Helaman 13:38

"But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head."
Helaman 13:38


The part of this verse that strikes me this morning is the part that says "ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain." ... I think that I have always read that part as a lead-in to the part about seeking happiness in doing iniquity, but today I noticed the "and" which (with the liberal semicolons throughout) seems to make it a separate statement. :)  I wonder how often we come across things that we want that we absolutely can't have... but we spend so much of our lives seeking them. Even simple things, like this or that job, or a little extra money, or a relationship with this or that person.   We decide what we want, and we go after it... isn't that the American way? ... but, it doesn't seem to be God's way.  God's way is where we find out what God wants for us, and we go after that.  We live the gospel and we pray for the Lord's will to be done in our lives, rather than our own.  And it seems that most of what God grants us seem to be those happy "coincidences," not the result of even the best-laid plans for conquest. :)  I'm not saying it is easy to want what God wants rather than what we want... but today, instead of going after this or that, let's ask God to lead us where he wants us to go.  It'll be an adventure. :)