvenience to be compassionate - to stop and help a friend who is struggling and needs someone to talk to, to share your testimony of the reality of God's love with someone who feels alone, to bring someone cookies when they are recovering from surgery. These things are so small yet they're so important!!
How many times has Christ played a part in your own healing process? He has had compassion on you.
So help a little turtle out.

Who is Joseph Smith?

Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont in December of 1805 to a family who loved God and was deeply rooted in a belief in the Savior, Jesus Christ. His parents taught their children to love God and to love the scriptures.
When he was 14 years old, there was great religious excitement in his hometown. His family soon began to attend the Presbyterian faith and four of them joined the church. Joseph, however, became confused by the many differing and contending doctrines that were taught in the different denominations.
He noted, "...so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right..."
He continued, "While I was laboring under [these] extreme difficulties, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
This passage of scripture struck him with great force and as he pondered on it he came to the conclusion that this would provide the solution to his dilemma.

He simply needed to ask God.

One spring morning in 1820, Joseph went to a grove of trees near his home. He knelt and began to offer a heartfelt prayer, seeking answers in the midst of so much confusion and uncertainty.
"Immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me...the power of some actual being from the unseen world..."

Continuing to cry out in his heart to God, for he was unable to speak, Joseph said, "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. They spoke to him and taught him. His question of 'which church should I join?' was answered with, "They [are] all wrong." He was told that he would be called to restore the fullness of Christ's church to the earth, just as it was organized while Christ, Himself was on the earth. He would be given power and authority to do so. In a later vision, Joseph was told that his name "should be had for good and evil among all nations..." and that he would be instrumental in bringing forth a book of scripture that should stand as a second testimony to the divinity of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
He was given the answer that he had been searching for. He was given a miraculous vision, a prophetic calling. He knew that Christ lived "for [he] saw Him, even on the right hand of God."

Few of us will see God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ while we live here on earth. However, we can come to know for ourselves that They live, that they are in fact two distinct and separate Beings, and that our prayers are heard and answered. We can come to know that God loves us and that He truly is the Father of our spirits. We can come to know that Jesus is the Christ. All it takes is some honest and sincere study of the scriptures, prayer, and intent to act on the answer that you receive.


Before my eighth birthday, I began reading the Book of Mormon from the very beginning because my dad had suggested it.
Before I began reading I knelt down like I had been taught and offered what was probably a very simply prayer. I remember asking to know if The Book of Mormon was true. I got up, pulled out my scriptures and began reading from the title page. I read the Introduction and the Testimonies of the 3 and 8 Witnesses. Then I reached The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
As I read about his experiences and read his own words, I felt something that I had never felt before. It was as if a little flame was burning behind my sternum. I felt warm and happy.
After pondering for a couple of moments on what this could be, I ran upstairs and described to my mother what I was feeling.
"That's the Spirit."
The role of the Spirit is to testify of truth.
I knew she was right. I was feeling the Spirit. I couldn't deny it.