Doctrine and Covenants 101:16 -- On Stillness and Trust

"Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God."
Doctrine and Covenants 101:16


I like this. I think it is God's way of asking us not to freak out. There are so many things in life to worry about... none of us are perfect yet, and we have weaknesses, which means we sometimes do more harm than good. We screw things up. But if we're repenting as we go, and headed in the right direction, that's what we can do. The rest is in God's hands, and as he mentions above... it's God, after all. He can handle it.

Not to say that we shouldn't do what we can, of course. Let's be out there spreading love and hope, and pointing out the good... publishing peace. Let's improve ourselves and the lives of the people around us. Let's take responsibility and make the situations and interactions in our lives the best we can. Let's dream big and work on huge, life-changing projects where we can... bringing to pass good and righteousness, saving people from fear and famine. ... But as we do, let's not worry about the other things that we can't control. We shouldn't carry the burdens of the whole world. Christ already did that. Those are his to take care of. Today, let's think and talk to God about what we should be working on, and leave the rest in his competent, caring, magnificent hands.

3 Nephi 17:3 -- On Pondering, Praying, and Preparing

"Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again."
3 Nephi 17:3


This is a verse from the end of the first day that Christ visited the Nephites, and he tells them that he understands that they are weak and that they can't understand everything that the Father has asked him to say (verse 2). This weakness and incomprehension though, he doesn't see as a permanent or insurmountable problem. He doesn't call them stupid or useless. He just asks them to think about it, and pray about it, and prepare for more... which I love.

We all have weaknesses and things that we don't understand. God doesn't mock us for it, and we shouldn't mock each other for it. Instead, we should ponder, pray, and prepare. Those three things will help us to overcome our lack of wisdom and knowledge. They will help us to build on the foundation that we have, and reach for more. Maybe this is something that we should do daily. :) But today, at least, let's step back and ponder what Christ is teaching us today. Let's pray to the Father to understand, and let's prepare our minds for tomorrow, when Christ will teach us more. :)

1 Corinthians 12:7 -- On Gifts and Talents

"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal."
1 Corinthians 12:7


This is talking about spiritual gifts, which could also be the symbolic talents that Christ talked about in that parable. Here it says that every person gets some, and in the parable, even the person who buried his got one, so we know that we have spiritual gifts and talents... all of us. They aren't the same ones, but we get different ones that work together when we help each other.

The other thing that I was thinking about this today is the other scripture that says "seek ye earnestly the best gifts" (D&C 46:8), because like the people in the parable of the talents, God offers us more. If we work at things and try to perfect them, with God's help we can not only gain the expertise that comes through practice, but he can grant us the spiritual side as well... the feel for it or the sense of it. He asks us to seek, and is willing to give, if we put the work in.

Today, let's work on seeking, and developing, our gifts and talents, and use them for the benefit of others and the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 14:6-8 -- On Gifts and Purpose

"Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?
And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?"
1 Corinthians 14:6-8


I like this clarification about speaking with tongues, explaining that God is about helping us understand each other rather than confusing us. He helps people to learn languages, or to speak in other tongues when that will help someone understand us. Lots of cool miracles around this one in the New Testament, but also the modern day. As with all gifts though, it's for helping and edification (verse 3) rather than just showing we can do it. The Brother of Jared moved a mountain, and Moses parted the Red Sea, but both used the power of God and did it for a purpose, rather than just getting a cool terrain adjustment tool to use at will. :)

Today, let's remember that our gifts are for a purpose and to help, and let's work with God to use them for good. :)

3 Nephi 8:9-10 -- On Being Prepared

"And the city of Moroni did sink into the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof were drowned.
And the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah, that in the place of the city there became a great mountain."
3 Nephi 8:9-10


This is around the time of Christ's death, perhaps preparing the way for Christ's visit to the Nephites. What strikes me today is the enormity of these events... whole cities being swallowed up by the ocean, and mountains piling on others. It makes me think that we don't really fathom what a true natural disaster can be.

