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  • Author's Testimony & Introduction--FAQS
    • Table of Contents
  • 1 His Kingdom to Prepare
  • 2 My Choice Companions
  • 3 Companions
  • 4 Companions II
  • 5 A Mother's MTC Farewell
  • 6 Who Will Dare for Christ
  • 7 To a Chosen Generation
  • 8. I Feel Such a Strangeness
  • 9. Not Me
  • 10. My Brother's Father
  • 11. Not Far Away
  • 12. Questions for Our Leaders
  • 13. Questions From Our Leaders
  • 14. The Visit
  • 15. Show and Tell
  • 16. Within Our Slumber We Will Dream
  • 17. Servants in the Shadows
  • 18. Joya Escojida/Chosen Jewel
  • 19. Las Aguas Del Senor/The Waters of the Lord
  • 20. Come Fasting to the Meeting House
  • 21. As Voices Join in Sacred Sabbath Worship
  • 22. A Child's Baptismal Day
  • 23. In Temple White
  • 24. Temple Hill
  • 25. This Precious Day
  • 26. The Translators
  • 27. I Your Husband Who Have Fallen [First Poem of The Repentance Trilogy.]
  • 28. The Wife's Song
  • 29. Remember Not Past Years
  • 30. A Priesthood Lullaby
  • 31. The Season of Our Need
  • 32. Cherished Daughter, Valiant Servant
  • 33. Daughter, Hear and Heed Your Savior's Voice
  • 34. Bird Mom
  • 35. Eric's Song
  • 36. A Wedding Song of Praise
  • 37. Testimonies to My Daughters
  • 38. Prayer for a Caring Granddaughter
  • 39. Firstborn Son and Firstborn Daughter
  • 40. Father's Day
  • 41 The Hospital
  • 42. The Children of the World
  • 43. For the Healers of the World
  • 44. Simple Heroes of Our Day
  • 45. To This World So Prone to Peril
  • 46. Somewhere
  • 47. Servant of Servants
  • 48. We Wish That You Were Here
  • 49. The Teacher
  • 50. To Protect Marriage and Family
  • 51. Earth's Unborn Children Weeping
  • 52. Prayers for the Peacekeepers
  • 53. That Patriot Dreams Will Come to Pass
  • 54. We Would Do It All Again
  • 55. So Much More
  • 56. Passage and Pilot
  • 57. Because of the Son
  • 58. Growing Up
  • 59. The Olive Leaf
  • 60. Until All Are One With Him
  • 61. Death Has Not Won, But Lost
  • 62. Call to Arms
  • 63. When All Is Done
  • 64. How Rarely Have I Come This Way
  • 65. At a Place So Very Different
  • 66. My Best Years Lie Ahead
  • 67. Sons of Zion, Jesus Calls You
  • 68. Come, Sing Your Song to Me
  • 69. May It Be Always So
  • 70. Until Safe in Heaven's Embrace
  • 71. Seek the Spirit
  • 72. Undertow
  • 73. If I Am Given Time
  • 74. Sons and Daughters, Heirs of Promise
  • 75. Wrestling for a Call
  • 76. When Everything is Ready
  • 77. One Thousand Times
  • 78. Tearful and Fearful I Prayed Through the Evening
  • 79. Tell Us, How Do Servants and Teachers Like You Come Along?
  • 80. Blessings for Beloved Servants
  • 81. Our Gayla's Free at Last
  • 82. I Am a Witness of Your Worth
  • 83. I'll Live With You Again
  • 84. Brother, Friend, and Fellow Servant
  • 85. Grieve Not for Him
  • 86. Press On From Payson's Hill
  • 87. The Righteous Live in Me
  • 88. Homecoming
  • 89. In Honor of My Friends Unseen
  • 90. [An Invitation] We Call to You
  • 91. Fellow Americans, Let Us Talk
  • 92. Brothers and Sisters, Fulfilled Together
  • 93. What We Have Lost in Our Digital Paradise
  • 94. Running Out of Time
  • 95. Ere You Hear the Sound of Battle
  • 96. 21st Century Gadiantons
  • 97 The Setting Apart
  • 98. What Do You Say?
  • 99. To a Woman of Tempered Steel
  • 100. A Correction Soon Begins
  • 101. The Quiet of the Morning
  • 102. Slippery Slope
  • 103. Stormy--We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This
  • 104. Warriors of the Mind and Soul [Poetic Process Discussion]
  • 105. He Wrote Just as He Lived
  • 106. Life Singer
  • 107. Zion's Daughter Leanore
  • 108. Does Your House of Worship Now Seem Lonely
  • 109. Crucify the "Old Man of Sin"
  • 110. We Loved Them Once
  • 111. Winter's Mothers God Holds Most Dear
  • 112. Lord, Please Forgive Us Anew
  • 113. Patriot's Faith Will Triumph Yet
  • 114. Indexing
  • 115. I Am Liberty
  • 116. The Beauty
  • 117. To Aid the Innocents Abused
  • 118. A Noble Bugler Has Returned
  • 119. The Music of the Lord
  • 120. Frog Cat
  • 121. God's Storms
  • 122. The Daughters of the Lord
  • 123. Come Back, Before Our Souls for Error Yearn
  • 124. Don't Tell Me That My Time Has Come
  • 125. From the Dust [Comes The Book of Mormon]
  • 126 To See the Sun Again
  • 127. Mourning America
  • 128. For Baby Adam
  • 129. Despedida Ansiosa/Anxious Farewell
  • 130. Between the Lines
  • 131. Will You Ever Ask the Questions
  • 132. The Days I Spent With You
  • 133. For Nelda
  • 134. The Covenant Path
  • 135. Heartland Dream
  • 136 We Sent Our Very Best
  • 137. Sisters of the Covenant, Daughters of God
  • 138 Sisters Share Their Cheerful Hearts
  • 139 God Looketh On the Heart
  • 140 What of Me?
  • 141 The Return
  • 142 Latter-day Defenders
  • 143. "Come and See, Come and Help, Come and Share"
  • 144. The Best of Father's Seed I've Known
  • 145. [Complete, but pending.]
  • 146. When the Days of Wait Are Over
  • 147. Red Kettles and Silver Bells
  • 148. Victory
  • 149. He Lacks Not Faith
  • 150. "Am I a Friend of Jesus?" [Spring 2020 Semi-Final Examination]
  • 151. Christ is Our Refuge Once Again
  • 152. Until We Kneel at Our Savior's Feet
  • 153. Where You Stand, You Should Still Lift
  • 154. No Day Shall Pass nor Night Shall Fall
  • 155. We Pray for You
  • 156. Bountiful Harvest
  • 157. A Message of Peace and Love
  • 158. Israel, Israel God Shall Save Thee
  • 159. For Those Who Wait
  • 160. Friends Who Intercede
  • 161. Young Women's "Frog Camp"

