followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 79]

Last week I was looking through the Old Testament curriculum and discovered a section of the Pearl of Great Price that I didn't remember ever studying before (though I know I've read it, and maybe even talked about it in seminary).

After Enoch's call to preach repentance, he expresses concerns and the Lord promises He will help. Then this happens:

35 And the Lord spake unto Enoch, and said unto him: Anoint thine eyes with clay, and wash them, and thou shalt see. And he did so.
 36 And he beheld the spirits that God had created; and he beheld also things which were not visible to the natural eye; and from thenceforth came the saying abroad in the land: A seer hath the Lord raised up unto his people. (Moses 6:35-36)

I liked the symbolism of the clay (from the earth) covering his eyes and then being washed away, and Enoch seeing with spiritual eyes. I'm not called to be a seer but I could still benefit from learning to see things with spiritual eyes.

It makes me wonder, what clay do I need to wash away from my eyes?

Because Enoch did as the Lord commanded, he was blessed. By strict obedience and with the Lord's help, we can see with spiritual eyes.

This morning I needed something to listen to while I completed a task. I decided on "Seeing with New Eyes" by Professor Cox in 1995. He talked about how we could broaden our vision by doing four things:

1. Submission to Authority -- "The Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “Now if they will be wise, they will humble themselves in a peculiar manner that God may open the eyes of their understanding” (Teachings, p. 78). The gates of heaven open when we are humble, allowing us to be led and blessed by priesthood authority."
2. Waiting Upon the Lord -- Those who wait upon God find small miracles along the way.
3. Seek for the Beautiful -- When those who call themselves realists urge us to yield to the temptations of the flesh, because everybody’s doing it or because that’s how things are, the living God (through the living prophets, Church, and scriptures) reminds us, not of how things seem to be, but of how things really are.
The genuine realist is really able to “consider the lilies in the field” and thereby see a planning and a providing God in marvelous microcosm—or he can consider the heavens and see God moving in majestic and marvelous macrocosm!
4. Mechanism and the Role of God in the Universe -- Imagine how we would believe and adore if we gazed at the stars and heard the voice of God, as did Moses, saying: “And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten” (Moses 1:33). To a disciple, studies in botany or astrophysics do not weaken faith in the position of God but only increase admiration and love for the Creator.

So there's that.