A MEDITATION JUST FOR YOU IN CELEBRATION OF THE SEPTEMBER EQUINOX. GHIA IS GOING TO SHOUT HOSANNA FROM A MOUNTAIN TOP! WHAT ABOUT YOU? HOSANNA IN HEBREW IS A PLEAD TO BE SAVED, OR IT CAN BE A SHOUT FOR JOY! WHEN IT COMES TO THE JOURNEY TO MOUNTAIN TOPS, AND TEMPLES, WE NEED BOTH KIND OF HOSANN'S!

So Bonani Franz, welcome to the

Creative Spiritual Journey Podcast.

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Life is calling you each day, calling

you to step out your front door.

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Be brave and onto the path that

leads through wildernesses beyond

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the horizon to stand on mountaintops.

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I am Judy.

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Thanks for joining me on the Trail

for just a brief moment where I'd

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like to share what's in my heart,

my love for the savior and his.

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Beautiful creation and

all the world around us.

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Today's episode is number 79.

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It's also day 624 of our mission here

in South Africa for the Church of

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Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

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It's also September Equinox.

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I hope you listened in on Gaia's an

Equinox celebration of Jesus Christ,

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where she invites us to ponder.

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How are we going to celebrate the Equinox?

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It's probably not a holiday you're

used to celebrating, not me, but

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Gee has chosen to go to the top

of a mountain and shout Hosanna.

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And if you noticed, she cleverly

invited me to create a Hosanna

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meditation and Gia, I gladly accept it.

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So today's episode, I'm gonna set

the stage for a meditation and I'm

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Begin with sharing with you some

lessons I've learned on mountaintops.

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I'll try to keep it simple, but,

oh, I have so much to say about

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mountaintops and temples because some

of my favorite places in the whole

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world are mountaintops and temples.

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Life on top of a mountain is

not easy, and getting to a top

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of the mountain is not easy.

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It takes effort, a lot of effort to get

to the very tip top of a mountain to stand

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where not very many people have stood.

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And to see views that not very

many people ever get to see.

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And the same goes with temples.

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The effort that it takes

to stand in a temple.

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On my camera, I have lots of beautiful

pictures of views from the tip tops of

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mountains, the flowers and the rocks

But my favorite ones are with me and

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Eric and a friend or family member,

whoever it is that we've climbed to

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the top of the mountain with, with our

fist in the air and we're shouting.

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Hurrah.

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Woo hoo.

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We made it.

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We made it to the top.

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I have the feeling that when we end this

mission here in South Africa, it will be a

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lot like somebody the top of the mountain.

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'cause it's taken a lot of

effort, a lot of work to arrive.

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But I also know, oh, it's gonna be

filled with heartbreak to say goodbye

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and to return home, it will be hard.

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I wanna share with you a

scripture found in Isaiah too.

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Verse three, come let us go up to the

mountain of the Lord, to the house

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of God, and he will teach us of his

ways and we will walk in his paths.

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That is what we're gonna do

in this meditation today.

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We're gonna sit like a mountain

and there dedicate our hearts.

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Much like a temple is dedicated

to holiness to the Lord.

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So why temples?

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Temples are literally the house of

the Lord here on earth, a holy place

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set apart from the rest of the world.

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In the temple we go to receive

more light and knowledge.

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To me, mountaintops and temples

are witnesses of God's love for us.

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Our prophet Russell M.

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Nelson said Every temple is a

beacon of light to the world.

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As we dedicate temples, the darkness

of the world is pushed back and

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the light of the gospel increases.

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I would say the same happens to us as we.

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Dedicate this temple, our body, our

hearts, and our minds to the Lord.

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The darkness is pushed back

and light is increased.

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That's exactly what we're

gonna go for in this equinox.

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Hosanna meditation is to expand light.

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Chase away.

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Darkness.

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Dedicate our hearts to the Lord.

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Now, life is a series of mountaintops,

is I think the word hosanna is so fitting

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to sing or shout at the mountaintop

because as GI taught us, the Hebrew

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definition the word hosanna is.

