"A Parable of Immortality" by Henry van Dyke.

I am standing by the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean. ...
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch
until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sun and sky come down to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says, 'There she goes!
Gone where? Gone from my sight - that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the places of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
'There she goes! ' ,
there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout :
'Here she comes!'

Death, the journey beyond life..

Death-The Journey beyond life-

 

There are remarkable similarities between birth and death. Elder Bruce R. McConkie (LDS Church leader) said: "We know that this great plan of progression called for birth which would provide a mortal tabernacle for our eternal spirits, and for a death which would free those spirits from the frailties, diseases and weaknesses of mortality." The words birth and death both describe movement. Birth describes our movement from the spirit world to mortality. Death describes our movement from mortality to the spirit world. With each movement we terminate our existence in one place and initiate our existence in another.

When God sends forth a tiny soul To learn the ways of earth, A mother’s love is waiting here— We call this wonder— birth. When God calls home a tired soul And stills a fleeting breath, A Father’s love is waiting there This too is birth— not death

Seeking After Our Kindred Dead

Today I went to the Riverton Family History Library & found five names of children from Holland who needed to be sealed to their parents. They all died before they were 6 years-old. My heart ached for their parents. I felt them so so close to me. As I thanked the good brother who reads Dutch and helps me each week on Dutch records from Wie Was Wie said to me, "As missionaries we go out and knock on doors and are lucky if we find one or two people a week to teach. Here, we sit in the library for several hours and find from three to 8 people who need their temple work done and who need to hear the gospel on the other side."
If you want to feel "the Spirit," seek to find your ancestors.

Why I Don't Use Lead Paint Anymore

 

It has been nearly 50 years since I painted my grandmother's bathroom with a moss-green colored paint. I was a young mother and my son played in the living room as I painted, not knowing I was using a lead-based paint in a closed room.

I felt light headed as I drove home but just thought I was tired. I fell alseep quickly that night and was awakened to an incredible terrifying feeling of panic, I could feel my spirit being pulled out of my body and I was bound down. I could not move a muscle, I could not say anything or make any sound.I wanted to cry out but could not. I could see my head on the pillow, but could not help myself. Then it came to me and in my mind's eye I saw myself raising my hand to the square and in the name of the Lord I dismissed the spirit that had bound me down. Immediately my spirit returned to my body and I felt an incredible...spiritual light fill the room and fill me with peace and amazing Christ-like love.