Rise from the rubble

Every city and people who have suffered death and destruction by way of war has faced the task of rebuilding and trying to prosper. In the Bible there are a few accounts, one of them being of Gideon. In these moments of destruction and great trial I have found myself asking “why this, god?” Even the prophet Joseph Smith asked Heavenly Father this question. We see Gideon ask the same question, the answer he receives is so great! The Lord responds to him. “And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?” I interpret this as God explaining that the extreme hardship that Israel was suffering after their defeat was meant as a humbling and inspiring experience to pave the way for Gideon to truly save Isreal. Similarly the answer to “Why this, God?” has always been, “for your good”. The point is, God sometimes allows for our lives to be seemingly destroyed, he knows, and expects us to rise from the rubble and fight to move on and prosper.

Sacred Vs. Secret

Recently I was reading in the book of Numbers. In the particular chapter God gives detailed instruction on how to cover the sacred things of the tabernacle. Certain things were to be covered with a specific type of material and a particular color etc. of course all having rich symbolic meaning. That left me asking, in modern times what is that we find sacred enough to cover with great care? In every religion there are things held sacred and typically out of regular public view, treated with a great amount of privacy and respect. With that in mind I see that we all revere our bodies as sacred, our most precious religious symbols and knowledge sacred, our families, our feelings, our love and much more. I just would like to add my opinion, it is easy to divide what is held sacred vs. what is held as a secret. It's all in the motivation of the action. Things we keep secret typically are things we just don't want the world to know for whatever personal reason, things we hold sacred we keep from being skewed, mocked or harmed by those who would oppose us. Lets be respectful of the things others hold sacred.