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Save us please Now on this mission,

this hike to the top of this big

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mountain, this past 625 days.

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Believe me, there have been

a lot of Please for help.

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But there's also been the other

definition of Hosanna, the

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exclamation of praise and joy.

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That too, I have experienced,

I've seen the hand of the Lord

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the more we dedicate our hearts to

him, the more I see the strength.

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The grace, the miracles.

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I want you to think about a mountain that

you have just conquered or that you're on

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right now, within the last, let's say six

months where have you been on the trail?

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Have you stood on the mountain

or are you still in the

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process of making the journey?

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And your Hosanna shout is

a plead for help, please.

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Or as it that you've overcome,

those obstacles, and you've stood

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on a mountaintop and with ex

explanations of praise and joy.

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Hosanna.

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Hosanna to God and the Lamb.

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You do not journey alone.

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You do not make journeys

to mountaintops alone.

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Nope.

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We have each other to lift and we

have our savior who has marked the

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path and who has won the victory,

has stood on top overcoming sin and

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Satan and death, and because of him.

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We too can shout Hosanna.

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To begin this meditation, we're

gonna sit like a mountaintop.

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I find it best to sit on a pillow, so my

hips are a little higher than my knees.

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This not only gives me comfort in

my hips, but support in my back.

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'cause we're gonna sit like a mountain,

which means to take our spine tall,

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stack our vertebraes like coins,

and reach the crown of our head to

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the heavens, like a mountaintop.

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And then we're gonna allow the

breath to rest in our body.

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So our body is going to

feel heavy like a mountain.

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Not heavy in the negative sense of

depression or weight of the world,

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but heavy and being present, being

grounded, being like the rock steady.

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And have you ever had those moments

where you're so relaxed, it's

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impossible to move that kind of heavy.

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So as we sit like the mountain

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and breathe in,

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go present into your body,

finding that heaviness, that rest.

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Being one if you would with a mountain,

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sensing it in your body.

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Feeling

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solid.

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Maybe even majestic.

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And if we are to look back over

this climb this daily step by

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step to the top of the mountain.

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We're gonna recognize the need for

dedicating our heart just like a temple,

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taking our heart Upon that altar, I

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receiving light.

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Receiving knowledge, wisdom.

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That's what we gain along the way of

the climb and we recognize the hand

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of the Lord guiding us, strengthening

us, helping us along the way.

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And as we dedicate this temple, our body

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to holiness, to the Lord,

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a house of the Lord,

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a place where he is light

and his love resides abides.

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And we come before this altar

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and this reverence of

holiness dedicating our heart.

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And as you breathe in, we feel

that light enter into this temple.

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It's a bright and a

warm and a healing light

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that saves

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Hosanna,

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if you can just breathe

in the word hosanna.

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Breathe out, chasing away the darkness.

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Hosanna

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hosanna to God and the lamb.

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He knows your journey.

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He knows where you are on the mountain.

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He's been there

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and he has been sent to find you

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sent to lift you.

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Breathe it in light.

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Praise, joy.

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Recognizing the grace and the

strength that you have received.

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You've made it to the top.

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Hosanna.

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Now.

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As we sit here in this

sacred space, a mountaintop

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dedicating our hearts, our minds, our

whole souls to holiness unto the Lord.

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Open your heart.

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Allow this space, this beautiful

temple that is divine your body.

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Just let it feel with his light.

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I hope you feel a sense of rejoicing.

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Maybe even bring a smile to your face.

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You can place your hands on your heart

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as we offer this heart.

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Might mind and strength all of it

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to holiness to the Lord.

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His light dwells here in this house.

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This is a space where you

can come to converse with the

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Lord to receive further light,

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further strength.

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Further knowledge, answers, guidance.

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You are never alone on this journey.

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Breathing in, Hosanna,

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exhaling, chasing away the darkness.

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It cannot dwell here.

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Breathing in, Hosanna,

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sit tall like a mountain full of light,

shining brightly out to the world.

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Hosanna to God and the Lamb.

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Amen And amen.

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I will see you again,

my friends on the trail.