My purpose isn't to scare us all, but rather just help us remember that we can't predict the future, or the enormity of change, but God can. :) Perhaps we can think about the things that God has asked us to do as far as emergency planning, and work on getting some food storage and knowing where things are and what we would need to take with us in an evacuation... a 72 hour kit. Or what things others need to know in the event of our own deaths. These aren't things that we need to dwell on, but we often think that life will go on the way it is forever, when it won't. God knows more than we do, and he has asked us to be prepared. So, today, like the 10 wise virgins, let's put a little thought into it, not just symbolically and spiritually, but also literally and physically.

Alma 42:9-10 -- On Preparation

"Therefore, as the soul could never die, and the fall had brought upon all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal, that is, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord, it was expedient that mankind should be reclaimed from this spiritual death. Therefore, as they had become carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature, this probationary state became a state for them to prepare; it became a preparatory state."
Alma 42:9-10


I like this explanation of the fall in this chapter, not as an accident, but as part of a larger plan. And within that plan was Christ's atonement, but also this in between time, between birth and death that we call our lives, where we could prepare. Because saving us from the fall guarantees us life, but not happiness. Happiness is the Lord's plan for all of us so that we can prepare for eternity, becoming the people that we want to be, changing ourselves through repentence and practice and study, and becoming people that we actually like, and would like to hang out with for eternity. :)

Today, let's put some effort into preparation, thinking about who we want to be, compared to who we are, and then let's make a change... not a giant change that we are going to give up on in a few weeks and feel bad about ourselves, but a small change. Reading a few verses of scripture, say. Or saying a prayer. Let's fit something in that we didn't before--something that will help us grow closer to the Lord, who is our coach in all of this, and our friend, and our all-powerful father who can and will help us change and progress, and eventually find the joy that we seek.

Alma 37:34 -- On Rest for the Soul

"Teach them to never be weary of good works, but to be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls."
Alma 37:34


Rest for the soul might be just as good as chicken soup. :) I really like the idea here that if we move past some mental and physical exhaustion, and keep working and stay humble, that we will be blessed with spiritual rest, which seems like it could cure any of the rest of it. :) We worry about so many things, but God is what matters. Today, let's work on ... working for him, not ourselves or others. Let's do as he asks and try to bring light into others' lives. As we do, our own light will be strengthened and nourished, and over time, brightened. :)

3 Nephi 4:30 -- On Protection in Righteousness

"And they did rejoice and cry again with one voice, saying: May the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, protect this people in righteousness, so long as they shall call on the name of their God for protection."
3 Nephi 4:30


Things don't always happen the way we want, and there are a lot of lessons in life that we don't want to learn, and pain that we don't want to go through. I like though, this verse and the whole idea that through it all, God is there to protect us. The same general idea as Nephi's "I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." (1 Nephi 3:7). We're here to be tested and to learn, but despite the trials, God is still watching over us, and if we ask for help, he will give it. Some things in life are not easy, for certain, but the Lord is there, helping us and guiding us, and protecting us as long as we are working our way towards him. If we walk away from him and choose our own trouble, then, like the prodigal son, we may fall into bad situations, but he is there instantly to welcome us home when we turn back to him. Let's trust and have faith in God rather than dismissing the miracles in our lives as coincidence. Let's pray, and ask, and listen, and love. God will help us, and lift us so that we can also help others. Let's be part of the good, and when it gets hard, let's ask for the protection that God promises.

Alma 17:13 -- On Trusting in the Lord and Making the Effort

"And it came to pass when they had arrived in the borders of the land of the Lamanites, that they separated themselves and departed one from another, trusting in the Lord that they should meet again at the close of their harvest; for they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken."
Alma 17:13


I like the idea of trusting the Lord to help them meet again. This was before any technology that helped people keep in touch, so leaving each other was breaking contact. And they were going into potentially hostile territory to proselytize, which was bound to be unpopular.

