Merle Shares Good Counsel about Children

My friend and mentor Merle Hoffman, who is yet a spry young man at age 90, recently shared the following with me:
"You parents of the wilful and wayward! Don't give them up. Don't cast them off. They are not utterly lost. The Shepherd will find his sheep. They were his before they were yours-long before he entrusted them to your care; and you cannot begin to love them as he loves them. They have but strayed in ignorance from the Path of Right, and God is merciful to ignorance. Only the fulness of knowledge brings the fulness of accountability. Our Heavenly Father is far more merciful, infinitely more charitable, than even the best of his servants, and the everlasting Gospel is mightier in power to save than our narrow finite minds can comprehend" -LDS Apostle Orson F. Whitney, in Conference Report, April, 1929.
"The Prophet Joseph Smith declared - and he never taught more comforting doctrine -...Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father's heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the Salvation of God." -LDS Apostle James E. Faust, April 6th, 2003.

Dr. Seuss Meets MCEA (Letter to Editor)

Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) aptly described underappreciated Maryland state and county employees and their Maryland Classified Employees Association (MCEA) protector and advocate, when he wrote, "Horton Hears a Who!" in 1954.
When Horton proclaimed, "Don't give up! I believe in you all! A person's a person, no matter how small!", he also described MCEA's message to downtrodden, disrespected, and discouraged public servants.
And, when, "that one small, extra Yopp put it over. Finally, at last!...Their voices were heard!", it well could have been a description of how each individual state and county employee can make a big difference, perhaps the critical difference, in boosting MCEA's voice and success on behalf of all.
Perhaps Horton says it best when he explained, "Do you see what I mean?...They've proved they ARE persons, no matter how small. And their whole world was saved by the Smallest of All!".
Simply put: It really does takes two: MCEA and YOU!

A Friend's Feedback about this "Blog"

Larry,

(Your web-log includes) not only testimonies of the gospel, but also your heartfelt thoughts and musings about what has happened to you thus far in your life.
From what I have read, I believe your writings provide the reader with a "window" into your inner workings as well as the heartfelt issues which have touched your very soul, as it were.
This (blog) may, at some time in the future, be considered the same as the journals of the early pioneers and members of the church as they slogged (blogged) their way through this mortal probation!

-from "Anonymous" (due to the witness protection program?)

Charles Dickens on "These Times"

Again, to me, Charles Dickens perhaps described these times best, when, in "A Tale of Two Cities", he said "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.".
Modern day Acting President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles Boyd K. Packer (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - LDS Church) also points out to us that we are blessed in our day by former spiritual giants and martyrs such as John Wycliffe and William Tyndale, who made possible the first English translations of the Holy Bible ( "I will cause a boy who driveth the plough shall know more of the Scripture than the clergy" - William Tyndale)
Elder Merrill J. Bateman, of the LDS Church's Presidency of the Seventy, then went on to further explain that, "Following the Savior's death and those of His Apostles, doctrines and ordinances were changed and apostasy set in...spiritual darkness lasted for hundreds of years..."
Then, after years of preparation by other devoted and inspired followers of Christ, "The Lord directed the restoration of the gospel through the (ploughboy) Prophet Joseph Smith. The restitution of all things began (in 1820) in the Sacred Grove (near Palmyra, New York) with the Father and the Son appearing to Joseph Smith" and thus established the dispensation of Christ's own restored gospel and His Church in these last days, the "Fulness of Times".
Even so, in these best as well as worst of times, it is the counsel of modern day LDS President and Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, who sums up best for me what we all should be about:
"Age does something to a man. It seems to make him more aware of the need for kindness and goodness and forbearance...I think it may be the greatest virtue on earth, and certainly the most needed...How wonderful are the blessings of mercy and forgiveness...There are so many in our day who are unwilling to forgive and forget. Children cry and wives weep because fathers and husbands continue to bring up little shortcomings that are really of no importance. And there are women who would make a mountain out of every little offending molehill of word or deed."
He then went on to tell a wonderful story of crime, mercy and forgiveness from "tough old New York".
Upon further reflection, I believe that we live in the best of times, or so it can be for all of us.
For the complete text of all of the above remarks, visit www.lds.org and click on "Gospel Library". the "Ensign magazine". November, 2005 issue, pages 70-84.

