Rememberance
If I had a large brood of children, and if I sat down to write them a letter by which they might remember me, and if in this letter I offered some general guidelines on how to live a virtuous life and honor my memory…
And if, on the other side of this life, I learned that my children were constantly divided against each other because of their individual insistence that each of them had the correct, full, and perfect understanding of my letter, and if I saw them spending long hours analyzing and parsing every syllable of my letter instead of getting on with the business of being my children…
And I saw my children in the midst of their disagreements and conflicts accusing each other of not even being my children –“because how could YOU be his child, believing some crazy, non-authorized thing like that about the old man??”
I would be saddened by my children’s behavior. I would want to correct them, to show them their error.
But would they listen to me?
~ S.K. Orr
4 Comments
Bruce Charlton
“But would they listen to me?”
You could not make them listen, that’s for sure. In this sense, each must attain his own salvation.
But I am sure that our love for our children (and others) helps. Becuase if or when they glance in our direction, they *may* know that love – and for sure; and that might make all the difference.
admin
It’s very interesting for me to look back at how the “fatherhood” of God was taught to me in my younger years. The version of “father” was very unappealing to me, as their version of God was capricious and tricky and peevish and moody. But as you noted, Bruce, children CAN glean something of their father by observing his ways and actions, and he is neither unknowable nor incomprehensible. Your appreciation of Mormon theology has led me to do quite a bit of reading, and I really gravitate towards their “As we are, God once was…as God is, we may one day become” view.
Francis Berger
And I would want to show them their error, too. Great post.
admin
Thank you, Francis. And thank you for your patience in my slow, slow responding to your last email. The check is ALMOST in the mail…