Pick It Up

I feel this in my heart. I feel more and more like daring great things.

The verse that really comes to mind here, is 14 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory. 1 Ne. 14

This is what I feel is beginning to be poured out.

But I have a real gripe about the translation of that Isaiah verse. The word translated judgment is the hebrew mishpat. It does have that legal meaning and in many cases, that is a fine translation. But it really means much more than that. It means what is legally due a person, but that law includes Divine Law. It is God’s right way of living. It is the Gospel Standard. It is God’s law and justice, not a narrow human legal standard.

So yes, about truth, and a great deal more.

I’m pretty sure you’ve posted this stanza from Frost’s ‘The Trial of Existence’ before, but it seems timely (especially with the Orson F. Whitney quote in a recent post about poets being close to prophets)

“Even the bravest that are slain
Shall not dissemble their surprise
On waking to find valor reign,
Even as in earth, in paradise;
And where they sought without the sword
Wide field of asphodel fore’er
To find that the utmost reward
Of daring should be still to dare”

The reward of setting your sights astronomically high in this life is exaltation – which is just further chances to improve, astronomically.

This also reminds me of some of the JBP quotes about finding happiness via setting yourself the ultimate possible goal

Convening a family council to discuss the meaning of someone’s dream is awesome.

I agree with your interpretation of the message.

I have heard a quote that has given me food for thought.- Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.

Perhaps that is not a minor thing. We are told that only valient members will inherit the Celestial kingdom. Valient means showing courage.

@DontKnockMySmock – I was not familiar with that poem. That is the same inspiration as the Psalmist. Amazing.

Even the bravest that are slain
Shall not dissemble their surprise
On waking to find valor reign,
Even as on earth, in paradise;
And where they sought without the sword
Wide field of asphodel fore’er,
To find that the utmost reward
Of daring should be still to dare.

The light of heaven falls whole and white
And is not shattered into dyes,
The light for ever is morning light;
The hills are verdured pasture-wise;
The angel hosts with freshness go,
And seek with laughter what to brave;—
And binding all is the hushed snow
Of the far-distant breaking wave.

And from a cliff-top is proclaimed
The gathering of the souls for birth,
The trial by existence named,
The obscuration upon earth.
And the slant spirits trooping by
In streams and cross- and counter-streams
Can but give ear to that sweet cry
For its suggestion of what dreams!

And the more loitering are turned
To view once more the sacrifice
Of those who for some good discerned
Will gladly give up paradise.
And a white shimmering concourse rolls
Toward the throne to witness there
The speeding of devoted souls
Which God makes his especial care.

And none are taken but who will,
Having first heard the life read out
That opens earthward, good and ill,
Beyond the shadow of a doubt;
And very beautifully God limns,
And tenderly, life’s little dream,
But naught extenuates or dims,
Setting the thing that is supreme.

Nor is there wanting in the press
Some spirit to stand simply forth,
Heroic in its nakedness,
Against the uttermost of earth.
The tale of earth’s unhonored things
Sounds nobler there than ’neath the sun;
And the mind whirls and the heart sings,
And a shout greets the daring one.

But always God speaks at the end:
‘One thought in agony of strife
The bravest would have by for friend,
The memory that he chose the life;
But the pure fate to which you go
Admits no memory of choice,
Or the woe were not earthly woe
To which you give the assenting voice.’

And so the choice must be again,
But the last choice is still the same;
And the awe passes wonder then,
And a hush falls for all acclaim.
And God has taken a flower of gold
And broken it, and used therefrom
The mystic link to bind and hold
Spirit to matter till death come.

’Tis of the essence of life here,
Though we choose greatly, still to lack
The lasting memory at all clear,
That life has for us on the wrack
Nothing but what we somehow chose;
Thus are we wholly stripped of pride
In the pain that has but one close,
Bearing it crushed and mystified.