The path which leads to what we seek,
Reflects that which we choose to speak.
Choices in what we do and feel
Can lead us to the highest peak.

But first we must look up and kneel,
And search for what is true and real.
To build our thoughts and what we dream,
And so that we might learn and heal.

This habit may produce a theme
To liberate and to redeem.
Reflecting back we might see signs;
Providence, flowing like a stream.

All of which made by His designs
Of good and truth that He defines.
The midst from which all true love shines.
The midst from which all true love shines.

“Because love and wisdom exist and subsist in use, it is use that affects us; and use is to perform faithfully, sincerely, and diligently the work of one’s function.” Conjugial Love 16

As a Senior in the Kempton New Church School, we have the opportunity to choose a Senior Project where we get a chance to personalize our education and pursue something we are interested in. For my Senior Project I chose to organize a Kempton New Church School Senior Service Trip to Tema, Ghana, with much help from Rev. George Dziekpor and his daughter Klenam Dziekpor. 

Our service group consisted of myself and the two other KNCS seniors, Percy Brown and Hayden King, and also Joram Heinrichs, a senior from the Carmel New Church Society in Kitchener, Ontario. My dad, Rev. Brett Buick and Miss Vivienne Riley, both faculty from KNCS, also accompanied us as support and chaperones.

This trip was life changing for me, and I feel so incredibly blessed to have been able to travel to Ghana and meet so many wonderful people.

This Christmas season I have been specifically drawn to the teachings from the Heavenly Doctrine concerning the Lord’s spiritual light, and its brightness when He was born on earth.

Here are some passages that particularly stood out to me.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; they who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, on them has the light given brightness.”
(Isaiah 9:2)

“All things were made by Him, and without Him was not one thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men…He was the true Light, which enlightens every man who comes into the world.”
(John 1:3-5, 9)

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined (Isa. 9:2); where “seeing a great light” signifies receiving and believing the truths which are of faith. On those who are in faith heavenly light is said to “shine,” for the light which is in heaven is Divine truth from Divine good.”
(Arcana Coelestia 3863)

Last school year as a high school junior at the Kempton New Church School, the final assignment in my Anatomy and Physiology course was to choose a topic related to the human body and connect it to teachings from the Heavenly Doctrines. The following article is a portion of the paper I wrote on the Spiritual and Natural Growth, Development, and Birth of an Infant. If you have further interest and would like to read the full anatomy portion of the paper and/or my sources, click here: Full Paper (PDF).
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Like every other system and growth in the body, the development of an unborn child is caused by the spiritual growth and development that needs a natural foundation. There are many things happening spiritually when a baby is formed and developed in the womb and then born into the world. The spiritual growth most intimately corresponding to the newly forming human being, is the development of the will and the understanding. These are the vessels that receive love and wisdom from the Lord seated in the brain and nervous system that will serve a person after his first breath (Divine Wisdom 3.2). Another correspondence in a larger sense, is the connection between the stages and processes of pregnancy, and the stages and processes of regeneration (Divine Wisdom 4).

In every human being there is the marriage of love and wisdom to some degree, which allows a person to function and act from his will and understanding as an individual (Divine Love and Wisdom 401.3). This marriage can be illustrated by the heart and lungs, and how they function together. In the adult circulatory system the heart pumps blood that has been oxygenated by the lungs out to the body. In the fetal circulatory system, however, the lungs are not yet functioning, so only the heart is beating. This fact is the physical effect of the Lord’s Divine love pouring into the body of an unborn child. It causes the heart to beat, but does not yet open the lungs, because the marriage of love and wisdom has not yet occurred (Divine Love and Wisdom 401.3). Continue reading The Spiritual and Natural Growth of an Infant →