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.

Love of Savior, Jesus Christ

12 January 2018 – Alma 36 – This is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon.  I still remember the first time I remember reading it and the feeling that came over me.  I had experienced the love of my Savior for myself by then and I knew that these things I was reading were not only true, but felt that a similar experience should be available to all of God’s children who sincerely ask to be delivered from the hell they live in.  I still feel this today when I read.  It is there for all of us.  Probably volumes of books could be written on this very topic alone.

The Word

11 January 2018 – Alma 35 – This chapter has two main themes:  The Word, and Refugees.

I’m impressed at the number of times it is mentioned that the word had the power to change the lives of the people who had been taught by Ammon – so much so that it destroys the craft (or evil) that was going on among the Zoramites.  What does this tell us about the word?  What is the word?  The word comes from the scriptures – especially the Book of Mormon because of its purity and ease of understanding.  It also comes from our latter-day prophets.  How many times has a person’s life been changed just because they listened to a conference talk?  Probably more than we’ll ever know. 

I know I was touched in 2015 with the conference talk given by Kevin Pearson of the Seventy (Stay by the Tree) so much so that I could not let go of the message until I had committed it to music.  I still marvel at the completeness of this talk.  If people would embrace the counsel given in it, they could save themselves so much sorrow.  Among other things, he talked about the word and its importance in staying close to the Lord.

Fruits of Repentance

I’m sure I’ve gone through this exercise before, but in reading Alma 34, I wrote a note saying the fruits of repentance are found in verses 31-41.   So what exactly are these fruits, and have I partaken of them myself?

V31 – Redemption - “Immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.”  I can truthfully say that as soon as I began my repentance process, that I felt the love of my Savior.  It was immediate!  My whole demeanor changed.  My attitude toward life changed. Is this not a result of feeling “redeemed”? 

V33 – If procrastinating the day of our repentance means we live in darkness, then wouldn’t the opposite be true?  We repent, and we see light! 

V35 – Spirit of the Lord - Again, think of the opposite.  If not repenting gives the devil power over you, then repenting brings the Spirit of the Lord upon you.

V35 – Sitting down in the kingdom of God to go no more out would definitely be considered a fruit.

V38 – Humility, the Holy Ghost, worshipping God, and living in thankfulness – Yes, being humble is a fruit of repentance.  Isn’t being around a person who is truly humble a good thing?  Are we not drawn to those who are humble?  Why?  Repenting brings the Holy Ghost into our lives.  Isn’t this light?  Aren’t we drawn to light?  Isn’t traveling through this life with a companion (the Holy Ghost) a great blessing (fruit) all unto itself?  How is worshipping God a fruit?  When we truly love God, and worship him, our thoughts are continually drawn toward him.  We aren’t filling our minds with things of no importance, but rather thinking of God.

V41 – Having a sure knowledge that we will some day rest from all our afflictions is indeed a fruit.  Doesn’t this knowledge relieve us of the burden of fear for our future? 

V41 – Patience and bearing the burdens of others is also a fruit.  It comes with the territory.  Where does this patience come from?  Having faith in a higher power and knowing that God is in the details of our lives certainly brings with it a calm that when things aren’t as we’d like them to be, there is a reason – a lesson is being learned.  That patience tends to be a light to those who are going through troubles of their own and you are better able to help bear their burdens.   

Humility, Desire, Agency, Joy - Choices We Make

Scripture Journal 2018

9 January 2018 – I have this strong urge to be writing as fast as I can rather than laboriously writing in cursive in a cute little journal.  It just isn’t working for me.

Today I read Alma 33 – Alma is talking to the people about worship and praying wherever it is we are, i.e. field, work place, closets, home, etc.  We don’t have to be in a synagogue or chapel to worship our Heavenly Father. 

I’ve been searching for examples of humility, obedience and virtue in the scriptures recently (think HOV lane here).  The people showed forth humility when they asked Alma how they could worship given they were shut out of their synagogues that they had built.  They were considered too poor to be using them.  This is humility!  They desired to know (v1).  They wanted to obtain the fruit Alma had spoken to them about.  How could they plant it in their hearts?  I love his answer!  “. . . search the scriptures; . . . understand them.”  Pray! 

I find such joy reading my scriptures – especially when I take the time to write after reading.  I have prayer before I write that I might be enlightened by what I read.   I’ll admit there are days when I’m distracted, but this formula is very effective. 

What tugged at my heart this morning was verse 20 where he said there were some who, because of the hardness of their hearts, did not believe.  They would rather perish than do what it takes to come to a belief.  He’s talking about the people in the wilderness with Moses when all the people had to do to be healed from the poisonous serpents was to look at the rod with the serpent on it and they would be healed.  This was a “type” of looking to the Savior.  How simple is that?  Just look?  How simple is it to read the scriptures?  Look!  But they would not.  My girls “would not”.  It is heartbreaking.  And they are cheating themselves out of a life that could bring them such joy and happiness.  I’ve written at the top of this page:  Promise: Burdens lightened.  Cost:  Study scriptures, nourish by faith and prayer.  Can it get any easier?  These are the drops of oil (study and prayer) that we add to our lamps daily.  It is this practice that strengthens us from the buffetings of Satan, the challenges of each day.  I’ve learned this for myself, and I can’t share this oil with even those whom I love the most.  But I find joy in knowing it is there for each of us, that Agency is very important to Heavenly Father, and so it must be important to me as well.