What If?

So Oleesia and I were talking about church and all that Wednesday afternoon. I showed her a poem her dad posted on his Facebook page and we decided to talk about it. It's titled "What If?" by Ganga White. It's lovely and simple and thought provoking. I'll share it with you and share some of things Oleesia and I talked about as we read the poem together. Here goes:

What If?

What if our religion was each other?

If our practice was our life?

If prayer was our words?

What if the Temple was the Earth?

If forests were our church?

If holy water - the rivers, lakes and oceans?

What if meditation was our relationships?

If the Teacher was life?

If wisdom was self-knowledge?

If love was the center of our being

Thank you to the author. This is beautiful and it is accurate. Because what you question is reality.

Our religion is each other. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I know this. Our purpose on this earth is to care for one another, to serve, to love, to care for one another. In essence, our religion is each other.

Our practice is our life. Heavenly Father gave us this mortal life as a test, a practice for the eternities. We get to practice, make mistakes, fix them and start over to do better. It's on going and ever evolving to make us the best we can be.

Prayer is our words. With every word we speak, we can hurt or help. We speak to one another and can speak the words of Truth, what God would have us speak or we can speak lies and wound. They are our prayers. God is listening to us ALL. THE. TIME. So choose your words carefully. Are they meant to hurt or heal?

The Temple is the Earth. This is the world Heavenly Father has built for us. It is a temple, just as our homes are temples. Our bodies are temples. Then there are the buildings we call temples. Any place that allows God and the Spirit to be welcome and reside is a temple.

Forests are our church. We can pray to God, worship Him where ever. In a forest, on a lake, in the middle of the ocean. As long as we look to God, we make a church where we are. Forests included.

Water is holy. The springs, streams, creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes, seas, oceans. They are the water of Life. Jesus Christ was baptized in a river. Water is essential to our salvation.

Meditation is our relationships, if you're caring correctly. To meditate is the act of thinking deeply and focusing one's mind for a period of time. If your relationships are handled as meditation, your focus is solely on them, building them up and thinking deeply on them as much as possible to make them important.

The Teacher is Life. Read the Holy Bible, it's in there. Jesus Christ is the Teacher and through Him is Life Eternal. Pure and simple.

Wisdom is self-knowledge. As we learn and grow wise, we gain self-knowledge and what we are meant to do in this life. We grow closer to Heavenly Father and gain knowledge about what His plan is for us in the life.

Love is the center of our being. If we follow the commandments, then we love one another as we've been commanded. We find love in all things, hope in all things.

This poem couldn't be more true.