Episode 119

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Published on:

4th May 2026

119. The Heavenly Couple

Ghia—This spring, let’s talk about our Heavenly Parents and a few ways to grow our relationships with them.

Resources about Heavenly Mother

https://www.motherinheaven.com/

https://www.mandybgreen.com/

Transcript
ghia:

Hello.

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This is Gia.

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Welcome to the Creative Spiritual

Journey, where Judy and I explore the

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connection between faith, nature, and joy.

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It's May, and I'm feeling very may-ish.

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Any idea what Mayish means?

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I suppose it's the excitement of spring.

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Here in the northern hemisphere,

the desert is blooming.

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The weeds on my property are

popping up all over the place.

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It's sunny one day and raining the next.

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And if the chipmunks haven't eaten

them yet, I have spring greens

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ready to be harvested in my garden.

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May is also the month we celebrate

Mother's Day, and I am sure you are

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aware that this isn't a coincidence

because May is associated with

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new growth, new life, nurturing,

care, creation, all things mothers.

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June, when we celebrate Father's

Day, is more about growth, support,

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strength, guidance, and protection.

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I thought about continuing my tradition

of sharing a Heavenly Mother podcast in

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May and a Heavenly Father podcast in June.

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But this year, I decided

to combine the two.

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I mean, because they really

go together, don't they?

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Our heavenly parents

are a heavenly couple.

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As a result, this heavenly

relationship has been on my mind.

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So, our heavenly parents.

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What do we really know about them?

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Honestly, not much.

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What we know about Heavenly Father is

all mixed up with images of Jesus Christ.

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So much so that it frequently isn't

clear who we are talking about when.

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And Heavenly Mother, we're just happy to

know our doctrine acknowledges her, right?

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Officially, there is very

little we know about her.

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Though I will include a couple

of links in the show notes if

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you want to explore her further.

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But here is what I've got

to share with you today.

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As members of the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter Day Saints, we have

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a document that I believe describes the

relationship of our heavenly parents.

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Any idea what I'm talking about?

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It's the family proclamation to the world.

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Have you ever considered this?

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We are created in the image of God.

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Marriage is ordained of God,

and it's central to the new

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and everlasting covenant.

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It feels natural to me to believe

that the same principles that create

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a strong, loving marriage on earth are

the very same ones practiced in heaven.

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With this in mind, here is what

the family proclamation tells

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me about my heavenly parents.

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First of all, they are equals.

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They stand side by side.

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They are in this whole creation

and perfecting of their

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children business together.

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I love that.

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It makes me smile.

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And here is what else comes to mind.

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They each have different roles.

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Roles as unique as May and June.

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And what are these different roles?

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The family proclamation states, "By divine

design, fathers are to preside over their

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families in love and righteousness, and

are responsible to provide the necessities

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of life and protection for their families.

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Mothers are primarily responsible

for the nurture of their children.

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I know this word preside gets

a little sticky at times.

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Here is how I like to think about it.

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To preside doesn't mean taking charge

and deciding what everyone needs to do.

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It's more like standing at a point

on the trail where you see the path.

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Take bearings and watch for danger.

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To me, there's a sense of

being watchful and vigilant.

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That is a role I can see

our heavenly father taking.

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his job to look at the big

picture, the whole of the plan.

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But there is another part

to the role of fathers.

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They are responsible to provide

the necessities of life and

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protection for their families.

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just as husbands are to provide for

the material needs of their families.

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Heavenly Father's role is

to provide for our physical,

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emotional, and spiritual needs.

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And all provisions, all protections

flow from love, which is the heart of

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both earthly and heavenly fatherhood.

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believe there are lots of ways our

heavenly father is fulfilling this role.

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But today, I want to focus on one

specific way, and that is through prayer.

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I am intrigued by the

words of Elder Runland.

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He said, quote.

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The Savior taught his disciples.

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Always pray unto the Father in my name.

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follow this pattern and direct our worship

to heavenly father in the name of Jesus

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Christ and do not pray to heavenly mother.

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End quote.

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This is interesting because I think

it's important to note that not only

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do we not pray to heavenly mother, we

don't pray to Jesus Christ either.

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It's not a gender thing.

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We only pray to heavenly father.

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Why?

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Why don't we pray to heavenly mother?

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Honestly, I don't know.

