How Heavenly Father Feels

Elder Boyd K. Packer in General Conference said: "I have studied much in the scriptures and have taught from them. I have read much from what the prophets and apostles have spoken. They have had a profound influence upon me as a man and as a father. But most of what I know about how our Father in Heaven really feels about us, His children, I have learned from the way I feel about my wife and my children and their children. This I have learned at home. I have learned it from my parents and from my wife's parents, from my beloved wife and from my children, and can therefore testify of a loving Heavenly Father and of a redeeming Lord." (General Conference Oct. 1998)

I can't think of a more profound way of putting it! Think about who is saying this? There aren't many men living who have studied more in the scriptures or taught more from them. He rubs shoulders with the most elect men on earth every day of his life. He leads a most remarkable life! Yet, one of the most profound truths Christ's gospel has to offer, namely the immensity of our Father in Heaven's love for us, his children, cannot be taught from the scriptures or by the prophets as profoundly as it is taught from our own homes.

Is this not what it's all about anyway? Are our families not our most precious possessions? Is not this life of loving, learning, hurting, weeping, embracing, and overcoming, alongside our families, nothing more than a magnificent dress-rehearsal preparing us for the big stage? Are we not learning to become as God is and to love as God does?

What a wonderful plan of true happiness we have laid before us by an all-loving, ever-loving Father in Heaven!

Let the Lower Lights Be Burning

Recently we had a Ward Conference. It was difficult, as it always is, to get a lot out of the meetings... thanks to our wonderful yet extremely active children. There were two things that were mentioned, though, that caught my attention. I'd like to mention one of them now.

On my mission I fell in love with the Hymn, Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy. (Hymns 335) It's a men's choir song and I loved singing it in parts with some of the other Elders. I remember singing it with three other Elders (Hansen, Shiffler, Reneer) at a zone conference once and I was deeply touched by the spirit. Besides loving the tune and feeling the Spirit on that particular occasion, I can't say my connection with the song had anything to do with the words. I honestly didn't understand their full significance or meaning. Admittedly, they almost seemed a little silly. Nevertheless, I continued to love the song. In fact, years after my mission, I remember singing it with my good friend for his scouts at a camp out devotional.

At this ward conference a member of our Stake Presidency went over the words with us. Here they are:

Brightly beams our Father's mercy from his lighthouse evermore, but to us he gives the keeping of the lights along the shore. Let the lower lights be burning; send a gleam across the wave. Some poor fainting, struggling seaman you may rescue, you may save.

Dark the night of sin has settled; loud the angry billows roar. Eager eyes are watching, longing, for the lights along the shore. Let the lower lights be burning; send a gleam across the wave. Some poor fainting, struggling seaman you may rescue, you may save.

Trim your feeble lamp, my brother; some poor sailor, tempest tossed, trying now to make the harbor, in the darkness may be lost. Let the lower lights be burning; send a gleam across the wave. Some poor fainting, struggling seaman you may rescue, you may save.

We talked about God the Father and Jesus Christ as the great lighthouse. President Monson has said this:

"Look for the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. It calls: This way to safety. This way to home. The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals readily recognized and never failing."

Though our Father and Eldest Brother's light and mercy brightly beam from their lighthouse for all to see, it is to us they give the keeping, or responsibility, of the lower lights along the shore. It is these lower lights that can guide some poor fainting, struggling seaman safely to shore.

I looked up the origin of this song. Here's what I found:

This song was written by Philip Bliss. He was a well known Christian songwriter in the 1860's and 70's. He wrote this song as he was traveling with Pastor Dwight L. Moody. Pastor Moody preached a sermon one day and told a story about Cleveland harbor. (I personally didn't realize Cleveland sat on the shore of Lake Erie until I started researching this story.) A portion of Pastor Moody's sermon goes as follows:

"On a dark, stormy night, when the waves rolled like the mountains and not a star was to be seen, a boat was rocking and plunging near the Cleveland harbor. The harbor pilot came aboard the ship to guide it into port." (Just an aside: a harbor pilot is a local, experienced mariner who boards ships to guide them safely through dangerous or congested waters.)

"'Are you sure this is Cleveland?' asked the captain, seeing only one light from the lighthouse.

'Quite sure, sir,' replied the pilot.

'Where are the lower lights?'

'They've gone out, sir.'

'Can you make the harbor?'

'We must, or we will perish, sir.'

"And with a strong hand and a brave heart, the old pilot took control of the wheel of the ship. But alas, in the darkness he missed the channel and, with a crash upon the rocks, the boat was shivered and many a life lost in a watery grave."

Pastor Moody then said: "Brethren, the Master will take care of the great lighthouse. Let us keep the lower lights burning."

That evening, Philip bliss wrote the words to the song he entitled, "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning."

For me, this story illustrated a beautiful and significant meaning to the words of this song. It makes me think of those who have been 'lower lights' in my life; those who have guided me safely to shore. I can think of a handful right now. Then I can't help but wonder if I too am being a wise steward over the responsibility given me to 'send a gleam across the wave?' Doctrine and Covenants 103:9-10 comes to mind where it says: "They were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men; And inasmuch as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor, and is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men;" (italics added) and also these words: "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light." (Luke 11:33 See also Matt. 5:15, Mark 4:21, and 3 Ne. 12:15)

This tells me that not only do I need to be a better example to my children, family, friends, etc... but I need to be a better missionary by living and sharing the gospel, and also by serving in the temple; performing, vicariously, for others the saving ordinances which they cannot perform for themselves.

I hope this song forever reminds you, as it does me, we truly can become saviors of men or as Obadiah put it, saviors on Mount Zion. (See Obad. 1:21; see also D&C 103:9-10)