Comfort and Simplicity

This morning I've sat and enjoyed watching and listening and smelling the rain. I remember my first summer home from college I even tried to record the sound of the rain and thunder because I had missed it so much. Watching the drops wash away the dust that has accumulated over the last month and intensify the color of the leaves and flowers has reminded me of what we've been reading (2 Nephi 6-10) this past week. Just like the rain has cleaned away the dust and quenched the water starved ground and foliage, so does the infinite atonement of the Savior cleanse our lives and quench our parched souls when we use our agency to choose it. And just as Isaiah symbolically describes, the Lord will take the personal waste places, wildernesses, and deserts of our lives and turn them into Edens when we turn to Him.

Want some beautifully simple advice on how to live your life? "Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy."

No Whining

This week as I have studied 1 Nephi 16-22 I have really been struck by Nephi's unyeilding faith and determination. He and his family continue their journey, he breaks his bow, they're starving and everyone starts complaining, A LOT, "even unto complaining against the Lord their God." His response is exactly who I want to be...he goes out and finds the materials to make a new bow and arrow. He arms himself with his newly made weapon and with a sling and stones and says in essence which way do I go to hunt? While everyone else is wasting energy whining, he gets up and does something about it. I LOVE THAT! The Lord tells him to build a ship, he doesn't even say "You want me to do what? Are you sure? I mean, I'm a landlubber, I've never made a ship before. Are you sure you want me to do this?" He doesn't question or whine or say "but do you know how long it's going to take to build a ship?", he simply responds with inquiries of where he can go to get the stuff to make tools suitable for the job. His brothers mock him, threaten to murder him, and still he doesn't lose faith. He completes the task (and I love that even Laman and Lemuel comment that it turns out to be better than a very good ship), they embark on their trip across the ocean and Nephi is tied up and left to die. After four days of being tied up and left to die in a raging storm his brothers come to their senses and let him go. He doesn't even complain! He prays expressing his gratitude and then immediately does what...goes back to work. In all these instances Nephi never whines, he just trusts in the Lord and goes to work. I want to be like Nephi!

Fiery Darts

I started chuckling as I was reading 1 Nephi 15:24 today. When I read I have a very vivid mental picture in my head. In my teenage years my dad introduced me to blow guns. I loved spending time out in the garage with him playing our version of darts where we substitued throwing darts with blow gun darts. The number one rule was you weren't allowed to shoot until everyone was behind you. Darts that are used with a blow gun are long and thin and wicked sharp. Like flying needles through the air. Those little darts could've done some serious sinking into some flesh or worse had they gone off course or (more importantly) if someone were to carelessly walk into the line of fire. Those tiny little suckers are dangerous...just ask any unfortunate rabbit who falls prey to someone using the gun for hunting. Or maybe those poor souls who got taken out by indians using poisonous ones. So, as I was reading about the "fiery darts of the adversary" you can imagine the mental image that popped into my head. Not just darts....FIERY ones. Being shot at us by Beelzebub. Who seeks out and studies the holes in our armor. Who shoots them at us constantly and incessantly. I'm thinking that I don't just want to hold fast to the iron rod(aka the word of God), I want to strap myself with a few dozen bungee cords and anything else I can find to it as well. What about you?

Hmmmm

What would you write about your life if you were given the chance to send a message to your children's children's children's children living 2000 years from now?

A New Era for Seminary

Welcome to the new Paris, TN Branch Seminary site! As we begin the new seminary school year and our study of the Book of Mormon, I invite all of you (students and parents alike) to visit this site often, comment on thoughts you've had as you study and learn, and read the comments of others who are doing the same. I do ask that as you participate in these comments/discussions that you remember to "Strengthen your brethren in every conversation." This will also be a place to help you keep up with where you should be in your studies, and a place to post announcements and (heaven forbid) cancellations.

Last evening we gathered for our first class where the materials for this year were distributed. We reviewed the Plan of Happiness, reviewed how to take full advantage of all that the scriptures offer us by using the footnotes, etc., and participated in a brief overview of the Book of Mormon. Early morning students are participating in the same throughout the week.

At our Seminary and Institute training meeting held on August 8th 2009, Brother Halverson reminded us of the effort it took to simply engrave what was to be written upon the metal plates. The prophet Jacob even stated that "I cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates..." It would have been quicker and easier to write upon something that would have never lasted the span of time, but the Lord had instructed them to engrave them on plates for our benefit. Just as the prophets of old had the responsibility to engrave them on plates, we have a responsibility to engrave them on our hearts. And just as it required work to engrave them the first time, it requires an active study (work) to engrave them on our hearts. As we study this sacred record that testifies of Jesus Christ, of His divinity and of His miraculous atonement and redemption of all mankind it is my hope that we truly will engrave these things on our hearts, never to be erased. And that as Mormon expresses on the title page we will come to know more fully "the covenants of the Lord, that we are not cast off forever..." and more fully understand "that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD."

May God bless us all as we follow his commandment to study the words of the prophets.