Ray Baird Lundgreen is the great grandson of Alexander and Sarah Mary Theresa deLacy Baird.
At the Graveside Service 28 Jun 2010
Ray came into the world in the midst of a great storm one evening and left this world on a very peaceful and quiet day. This is like our life here with great controversy and then as we leave this life we are filled with peace and happiness.
During Ray’s life many changes in our world have occurred. The Bishop’s daughter recently observed a large old 78 record and remarked that it was a very big CD.
Ray loved scouts and wore the scout uniform proudly. Now as we viewed his body he wears the uniform of the Temple. A symbol of where he is waiting for his family. The associations continue on for eternity.
“The Shaping of Stones”
The most beautiful stones
Have been tossed by wind
And smoothed by water
… Just like stone
We have been polished by the
….Gifts of our fathers
The wisdom of their years
The strength of their values
And the patience of their understanding
Joseph F Smith
“Death is not an unmixed horror. With it are associated some of the profoundest and most important truths of human life. Although painful in the extreme to those who must suffer the departure of dear ones, death is one of the grandest blessings in divine economy.
“We are born that we may put on mortality, that is, that we may clothe our spirits with a body. Such a blessing is the first step toward an immortal body, and the second step is death. Death lies along the road of eternal progress; and though hard to bear, no one who believes in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and especially in the resurrection, would have it otherwise…Death is really a necessity as well as a blessing, and…we would not and could not be satisfied and supremely happy without it.
“For death was the penalty of the law transgressed, which man was powerless to avert, that fiat of God being. ‘In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, ‘[Moses 3:17] and this penalty was to follow upon all flesh, all being as helpless and dependent as he was in this matter.
“We are called mortal beings because in us are seeds of death, but in reality we are immortal beings, because there is also within us the germ of eternal life. Man is a dual being, composed of the spirit which gives life, force, intelligence and capacity to man and the body which is the tenement of the spirit and is suited to its form, adapted to its necessities, and acts in harmony with it, and to its utmost capacity yields obedience to the will of the spirit. The two combined constitute the soul. The body is dependent upon the spirit, and the spirit during its natural occupancy of the body is subject to the laws which apply to and govern it in the mortal state. In this natural body are the seeds of weakness and decay, which, when fully ripened or untimely plucked up, in the language of scripture, is called “the temporal death.
“Every man born into the world will die. It matters not who he is, nor where he is, whether his birth be among the rich and the noble, or among the lowly and poor in the world, his days are numbered with the Lord, and in due time he will reach the end. We should think of this. Not that we should go about with heavy hearts or with downcast countenances; not at all. I rejoice that I am born to live, to die, and to live again. I thank God for this intelligence. It gives me joy and peace that the world cannot give, neither can the world take it away. God has revealed this to me, in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it to be true. Therefore, I have nothing to be sad over, nothing to make me sorrowful.
Ray returned to be with the rock of his father and brother and the rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ.
(Note by Shelley Haltiner Grover: These words were not recorded and were written down as notes therefore they may or may not be verbatim, but the ideas were presented. The Shaping of Stones is exactly as read as well as the Quote of President Joseph F. Smith. The Quote was taken from the “Teachings of Presidents of the Church” Series, pages 87-89, but may or may not be the full quote used as it does extend two additional paragraphs.)
(Note 2 by Shelley Haltiner Grover: If there are comments, additional thoughts not included, corrections, etc please email me and I will correct this. shelleygrover.genealogy@gmail.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment