“On the first day of Christmas my Saviour gave to me”:
(you can read the instructions here)
THE BEAUTIFUL EARTH:
Moses 6:63 “ And behold, all things have their alikeness, and all things are created and made to bbear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me.”
Here are 3 extra scriptures that remind me of the beauty of the earth:
D&C 59:18-19: 18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the abenefit and the buse of man, both to please the eye and to cgladden the heart; 19 Yea, for afood and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to bstrengthen the body and to enliven the soul.
Alma 30:44: But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of aall these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the bearth, and call things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its dmotion, yea, and also all the eplanets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.
Psalms 23:1-4: 1 The Lord is my ashepherd; I shall not bwant. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he aleadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of arighteousness for his bname’s sake. 4 Yea, though I awalk through the bvalley of the cshadow of ddeath, I will fear no eevil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they fcomfort me.
(I added this last one in because when the kids were young, we read a book called “I am David” – and in the book, David searches for the “God of Green Pastures” that he always heard one of his friends (in a concentration camp) “talk” about (he finds out later that he was rehearsing this scripture every night as a prayer). So, while this scripture is not necessarily referring to the beauty of the earth – to me it reminds me of the God of green pastures – which reminds me of the beauty of the earth. )
Gabe’s extra 3 scriptures and commentary:
I chose my scriptures mainly because it shows that the connection between heaven and earth is sometimes too far for us to comprehend and compare. However, there’s still an abundance of divinity that is consciously put into the world, despite its flaws and trials that we are here to go through. We’re never alone in this world.
Matthew 6:10: Thy akingdom come. Thy bwill be done cin earth, as it is in heaven.
Psalms 136:6: To him that stretched out the aearth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Isaiah 42:5: ¶ Thus saith God the Lord, he that acreated the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth bbreath unto the people upon it, and cspirit to them that dwalk therein:
Rob’s extra 3 scriptures and commentary:
It is such a beautiful world and I love the reverence for the cedar tree in scriptures. Cedars were used for building the earliest Temples, to protect and preserve things and are know for their incredibly strong roots. The three scriptures below the cedar is representative of strength, endurance and are there to beautify our world. They also represent where all of every kind will gather under their protection. We have some in the backyard and I’ve seen them bend under huge amounts of snow, ensure blazing heat but they still always recover and reach for the sky.
Isaiah 60:13 The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
Psalms 92:12-15 The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. 14 In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap, 15 showing that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
Ezekiel 17: 23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
Zandra’s extra 3 scriptures and commentary:
These scriptures to me represent that nature is all around us and can bring us happiness, peace and endless inspiration. I always feel closer to God when I’m outside playing in the ocean or hiking around big beautiful trees. I also love what these natural beauties represent to me! For example, the ocean and the mountains are huge and so uncontrollable. This can be related to life in that we cannot control all that comes our way, but through faith a God’s power, we can over come. For trees, they have always represented Heavenly Mother and life.
Jacob 4:6 :“Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.”
Alma 32:37: “And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.”
2 Peter 1:4 :“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Shannon’s extra scriptures and commentary (at the end of her scriptures)
Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
Psalm 33:5 He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Genesis 8:11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
First two are pretty self explanatory, chose the last one because it’s when Noah sends a dove to see if the flood is gone and finds that the water has cleared, I think people see that in times of natural disasters when they’re looking for relief and are renewed with gratitude when rebuilding what they’ve lost on the earth
Zach’s scriptures:
Alma 30:44 (same as mine above)
Isaiah 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the aLord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his bglory.
Genesis 1:16-18 And God made two great lights; the agreater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the bstars also. 17 And God set them in the afirmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,18 And to rule over the aday and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
(Zach said he loves the whole chapter about the creation and especially loves the parts that say “and God saw it was good”)