We probably aren't going into quite as dangerous circumstances today, but the idea of trusting God to get us through it, out the other side, and back to the people we love still stands. And, like these men, we might even gather new friends along the way. Let's go forward with open hearts and minds and a determination to love other people, and trust in God to get us through. :) With God helping us, our effort will not be wasted.

Genesis 22:2 -- On Heart-Wrenching Trials

"And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."
Genesis 22:2


There are a lot of things in the scriptures that seem challenging. This one seems similar to the killing of Laban early in the Book of Mormon. Clearly something that God has commanded people not to do, and yet, in these instances God commands it. When Peter who had remained kosher all his life was commanded to go and eat with strangers, I think it was a similar situation. All of these people had lived their lives in a certain way, obeying God, and then when God asked them to do something that was an exception to those rules, they had to examine themselves and figure out if they believed in the commandment or the living God who was really the only person who could make exceptions.

We know more details about why this would be a challenge for Abraham... because God had saved him from being sacrificed himself. That salvation was the beginning of his dedication to the Lord. He likely had stong feelings about sacrifice and perhaps about his father who had allowed it to happen. And then God asks him to betray his own son... his only son... in a similar way. And in a way that could make it seem like all God's promises were empty. He had been promised posterity numberless as the sand, and yet this was his only son.

We know, well after the fact, that this was a symbolic sacrifice, representing the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We can see that it was a test for Abraham, something that rocked him to his core, but that solidified his relationship with God, and that showed God's mercy, and made Abraham think about whether he believed that God would keep his promises. But in the moment, it was still an awful trial that he want through, getting there, proving his devotion, and being blessed with a Ram to sacrifice instead.

I think we all run into things in life that are heart-wrenching--that make us look at our lives and really test what we believe and what we know. I think it is necessary to have things like that in our lives to help us solidify who we are and what we want. We can choose to believe God only in the good times, and walk away when things seem tough, but if we do, or when we do, we don't realize who God really is. Sometimes we want him to be a sweet grandparent who ignores all of our weaknesses and loves us anyway, or a not-very-good friend who glories in our weaknesses and reinforces them, encouraging bad behavior. But God loves us much, much more than that. He loves us enough to purge us from our sins, despite the intense paid of it. He loves us enough to get us real help to save us from our addictions. He loves us enough to teach us self-restraint and to correct our cruelty.

Today, let's stay true to God, who is the only one who can teach us true goodness and pure love. Let's learn from him the difficult lessons as well as the sweet ones. As we do, we will learn to be the amazing, loving, stalwart, and deeply good people that God knows that we can be. It isn't easy to go through trials like that, but as always, joy cometh in the morning (Psalms 30:5).

Alma 10:19-22 -- On Preservation, Prayer, and Goodness

"Yea, well did Mosiah say, who was our last king, when he was about to deliver up the kingdom, having no one to confer it upon, causing that this people should be governed by their own voices—yea, well did he say that if the time should come that the voice of this people should choose iniquity, that is, if the time should come that this people should fall into transgression, they would be ripe for destruction.
And now I say unto you that well doth the Lord judge of your iniquities; well doth he cry unto this people, by the voice of his angels: Repent ye, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Yea, well doth he cry, by the voice of his angels that: I will come down among my people, with equity and justice in my hands.
Yea, and I say unto you that if it were not for the prayers of the righteous, who are now in the land, that ye would even now be visited with utter destruction; yet it would not be by flood, as were the people in the days of Noah, but it would be by famine, and by pestilence, and the sword."
Alma 10:19-22


Interesting contrast here between iniquity/destruction and righteouness/preservation. It reminds me of Abraham pleading with the Lord to spare the city if there are 50 righteous, and "bargaining" him down to only ten (Genesis 18:24-32). Just a few righteous people would have spared the city, but there weren't enough, and so God tells the few righteous people (Lot and his family) to flee. Today, let's make sure our voices are not choosing transgression, but instead lifted up in prayer, choosing righteousness... not just because we want to choose preservation over destruction, but also because it's all part of that same idea of building and helping and growing... working with God to make things better. Let's be part of the good, looking to God and accepting his help to improve and working with him to help promote his plan of goodness.