131.  Will You Ever Ask the Questions?

 THE “TRIGGER”:
 
It happens all the time—massive revisions of boundaries or units which shake up wards, stakes, or even regions.  Such events are to be expected in an expanding Church.  They happen every week.  Only, this week, it was us.  The “pick and flower” of our Ward was removed in a single swath.
 
It is painful.  I grieve.
 
Some of my choicest role models, dearest friends, and most inspired teachers and leaders have not moved one inch from their former homesteads—but they have moved far from the constant interaction in the Kingdom with me which took years to nurture and refine.
 
I wanted to “memorialize”…”express”…”explain” my poignant feelings about this necessary (and inspired) change of circumstances—but I could not find the words.  Until the whisper came to me:   “Now I will not be able to seek out those special, even unique, moments when, one by one, I might ask these souls (my mentors):  “Have you dared to ask…the questions?”  The verse below followed swiftly—but those to whom it is addressed must find the piece for themselves.  Such “unsung songs” are not the stuff of casual conversation.  You have shown God’s light to me.  God bless you always.
 
 
“Will You Ever Ask the Questions?”
 
                                 I
 
Busy days too filled with meetings,
Prayers and worries fill your nights,
For the Saints who seek your succor,
And the Lord’s forgiving might.
Oh, the day to day seems endless,
Without time to pause and ask
The deep questions of the Kingdom,
And the Father’s foremost task. (1)
 
Will you ever ask the questions,
Of the Father’s foremost task?
 
 
                                 II
 
Time to time, throughout the ages,
There were those who sought for “more”. (2)
As they made their way, in stages,
To come close to Heaven’s door.
Fewer still dared heed the Spirit,
As it whispered to their souls,
“It is time to ask the questions,
That can make God’s children whole”. (3)
 
Will you dare now ask the questions
That can make God’s children whole?
 
 
                                 III
 
Yes, each day we ask for “blessings”
For ourselves and those we love.
Seeking health and food and shelter,
From our Father from above.
But at times a deeper yearning,
Bids us seek a higher state,
Bids us dare to ask the questions
Of our own eternal fate.
 
Have you not yet felt that yearning,
To seek out that higher fate?
 
 
                                 IV
 
Sisters need not hold God’s Priesthood, (4)
To obtain those holy proofs,
That can only be acquired,
By the pure who quest for truth.
So as voice for Higher Powers,
Who await your prayer of faith,
I beseech you ask the Father,
The He seal you sure and safe.
 
Will you heed this feeble servant
Who would see you sealed and safe?


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FOOTNOTES:
 
(1)  See: Moses 1:39
(2)  See: Abraham 1:1-2
(3)  See: Joseph Smith History 1:29
(4)  See: Number 122, above, as revised.

AFTERWARD/TENDER MERCIES:

The next day I received No. 132, which begins to express my admiration, even awe, at the Saints who have nourished, cheered, and taught me.  I have known giants-first as a pre-existent spirit, then as a mortal child, and finally as a man.