Alma 37 - President Monson's Life as it pertains to Alma's Counsel

13 January 2018 – Alma 37 – Does sound, righteous counsel get any better than the counsel Alma gave to his son Helaman in this chapter?  It is loaded!  Not the least of which is the counsel to keep the commandments.  If we could just follow this one piece of counsel, oh the heartache that could be avoided and the good that could be accomplished. 

My focus landed on verses 33-37.  I suppose you could say it is counsel to a missionary, but I believe it should be to parents as well.  In these few verses, Helaman is instructed to

·       Preach repentance and faith on Jesus Christ

·       Teach them to humble themselves

·       Withstand temptation

·       Be not weary in good works

·       Be meek and lowly in heart

·       Learn wisdom in his youth

·       Cry (pray) unto God for all thy support

·       Let all doings be unto the Lord

·       Everything you do must be in the Lord

·       Let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord

·       Let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever

·       Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings

·       Pray for protection through the night and give thanks to God in the morning

I love this list!  I know it is truth that, if followed, will bring joy to our hearts daily. 

President Monson was buried yesterday, and we sat up and watched the funeral and special tribute that was televised during the day.  The one thing that stood out to me was his practice of reaching the end of the day and mentioning to his daughter, “I think we did some good today”.  Certainly, if a person were to adopt the above list as their motto, I would think we could easily say at the end of the day “I did some good today”.  How grateful I am for a prophet of the Lord who has set such a beautiful standard of living for all of us to try to achieve.  I think it’s not much different than the list Alma gave to his son, Helaman.