Celebrating Jesus Christ on the Equinox

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Hooray!

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Gia here.

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Welcome to the Creative Spiritual

Journey podcast, where Judy and I talk

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about those things that bring us joy.

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For me, I find joy by connecting

with nature, connecting with Jesus

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Christ and our heavenly parents,

seasonal living, and all the bits

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of magic and wonder I come across.

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So, if you've been listening to this

podcast for a while, you may recall

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that I mentioned last year that

it was my plan to celebrate Jesus

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Christ in every season, which I did.

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And most of those celebrations

I mentioned in my podcasts.

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I based those celebrations around

other holidays we regularly celebrate.

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This year, as I was planning new

celebrations, I decided to do

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something a little different.

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This year, I am going to

celebrate Christ on the two solar

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equinoxes and the two solstices.

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This might seem odd for a Christian,

because celebrations around the

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equinox and solstices are typically

pagan, witchy, or new agey.

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But you know what?

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I don't care.

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I am taking these prominent dates

back and making them my own.

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My belief is that God, Jesus Christ,

created this earth and everything in

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it, everything about it, and everything

it represents teaches me about Him,

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which includes these solar events.

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So there you go.

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I plan to celebrate Jesus Christ in

accordance with the four prominent

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dates created by the solar cycle.

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This decision has led me

to some interesting things.

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For example, I love petroglyphs.

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I love to be out hiking in the

desert and come across a sheep

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or other animals such as an owl

or heron pecked into a rock wall.

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I especially love to find spirals

and I'm always looking for them.

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Turns out there is another similar

symbol to the spiral that I have often

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seen and just not paid any attention to.

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But now that I have a reference for what

it might mean, I think it's super cool,

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and maybe even as cool as a spiral.

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Now, just to be clear, no one in our day

knows what any ancient people had in mind

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when they painted or pecked into the rock.

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All we can do is speculate.

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But people in the know seem to

believe they understand this symbol.

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It is most often called the sun

cross, but it is also called

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a solar cross or wheel cross.

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I've seen it here in the

Southwest United States.

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In fact, one place it is found is on

the famous newspaper rock outside the

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entrance to Canyonlands National Park.

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But the same symbol is also found

in Scandinavia, Britain, Ireland,

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And I even found two websites that said it

was painted on cave walls in South Africa.

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but when I tried to search for these

exact locations, I couldn't find anything.

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So I'm kind of questioning that.

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But let me try to describe this symbol.

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It is an equilateral cross encompassed

by a circle, equilateral meaning all the

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arms are of equal length versus the more

traditional Christian symbol of a cross.

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Regardless, this symbol is a cross.

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So, it ties in beautifully with

my celebration of Jesus Christ.

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So here's where speculation

has taken people who study the

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meaning of this ancient symbol.

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The most common interpretation is

that the circle represents the sun's

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circular path throughout the year,

with the spaces between the arms of the

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cross representing the four seasons,

winter, spring, summer, and fall.

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And the arms themselves, where

they touch the circle, marking

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the equinoxes, and the solstices.

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Can you picture this?

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I hope I'm being clear.

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The winter solstice is at the top,

the summer solstice is at the bottom,

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and the spring and fall equinoxes are

on the right and left respectively.

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So the idea is this ancient symbol

depicts human experience with the sun.

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I think that's so cool.

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And then, of course, there is the

idea that in creating a drawing of

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the sun, S U N, it is a homophone for

S O N, referring to the Son of God.

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So all these things solidified my decision

to celebrate Christ throughout the

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year according to the solar calendar.

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And this got me so excited.

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And then I started wondering

how I was going to celebrate.

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Think about a celebration.

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What do you do?

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You decorate.

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You have food.

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Plan activities.

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Invite friends.

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You make it a big deal, right?

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Go all out.

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Have fun.

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Oh, no.

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I do like to have fun, but I didn't want

to have a party, and who would I invite?

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Oh, so what should I do?

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I woke up pondering this one morning.

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Oh, mornings, don't you love them?

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I have my best ideas in the morning.

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And this particular morning, as I

was pondering my seasonal celebration

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of Jesus Christ, I thought maybe

going to the temple would be

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a good part of my celebration.

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And then the story of Jesus Christ

going to the temple when he was

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12 years old crossed my mind.

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And then my brain blew up with an idea!

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I would celebrate the life of Jesus

Christ in a year, starting with his

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visit to the temple on the spring

equinox, all the way around to his death.

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on the winter solstice, the darkest

time of the year, representing

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the extinguishing of the light

of Christ as he was crucified.

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And then I would be in the perfect

place to complete the circle by

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celebrating his birth on Christmas

as the light begins to return.

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I haven't determined what I'm

going to focus on for the summer

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solstice and the fall equinox.

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I will decide that as I get

closer, but I hope you can

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see where I'm going with this.

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In my opinion, the solar cycle

creates a beautiful way to celebrate

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Jesus Christ in every season.

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So here we are just over a week away from

the spring equinox, which takes Which

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takes place on March 20th this year.

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And as I said, if I am following

Jesus Christ on his journey of

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life, I am correlating the spring

equinox with his childhood.

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This leads me to the story of his 12

year old visit to the temple, as recorded

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in Luke chapter 2, verse 41 through 53.

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Let me take a minute and

read these verses to you.

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parents went to Jerusalem every

year at the Feast of the Passover.

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And when he was twelve years

old, they went up to Jerusalem

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after the custom of the Feast.

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And when they had fulfilled the days,

as they returned, the child Jesus

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tarried behind in Jerusalem, and

Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

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But they, supposing him to have

been in the company, went a day's

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journey, and they sought him among

their kinsfolk and acquaintance.

