Personal life journal — December 2018
- December 2018 — What a sweet spiritual gift I received this month, due to an inspired challenge from our sweet prophet, President Russell M. Nelson. President Nelson challenged church members, in a talk in early September, to read the Book of Mormon again before the end of the year. He challenged us to mark all the passages that referred to the Savior. I took up the challenge and completed the reading of the Book right at the end of November. It was a sweet experience, especially in pondering the many references to the Savior. Since my habit is to be reading the Book of Mormon continuously, I started at 1 Nephi 1 again at the beginning of December. I think the Lord had a sweet gift waiting for me due to my obedience to the Prophet’s challenge. As I read 1 Nephi 13 on December 4th, I had my spiritual eyes opened and I began to notice all the references to ‘the Lamb of God’ and ‘the Lamb’. I read and re-read the chapter, noting Nephi’s references to the apostles of the Lamb, the gospel of the Lamb, the book of the Lamb, the plainness which is in the Lamb, the gift and power of the Lamb, and many others. I pondered upon the incredible relationship that Nephi must have had with his Savior, having this great knowledge and love of Him centuries before Christ lived His mortal life on earth. The verse in 2 Nephi 25:26 took on a greater clarity, as I considered that Nephi ‘talked of Christ, rejoiced in Christ, preached of Christ, prophesied of Christ, … that their children would know to what source they must look for a remission of their sins.’ I counted 24 references to the Lamb in chapter 13, and then counted 16 more in 1 Nephi 14. I became interested in how many times the Lamb is referenced in the Bible. I found that the apostle John in the book of Revelation mentioned the Lamb 27 times in 22 chapters. The Lamb of God is only mentioned a few other times in all of the other books of the Bible. What a special fellow discipleship John and Nephi shared, noting the fact that an angel showed Nephi who John was in vision, telling Nephi that John would write further prophecies beyond what Nephi had written. It almost goes without saying that Nephi used this phrase, the Lamb of God, because of its direct reference to the Atonement of the Savior, He being the supreme sacrificial Lamb that would bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. How interesting also that Nephi refers to the Savior as the “…Shepherd over all the earth” in verse 41 of chapter 13. Christ is both the Lamb AND the Shepherd? Indeed! To us, as sheep of His fold, He is indeed our Shepherd, and to the Father, He is the ultimate Lamb who would sacrifice His life for all of the Father’s other wayward children! What a sweet gift from the Lord during this special time of the year!
- December 2018 — I received a very unexpected and undeserved compliment at work this month. One of our OR nurses said that she had worked with Dr. Kevin Rose, a plastic surgeon, on the previous day. He had told his OR crew about a great book that he was reading. It dealt with characteristics of effective leadership. He pointed out some of the faults of the ‘leadership’ of our surgical center, and said that he wished he could get those leaders to read this book. He then stated, according to the nurse telling me this story, “The one person at this center that incorporates and demonstrates the great traits of an effective leader is Dr. Taylor.” I was grateful but felt unworthy of the compliment. The few good things I try to do on a daily basis at the center are encourage, praise, help when help is not expected, lift, build, and edify. If those traits earned me the accolades of Dr. Rose, I am very grateful.
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