"And it came to pass that after we had sailed for the space of many days we did arrive at the promised land; and we went forth upon the land, and did pitch our tents; and we did call it the promised land.
And it came to pass that we did begin to till the earth, and we began to plant seeds; yea, we did put all our seeds into the earth, which we had brought from the land of Jerusalem. And it came to pass that they did grow exceedingly; wherefore, we were blessed in abundance.
And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men. And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper."
1 Nephi 18:23-25
I think sometimes that our vision of a promised land and God's vision of a promised land come into conflict. Nephi is totally on board here, and he talks about how blessed they were, but I wonder how many of us would have been on the Laman and Lemuel bandwagon instead if we had to do the same things.
Let's review. This family was fairly wealthy. They lived comfortably in a nice place. They had friends and lives. Then dad starts preaching in the streets and people think he is sort of crazy and want him to stop... maybe we can see their point? Then God tells him to move, but it is a camping-type move, not a caravan-type move. We can't say goodbye to our friends, we can't take most of our stuff... we're headed for a permanent camping trip, and we're going along because, you know, it is our family, but maybe we mention a few times that this is a crazy idea, just hoping that someone will realize that we are right and let us go home? And then, when we finally live through all of the hardship of years in the wilderness, and build an ocean-going vessel, and *all* of it... then we get there and yay. More tents. More wilderness. More hard work. Sure, there are animals and ore and some plants, but that sure doesn't sound like civilization to me.
Similar with Moses and the Children of Israel, right? Sure, they were slaves, but there were good parts. Free food, close to everything... comfortable. And Moses comes and rips us out of there, totally alienating everyone and takes us into the wilderness to starve. We go through the same boring meals every day and we have to do way more walking than we've ever done in our lives, and then, after all of the hardships and the traveling, we get to this land that God is giving to us, and there are Giants there, and mean people that are going to try to kill us, and is any of this worth it? It's just more and more work, and weren't we better off in our free-food paradise?
Unfortunately, it is the same for us as well. God has a promised land for each of us, and he consistently teaches us the things that we need to know to get there, and the skills we will need to have, and he leads us towards it. Maybe it isn't a geographical promised land in every case, but there is always something there that God is helping us toward. The bump in the road is that (at least in this life) the promised land is not going to feature a mansion or even a nice spa, unless we make those things for ourselves. The promised land is opportunity and freedom and the ability to reach our potential, but part of that reaching our potential is building it into what is can be. ... Promised lands are waiting for us to make them great, rather than being great already and just waiting for a population boom. :)
When God answers our prayers and we have new opportunities in our lives, sometimes we get to a point where we want to turn around and go home. This doesn't seem like what we asked for, and maybe it is a mistake. Instead of bailing too quickly though, let's remember Nephi and Moses and the Brother of Jared, and everyone else who started new things or went to new places as guided by God. It isn't meant to be perfect at first. It isn't supposed to be easy. God gives us opportunities to reach out and grab that promised land and make it our own... to make it better, to give it shape, to prepare it for everyone else who is going to come there after us. He wants us to have that pioneer spirit and to build and grow and multiply our talents... to build community and to make a place of goodness. We are the light of the world, right? He asks us all to take what we are given and make it shine... and that's how to make places into promised lands, and that's how you take land and use it to forge a promised people.
Today, let's be who God knows we can be, and make the world around us shine. Let's be a light, and make the world better wherever we are, and make ourselves better, whoever we are.
And it came to pass that we did begin to till the earth, and we began to plant seeds; yea, we did put all our seeds into the earth, which we had brought from the land of Jerusalem. And it came to pass that they did grow exceedingly; wherefore, we were blessed in abundance.
And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men. And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper."
1 Nephi 18:23-25
I think sometimes that our vision of a promised land and God's vision of a promised land come into conflict. Nephi is totally on board here, and he talks about how blessed they were, but I wonder how many of us would have been on the Laman and Lemuel bandwagon instead if we had to do the same things.
Let's review. This family was fairly wealthy. They lived comfortably in a nice place. They had friends and lives. Then dad starts preaching in the streets and people think he is sort of crazy and want him to stop... maybe we can see their point? Then God tells him to move, but it is a camping-type move, not a caravan-type move. We can't say goodbye to our friends, we can't take most of our stuff... we're headed for a permanent camping trip, and we're going along because, you know, it is our family, but maybe we mention a few times that this is a crazy idea, just hoping that someone will realize that we are right and let us go home? And then, when we finally live through all of the hardship of years in the wilderness, and build an ocean-going vessel, and *all* of it... then we get there and yay. More tents. More wilderness. More hard work. Sure, there are animals and ore and some plants, but that sure doesn't sound like civilization to me.
Similar with Moses and the Children of Israel, right? Sure, they were slaves, but there were good parts. Free food, close to everything... comfortable. And Moses comes and rips us out of there, totally alienating everyone and takes us into the wilderness to starve. We go through the same boring meals every day and we have to do way more walking than we've ever done in our lives, and then, after all of the hardships and the traveling, we get to this land that God is giving to us, and there are Giants there, and mean people that are going to try to kill us, and is any of this worth it? It's just more and more work, and weren't we better off in our free-food paradise?
Unfortunately, it is the same for us as well. God has a promised land for each of us, and he consistently teaches us the things that we need to know to get there, and the skills we will need to have, and he leads us towards it. Maybe it isn't a geographical promised land in every case, but there is always something there that God is helping us toward. The bump in the road is that (at least in this life) the promised land is not going to feature a mansion or even a nice spa, unless we make those things for ourselves. The promised land is opportunity and freedom and the ability to reach our potential, but part of that reaching our potential is building it into what is can be. ... Promised lands are waiting for us to make them great, rather than being great already and just waiting for a population boom. :)
When God answers our prayers and we have new opportunities in our lives, sometimes we get to a point where we want to turn around and go home. This doesn't seem like what we asked for, and maybe it is a mistake. Instead of bailing too quickly though, let's remember Nephi and Moses and the Brother of Jared, and everyone else who started new things or went to new places as guided by God. It isn't meant to be perfect at first. It isn't supposed to be easy. God gives us opportunities to reach out and grab that promised land and make it our own... to make it better, to give it shape, to prepare it for everyone else who is going to come there after us. He wants us to have that pioneer spirit and to build and grow and multiply our talents... to build community and to make a place of goodness. We are the light of the world, right? He asks us all to take what we are given and make it shine... and that's how to make places into promised lands, and that's how you take land and use it to forge a promised people.
Today, let's be who God knows we can be, and make the world around us shine. Let's be a light, and make the world better wherever we are, and make ourselves better, whoever we are.
No comments:
Post a Comment