There are Saints and Then There are Latter-day Saints

Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and  ye call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake.  3 Nephi 27:7   

And also unto my faithful servants . . . For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Doctrine and Covenants 115:4

Two things of interest in the above scriptures are 1)  All ordinances, prayers, testimonies, talks, and lessons taught in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are done in the name of Jesus Christ.  2)  All prayers address Heavenly Father and end in the name of his son, Jesus Christ.

A dear friend from Newcastle-Under-Lyme called today.  She has been a member of the Church for over a year now and there haven't been many who have embraced membership in the Church more fully in such a short time as she has.  She is charity personified as she goes about doing good.  She will do anything asked of her with a cheerful attitude.

Coming from a different religious background, my friend mentioned she has a problem with us being called Saints because people outside of the Church may think we are trying to be better than they are by labeling ourselves saints.  Saints to her means the people have become holy and perfected.  She thinks we should be called servants, since that is what we essentially are supposed to be by serving Jesus Christ and our fellow man.  Hum, she's noticed the members aren't perfect.  ( ;  I had always thought of saints as followers of Christ.  Looking it up in the dictionary verifies that is what it means in these modern times.

The Bible Dictionary says the following (p. 767):  The word saint is a translation of a Greek word also rendered "holy," the fundamental idea being that of consecration or separation for a sacred purpose; but since what was set apart for God must be without blemish, the word came to mean, "free from blemish," whether physical or moral.

In the New Testament, the saints are all those who by baptism have entered into the Christian covenant (see Acts 9:13, 32, 41; Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; Philip 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:14-15). 

A picture I took today has nothing to do with the subject, but it is the back of the old 1641 manor I took pictures of a couple months ago.  The bricks on the sides are interesting.  It is still hard to imagine this home being that old.  Obviously, there are new windows in this house

The blue flowers in the back are beautiful, but I couldn't get close enough to capture them decently in the photo.