We each belong to and are needed in the family of God. All of us dwell on the brink of the infinite ocean of life’s creative power. We all carry it within us; supreme strength, the fullness of wisdom, and unquenchable joy. It is never thwarted and cannot be destroyed. We seek the infinite and religious truth not to simply increase our store of general information, but as a way to access the profoundest vault of our being, as a means to guide us to a higher state of being. The religious person is one who is seeking to transform our nature, remake it into a superhuman pattern through which the infinite can shine with fewer obstructions. The goal is to dedicate our commitment to freedom, truth, and justice. In the premortal realm, we learned that we are all spirit sons and daughters of God and worshipped the Lord as our Eternal Father. In that realm, we learned about our eternal identity, and knew that we were each a beloved child of Heavenly parents. Our mortal journey to Earth did not change those truths. We each belong to and are needed in the family of God. Earthly families all look different. And while we do our best we can too create strong traditional families, as membership in the family of God is not contingent upon any kind of status—marital status, parental status, financial status, social status, nor even the kind of status we post on social media. Only in this way will justice be introduced into an unjust society. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6

Religion is meant to enlighten us and unite our spirits with God who is manifested everywhere. The whole course of events subsumes under the evolution, which is the expression of God’s purpose and embraces all that has been and all that will be brought about in the course of evolutionary advance. Evolution is a mystery, unexplained and inexplicable except, perhaps, to God. Religion is always more than morality, but if its structure is to stand it has to be built on a strong moral base. We must seek to cultivate habits and practices such as non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing, self-control, cleanliness, contentment, self-discipline, and a compelling desire to reach the goal. “We must love God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind,” reports Matthew 22.36-37. Spiritual aspirants who have a strong intellectual bent, are on the path to oneness with the Godhead through knowledge. The person is a spiritual being, subsisting by its adherence to a hierarchy of values freely adopted, assimilated, and lived through, thanks to a responsible commitment and a constant process of conversions. The wise use of our freedom to make our own decisions is crucial to our own spiritual growth, now and for eternity. We are never too young to learn, never too old to change. Our yearnings to learn and change come from a divinely instilled striving for eternal progression. Each day brings opportunity for decisions for eternity. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6

The scripture teaches that the body and the spirit are the soul of each person. As a dual being, each of us and thank God for the Lord’s priceless gifts of our body and our spirit. Many medical professionals have a profound respect for the human body. Created by God as a gift to us, it is absolutely amazing! Incredible things can be done with the body if this is what interests us and we are willing to give our life to it. The brain lets us learn, think, and reason. Our eyes allow us to see, ear allow us to hear, and we have hearts that pumps tirelessly day and night, almost without our awareness. Our body protects itself. Pain comes as a warning that something is wrong and needs attention. Infectious illnesses strike from time to time, and when they do, antibodies are formed that increase our resistance to subsequent infection. The body can repair itself. Cuts and bruises heal. Broken bones can become strong once again. There are just but a tiny sample of the many amazing God-given qualities of our body. However, sometimes stellar spirits are often housed in imperfect bodies. The gift of such a body can actually strengthen a family as parents and siblings willingly build their lives around that child born with special needs. With our bodies being such a vital part of God’s eternal plan, it is little wonder that it is the temple of God. Each time you look in the mirror, see your body as your temple. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6

When we focus on our bodies as our temple, that truth refreshed gratefully each day can beneficially influence our decisions about how we will care for our body and how we will use it. And those decisions will determine our destinies. How could this be? Because our body is the temple for our spirit. And how we use our bodies affects our spirit. Our spirit is an eternal entity. “The Lord’s Spirit dwells not in unholy temples,” reports Helman 4.24. Love also allows people to see the true angelic nature of another person, the halo, the aureole of divinity. Love brings consciousness closer to the dream state. And it is love that find the body and our humanity as a route toward eternity. As a good actor gives his or her best to one’s part, we too should play ours as close to perfection as possible. We must never lose sight of the distinction between our true self and the veil of personality that can become a costume. God is incomparable and unclassifiable. The mind that controls the senses when they disciplined is in the reins. The decisional faculty of the mind is the driver, and the master of the chariot who is in full authority, but need never life a finger is the Omniscient Self. Our Heavenly Father has known us for a very long time. As his son or daughter, we were chosen by him to come to Earth at this precise time, to be leaders in his great work on Earth. We were chosen not for our bodily characteristics, but for our spiritual attributes, such as bravery, courage, integrity of heart, a thirst for truth, a hunger for wisdom, and a desire to serve others. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6

The purist of works (religious and moral duties) need not bind one to the World if they are performed in a spirit of self-surrender to God; the way of works should be seen in the light of the way to devotion. The higher form is the vision of the personal God, in which the soul is in a state of loving dependence on the Lord. The worshipper has a strong sense of the majesty and glory of God, and thus of the difference between oneself and the object of worship. Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith beings where humankind’s power ends. For instance, Abraham’s unwavering faith arouse from his great thoughts of God. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the Lord appeared to him again and reported, “I am God All-Powerful. If you obey me and always do right, I will keep my solemn promise to you and give you more descendants than can be counted.” Abraham bowed with his face to the ground, and God reported: “I promised that you will be the father of many nations. That is why I now change your name from Abram to Abraham. I will give you a lot of descendant, and in the future they will become great nations. Some of them will even be kings. I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God. I will give the whole land of Canaan to your family forever, and I will be their God. Abraham and all of his future family had to promise to obey God.”  In return, God would guide them and protect them and give them the land of Israel. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6

 Abraham kept saying to himself, “God is able, the Lord is able.” He knew that God would not have said what he could not perform. Abraham knew that no word of the Almighty was destitute of power. He fed his faith by cherishing lofty and profound thoughts of God’s infinite resources. There rang in his heart the assurance. The promise was fulfilled at the end of the Exodus from Egypt. Deuteronomy 1.8 reports, “See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that LORD swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.” The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting. Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading. God implanted strong appetites within us for nourishment and love, vital for the human family to be perpetuated. When we master our appetites with the bounds of God’s laws, we can enjoy longer life, greater love, and consummate joy. It is not surprising, then, that most temptations to stray from God’s plan of happiness come through misuse of those essential, God-given appetites. Controlling our appetites is not always easy. Not one of us manages them perfectly. Mistakes happen. Errors are made. Sins are committed. What can we do then? We can learn from them. And we can truly repent. Almighty God holds our future in his hands, goes before us, fights our battles, and makes crooked places straight. God promises if we stay in faith, he will bring us through every challenge. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6