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But I kind of like the idea that our

heavenly parents sat down together and

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talked everything over and looked at what

needed to be done and who had what skills.

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And Heavenly Father said," I'll take this

big job so you can focus on other things.

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"Because answering prayers has got to

be a big responsibility, doesn't it?

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I mean, to my simple brain,

it seems never ending.

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This said," I think at times many

people are unhappy about this

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doctrine, preferring the idea of

being able to pray to heavenly mother.

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"And I get it, because as kids, when

we have troubles or need comfort,

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who is the first person we turn to?

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Mother, right?

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I pondered this, one day I had

a little phrase pop into my mind

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that has tickled me ever since.

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It adds," I'm going to call

it a new emotion to my prayers.

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"And this little phrase is daddy's girl.

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I have taken to approaching my prayers

thinking of myself as a daddy's girl.

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Now, I love my dad, but I would never

have used the term daddy's girl as a way

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to describe my relationship with him,

it has been interesting to approach my

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prayers, believing I have this type of

relationship with my heavenly father.

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Being a daddy's girl is more than a label.

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I see it as a deep, enduring bond.

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It's a feeling of being completely

comfortable, safe, and understood.

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It's a feeling of looking up to Heavenly

Father, valuing His perspective and

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being willing to turn to Him for guidance.

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It's sharing laughter, spending time

together, and expressing love freely.

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It's allowing His influence to shape

confidence, spark interest, and set

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a foundation of trust and security.

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I recently came across an

Instagram post by Sharon Eubanks.

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Of course, I couldn't find the post

when I tried to look it up again later,

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but she said something to the effect

of, " Father wants us to come to him

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with our ideas because he respects our

agency, which means he isn't just around

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to tell us what he wants us to do.

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He is truly interested in supporting us

in what each of us individually wants.

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I was so happy when I heard her post.

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I think it goes right along with

my idea of being a daddy's girl.

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I love praying to my heavenly

father, knowing he wants to give

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me everything my heart desires.

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I also feel it's important that my

interactions with my heavenly father

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be reverent and sacred, as I've played

with this idea of being a daddy's girl,

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I found myself approaching my prayers

with a smile on my face and a sense of

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abundance in my heart, and this has felt

powerful to me, and I think that there

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is probably a happy balance between

the idea of reverence and this more

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playful idea of being a daddy's girl.

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because my prayers have been so

skewed towards the serious side, I

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have felt really good swinging the

pendulum all the way to the other end

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of the spectrum, and I believe that

eventually I will find a balance.

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So that's the idea I wanted

to share with you about our

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relationship with Heavenly Father.

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Now, let's switch gears and

talk about having a relationship

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with our heavenly mother.

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What can we learn from the

family proclamation about her?

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The proclamation says," Mothers

are primarily responsible for

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the nurture of their children.

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"Do you feel nurtured by heavenly mother?

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Where?

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Where in your life might

you feel this influence?

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For me, the obvious answer is to see

my heavenly mother in mother nature.

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Here are a couple of

thoughts on this idea.

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One of my favorite books is How to Make

Friends with Wild Birds by Gail Hypine.

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this book, Gail brings up the role

that instincts or deep ancestral

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knowledge plays in the life of birds.

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And in the process of her

explanation, Gail talks about the

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role instincts play in humans, and I

was so excited to learn about this.

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Now, you might be thinking," I'm a

human with a large thinking brain.

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I don't run on instincts like an animal.

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"Turns out that's not quite true.

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We rely on tons of instincts,

and one of them is our affinity

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towards things that are cute.

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Did you know that?

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Humans love cute things.

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We can't help it.

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It's ingrained in our DNA.

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We were born with it.

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That's why we love kittens

and puppies and babies.

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Babies would not live very long

without this ingrained instinct.

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Isn't that interesting?

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And here is another instinct, we

have as humans, our desire for love.

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What?

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Did you ever imagine love was an instinct?

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Let me explain.

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Birds often made for life.

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That's because it takes a mother

and a father to raise baby chicks.

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It's very difficult for a

single bird parent to feed all

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those peeping mouths alone.

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And guess what?

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Human babies take a lot longer

to raise, so it's natural that as

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humans, we believe in lifelong love.

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If we didn't, our babies

would never survive.

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This desire for a partner is an instinct.

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Just like with birds, it's in our DNA.

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And think of our heavenly parents.