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And when they found him not, they turned

back again to Jerusalem seeking him.

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and it came to pass that after three

days they found him in the temple.

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Sitting in the midst of the doctors, both

hearing them and asking them questions.

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And all that heard him were astonished

at his understanding and answers.

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And when they saw him, they were amazed.

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And his mother said unto him, Son,

why hast thou thus dealt with us?

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Behold, thy father and I

have sought thee sorrowing.

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And he said unto them, How

is it that you sought me?

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Wist ye not that I must be

about my father's business?

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And they understood not the saying,

which he spoke unto them, and he

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went down with them and came to

Nazareth and was subject unto them.

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But his mother kept all

these sayings in her heart.

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and Jesus increased in wisdom

and stature and in favor with

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God, and man, I love this story.

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I love the humanness we

witness in Jesus Christ.

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He was a young man.

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He didn't realize he still needed to

tell his parents what he was doing.

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But there is more to it than that.

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he actually had quite a justified

reason for this opinion.

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Let me explain a few details I found

in the book, Days of Awe, by Gail Boyd.

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Gail was born to Jewish parents,

and as she says, she wrote the

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Days of Awe to show the connection

between Judaism and Mormonism.

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So this book is a great resource.

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I'm going to go over this quickly.

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If you want more detail,

you'll have to read the book.

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goes through and explains the idea

that Jesus was likely born at Passover,

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which takes place in the spring.

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Not our traditional middle of winter,

which means if Jesus was going to the

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temple for the Passover at 12 years

old, his birthday was at the same time.

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He would have been turning 13,

the traditional age for a Jewish

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boy to have his bar mitzvah.

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The bar mitzvah is a celebration

that marks a boy's transition

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into adulthood and their ability

to be responsible for themselves.

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The ceremony includes a talk by the

rabbi, a prayer of thanks by the boy's

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father, a celebratory meal, and the boy

may be asked to read from the Torah.

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Does this start to put

pieces together in your mind?

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If Jesus had just had his Bar Mitzvah,

can't you imagine him believing he

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was old enough to be on his own?

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He was an adult now, right?

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He was expected to act like a man.

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This was the first time he

got to read from the Torah.

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The first time he got to share

the knowledge that must have

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been bubbling out of him.

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It just didn't cross his mind that

his parents would be in a panic that

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they couldn't find him for three days.

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Mary must have been a wreck, but obviously

Jesus was sorry for the worry he caused

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his parents, because it does say that

once again he became subject unto them.

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He realized he still had to

communicate with his parents.

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But here is where I believe

is a great lesson for me.

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I hope you won't think it's

blasphemous to say, but it appears

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that young Jesus made a mistake.

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Of course he should have been

about his father's business, but he

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should also have told his mother.

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Here is where the lesson comes in.

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We all make mistakes, it's part of the

human condition, but we forgive ourselves.

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We make restitution where

appropriate and we move on, knowing

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our mistakes are part of life.

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Jesus learned this lesson easily at 13.

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I am 58 and still struggling to figure

it out, thus my reason for focusing my

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attention on Christ this spring equinox.

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Now there is another part

of the story that I love.

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And that is that at 13 years

old, Jesus knew who he was.

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The Son of God.

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Do I know who I am?

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Do I truly recognize my divine heritage?

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Sometimes I think I do.

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I mean, I work on it enough.

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I love the opening lines

of the young woman's theme.

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I am a beloved daughter of

heavenly parents with a divine

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nature and an eternal destiny.

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I say these words over and over

to myself in an effort to remember

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who I am and what my potential is.

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I was reminded of this just the other day

when I heard my fabulous man mumbling to

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himself as he was studying his scriptures.

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I heard him say, Shake off the dust.

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Arise.

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Sit down.

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And I said, what are you reading?

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And he said, 2 Nephi 8, where

Nephi is quoting Isaiah.

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And he read me the quote.

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It says, shake thyself from

the dust, arise, sit down.

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Oh, Jerusalem.

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Do you have any idea

what these words mean?

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We had to look them up.

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Shake off the dust is a reference

to sitting on the ground.

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So this verse is saying, get up out

of the dirt and sit on my throne

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where you belong, where you belong

as my children, the children of God.

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So, 10 days from when I'm putting

out this podcast, the Spring

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Equinox will occur on March 20th.

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I live an hour and a half

from the closest temple.

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For my Spring Equinox celebration of

Jesus Christ, my plan is to drive

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to the temple, Attend a session,

camp somewhere in our beautiful

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southwest desert, just like Jesus

Christ would have camped outside

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the walls of Jerusalem for Passover.

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The next morning, I will attend

another session and then drive

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home, maybe stopping for some

celebratory Thai food on the way.

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And as part of my celebration, I am going

to focus on forgiving myself for making

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mistakes and put a special effort into

reminding myself of my divine heritage.

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If any of this sounds good to you,

I hope you will take these ideas

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and plan your own celebration

of Jesus Christ this spring.

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Equinox.

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Judy and I know your time is precious

and that you have many choices.

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We love that you have chosen to

walk with us for a few minutes as

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we navigate this journey of life.

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If you like this podcast, will

you take the time right now to

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share it with a friend or share

it somewhere on social media?

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Judy and I need your help in reaching

our goal of 150 Apple podcast followers.

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This will help the podcast make a bigger

impact in the world and will give Judy

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and I the motivation to keep going.

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Thank you in advance for your help.

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And so, my dear listeners, this Spring

Equinox, I hope you will brush off

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the dust, get up and sit down on

the throne your God has prepared for

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you, the throne where you belong.

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Namaste.