Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

This week in New Testament, we had the chance to self-guide our study instead of going to class one day. One thing our professor provided in our guide was the instruction to read Psalms 116 as a probable hymn that Jesus and his disciples sang at the Last Supper. The part I found most significant reads:

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord."

I found this to be wonderful symbolism. I can imagine the Savior thinking of his upcoming suffering and death as he sang that his death would be precious in the sight of the Lord. Perhaps he recalled the lines about being the Lord's servant when he later declared in Gethsemane "not my will, but thine be done." The son of Mary, the woman who before Christ's birth affirmed her role as "the handmaiden of the Lord" truly offered the most immense and most important sacrifice - the sacrifice from which all thanksgiving may come - and never ceased to call upon the name of the Lord while he did it. What seemed an ordinary Psalm to me has become a testament of Christ's atonement. 

If You Keep Asking Questions...

Today, I had spiritual insight while watching the Magic School Bus. It came from Ms. Frizzle, directed at her student Carlos (who I just love for all his bad puns).



"If you keep asking questions, you'll keep getting answers."

This applies to our spiritual learning as well as Carlos learning about sound. The Lord is anxious to pour out wisdom and knowledge to us, but he will not burden people with knowledge or testimony they do not seek.

Essential to spiritual progression is asking questions, and learning about them. While it's difficult to take time to consider things beyond what we must do relatively soon, it's very valuable to reflect upon questions that don't necessarily need answers immediately. I believe that when we do, the answers will surprise us in their relevance to the way we live our lives. Answers to questions may spawn further questions.

Heavenly Father teaches us through many methods: there are the scriptures, the words of the prophets, inspired blessings, and our own experiences with the Spirit. I believe that He also teaches us through our more secular learning environments, through music, through stories - even the Magic School Bus. It is up to us to look for those teaching experiences and to ask questions. The Lord will teach us if we will only let Him.

Open Thou Mine Eyes

One of my favorite choral composers is John Rutter, and one of my favorite songs of his is Open Thou Mine Eyes. 

Open thou mine eyes and I shall see;
Incline my heart and I shall desire;
Order my steps and I shall walk
In the ways of thy commandments.

O Lord God, be thou to me a God
And beside thee let there be non else,
No other, naught else with thee.

Vouchsafe to me to worship thee and serve thee
According to thy commandments
In truth of spirit, in reverence of body,
In blessings of lips,
In private and in public.

I love the symbolism of sight that surrounds Christ and His miracles. While our physical eyes may see, our spiritual eyes can yet be blind. We see in the New Testament that Christ miraculously healed the blind of their physical blindness. Like Christ's other miracles, a physical healing happens, but the most miraculous is what follows: spiritual healing. Christ has healed the physically blind, but that miracle does not last forever. Spiritually healing us and opening our spiritual eyes is an everlasting miracle. The author of Amazing Grace understood this, I think.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.