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How long does it take

to raise their children?

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Do you think they will be

together for a long time?

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An eternity, maybe?

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So, are instincts a gift

from heavenly mother?

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Is this ancestral knowledge passed

down to us through the ages, something

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she imprinted in our DNA so that we

could survive this earthly experience?

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Of course, I have no proof, but

I like to imagine it's true.

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I believe instincts nurture our souls.

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They keep us safe.

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They push us gently in the best direction,

and I can't help but believe this is the

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nurturing effect of our heavenly mother.

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speaking of this instinct of love,

I want to offer one more thought

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I have about our heavenly parents.

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I personally don't call my

husband honey or sweetheart.

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I call him fabulous.

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Yep.

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When I can't find him, I yell,"

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Fabulous.

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ghia: "And he answers.

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It's so cute.

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And this brings me to the idea of names.

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As I said above, with most names in

scripture, it's hard to differentiate

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Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but

it's clear that Heavenly Father, the

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big kahuna, the God of Gods, has chosen

that we as his children call him Father,

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heavenly father, which is so endearing,

and I love that, But there is another

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name that I think is distinctly reserved

for our heavenly father, and I love to

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imagine that this is the name our heavenly

mother calls her husband, what she calls

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her other half, her favorite person.

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Let me explain.

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you recall in the book of Moses where

Moses goes to the top of a mountain?

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And among other things, he is taught that

he is a son of God, and then later, as

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he descends the mountain, Satan calls him

son of man, And Moses is like, Whoa, wait.

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I'm not a son of man.

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I am a son of God.

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and this allows Moses to recognize and

call out Satan as a fraud and a faker.

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that's a great story, isn't it?

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But it has always left me a little

confused because there are several

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places in the scripture where

Jesus is called the Son of Man.

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In fact, he even calls himself Son of Man.

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So how does that work?

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Listen to this example from Matthew 8:20.

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"And Jesus saith unto him, the

foxes have holes and the birds

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of the air have nests, the son of

man have nowhere to lay his head.

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Now, I love this analogy of foxes

and birds, but son of man ... What?

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This is so confusing.

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Then I was excited a few years

ago to learn I wasn't the

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only one with this question.

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Elder D.

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Todd Christopherson had the same one.

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Of course, he was only a boy at

the time and I was a grown woman,

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which clearly points out the

difference between me and an apostle.

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But regardless, Elder Christopherson

quoted Moses 6:57, which says," For in

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the language of Adam, man of holiness

is his name, and the name of his only

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begotten is son of man, even Jesus Christ.

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"The answer to my question was

right there in the scriptures, and

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I had never noticed it before.

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Heavenly Father's name is man of

holiness, which is why his only

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begotten son is called Son of Man.

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We could say his name is

son of man of holiness.

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but I think that got a little wordy,

so it was just shortened, kind

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of like a nickname, son of man.

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Okay.

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So all this to say," Heavenly

Father's name is man of holiness.

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"This led me to wonder exactly

what the word holiness means.

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Definitions include exalted, worthy

of complete devotion, and perfect

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in goodness and righteousness.

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Now, the part of this definition that

stands out to me is complete devotion.

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Our heavenly father is a

man of complete devotion.

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I love that in relation

to heavenly mother.

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are a couple completely devoted

to each other, and I can't help

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but imagine that Heavenly Mother

calls him man of holiness.

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"Man of holiness, where are you?

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And he answers, "Isn't that so cute?"

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And it's something I love to ponder

in relation to our heavenly parents.

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They are truly a heavenly couple and

have a relationship worth emulating.

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So that's what I've got for now.

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Until next week, Namaste.

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About the Podcast

Creative Spiritual Journey
one small, deliberate step at a time
We are all on a journey—a journey home to our heavenly parents. Any experienced traveler knows there are days you laugh and days you cry.

We aren’t here to tell you how to live—we are here to share how we live—how we survive, thrive, and even find joy!

The journey gets messy with rainstorms and sleepless flights but the hard times—the miserable times—those make the best stories.

And the vistas, the sunsets, the little birds outside the window—those are the reminders that God is in the details, he is aware of us, he has trod the path before.

The Creative Spiritual Journey Podcast is hosted by Judy and Ghia Cooley—two sisters in their wisdom years—who love the savior and are dedicated to making this journey one small, deliberate step at a time.

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