For God So Loved the World

The Danish Artist Bertha Wegmann Painting a Portrait - Jeanna Bauck

  

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD

The text of a talk/sermon I gave in December 2014:

What is the role of the Savior?
     Around age 5, children typically stop scribbling, and start to use symbols for images they want to draw. Thus when a child draws a picture of a tree, they may draw every tree with the same basic lollipop shape, and they will draw every tree this way.  The sun is often represented by a yellow circle with lines radiating outwards, and they will draw the sun like this every time. The symbol for human faces are “smiley faces” and everyone in their family will get the same “smiley face” as a representation of their faces.

     As children mature they begin to feel limited in drawing using symbolism. They realize that their representation for a tree doesn't look like the real thing, and isn’t flexible enough to represent the wide variety of shapes that trees come in. At this new stage, which begins at around nine or ten years old, the child will lend greater importance to whether their drawing looks realistic. This is a frustrating time, as their aspirations begin to outstrip their knowledge and skills. Some children give up on drawing at all during this stage. If formal training of some kind isn’t pursued at some point, they’ll likely remain stagnant or stuck in the “symbolism” stage in their artistic development throughout their adult lives.
     So, if there are two things that I tell my art students the most: it’s that they’ll need to 1) stop using symbolism as a crutch, and 2) to get used to making lots of mistakes. These two things are essential to learning and improving as artists. Many people young and old, are afraid to move past the symbolism stage because it’s a safe place to stay. If the goal is to draw stick figures, it is easy to achieve, and no one will question what is being represented. If they move out of this comfort zone, they fear the dissatisfaction that comes from seeing that the art that they create isn’t likely to live up to the beautiful vision they have in their minds.  There’s a gap between their current capabilities and how good they want to eventually become, and they may not be willing to bridge that gap because it will involve making lot of amateur art, making lots of mistakes, and frustration.
     Being an artist also requires a certain adeptness in embracing uncertainty. Watercolors are highly transparent and prone to mishaps, it will bloom in unpredictable ways that, depending on the artist's luck and creativity, can be a benefit or a burden. Paper will begin to buckle from moisture, and the paints will begin to pool in places you don’t want it to. Acrylic paints like to drip where they shouldn’t, and oils dry very slowly, so patience is required if you don’t want all of the colors in your painting mixing together, ending up like the hue of mud.

Self Portrait - Van Gogh

     Many, like myself, have decided to continue to learn and practice art despite all the frustrations involved. We do so because we know that the skills we’ll acquire in the end will be worth it. But we find that for many years, even decades, what we’re creating still isn’t living up to the potential we are working towards. It’s incredibly difficult to look at your artwork, something you’ve put so much work into — and you know that although it’s getting better, that it still falls short, it doesn’t yet have the special thing that we wanted it to have. Yet, a truly dedicated person moves forward anyway, knowing that the practice is helping them to improve, to move one step closer towards where they want to end up. Because there is no other way, it’s only by wading through the unpredictability,  making mistakes and by going through a huge volume of work that you are actually going to close that gap between your current skill level and your ambitions. It takes a long time — it’s normal to take years and years. You just have to push your way through that, the gap will become more and more narrow, until one day you will realize that you are capable of creating true masterpieces. I often imagine what a wonderful day that will be.
     The same principles hold true for our mortal lives. Heavenly Father knew that it is only through seeking, navigating uncertainty, and blundering though life, that we truly learn, grow and improve.
I wish there was an easier way, I wish I could tell my art students that there was an easier way, and I imagine that Heavenly probably also wishes the same, but He knows that this is the only way that we attain the potential He knows we have. A potential that is even greater than we can imagine for ourselves. C.S. Lewis puts it this way:

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to?
The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace.” 

     Another important concept I stress to my art students over and over is the importance of sketching prior to putting down any definite strokes that can’t be erased. Sketches are "preparatory drawings”, and involve putting down imperfect, unsure, imprecise lines as a way of eventually finding where the lines should actually be placed. Students will never figure out the correct placement of their lines without first putting down many, many marks in the wrong places. It’s impossible for a student and unlikely for even a trained artist to put those lines down in the exact right place the first try. During this process, a good, clean eraser is invaluable. This allows the student to remove the errant marks, allowing only the lines in the right place to remain, thus revealing a proportionally correct, beautiful, drawing in the end.
     Again, Heavenly Father knows that we need to be able to seek and stumble through life to find the best path to reach our potential.  However, there is a problem. In Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah described how a vision of the the Lord in the temple overwhelmed him with a sense of his own wretchedness. The knowledge of our sins make it so we won’t be able to stand to be in the presence of God again. Yet Heavenly Father wants us to return to him, where we will be happy. We needed a way to avoid the stagnation of our growth, to make mistakes, but also to erase them. He needed a way to provide us with guidance, with an example but without impeding on our need for agency in order to grow. I would be a terrible art teacher if I withheld important tools like erasers, or expected my students to wade through the frustration and unpredictability of learning to draw and paint without guidance and instruction. God does not leave without these tools, either.
We need a mediator between us and God - someone who could descend to Earth and remain a perfect example and guide, yet remain pure enough to forgive sins and stand in God’s presence as our mediator. Someone who would be capable of experiencing all of our pains, sicknesses and heartaches so that as our mediator, he could be truly empathetic to our plights.
Alma taught: “He will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” (Alma 7:12)
     This would be an extremely difficult job, impossible for you or I. I imagine that only something as powerful as a pure, eternal love would compel anyone volunteer for that role. So, it was this ultimate love that Christ had for us when He volunteered, saying: “Here am I, send me.” Even stronger still must Heavenly Father’s love have been for us to allow His own son to volunteer for such a position. I don’t know of a stronger love in existence than a parent’s for their child.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
     This gift to us from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ was the first and greatest gift that has ever been given to us.

