The View . . .

. . . from my parking space as I arrived for seminary this morning. I wish I had a camera and the skill to do it justice. Every morning this week has been beautiful as I've driven to the church house. Big, gorgeous moon with springtime beginning to unfold. It's been a very special holy week for me - not just because of the crisp, clear mornings, but because - as luck would have it - we've been able to study 3 Nephi - specifically, the fulfillment of Samuel's prophecy about the crucifixion of the Savior, His arrival in this hemisphere, and the beginning of His ministry among the Nephite people. There are many beautiful passages of scripture. None can compare, though, to those where the Savior speaks for Himself - not just through a prophet. Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.

Happy Easter to you all as we celebrate and give thanks for the greatest love the world has ever known.

Here's a favorite quote from our studies this week:
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland declared, “However dim our days may seem, they have been a lot darker for the Savior of the world. As a reminder of those days, Jesus has chosen, even in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, to retain for the benefit of His disciples the wounds in His hands and in His feet and in His side – signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and the perfect; signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t love you; signs, if you will, that problems pass and happiness can be ours. Remind others that it is the wounded Christ who is the Captain of our souls, He who yet bears the scars of our forgiveness, the lesions of His love and humility, the torn flesh of obedience and sacrifice.

“These wounds are the principal way we are to recognize Him when He comes. He may invite us forward, as He has invited others, to see and to feel those marks. If not before, then surely at that time, we will remember with Isaiah that it was for us that a God was ‘despised and rejected . . .; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,’ that ‘he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed’ (Isaiah 53:3, 5)” ( Ensign, January 2003, 42).