"And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.
And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit."
1 Nephi 8:26-27
This is part of Lehi's dream where it is talking about the people in the great and spacious building and mocking and pointing their fingers at others.
As I was reading this today I was thinking that it would be really horrible to realize that is the part you were playing in the symbolism of the dream. Symbolically, I of course want to be Lehi, solidly at the tree and encouraging others to come. The idea of helping others is awesome. It's kind of opposite the idea of a Great-and-Spacious Buildingite. :)
Why? Because if you refuse to go to the tree or you get lost, maybe you still have a chance to turn around and change, and come back, but the people in the building aren't just resisting the tree... they are actively fighting against it, and tearing down other people who are on the right path. It is the type of thing that scares me most of all about life... making our own bad choices is one thing, but it seems so much worse when we spread those bad choices to other people, helping them to feel justified in sin or encouraging them to choose the wrong.
Of course, choosing to limit our bad choices to ourselves isn't that easy. We affect the people around us, and that includes our feelings of guilt or self-hatred when we choose bad things, and even when bad choices don't make us irritable, they often prevent us from participating in positive interactions with others or noticing others' needs. ... Probably better if we just go all the way good. :)
Today, let's work on being good tree-of-life type people and keeping the spirit with us, so that we can be calm and kind to others. Let's work really hard at not mocking or otherwise hurting others, and if we've already signed up for a spot in the Great and Spacious building, let's break the lease now, and move into one of God's "many mansions" (John 14:2) instead. :)
And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit."
1 Nephi 8:26-27
This is part of Lehi's dream where it is talking about the people in the great and spacious building and mocking and pointing their fingers at others.
As I was reading this today I was thinking that it would be really horrible to realize that is the part you were playing in the symbolism of the dream. Symbolically, I of course want to be Lehi, solidly at the tree and encouraging others to come. The idea of helping others is awesome. It's kind of opposite the idea of a Great-and-Spacious Buildingite. :)
Why? Because if you refuse to go to the tree or you get lost, maybe you still have a chance to turn around and change, and come back, but the people in the building aren't just resisting the tree... they are actively fighting against it, and tearing down other people who are on the right path. It is the type of thing that scares me most of all about life... making our own bad choices is one thing, but it seems so much worse when we spread those bad choices to other people, helping them to feel justified in sin or encouraging them to choose the wrong.
Of course, choosing to limit our bad choices to ourselves isn't that easy. We affect the people around us, and that includes our feelings of guilt or self-hatred when we choose bad things, and even when bad choices don't make us irritable, they often prevent us from participating in positive interactions with others or noticing others' needs. ... Probably better if we just go all the way good. :)
Today, let's work on being good tree-of-life type people and keeping the spirit with us, so that we can be calm and kind to others. Let's work really hard at not mocking or otherwise hurting others, and if we've already signed up for a spot in the Great and Spacious building, let's break the lease now, and move into one of God's "many mansions" (John 14:2) instead. :)
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