A Turn of the Heart

It simply fascinates me y'all that the Holy Ghost can use a verse to teach you or remind you of something that, at first glance, seems completely unrelated. This has happened to me a couple different times but the most recent one really touched my heart deeply.

When I was studying chapter twelve of John, verse eight really leapt out at me. The verse states: “For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.” This line comes in the conversation between the Savior and Judas about why Mary anointed Him with expensive ointment rather than selling it to get money to help the poor.

As I read this, my mind turned towards the older members of my extended family. I realized that my younger family will likely be with me for many more years to come but that the older generation will be gone soon and I need to stop treating them like they will always be with me. My mother’s parents are my only living grandparents and raised me for a year as a child. I love them and it was a bit of shock to realize that they may not have many years left on this side of the veil. This scripture has moved me to begin making plans to fly to the East Coast to see them soon and to cherish the time while I am there. While we do need to care for those who will be with us for a long time, it is also okay for us to make an extra special effort to care for those who may be lost to us soon.

I have long thought that the often-quoted scripture in Malachi 4...

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

... applied to genealogy, but this epiphany made me realize that it's not just our bygone forefathers but our living ones that we should be turning to as well. We could lose a member of our families at any time, whether it be an elder member due to the frailties of old age or a young member to an untimely end. Have you talked to those you love, but are perhaps far removed from you, recently? I am going to begin making a point of talking to my family, especially my grandparents and parents, more often and more consistently. I think I will follow the example of my awesome husband and set a time each week to reach out to them.

Cleave Unto Your Spouse

            It's been a long time since I posted on this blog. So first, just a quick update on life. I starting dating my husband on Sept 23rd, 2017 and partially have this blog to thank. It was reading of my struggles and path to baptism that really moved him (he's a convert too) to want to get to know me better and decide to ask me out. We got engaged on March 28, 2018, and sealed in the temple on July 28th, 2018.

            I've gotten back into studying marriage but this time I am studying marriage through the Gospel lens rather than from a more secular perspective. Learning more about what Heavenly Father and our Savior want for us in marriage. This week I was studying Matthew and when I read Matthew 19 several verses stood out to me:

5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?

8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

            This made me think about what cleaving really means. Cleaving unto something implies an action, not the passivity that seems acceptable to the world. If we are to fulfill our temple covenants, then we must actively be seeking after, loving and caring for our spouse. This really resonated with me for both personal and professional reasons. I am attending college with the goal of becoming a therapist who works with foster children and their families. I want to strengthen my own marriage by cleaving to my husband. We are focused on putting each others needs first and being united in our response to anything that affects our family. We will always be our parents’ children but that bond no longer comes first as we are now the Diazes, a new little family in its own right. I think that as we strive to put each other first and heed the Lord's counsel, we will strengthen our marriage and develop a solid foundation upon which we can begin to build our next generation. Multiple studies have shown that children who are raised in a home with a mother and father who care deeply for one another as well as for the children generally have much better outcomes than children raised by parents who are disaffected or, worse, hostile to one another. By cleaving unto our spouses, we will be better equipped to be the parents that the Lord would have us be. And I feel that as I practice cleaving in my personal life, I will be better equipped to