Priesthood: The Source

©2012 Susan Noyes Anderson

Michelangelo – Sistine Chapel

No power on earth has meaning
independent of its source.
Our world has laws and limits
undeterred by human force.

No matter what the need, a turbine
fails when winds are still.
Each solar cell requires the sun
its purpose to fulfill.

Producing heat demands its start in
wood or gas or coal.
A dam, absent the water, must
fall short of every goal.

For power has its origins:
no engine runs itself.
A lamp without a plug is but
a fixture on the shelf.

And so it is for man, except
one Source enlivens all.
Created by His hand, we must
rely on Him or fall.

God lends His strength and righteous power
to worthy men on earth
that we, His children, might fulfill
the measure of our birth.

His strength is priesthood power,
handed down from up above…
a pure line of authority
to bless us with His love.

From Christ through John the Baptist,
then through Peter, James, and John…
both priesthoods were restored to man
and ever will go on.

God’s work will not be thwarted.
The kingdom is at hand.
Each ordinance must be performed
by His name and command.

With exaltation in our reach,
what grateful Saints are we
for priesthood power imparted by
divine authority.

Related Poems:

Gifts of the Spirit The Priesthood: Sword and Shield The Unclaimed Gift The Promise