Doug's Easter Talk

As Jessica said, we were both asked to speak in Sacrament meeting today (Easter Sunday). I can't say I was really looking forward to it (public speaking isn't my thing). Now that it is over I can say it was a good experience. I think I learned a lot. So, if you would like to read it, here it is:

DREAMS

As a young missionary, Elder Orson F. Whitney (1855–1931), who later served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, had a dream so powerful that it changed his life forever. He later wrote:

“One night I dreamed … that I was in the Garden of Gethsemane, a witness of the Savior’s agony. … I stood behind a tree in the foreground. … Jesus, with Peter, James, and John, came through a little wicket gate at my right. Leaving the three Apostles there, after telling them to kneel and pray, He passed over to the other side, where He also knelt and prayed … : ‘Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt.’

“As He prayed the tears streamed down His face, which was [turned] toward me. I was so moved at the sight that I wept also, out of pure sympathy with His great sorrow. My whole heart went out to Him. I loved Him with all my soul and longed to be with Him as I longed for nothing else.

“Presently He arose and walked to where those Apostles were kneeling—fast asleep! He shook them gently, awoke them, and in a tone of tender reproach, untinctured by the least show of anger or scolding, asked them if they could not watch with Him one hour. …

“Returning to His place, He prayed again and then went back and found them again sleeping. Again He awoke them, admonished them, and returned and prayed as before. Three times this happened, until I was perfectly familiar with His appearance—face, form, and movements. He was of noble stature and of majestic mien … the very God that He was and is, yet as meek and lowly as a little child.

“All at once the circumstance seemed to change. … Instead of before, it was after the Crucifixion, and the Savior, with those three Apostles, now stood together in a group at my left. They were about to depart and ascend into heaven. I could endure it no longer. I ran from behind the tree, fell at His feet, clasped Him around the knees, and begged Him to take me with Him.

“I shall never forget the kind and gentle manner in which He stooped and raised me up and embraced me. It was so vivid, so real that I felt the very warmth of His bosom against which I rested. Then He said: ‘No, my son; these have finished their work, and they may go with me; but you must stay and finish yours.’ Still I clung to Him. Gazing up into His face—for He was taller than I—I besought Him most earnestly: ‘Well, promise me that I will come to You at the last.’ He smiled sweetly and tenderly and replied: ‘That will depend entirely upon yourself.’ I awoke with a sob in my throat, and it was morning.”

I can only imagine what emotions Elder Whitney must have felt as he awoke from such a powerful dream. I am sure that the dream was so incredibly real to him. I suspect that he went forth from the time of that dream on with a new resolution to make sure he would be prepared to return to the Savior’s presence like he so desperately wanted.

I have never had a dream like that. I feel I have always gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to dreams. I had a good friend growing up who would often tell me about how exciting it was to have a dream where he could fly. My dreams were usually more along the lines of falling . . . falling a long long way. In my dreams I imagine the closest I got to flying was the few minutes I could enjoy BEFORE falling out of the airplane. Some people would dream about making the game winning touchdown in the big football game. Me? I would dream about uncontrollably falling asleep during the huddle. For my friend, dreams were often an outlet for him to forget the problems of his everyday life and enter an exciting fantasy world . . . In my dreams; I would just forget an important article of clothing before entering my less than fantastic high school cafeteria.

Many of you may have had dreams similar to this one I had a few weeks ago: After a semester of hard work to get good grades finals week was upon me. I pull up on the computer the list of finals I have to take . . . my last step before graduation. I scan down the list: “ECEn 425. . . tough test, but I feel pretty ready. Math 212 . . . I understand the first ¾ of the class really well, I can get a B. . .History of Civ, shouldn’t be too hard….Engineering 427, easy. . .English 315. English 315! I forgot all about English 315! I went the first week and then forgot to go back! I quickly pull up the syllabus for the class . . . the list of books to read is a mile long . . . And in the few seconds before I wake up screaming I try to devise some sort of plan as to how I can somehow pass a test that I don’t have a right to pass. I think about trying to read all the books . . . impossible. I think about bargaining with my teacher . . . he wouldn’t budge. Finally I think of the consequences of failing: I will have to tell the boss of the company where I accepted the job offer that I won’t actually be graduating. I will need to scrape together enough money for another semester of school, and rent, and books, and that is where I wake up.

I wake with such strong emotions. Such fear and dread. A feeling that no matter how much I want to, there is nothing I can do. I think if you multiplied that feeling a million times you may start to understand the feeling of spiritual death. The feeling that the end is near, and no matter what I do, I am not going to pass this test. In the time I have left, I am could never help the people that I should have helped, learn all the things I should have learned, pray all the prayers I should have prayed, love all the people I should have loved. Spiritual Death is the feeling of never going home again. Never seeing those you love again. The feeling of completely letting down everyone you care about. It is feeling more alone than you have ever felt before. Feeling cold, dark, and completely alone.

Two-Thousand years ago that is the condition that every human being who had come, was on, or would ever come to earth was in. We were completely helpless. We had forgot to go to a lifetime of class, we were about to fail. We were there until a simple innocent man willingly said, “I will do whatever it takes to save these people”. His love for us was so great and all-encompassing that he would do absolutely anything to save us from the awful aloneness of physical and spiritual death. And the thing he had to do was, in a way incomprehensible to us, to take the feeling of dread, doubt, and despair that we all feel and remove them from us. He took upon himself every sin, every offense, every spiteful word said in anger, every impure thought, and every unkind action. He paid the debt for every sin we ever had, would, or even could commit.

President Gordon B. Hinckley said “[Jesus Christ’s] Atonement is the greatest event in human history. There is nothing to compare with it. It is the most fundamental part of our Father’s plan for the happiness of His children. Without it, mortal life would be a dead-end existence with neither hope nor future. . .” His Godhood made it possible for him to take upon himself infinite suffering in the finite space of time he knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Christ said:

“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer. . . Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might ^bnot drink the bitter cup, and shrink” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:16,18)

The demands of perfection have been removed from us, and replaced with something that should be so much easier. To remember. From the Book of Mormon we read

“O remember, remember, my sons, the ^awords which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the ^batoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to ^credeem the ^dworld.” (Helaman 5:9)

The Savior cured us of the spiritual death with which we were all afflicted and gave us the gift of spiritual life. And what must we do? We must live. We just have to do our best and he will make up the difference, no matter how big.

Preparing for this talk, combined with the Easter season has helped me to gain a new desire to start anew and try a little harder. I know that the Jesus Christ loves us all very much. I know that He lived and died for us. And I know that 2000 years ago he rose from the tomb as our Savior. Our happiness and salvation are always at the forefront of his mind. I know that he could never forget us, because our names are engraven upon the palms of His hands.

Happy Easter!