The Moving of the Water

A moving of the water
Caused by an angel that dipped
Healed the first one to enter
As unseen hands to head slipped

A gathering of the infirm
Await the water's stir
Whose turn to wash and be healed?
Before the waters stilled
----------------------
Impaired in body or mind
This sprinkling of mankind
Cannot care for themselves
And depend on someone else

Those who are in the family
Feel the blame guiltily
That it's a result of sin
But, this is false doctrine

As Jesus passed a blind man
He taught of handicaps
He said of nature's sovereign
God's manifest in them

Don't ridicule or discard
What nature disregards
The infirm are innocent
And, not all ignorant

If we laugh at their expense
Let there be recompense
Those who mimic a palsy
May they fall, soon, where all see

Oh, that we were afflicted
With blindness inflicted
And not see imperfection
Then we'd know perfection

We should become like angels
Who move and water swells
By one act that we perform
We heal what's in deform

Our spirits are locked in flesh
And not always well they mesh
We all need sympathy
Kind love, and empathy

Lest we die prematurely
We'll need some aid, surely
Let our works make an account
For when our needs too will mount

When we resurrect one day
We will look a new way
Like the pool of Bethesda
We will see the real pure us

For now, might we just glimpse
The infirm's small attempts
For they've a spirit's guiding
and learning, though in hiding

As everyone must progress-
A step by step process
May we help those handicapped
To be spiritually tapped

Each spirit's intelligent
What's now is earthly sent
When the sleeping dust's restored
We'll rejoice with the Lord

There will be fullness of joy
Flesh no longer destroyed
The day of healing will come
No more blind, deaf or dumb

Elder Boyd K. Packer
"The Moving of the Water",
Ensign May 1991 pg. 7