The Touch of the Master's Hand

In the interest of not having extremely long posts, I did not include this poem in my last post about the worth of souls. However, I feel like I need to post it because this is one of my favorite poems. Think about the potential symbolic meanings in this poem. For example: How the master wiped the dust off and tightened the loose strings in comparison with the Master, Jesus Christ, cleansing us and giving us strength to overcome our weaknesses. Another example of symbolism I have found in this poem: the violin needs a bow to produce the glorious music. The "master" in this poem uses the bow to help the crowd see the true worth of the seemingly worthless violin. Just as that master used the bow, so the real Master, our Savior, can use each of us as a bow - an instrument in His hands - to help the world see the true worth of someone who they think is not worth anything.

I love my Savior and know that it is through Him that we can discover and achieve our potential as children of God. His Atonement makes that blessing possible. I hope that each of you realize how incredible you are and how much you are worth to God. That is all that matters in the end, anyway. What man thinks of you has no bearing on your eternal destiny.

The Touch of the Master's Hand

By Myra Brooks Welch

'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile:
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar"; then, "Two! Only two?
Two dollars and who'll make it three?
Three dollars once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three--" But no,
From the room, far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice,
And going, and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand
What changed its worth." Swift came the reply:
"The touch of a master's hand."

And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine;
A game - and he travels on.
He is "going" once, "going" twice,
He's "going" and almost "gone."
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought
By the touch of the Master's hand.

The Worth of Souls

First of all, let me say that I know I will not ever be able to sufficiently describe this subject, being myself a mortal who does not comprehend what God can comprehend about all things (see Mosiah 4:9).

I know that God lives. He, my Heavenly Father, is as real to me as my father here on earth. While I do not stand in the physical presence of God, I do know some things about Him from the experiences I have had. To understand the worth of our souls, you must know about our divine origin. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:16-18).

Think and ponder on those verses for a minute.

Now, here are a couple of things that I love about those verses:

1. You are a child of God. You know, the all-powerful, all-knowing Being who created all things? Yes, He is your Father. Think about the most exemplary, loving parents you know of here on earth. Their love for their children is not near as strong as the perfect love that God has for you as His child. This is how I relate the worth of your soul to God's perfect love for you - consider how loving parents here desire for their children to be just as good, if not better, than they are themselves. As you realize that God's love for you is infinite, you also come to realize that He has this same desire for you. He is perfect, so you cannot become better than Him. However, He does want you to be just like Him. As a child of Him, you can know that you can achieve that glorious purpose.
2. The Spirit bears witness with your spirit of that truth - that you are a child of God. The Spirit testifies to us about truth. And, "When we know spiritual truths by spiritual means, we can be just as sure of that knowledge as scholars and scientists are of the different kinds of knowledge they have acquired by different methods" (Dallin H. Oaks, "Testimony" April 2008 General Conference). You don't need physical evidence to be sure that God lives and loves you.
3. If you live by the Lord's ways, you are an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ. Consider the magnitude of that promise! He doesn't promise that you will be the richest, most popular person or that you will get everything you want when you want it. His promise is that, because you are worth so much to Him, the Lord wants to give you ALL that he has.
4. "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (verse 18). We are going to suffer adversities in this life. That is inevitable. Things are not going to always go the way that we want. This is because our will, especially about the timing of things, is not always the same as God's will. I love this quote from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis that talks about this:

"The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were 'gods' and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him - for we can prevent Him, if we choose - He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said."

"When He said, 'Be perfect,' He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder - in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."

The true worth of each and every human soul is not comprehended by man. I do not fully understand it, but I do know that you and I are of great worth. I have had experiences sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ on my mission and with friends before and after that have helped me realize what joy it brings to help others come unto Christ as I continue in that quest myself. Because your soul is worth so much, it brings God great joy when you make any steps toward returning to live with Him. He loves you and wants to bless you and all of His children. In all of your interactions with people, always, always heed the Lord's counsel: "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God" (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10).

Judgment

People often say don't judge. However, we should judge - as the Lord judges.

"He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth" (Isaiah 11:3-4). The Lord will judge each of us - but He will do it righteously. Most mortals do not judge righteously - we judge based on very limited knowledge from the circumstances that we observe and on outward appearances. This is why Samuel assumed that Eliab was the Lord's anointed - because of outward appearance. Then the Lord gave Samuel this admonition: "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

This also explains why the Lord is able to judge righteously when we are often not able. We know that God is omniscient - he knows all things. The Lord knows everything about each one of us - our thoughts, actions, and the desires of our souls. However, we know very little in comparison. We can see that someone looks clean and well-kept and think that they are a great person, or see someone in torn-up clothing and assume they are poor or not as good as those who look better. We can hear that someone did something we feel they shouldn't have, but we probably don't know their exact reasons for doing it. We cannot say someone is a terrible person because they do things that we don't agree with. We don't know even a hundredth part of what the Lord knows about what they've done, why they've done it, and where their true desires lie.

That is what gives me peace - knowing that "I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts" (Doctrine and Covenants 137:9). We know what we can see as we observe other people, and we can understand more about them as we talk with them and gain knowledge about their experiences and current circumstances. However, in this life we will never know them as perfectly as the Lord knows them, and so we cannot judge as perfectly as the Lord does.

In the various situations of our lives where we need to pass judgment on a person or a decision, we ought to pray for the gift of discernment. God can allow us, through the Spirit, to understand people and circumstances to a deeper level than what can be observed on the surface. If we have this gift given to us, then we can judge righteously and not worry when the Lord tells us "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged" (Matthew 7:2). I remember noticing the gift of discernment while I was on a mission and having interviews with my mission president. Specifically, with my first mission president, it was apparent to me that he had this gift. He always seemed to know more about me than I ever told him. He could tell what my desires were and how things were going with me, as if he could look through my eyes straight into my soul.

I hope that each of us can develop this gift of discernment by praying for it and always trying to look beyond what we can observe on the surface level of situations that we encounter. As we develop this gift, we will be able to judge as the Lord judges because we will see others as He sees them. So feel free to judge - as long as you are doing it how the Lord would.