We must be like a river......calm and purposeful

So this week was interesting and I learned a lot about faith. We often say that we have faith but what would happen if someone asked you what you do with your faith. We have been trying to help our investigators understand this principle and act on their faith and we have seen a lot of changes and improvements. We have one investigator that when he gets a pamphlet he reads it and studies it like homework its pretty sweet!

I want to explain the title this week and why I love it so much. I was reading in the Book of Mormon this week like I do every week and found a passage that I love so much. It's in 1 Nephi 20:18 I don't know why it hit me so hard. It made me think, Am I calm as a river? I also can't help but think that like a river we must have a purpose and a direction to where we are going. The river is calm on the surface but underneath it is pushing hard toward its goal and not letting anything stop it. Also I like how we need to be powerfully righteous. The waves are so powerful and help so much! Then in the next verse about our posterity..... I was so amazed to think that we only have sand because it gets refined and polished into this minut sand.

Cool story! This week I was in charge and we had this day that all of our appointments fell through. I didn't know what to do so I said a prayer in my heart and a name came to my mind and we went there. It was so cool because we went to find one person and found an investigator we had been looking for for about a month.

Sorry that this message is a little short. Know that I love you all and pray for you all everyday.

Elder Packham

I always appreciate Elder Packham sharing his thoughts with us.  I did some study on 1 Nephi 20:18 as well.  When I read it, I took a moment to let the mental image of peace being like a river settle in.

The verse in question is 1 Nephi 20:18. It reads as follows:

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.

The Lord is saying, ‘I am the one who is teaching you how to live and behave. If you had listened to and followed my commandments (harkened) then your peace would be like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.’

So what does it mean to be like ariver? Picture a river in your mind. What is the setting? Rivers are guarded on both sides by banks of earth. This means they are protected and channeled. Sometimes rivers are shallow and are lined on the bottom with large rocks, so you have rapids and they can be dangerous. That is not the normal condition of a river. Most of a river’s course lies in deeper channels, so the water, though traveling swiftly, appears calm and smooth from above.

When we obey God’s commandments we are guided by those commandments like the banks of earth that channel the river. Our lives, though rocky at times, even out and flow more smoothly and quietly than open water, like in the ocean. When storms come the river may swell, but it is still normally kept within its banks, and quickly subsides to its normal flow. The Lord is asking Israel, ‘Which would you rather have, the tempestuous and uncontrolled rolling about of the open seas or the quiet calm of the river my commandments supply?’

In that same verse he uses another water symbol, the waves of the sea to make a point. He tells Israel that if they keep his commandments their righteousness will be like the waves of the sea. The aspect he is referencing here is the constancy of the water’s movement. It is true that waves are bigger at some times and smaller at others, but they never stop. There is always movement in the water. Those who obey God’s commandments will become like the ocean wave, constant and consistent in their performance of good.

The use of natural processes is a powerful tool in the Lord’s teaching arsenal. But in order for us to be able to connect with that arsenal of tools, we need to have had some kind of contact and exposure to the natural world around us. If we have never planted seeds and tended the plants until they were fully grown, we would not have any real idea what was being taught by the parable of the sewer. If we have never seen anyone broadcast seeds, which means to take a handful of seeds and scatter them with a horizontal swing of the arm, we won’t know where many images come from in the scriptures. The Lord expects us to stay connected with the natural world around us so we can grasp the imagery and make the connections he uses to instruct us.

I think that imagery and parables are great ways to learn gospel principles.  Scripture study can really teach us and guide our lives but we need to be open to the spirit....we need to take those moments to reflect on what we are reading. For me, having peace in my life is so important - I want to be calm like a river.......in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.