Isaiah 52:2-3 -- On Rising from the Dust

"Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money."
Isaiah 52:2-3


I love this, but it is also very telling. Symbolically this daughter of Zion represents the Lord's people, but his people in the dust, in bondage. We're (if we are his people, as we are all invited to be) presented as having sold ourselves in return for nothing, which sounds spot on for every single time we try to negotiate with the world rather than with God. God pleads with us to renew our spirits and free ourselves from the slavery that we ourselves have chosen... to become clean, to come back to him. And he promises redemption, forgiveness, even though the idea here is that we walked away from God and chose slavery over him.

These are verses about the last days, and there is so much more that is great in this chapter, but this opening image struck me because I think that is maybe where we are. We are in the dust, so consumed with the intricacies of the world that we forget who we are, and that we *can* stand up and free ourselves, and choose and do better. Today, let's turn to the Lord, and trust in his strength, and free ourselves to serve him instead, and to improve ourselves, our lives, and the world around us through remembering who we are as children of God, and believing in the glorious future that God has mapped out for us, if we will only follow his guidance.

Alma 6:5 -- On the Privilege of Hearing the Word of God

"Now I would that ye should understand that the word of God was liberal unto all, that none were deprived of the privilege of assembling themselves together to hear the word of God."
Alma 6:5


Reading this made me smile today, at the reference to "assembling" or going to church as a privilege. It definitely is that, but we so often think of it otherwise, as an obligation or a chore. The fact that God shares his word with all of us, and that we can freely meet with others and share notes about striving for perfection and offer support and strength to each other... that's amazing, and an opportunity to cherish and avail ourselves of. Today, let's remember what a blessing it is to be able to attend church and to find fellowship there, and thank God for that and so many other ways that he brings his word into our lives. :)

Alma 3:24 -- On the Work of Peace

"And then they returned again and began to establish peace in the land, being troubled no more for a time with their enemies."
Alma 3:24


This verse comes after a battle, but it strikes me today that this work of peace is not just something we do after a war, but it is the work of our lives. The wars are the exception, the times when we have confrontation or huge burdens, anxiety, fear, tragedy, etc. But God always brings us back to the work of peace... the in between time where we can choose better, can build things that last, can lift and help others, and learn to love and live in happy, productive communities. Today, let's look around us and work to establish or to promote or to enlarge peace, and love, and everything good. Let's be part of God's work.

Genesis 11:4-6 -- On Unity

"And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do."
Genesis 11:4-6


This is really interesting because a lot of what we do in the modern world is work on communication. We now have the internet and can talk remotely to almost any populated area on the planet, but we are far from unified. And I think sometimes we have this idea that if we were unified that it would be great... practically paradise. And yet, here God explains the problem. If we are unified in anything outside of God's influence, we're going to end up harming ourselves and others... so he steps in.

I think the important lesson here is that unity is awesome... IF we're unified with God, on his side. Unity anywhere else is just scary... like Gadianton Robbers/Organized crime scary. Today, let's make sure we are gathered together with God, and aren't following anything that leads us away from him.

Genesis 6:17-18 -- On Covenants and Happiness

"And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee."
Genesis 6:17-18


I like the idea of covenants here, that the agreement that God offers us, for him to be our God and for us to be his people, and the obligations on both sides, is available to us, if we can learn to follow God and not to just go after the desires of our hearts all the time, which are often evil. ... I think that's where we go wrong, by thinking that our hearts are the source of truth and right, rather than God. Unfortunately, we want things that are very bad for us, quite often. God is the one with the better perspective, and he guides us as a good Father, helping us to learn to choose the right and the good, and to temper our desires with wisdom. We also learn better desires from God as we discover all that he has to offer us, and that what he can help us become is so much better than what we can make of ourselves. God will give us the desires of our hearts, as we learn better desires, and desire things that will actually make us truly, eternally, happy.