A Providential Prompting & Protection

"...cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your minds and bodies may be invigorated." (Doctrine & Covenants Section 88, Verse 124, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) always made a lot of sense to me.
And so it was, years ago, on West 34th Street in Indianapolis, that I was driving alone to work, well before Dawn, when a disembodied but audible voice suddenly cried out "Fasten your seat belt!" to me, and I complied, with alacrity.
Scant seconds later, a large truck, driven by two young folks who were high on drugs, careened through the red traffic signal, and totally demolished my car, flipping it over three times in the process.
Ambulance personnel arriving at the scene were dumfounded to find me getting out of the twisted wreckage without assistance, although my suit was ripped to shreds and I was covered in broken glass and other debris.
My only injury was two large bruises, from the violent restraint and seat belt buckles.

I Remember

In 2002, when I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, my beloved wife was devastated, having also lost her Dad to cancer when she only was eight, but she clung to hope when a Priesthood blessing promised my recovery.
The cancer returned, her fragile faith was shattered, and that, along with other issues, caused her to repudiate the LDS Church and also divorce me in June of 2003.
Fifteen operations later, I'm still here and now feeling great, the cancer is gone, and, sadly, so is she.

Eternal Partnerships and More

Just now, as I revisited the remarks of Apostle Dallin H. Oaks from the October 1st, Saturday afternoon, session of the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the confirming testimony of the Holy Ghost caused tears to stream down my cheeks.
Those tears were in mute and grateful assent to the powerful truth of his remarks about how families blessed with and who faithfully live the principles of Eternal Marriage realize the penultimate manifestation of Christ's love for us.
In one of Brother Oaks personal examples from his own life, he remembered that, "Just before Christmas one year, our bishop asked me, as a (12 year old) deacon, to help him deliver Christmas baskets to the widows of the ward (congregation). I carried a basket to each door with his greetings. When he drove me home, there was one basket remaining. He handed it to me and said it was for my mother. As he drove away, I stood in the falling snow, wondering why there was a basket for my mother, and it had never occured to me that she was. To (me), she wasn't a widow. She had a husband, and we had a father. He was just away for a while."
For the full text of Brother Oaks remarks, visit www.lds.org and click on "Gospel Library".
For a free video about loving family relationships and how they can last forever, call 1-888-537-6777.

A Fascinating Read

Intrigued and concerned about some of the underlying precepts and conflicts inherent in Psychotherapy that I have observed in my criminal justice career, secondary employment as a sexual offenders group therapist, and my experiences as a Church Elder, the resolution and clarification of these conflicting concepts was and is an important professional and personal issue for me.
Accordingly, "Turning Freud Upside Down" (Gospel Perspectives on Psychotherapy's Fundamental Problems), edited by Aaron P. Jackson, Lane Fisher, and Doris Dant (Brigham Young University Press) is a fascinating and insightful read.
The book provides a clearly articulated and focused matrix, wherein both religious and professional beliefs (and approaches) are reconciled and put to a much more effective application.
In Aaron Jackson's masterful summation and concluding chapter, he analyzes four paradoxes commonly faced by psychotherapists, which he then reveals as false dilemmas and assumptions.
He also points out that "most counselors know that something very important and powerful goes on in counseling, but they find traditional explanations of it rather inadequate.".

Nonplussed

The special award given to me last night at the Maryland Classified Employees Association (MCEA)Western Maryland Regional Area Advisory Board meeting in Hagerstown, Maryland took me completely off guard.
Even better, the folks from my local MCEA prison employees chapter had a really good time making fun of me as I was passionately speaking to the group.
Especially endearing to me was the prank photo of me that was engineered by our local MCEA Chapter Treasurer Booby (not a typo) Moats.
Seriously, sometimes you poke the bear, and sometimes the bear pokes you, but it all makes for better mental health on the road to workplace justice.
My MCEA comrades in arms bring joy to my otherwise stressful and dangerous workplace journey.