John Ciardi flew bomber missions in WWII; later in the war he was posted to a desk and given the task of writing letters of condolences to grieving parents whose sons would never come home. And so he knew what it was to be both an instrument of pain and suffering, and a healer of pain and suffering, in ways more intense than most of us will ever know. And yet, his twin assignments recapitulated with concentrated, diamond-forming pressure the roles that each one of us enacts throughout the drama of life. Sometimes with anger and sometimes in obliviousness, we drop words whose hurtful consequences reach far beyond our intention and our vision. And as we grow in grace, as parents, friends, or simple neighbors in a world of commerce and conflict, we scrawl with words and small gestures our unofficial telegrams, seeking to restore those we know we have wounded, and those who are casualties of other battles we never witnessed. We wound and we heal.
"The future doesn’t exist yet, for us or for God, and so cannot be an object of knowledge."
That is a daunting thought.
We talk a lot about our faith. We talk a bit about Christ's faith; but, we rarely talk about God's faith.
In the Joseph Smith's Lectures on Faith we read:
"1:15 By this we understand that the principle of power, which existed in the bosom of God, by which the worlds were framed, was faith; and that it is by reason of this principle of power, existing in the Deity, that all created things exist—so that all things in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, exist by reason of faith, as it existed in HIM. "
"1:24 Faith, then, is the first great governing principle which has power, dominion, and authority over all things: by it they exist, by it they are upheld, by it they are changed, or by it they remain, agreeably to the will of God. Without it, there is no power, and without power there could be no creation, nor existence!"
God's power is faith and that is mind boggling. But I cannot see any other way to ascribe love to God. He puts his creation at risk for us. This is the model that Christ followed as you described in your January 25, 2024 column.
"The future doesn’t exist yet, for us or for God, and so cannot be an object of knowledge."
That is a daunting thought.
We talk a lot about our faith. We talk a bit about Christ's faith; but, we rarely talk about God's faith.
In the Joseph Smith's Lectures on Faith we read:
"1:15 By this we understand that the principle of power, which existed in the bosom of God, by which the worlds were framed, was faith; and that it is by reason of this principle of power, existing in the Deity, that all created things exist—so that all things in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, exist by reason of faith, as it existed in HIM. "
"1:24 Faith, then, is the first great governing principle which has power, dominion, and authority over all things: by it they exist, by it they are upheld, by it they are changed, or by it they remain, agreeably to the will of God. Without it, there is no power, and without power there could be no creation, nor existence!"
God's power is faith and that is mind boggling. But I cannot see any other way to ascribe love to God. He puts his creation at risk for us. This is the model that Christ followed as you described in your January 25, 2024 column.
Wonderful, as usual. Many thanks