Beach Haven

While my wife and I traveled this past Christmas we stayed at several hotels. At one of them something unexpected happened. After getting there late at night, and waking up tired the next morning, I prepared for a shower. It was one of those that has a single handle you just twist. The position of the knob determines the temperature of the water. When plumbed normally, you twist counterclockwise and the water progresses from cold, through warm, and landing on hot. I turned the knob all the way to the hot position waiting for the water to warm up. It didn’t. Instead, the water remained icy cold. This was not the best outcome first thing in the morning. I began to twist it clockwise, back toward off, when the water began to warm. It was obvious the shower was plumbed backwards. When the knob was in the red zone the water was cold, and when it was in the blue zone the water was hot. I thought to myself, why would they not take the short time necessary to simply remove the valve, flip it around, and reinstall it? I know how that works as we had the same problem in our Georgia home when we first moved in 18 years ago.

After my shower and breakfast, I returned to the bathroom and then I noticed it. Right above the shower knob was a sticker warning the reader that the plumbing was backwards. Instead of fixing it they just shared the unexpected status. I thought how interesting it was that the whole time I fiddled with the knob I never even noticed the sticker. I learned through experience the mistake despite someone’s attempt to warn me. Seems like we see what we look for, and miss what we don’t look for, even when the thing we don’t see is right in front of us.

From Matthew 13
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

I hope we are looking for those things that Heavenly Father wants to teach us. I’m sure I miss plenty of opportunities to learn since sometimes I have eyes but see not. 
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What has been bouncing around lately is the relationship among faith, hope, and charity. It’s been sparked by two writers. One of my favorite sections of scripture is 1 Cor 13 from the New Testament. There is a similar passage we have recently read as my wife and I review scriptures at breakfast. It’s Moroni 7 in the Book of Mormon in which Moroni is quoting his father Mormon.

Both Paul and Mormon come to a similar conclusion, that charity is in the primary position of the three.

1 Corinthians 13:13
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Moroni 7:46-47
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--
But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
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I wondered why that is. Here is my simple way of thinking of it. Faith is what we do. Hope is what we gain. Charity is our motivation. There are many scriptures that show that if we don’t have charity, or love, as a motivation then our works (faith) and hope are in vain. If we hope to gain hope, then why we do what we do is more important than doing what we do. I’m sure you scriptorians out there can find many passages that note how our works alone don’t save us. We are not saved without Jesus Christ. Also, if all we do is ‘believe’ in Christ but don’t act on what he says then we are faithless. Perhaps an obvious example of these two extremes of focus on works or focus on belief is found here:

Matthew 7: 21-23
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

A talk I gave in church in October of last year:​

Our granddaughter Minnie Coates is 2 years old. Recently she looked up at my wife with wide open eyes and a big grin after taking her first taste of a Tootsie Roll and said, "So stinkin' good!" The Heavens have reopened, and it’s so stinkin’ good. I will look at only one of the gospel parts that has been restored. There are many, but I consider this one as high on the priority list.

Moses 1:39
For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

The key word for me here is and. It does not say or in other words. This by definition means that immortality is not the same thing as eternal life. Immortality means to live forever. We also call it salvation or resurrection.  Eternal life means living forever with God, in the same way that God lives. We also call it exaltation. Salvation comes to all as a free gift from Jesus Christ. Exaltation also comes from Jesus Christ through His atonement but requires us to exercise faith in the way He has commanded.

From the conference talk “Joseph Smith - Prophet of the Restoration” (Tad R Callister, Oct. 2009):
Through Joseph Smith have been restored all the powers, keys, teachings, and ordinances necessary for salvation and exaltation. You cannot go anywhere else in the world and get that. It is not to be found in any other church. It is not to be found in any philosophy of man or scientific digest or individual pilgrimage, however intellectual it may seem. Salvation is to be found in one place alone, as so designated by the Lord Himself when He said that this is “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (D&C 1:30).

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.

​Joseph Smith History
38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

I read at least two meanings of the word 'wasted'. In one sense it can be read as the earth would be laid waste, as in destroyed. I don’t get that particular meaning here. For me the ‘curse’ or the ‘waste’ would be that all the effort of the plan of salvation would be made moot if the hearts of the children and fathers are not turned toward each other. If we are to have eternal life, meaning God’s life, what is that life? God’s life is family life. We have a loving Heavenly Father and Mother. We are their spirit sons and daughters. So Elijah the prophet was to bring the priesthood keys that made eternal families binding all of God’s children. If this were not to happen, then none of us would achieve His stated goal of eternal life.

Christ to Peter:
Matthew 16
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Elijah to Joseph Smith in the temple at Kirtland, Ohio, April 3, 1836:
D&C110
13 After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said:
14 Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come--
15 To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse--
16 Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.

Our Jewish friends still look forward to the coming of Elijah. They even set an extra spot at their Passover meal, reserved for Elijah in case he comes to their house. They imagine it is to happen at the only arrival of the Messiah, but the Messiah has already arrived and will again. Elijah was to bring these keys back before his second arrival to usher in the millennial era. He did bring those keys to Joseph Smith.

From the conference talk “Pillars and Rays” (Alexander Dushku, April 2024):
You may have experienced these bursts of light and testimony as “peace [spoken] to your mind concerning [a] matter” that has worried you.  Or as an impression—a still, small voice—that settled “in your mind and in your heart” and urged you to do something good, such as helping someone. Perhaps you’ve been in a class at church—or at a youth camp—and felt a strong desire to follow Jesus Christ and stay faithful. Maybe you even stood and shared a testimony that you hoped was true and then felt it was. Or maybe you’ve been praying and felt a joyful assurance that God loves you.  You may have heard someone bear testimony of Jesus Christ, and it touched your heart and filled you with hope. Perhaps you were reading in the Book of Mormon and a verse spoke to your soul, as if God had put it there just for you—and then you realized that He did. You may have felt the love of God for others as you served them. Or maybe you struggle to feel the Spirit in the moment because of depression or anxiety but have the precious gift and the faith to look back and recognize past “tender mercies of the Lord.”

I hope someone in this sacrament meeting (or reading this post) has had a similar experience.
Our grandson Dallin Blackburn tasted some of Sister Beach’s molasses cookies not long ago. After taking a bite, like his cousin Minnie, he looked at Sister Beach with wide eyes and a big smile and said, "Good thing you made them with extra good things." As good as those cookies are, the Gospel has even better extra good things. It is in the Gospel we gain true and lasting happiness. Only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ can we be the recipients of God’s ultimate goals for us of immortality and eternal life.