THE HEAVENS ARE OPEN - PART TWO (new video released today on Summer Solstice 2020)

Today, Saturday, June 20, 2020  the sun will take its longest and highest path through the sky. The 2020 Summer Solstice occurs at 3:43 pm in Salt Lake City. In terms of daylight, this day is 5 hours, 51 minutes longer than on the December Winter Solstice.

A week from now will be the anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum.  A series of seven short videos on Restoration are currently being created to not only commemorate the 200 year anniversary of the First Vision but to also show how the Restoration is continuing to unfold today.  Below is the link to the second video that was just released in part of observing the Summer Solstice and the Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum.

The style of the video uses imagery of large brush strokes on an old deteriorating canvas. The first large brush strokes introduce the images in monotone colors, but then begins to restore the original color. Each image on the canvas is not fully completed nor do they have all of the color restored completely. That is symbolic that the Restoration is not complete. That process of remembering and completing the Restoration  is currently underway. The remaining five videos will hopefully paint that picture of what the Lord is currently doing in our day.

EXTREME CONTRASTS: Black vs White, Control vs Freedom, Turmoil vs Peace

This is the world in which we live... Opposition in all things.  Everything has it's opposite. Good and evil, virtue and vice, light and darkness, health and sickness, pleasure and pain.

“Life is 10% what happens to you 

and 90% how you react to it.”

"We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it." by Charles R. Swindoll

Below are a few quotes from a great blog post: Blessed are the Peacemakers that was written over 10 years ago. It is probably more relevant today than when it was written: 

There are too many willing to cry for revenge or justice in the world. Eventually the spirit of revenge will reign, and the earth will be filled with violence. As it was in the days of Noah – those days will return again. (Gen. 6: 11-13; Moses 8: 28-30.) Those who want to see justified and unjustified killing will have their fill. In the days before the flood the earth was filled with violence. There was also a corresponding return of Zion. It would not be as it was in the days of Noah if Zion were not to return. For that, the pattern is set out in Moses Chapter 7: How much guilt we bring with us to that final day depends entirely upon the intent of our hearts, the actions of our hands, and the words we speak. (Alma 12: 14.) Becoming a peacemaker and meriting the call as a child of God is measured by our acts, but includes as Alma warns us, our thoughts and words as well.

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Sidenote:

My daughter and I just got back from a week long road trip up the West Coast.  Nature is full of contrast as well as similarities. I took some photos to show the extreme contrasts that we saw.

Great Salt Lake vs The Pacific Ocean

Both are bodies of water that contain salt, but one is inland and the other is on the coast. One has waves and rocks, the other is calm and flat. 

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Lake Tahoe vs Muddy Lake 

Both are fresh water lakes, but one is clear and blue and heavily forested, the other is muddy and only has dry sagebrush.

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Modern Sundial Bridge vs Old Railroad Bridge

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Pacific City Sand Dunes vs Cannon Beach

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Artificial Tree vs Pine Tree

May we learn to better appreciate the contrasts in the human race as well.

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