More on the Jaredites

I find it interesting that the Lord helped the brother of Jared to light the barges because Jesus is associated with light:

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

It is hard to imagine how hard it would have been for the Jaredites to cross the water for almost a year without any light. It would have been impossible. In the same way, it is impossible for us to navigate through our lives if we don't have the light from Christ to guide.

It reminds me of this scripture:

Psalms 119:105

105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path

.


While searching around the internet about the Jaredite barges and the lighted stones, I found this article by Hugh Nibley that talks about this very thing. I will put a link here so I can find it again. It is quite a long article and I didn't get to read the whole thing.
http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=60&chapid=609

Trials, challenges, tender mercies

I am reading in Ether about Jared and his brother and their journey to the promised land in barges. I feel like it is a metaphor for our journey back to heaven.

I can still remember Andrea Merrill talking about some of the verses in the 6th chapter of Ether during a Primary presidency meeting years ago. She talked about the fact that what got the people of Jared across the sea was the fierce wind that God sent. The harder the wind was blowing, the faster they moved across the water to their intended destination. This can be likened to trials and challenges in our lives. Life is easier when we don't have them, but do we learn and grow as much as when we have challenges in life and have to rely on the Lord more heavily?

Here are some of the verses in Ether 6 that talk about this:

5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.

6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.

7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.

8 And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind.

In reading about how the barges worked, I don't feel like it could have been a very comfortable ride (and it lasted almost a year!), but the Lord gave them light for their journey and when things got especially rough, he would bring them up to the top of the waters. In other words, he didn't give them more than they could handle. Most importantly, they relied on the Lord and He got them where they needed to go.

How did the people of Jared respond to their journey?

9 And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.


12 And they did land upon the shore of the promised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them.

One last thing, I have done a few posts about tender mercies because that is one of my favorite phrases when it comes to describing God's goodness to His children. Anyway, in those posts, I have never used the above scripture in those posts. How could I have missed that before? Here is yet another scripture testifying to the tender mercy of God to His children.

Practice, practice, practice

What gospel principles will you practice today? Have you done your spiritual exercises?

This whole process of "becoming a saint" takes daily practice and consistent exercise. To get better at anything you simply have to practice. To be like Jesus, we have to try doing the sorts of things he did when He was on earth.

Mosiah 3:19
“For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”

The prophet Heber J. Grant was known for using this quote all the time.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: "That which we persist in doing becomes easy to do; not that the nature of the thing has changed, but that our power to do has increased."

I am intrigued by scriptures that tell us to practice holiness or exercise faith. These remind me of this scripture:

John 7:17

17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

We learn and become better at something by doing it. If we want to be virtuous, holy, or have faith in Christ, we need to practice it.

Here are some scriptures where we are told to practice something:

Doctrine and Covenants 38:24

24 And let every man esteem his brother as himself, and practise virtue and holiness before me.

Doctrine and Covenants 46:33

33 And ye must practise virtue and holiness before me continually.

And then there is exercise.....

1 Nephi 7:12

12 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.


Doctrine and Covenants 44:2

2 And it shall come to pass, that inasmuch as they are faithful, and exercise faith in me, I will pour out my Spirit upon them in the day that they assemble themselves together.

Doctrine and Covenants 104:80

80 And inasmuch as you are diligent and humble, and exercise the prayer of faith, behold, I will soften the hearts of those to whom you are in debt, until I shall send means unto you for your deliverance.

Alma 34:17

17 Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you.


Alma 32:27

27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

So what gospel principles have you practiced or exercised today?

Quote from Lynnell

We were over at Greg and Lynnell's last night and she had this quote posted on their wall:

"In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance."
— Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I looked up the reference and here is the complete talk that it came from. I haven't read this talk for a long time so I thought I would take the opportunity to do it today.

Here is another quote from this talk:

If you still feel incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it.

Pres. Uchtdorf always seems to know just what to say! What a great man, and how fortunate we are to have access to his wise counsel.


http://lds.org/ensign/2008/11/happiness-your-heritage?lang=eng

What to do when you're not the best

"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no bird sang except the best."

Henry van Dyke, an American author

This thought came to my mind this morning. We can't all be the best at something. Sometimes we are just average, or even less than average. So do we shut down? No, we go forward doing the best we can.

I think of the parable of the talents. We are all expected to multiply the talents we have. It doesn't matter if the talents we have are few in number or lacking in amazement. We still need to work hard with what we have been given and be happy for what we have.

The fact that someone else possesses more of a certain talent does not lessen the fact that you have that talent, too. There will always be someone who can do something better than you. But, by the same token, there will always be someone who can't do something as well as you can.

We are all individuals and we aren't expected to be more than we are. We are expected to try hard and be thankful for what we have been given.

Just a couple scriptures:

Doctrine and Covenants 10:4

Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to translate; but be diligent unto the end.

Mosiah 4:27

And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.

Problem Solving

I was reading in Ether 2 and thought this exchange between God and Mahonri-Moriancumer (the brother of Jared) was interesting.

18 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, I have performed the work which thou hast commanded me, and I have made the barges according as thou hast directed me.

19 And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light; whither shall we steer? And also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish.

Here is the answer the Lord gives him for his second problem:

20 And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top, and also in the bottom; and when thou shalt suffer for air thou shalt unstop the hole and receive air. And if it be so that the water come in upon thee, behold, ye shall stop the hole, that ye may not perish in the flood.

