The world is a noisy place. I recently spent a weekend in a cabin in the western foothills of the majestic Rocky Mountains. The silence and calm experienced in this remote setting at morning, mid-day, and at sunset was as glorious as the views from the east facing balcony of my sturdy log and timber mountain retreat. I dreaded leaving my mountain respite, thusly returning to my boisterous, complicated, and often perplexing and vexing world of noise.
During the the October 2010 Semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave an address titled, Cleansing the Inner Vessel. (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/cleansing-the-inner-vessel?lang=eng) President Packer’s remarks stirred controversy. I know…I know… nothing new for this particular chosen man of God. You may remember this talk and the delightful story President Packer shared about a young schoolboy bringing a kitten to class. The boy showed the kitten to the class in a gesture of show-n-tell (aka bring-n-brag).
All was going well until one of the children asked, “Is it a boy kitty or a girl kitty?”
Not wanting to get in to that lesson, the teacher said, “It doesn’t matter. It’s just a kitty.”
But the children persisted. Finally, one boy raised his hand and said, “I know how you can tell.”
Resigned to face it, the teacher said, “How can you tell?” And the student answered, “You can vote on it!”
Obviously this amusing story taught a valid lesson but elicited little controversy. Not so for Packer’s remarks in which he stated, “Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! Why would Heavenly Father do that to anyone? Remember, God is our Heavenly Father”. Because his statements characterized homosexual acts as “impure and unnatural” and implied that individuals can choose not to engage in homosexual behaviors—the world responded and created quite a bit of ‘noise’; President Packer even making international news as a result of the worldly and raucous response to his message of truth, reason, and belief that we can resist temptations of any kind. The controversy expanded as revisions were made between the oral remarks and the later printed version, a seldom but accepted practice among General Authorities of the church. (To read more see http://northstarlds.org/general-authority-articles/cleansing-the-inner-vessel/.)
I failed to see the merit in this controversy. The ‘noise’ associated with President Packer’s remarks fell on my deaf ears. I fully support President Packer and believe his words to be true and compelling. We can resist any temptation. Why? Among other reasons, because angels are among us! At least that is what I (re)learned from President Packer’s talk. Near the end of his Cleansing the Inner Vessel talk President Packer referenced and rendered the Book of Mormon scripture 2 Nephi 32:3 to the simple and poignant phrase—“Angels will coach you!”. How profound. How simple. How true. How comforting. Angels will and do coach us, each and every day. As the scripture states, “Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ”. (2 Nephi 32:3)
Angels have coached me in my life and continue to do so today. I praise the heavens for these heavenly sent emissaries, these angelic instruments in the hand of God that lead me, guide me, walk beside me. As Elder Holland has reminded us, “not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with-- here, now, everyday. Some of them gave birth to us, and in my case, one of them consented to marry me”. (Me too, in both cases! My mother and my wife are both earthly angels.)
Angels here on earth have been prompted by the Lord in the middle of the night to arise in the morning and pen life-saving letters written personally to me. Hand-written letters which have saved me from my own demise. Angels here on earth have been prompted to acquire medical attention when I have been bleeding internally through the night. As previously stated, my angelic wife consented to marry me, fully aware of my carnal, sensual, and materialistic hedonistic past- of which I am still repenting of this day. The good Lord has blessed my wife and I with several earthly angelic children--who are truly an heritage of the Lord. Angels are all around me, I am truly blessed by the comforting and guiding influence of these administering messengers.
I know, doubting nothing, that angels do coach us, and angels will coach you. It is for this reason I have appropriately and through inspiration used this rendered phrase as the title for my blog. This is my first blog posting. I look forward to this journey into the blogger world and in exploring the miracles of the ministry of angels here upon the earth and the miraculous role they play in our mortal lives. “Has the day of miracles ceased?” I hope to answer and explore this profound question and topic, and many more through my writings and musings posted to this blog. I invite you to join me.
“Behold I say unto you, Nay; for… it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men.” (Moroni 7:35-37)
