"If it had not been so..."

I'm a firm beleiver in Unity.  Finding a oneness seems vital and important in a world full of confusion and chaos.  Sometimes I can find it with one other person and sometimes I find myself trying to discover Unity with a whole bunch of people.  Much harder.  But, either way, it must important.  My mind is called to Psalms 133 when David tell us it's 'pleasant' and 'good' to live in unity with our brethren.  Family.  Neighbors.  Friends.

The 'unity' that seems to trip me up the very most is within myself.  I think my desire to be with people precludes my ability to be with The Savior.  It's Him that I need more than anyone.  Unity with my Savior.  My Master.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with my brother.  He and I have never really been close.  He lived in foster homes before I was born and I didn't meant him until I was Senior in High School.  And when I did meet him, I wasn't impressed.  And now all these 20 or so years later, after spending the afternoon with him, I bothered myself to look deeper at the spirit and less at the human.  And.........I liked him.  We talked about love, and lonliness, faith, but not religion.  I'm devoutly Mormon...He's devoutly NOT.  We even talked about the forbidden of all topics...politics.  We formed, for just a tiny little time, unity.  Onesness.  Togetherness.  He's still flawed and has faults but I try not to cast too many stones that direction.  I don't want them picked up and thrown back at me.

I'm telling you this for a reason.  Shawn was a kairn.  In an effort to keep you here not running off to google, I'll tell you what a kairn, (carn) is.  It's a marker.  A stone or rather a stack of stones places in a specific formation to indicate the direction that would be best for traveler to take.  Sometimes they indicated that a body of water would be an ideal place for catching fish.  Sometimes they pointed to good hunting.  Sometimes a stack told that this would be a good and safe place to rest.  Sometimes they just point and say...'this way.'  For thousands of years and in multiple cultures, kairns have been there, placed by the poor fellow who had to go that route alone...without them.  The Savior. 

He's walked our road.  AND He did it without His help.  When I think of His Mercy and Mission my heart leaps inside of me.  Why?  Why does He deign to help such a wretch like me?  Because, He loves me.  And because He loves me, He wants me to be around and talk to Him.  He wants unity wth me.  How can the master ever learn to use the instrument if the instrument is not there.  I remove myself from Him.  From His prescence.  I take the instrument away so He is unable to use me the way He knows best.  He places those people in my path to bring my thoughts and heart back to Him.

I LOVE the story of the Stone of Ebenezer.   It's Hebrew...It's actually 2 words.  One word means stone, one word means help.  Stone of help.  Stone of Help!!  Samuel raised the Ebenezer Stone and proclaimed 'Thus far the Lord has helped us!'  Brilliant!  He told the people that The Lord had helped them to this point and would never forsake them.  And the stone would be for all others to see and know....this is the line in the sand.  We're not going back to the way it was!  You know what happened after that?  Peace!  Sernity! Unity! And because there was unity, the Isrealites were able to recover their land from the Philistines and they even managed to eke out some peace with the Amorites!
Yay for unity! 

There's a story in the Doctrine and Covenants, which is a book of revelations recieved during this modern dispensation.  It's our book of Laws and Promises.  Joseph Smith had a scribe named Oliver Cowdery who was writing while Joseph tranlsted the Book of Mormon plates which were in Hebrew. 
One morning in 1829, the Lord spoke specifically to Oliver through Joseph and gave him some beautiful information.  In verse 14 of Section 6, The Lord told him:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time.

He will bring us where we need to be.  He's walked the road.  Done it for us, alone, so we wouldn't have to.  I figure the least I can do is pay attention to the kairns He puts along my path that say, 'this way.' 

Unity in me with Him.  It'll come.  I already raised MY Ebenezer Stone.  I can never go back to the way it was. I woudn't want to.  I'm smiling.

My big brother Shawn, and I. 
It looks like I'm trying to push him away.
I'm not.  I'm touching him, because I love him.
1-19-11