Sunday, April 09, 2006

What it means to preside.

He emphasized this point, emphatically declaring that a man who said, "'I hold the priesthood and you've got to do what I say'" ... should be tried for his membership." [ellipses in original]

-- from Lengthen Your Stride, The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimpball, Deseret Book, 168-169

WATER

a medley by Stephen M (Ethesis)

a man is supple and weak when living
hard and stiff when dead

No power or influence can be maintained, except

the hard and the strong are the signs of death
the supple and changing the signs of life

by persuasion, by long suffering, by meekness and by gentleness

that which is forceful will not vanquish
that which is strong will fall to the axe

by kindness and pure knowledge

the strong fails
the supple succeeds

without hypocrisy and without guile

nothing is more submissive and weak than water
yet for breaking mountains, nothing can surpass it

Charity and virtue

that the weak overcome the strong, the
submissive the hard, all know
Yet none can put it into practice

Then the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul

as the dew from heaven and without

compulsory means dominion

shall flow unto thee

Forever and ever

Lao Tze
Tao Te Ching

Joseph Smith
Doctrine and Covenants 121




My thoughts on what the priesthood means and what it means to "preside" -- it means a call (a reminder, a duty, a command) to act by persuasion, by long suffering, by meekness and by gentleness by kindness and pure knowledge, without hypocrisy and without guile.

4 comments:

annegb said...

Wonderful, Stephen, I'm going to print this and share it, okay?

Stephen said...

Feel very free to share it.

Anonymous said...

The full meaning of the poem has not sunk in yet as I am a little sleepy. I read it before but there are so many layers to it. What I understand thus far, is very powerful.

Rosalie Erekson Stone said...

This is a wonderous medley. I too will be sharing it with family and friends.