Isaiah 48:17-19 -- On Peace and Other Side Effects of Keeping the Commandments

"Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me."
Isaiah 48:17-19


It's cool that the Lord promises us peace and profit, and even posterity, as we hearken to his commandments. Sometimes we think of the commandments as a burden, especially when we are contemplating breaking them, but the commandements are there to protect and help us... to get us to a place where the Lord *can* bless us with showers of blessings from heaven, as he wants to do. Today, let's talk to God, and reexamine our adherence to his will, and as we do, we will see blessings, both immediate and long-term. God wants to help and gather us. Let's be willing and work for that as well.

Genesis 1:31 -- On Seeing the Good

"And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day."
Genesis 1:31


I like the idea of God stepping back and observing everything and making sure/seeing that it was all good. Or, perhaps more likely, including this for our benefit because he already knew it was good, but reassuring us that everyting starts out good. I think that knowledge helps us a lot, because sometimes it seems like we're surrounded by evil, but we never fully are. There is good if we look for it, and ask God to help us escape the "dark and dreary waste" (1 Nephi 8:7). Today, let's look for the good, and hold fast to it.

Genesis 1:1 -- On the Beginning

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
Genesis 1:1


Usually at the beginning of a regular novel, you start out letting the reader know the setting. In non-fiction that's usually just setting the stage for the ideas or the philosophy yoy are talking about. Fiction gets a bit more challenging because sometimes that involves a lot of changes to the world that we are used to. This beginning starts out trying to answer the question of what came before our timebound mortality, and this first verse tells us almost all of it. God was before, and he made everything.

Maybe today, we can try to take that in a little bit, and recognize God's hand in everything, everywhere, and realize what that means for us as His children.

Alma 2:1-4 -- On Beginnings, Prayer, and Effort

"And it came to pass in the commencement of the fifth year of their reign there began to be a contention among the people; for a certain man, being called Amlici, he being a very cunning man, yea, a wise man as to the wisdom of the world, he being after the order of the man that slew Gideon by the sword, who was executed according to the law—
Now this Amlici had, by his cunning, drawn away much people after him; even so much that they began to be very powerful; and they began to endeavor to establish Amlici to be a king over the people.
Now this was alarming to the people of the church, and also to all those who had not been drawn away after the persuasions of Amlici; for they knew that according to their law that such things must be established by the voice of the people.
Therefore, if it were possible that Amlici should gain the voice of the people, he, being a wicked man, would deprive them of their rights and privileges of the church; for it was his intent to destroy the church of God."
Alma 2:1-4


I like how the Book of Mormon is filled with so many things, from a personal and a national level, public and private, illustrating "applied religion" or how the gospel works as part of life, and not just something we talk about on Sunday. Here, in the beginning of a year, a political movement starts a war, but it is eventually solved through prayer (and of course a lot of effort). A good reminder, in "the commencement" of our year, that God is always the solution. We need to work at it of course, mentally and physically, but we succeed when God is with us, and when we are putting him and other people first. Prayer + Effort ... a good scriptural strategy to face the day with. :)

Philippians 1:5-11 -- On the First Day

"For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.
For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."
Philippians 1:5-11


This is part of a great opening for a letter, and it seems to be a good opening for the new year as well. Let's start on this first day united in fellowship. Let's let our love abound in knowledge and judgement. Let's approve things that are excellent, being sincere and without offense. :) As we do, God will fill us with the rewards of righteousness, and we will grow in thankfulness and love, unto the glory and praise of God, who is our hope and the light ahead of us as we sail into the new year. :) May it be great as we trust in the Lord and move forward with hope, determination, and pure goodness. :)