He gives him the solution to the problem. The brother of Jared asks, and he receives.

It is different for the first problem. This time, the solution is not given to him. The Lord tells the BoJ to come up with a solution and bring it to him. He wants him to study and figure things out.

23 And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?...

25 ... Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?

Sometimes when we receive revelation or inspiration, the Lord gives us the information we need. Sometimes He gives us just enough information so that we can find the answer we need, and sometimes He wants us to learn by figuring things out on our own. Sometimes there is more than one way to do something and He lets us do it our way.

I think it is interesting to think that there were probably a lot of different ways that the BoJ could have come up with for the barges to have light. The Lord tells him He will light them, but wants the BoJ to come up with the way He wants Him to do it. In this way, the BoJ struggles, learns, and figures things out while receiving inspiration along the way.

I think the reason that the Lord told him point blank how to make air holes in the barges is that that was a matter of life and death. The light issue was still very important but not as much as receiving air.

This interchange between the brother of Jared and the Lord reminds me of these scriptures:

Doctrine and Covenants 9:7

7 Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

Doctrine and Covenants 9:8

8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

It also makes me think of this scripture:

2 Nephi 28:30

30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more;

A Thought from my stake meeting

If you get discouraged, you take yourself out of the game.
Don't do that because you're on the winning team.

Sis. Runia quoted this from Elaine S. Dalton, General YW president last night.

Result of Christ's visit to the Americas

One of the first things Jesus talked about to the people in Ancient America when he visited them was contention.

3 Nephi 11:29

29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

And it is interesting to see how happy and contention-free the people were for so long.


4 Nephi: 13, 15

13 And it came to pass that there was no contention among all the people, in all the land; but there were mighty miracles wrought among the disciples of Jesus.

15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.

no contention= love of God in your heart and mighty miracles

It is also interesting to note that the first break comes when there started to be contention about a point of doctrine. This is the very first thing Jesus talked to the people about. Not just contention, but contention about His doctrine, specifically.

4 Nephi:20 And he kept it eighty and four years, and there was still peace in the land, save it were a small part of the people who had revolted from the church and taken upon them the name of Lamanites; therefore there began to be Lamanites again in the land.

The next problem that crops up that wrecked their peace was pride and wearing costly apparel. Next, they divide up into classes, and then they make different churches.

So contention= pride, divisions, making yourself up to be better than your neighbor

It gets worse:

29 And again, there was another church which denied the Christ; and they did persecute the true church of Christ, because of their humility and their belief in Christ; and they did despise them because of the many miracles which were wrought among them.

This reminds me of some other people....

Mark 4

1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.

2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.

4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

By their fruits ye shall know them. Jesus went about doing good and working miracles. Some people hated and despised him for it. The Pharisees and Herodians went about trying to find a way to destroy goodness. Did they ever stop to take a look at themselves? How do you get to a point when you hate goodness?

I am not the only one who saw the similarities between some of the people in the New Testament times and these Ancient Americans 200 years after Christ's visit:

4 Nephi:

31 Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these miracles, the people did harden their hearts, and did seek to kill them, even as the Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus, according to his word.

Now, a sad summary to end with. I likened myself unto the Pharisees last night. I went to a stake meeting. I was really proud of myself for even going because it has been a long week with long days. I was feeling pretty tired and just wanted to get in, get the information and get home. After the main meeting, we split into the different auxiliaries and as I walked into the room, one of the ladies hugged me and was so cheerful and animated. My reaction: I was irritated. How could she be so happy and cheerful when it has been such a long week? Then it hit me. She was "going about doing good" just like Jesus would do if He were here, and I was irritated and bugged. That was a lesson to me. That helped me to see how the Pharisees could have reacted the way they did. I didn't want to kill or destroy anyone, but I was definitely not in the right frame of mind. I repented and tried to be a little more cheerful the rest of the evening.

A favorite thought from years ago....

I woke up thinking about this thought that was a favorite of mine from when I was in my late teens. Pres. Boyd K. Packer used it in a talk during general conference and did again a few years back:

With thoughtless and impatient hands
I tangle up the plans
The Lord hath wrought.
And when I cry in pain,
He saith:
Be quiet, child,
While I untie the knot.

An Instrument of Peace

I have never fully appreciated this poem until I heard the BYU Men's Chorus sing a version of this. Listening to them sing this is very soothing to me. When I read these words, I feel the spirit of Christ in them.

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

~prayer by St. Francis of Assisi

General Conference Challenge

General Conference Challenge-HELPING YOU TO FIND THE WAY!


At the start of general conference a few years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley promised several blessings to those who listen to conference:
“I invite you to listen, listen if you will by the power of the Spirit, to the speakers who will address you today and tomorrow as well as this evening. If you will do so, I do not hesitate to promise that you will be uplifted, your resolution to do what is right will be stronger, you will find solutions to your problems and your needs, and you will be led to thank the Lord for what you have heard”
(“Listen by the Power of the Spirit,” Ensign, Nov. 1996, 4).

Before General Conference starts, I challenge you to write down a problem that you are facing or a gospel question that you have: ________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Now I challenge you to make this a matter of prayer. Pray about the question or problem and pray for the prophets and other general authorities. Keep this in your mind as you watch or listen to conference, and really listen!! You can receive an answer either directly from one of the talks, or from inspiration you can receive while watching intently. I know this can make a difference in your life. I will be doing it, too.