And hearing they may hear.

Quelle surprise! Another French poem. So for some reason, we've been talking about this poem an awful lot in my French poetry class. I think our teacher is trying to teach us something, but I just can't quite grasp what . . . but what I have retained from this is the importance of SOUND. Clearly an important element in lyric poetry, obviously, but it seems to be more than just that. We've been talking about how you recognize something by their voice, and how the tone of someone's voice changes all the meaning. One time when I was in primary we had this activity where our mothers were blindfolded, and we each had to just yell "mom" as loudly as possible, and the first mother to find her child won. Guess who won? Moi. Hands down. Anyway, here's the poem:

Paul VERLAINE

Mon rêve familier

Je fais souvent ce rêve étrange et pénétrant /----/ I often have this strange and penetrating dream

D'une femme inconnue, et que j'aime, et qui m'aime /-/ Of an unknown woman, whom I love, and who loves me

Et qui n'est, chaque fois, ni tout à fait la même /---/ And who is not, each time, neither exactly the same

Ni tout à fait une autre, et m'aime et me comprend. /-/ Nor exactly another, and she loves me and understands me.

Car elle me comprend, et mon coeur, transparent /---/ For she understands me, and my heart, transparent

Pour elle seule, hélas ! cesse d'être un problème /---/ For her alone, alas! Stops being a problem

Pour elle seule, et les moiteurs de mon front blême, /---/ For her alone, and the sweat on my pale brow

Elle seule les sait rafraichir, en pleurant. /---/ She alone knows how to cool it, crying.

Est-elle brune, blonde ou rousse ? - Je l'ignore. /---/ Is she brunette, blond, or red-haired? I don't know.

Son nom ? Je me souviens qu'il est doux et sonore /---/ Her name? I remember that it is sweet and resounding

Comme ceux des aimés que la Vie exila. /---/ Like those of the loves ones that life has exiled

Son regard est pareil au regard des statues, /---/ Her look is the same as the look of statues,

Et, pour sa voix, lointaine, et calme, et grave, elle a /---/ and, for her voice, distant, and calm, and deep,

L'inflexion des voix chères qui se sont tues /---/ The inflection of the dear voices that have quieted.

So. yeah. Sonore. I asked Megan if that was a word in English. She said it's not. But I looked it up! (By the way, m-w.com is now on my computer's automatic list of most-visited sites, FYI). Sonorous, sonority. It's a real word. There's just something so great about sound and the uniqueness of each person's voice. There are always those people whose voices you just love and can't get enough of. And, naturally, there are those people whose voices you can't stand (*fingers crossed that that doesn't happen with my kids!*).

Last week I taught in Relief Society about Joseph Smith being the instrument for the Restoration of the gospel. I asked everyone what they know specifically from the First Vision, and this one girl mentioned how one of the most notable things was when Heavenly Father called Joseph by name and told him to listen to His son. For some reason that really hit me, just the few things that we actually have record of Him saying. (Today in my French class, our prof. read from the Joseph Smith history the account of the First Vision, and I was happy to note that I still have it all memorized in French. Don't think that's going away anytime soon!) And the IMPORTANCE of what He said, especially. "Joseph, this is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!" Nothing was more important than that; nothing needed to be understood more than that. And I love also that He didn't say, "listen to Him," but "hear Him." It's not a passive thing; it's active.

So I was thinking about that during the week. About hearing the voice of the Lord and what an amazing thing that must have been. I was at the temple on Saturday, with those thoughts still rolling around, and I was struck again by something else relating to the voice of the Lord--how sweet and kind and gentle of a voice He must have. And then, I swear on my life, this old man in the temple had THE sweetest voice I have EVER heard. I pretty much just started crying when I heard him speak. He probably just lives in the temple. If he doesn't, he should.

So, continuing on in this train of thought, I compiled a short list of some of the people in the Book of Mormon who heard the voice of the Lord:

1-Lehi. 1 Nephi 16:9, 18:5

2-Laman and Lemuel. 1 Nephi 16:39

3-Nephi. 1 Nephi 17:7

4- Isaiah. 2 Nephi 16:8

5- Enos. Enos 1:10

6- Jacob. Jacob 7:5

7- People of Alma. Mosiah 24:16

8- Alma (the elder). Mosiah 26:14

9- Alma (the younger) testifies of the voice of the Lord. Alma 13:21-22

10- Ammon. Alma 20:2

11- Samuel the Lamanite. Helaman 13:3

12- Nephi (the other Nephi). 3 Nephi 7:15

13- The other Nephi's son, Nephi. 3 Nephi 1:12

14- Mormon. Mormon 3:14

And that's not even close to being a comprehensive list! It's insane!

Anyway, the point that I'm getting to is that the Lord WANTS US to HEAR His voice.

It's as simple as that. He wants to lead and guide us, to comfort and reassure us; to encourage and uplift us; to motivate and inspire us; to help us make good choices and be good people and return back to Him. WE just need to HEAR Him.

Which is why He sends . . .

Prophets & Apostles

And why, two weekends a year, we have . . .

GENERAL CONFERENCE!! (click on ME!)

Yes, it's so we can HEAR His voice. As He said, "whether by mine own voice, or by the voice of my servants, it is the same" (D&C 1:38).

I love all the sounds of Conference. The announcer guy. The MoTab. The prayers. The voices of the General Authorities. Everything. But I think that this Conference, I'm going to try to listen extra hard with my spiritual ears, and try to hear what the Lord wants me to hear. And I invite you all to do the same. Isn't it amazing that the Heavenly Father can SPEAK to us today through His prophets and apostles?

HOORAY FOR CONFERENCE WEEKEND!!! Happy hearing :)

Luke 5:1 "And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret . . . . And great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities."