Past Feeling...................
There is a place somewhere just beyond the edge of emotional capacity. It is a habitation devoid of joy, peace, contentment, and love. It is the destination of those whose lives have been filled with the emptiness that results from yielding to base desires, and works of darkness. Having spent their days seeking emotional fulfillment through base and carnal activities, their capacity for light and righteousness becomes almost nil. This week’s meditative verse from the Book of Mormon describes that dark-some place of misery known as “Past Feeling.”
There is a place somewhere just beyond the edge of emotional capacity. It is a habitation devoid of joy, peace, contentment, and love. It is the destination of those whose lives have been filled with the emptiness that results from yielding to base desires, and works of darkness. Having spent their days seeking emotional fulfillment through base and carnal activities, their capacity for light and righteousness becomes almost nil. This week’s meditative verse from the Book of Mormon describes that dark-some place of misery known as “Past Feeling.”
Past Feeling
Ye are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember
the Lord your God. Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have
heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small
voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore,
he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the
earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder.
Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 17:45
“O Laman, O Lemuel,
A still small voice or voice of thunder
We question which do you hear
A voice to shake and divide asunder
Or a still voice small and clear”
“Swift to do iniquity, and slow to serve the Lord
Past
feeling and to
angels’ voices numbed
Your angry words and deeds record
That to Satan’s will you have succumbed”
“O My Brothers,
You saw an Angel and heard his voice
But it never left its mark
Hatred and rebellion became your choice
As to another voice you did hark”.
“O My Children,
May you never get past feeling
May you always feel God’s word
May your prayers fly beyond the ceiling
That His blessings may be conferred”
Larry Doyle Crenshaw
Larry, Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us in your blog! It makes the miles between UT and KY seem closer. The poem and scripture you reference here contain such powerful messages! Laman and Lemuel saw and felt deep truths and yet their hearts were hardened and their minds remained closed - It teaches me that knowledge isn't enough to ensure true conversion and that an occasional quick repentance is not the answer in my attempts at drawing closer to the Lord. What a different dynamic it would have been had Laman and Lemuel not accompanied their family to the Promise Land but how incomplete the journey would have been without them! Opposition in all things ~ What makes one's heart harden and another's soften when confronted with the exact same miracle? To be past feeling leaves one alone and dark and as you wrote " beyond the edge of emotional capacity." To foster a soft heart in a hardening world is a constant battle worthy of our deepest focus and greatest efforts.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Annie. Yes, I agree. I sense a "hardening of hearts" throughout the world.
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