What do you do to feel close to him?

     So how do we take full advantage of this gift? What’s the best way to receive and apply Christ’s guidance to our lives today?    Harder still, how do we become close to Heavenly Father and His son if we’re not sure if they’re there or if He’ll answer us?
First, begin where you are. It doesn’t matter where that is in relation to anyone else. Just the fact that you have decided to seek guidance will open the door to His light. This process works best when we are the ones initiating it.
     If I had an art student who didn’t want to progress past the symbolism stage, I am helpless in assisting them to progress. My grandmother was determined to continue drinking far too much no matter how much evidence we showed her that it was harmful. She wouldn’t stop until she wanted to, only then did the evidence start to mean anything to her, only then did my mother’s pleas to stop, cease annoying her and started to show to her how much my mother cared about her. Laman and Lemuel saw angels, but it wasn’t enough to change their hearts in the long term because they didn’t have the desire to change their hearts. God won’t compel us to do the right thing, because it doesn’t work, it can’t change our hearts.

At Eternity's Gate - Van Gogh

      In my case, Heavenly Father waited to show me the evidence that He was there, only after I made great effort to follow the commandments and communicate with Him, because that is when I was truly ready to hear it. So, even if you’re in the midst of obstacles, obstacles that I know make it hard for me to pray, whether they are things that you don’t choose like depression, or serious doubts, or if it’s hard to want to get on your knees because you’re making mistakes you can’t seem to stop repeating, the very moment you choose to seek Heavenly Father, you’re taking a huge step in the right direction. The light will begin to seep in. At that moment, our attitude is one that’s ready to listen.  Jesus in His own words said, “Come unto me.”  He will “knock at the door”, but won’t “come in” until we’re ready to answer.
     Heavenly Father will speak to those who approach Him with a sincere heart and real intent. He will speak to them through the scriptures, through others around us if they are truly inspired to do so, through dreams, visions, thoughts, and feelings.  He will speak in a way that is personalized for you.
The process of seeking out our Savior will need to be repeated many, many times through our entire lives, not just once. We can continue to seek Him by praying, by repenting and seeking to erase our mistakes through the atonement, by expressing gratitude to Him, by searching the scriptures, by listening to the testimonies of living prophets and followers. Let Him know about the trials you are facing. Ask for support. That is hard because His support may not mean that your trial will end, it may be support so you can endure through it, instead.
     Christ told us “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” This is very important advice to follow if we wish to become closer to the Savior, but I find, like most people that it is easier said than done.
President Uchtdorf explains:

“There are so many “shoulds” and “should nots” that merely keeping track of them can be a challenge. Sometimes, well-meaning amplifications of divine principles—many coming from uninspired sources—complicate matters further, diluting the purity of divine truth with man-made addenda. One person’s good idea—something that may work for him or her—takes root and becomes an expectation. And gradually, eternal principles can get lost within the labyrinth of “good ideas.” This was one of the Savior’s criticisms of the religious “experts” of His day, whom He chastised for attending to the hundreds of minor details of the law while neglecting the weightier matters.”

     How do we make sure that we are prioritizing the weightier matters, the commandments that Christ taught as the most important?
      In Matthew chapter 22, a situation is described in which a lawyer asks Jesus which of all the commandments was the most important?

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

    Love is at the center of everything Heaven Father and His son have done, and do for us, in all that they see for us, and He is asking that love also become the center of all that we do, as well. It should serve as our compass as we navigate through the question of how to follow the commandments, as we endure trials, and unexpected disappointments, as we navigate through our relationships with each other. At church it means that we should concern ourselves with discipleship and not simply attendance numbers. It means that we should be out serving in our community and giving to the poor rather than worrying about petty things. It means, and this is advice to myself: that we should be spending time with our children when they really need us to, instead of seeing them as a distraction for what we’d rather be doing.
      Love is the great commandment. It can heal, it can unite, it is kind, patient. Martin Luther King, Jr. described it as a force that could drive away darkness and hate and the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.  Love fuels happy families, friendship, tolerance, respect, civility, and humility. It is said that God is love. So what does this mean we should strive to become when He beckons us to be like Him?
      God’s great love for you is reason he gave you the greatest gift He could give.

     Jesus said: “Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:9-11)

     Take advantage of the greatest gift ever given to you. The gap between where you are now and the potential Heavenly Father knows you have is narrowing every time you do a little better.  Don’t give up. Pray and read the scriptures for guidance, and most importantly show love to God and our neighbors, by using love as our compass in our lives. This is how we can begin to understand what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. This I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

1 comment Doubts, Faith, LDS/Mormonism, Sacrament Talks

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