I am so happy to be speaking to you today. In preparation for this talk, I read the “Enrich Your Life” section of the BYU-Idaho devotional website. It says, “Devotionals offer the entire BYU-Idaho community an opportunity to rest from the cares of everyday life. When we gather together—whether on campus or online—we may receive significant spiritual blessings.”[1] I am grateful for the blessings I have received from the devotional talks given over the years. I appreciated the last devotional speaker, Brother Darren Clark, talking about sacrifice and the blessings we have received from other people’s sacrifice. I hope we all found significant spiritual blessings from Brother Clark’s thoughts. Thank you for that address.
One of my favorite Book of Mormon prophets is Lehi, one of the “goodly parents”[2] of the prophet Nephi. Lehi is an excellent example for me because of how completely we get to see into his life individually and his interactions with his family. While we don’t have records of Lehi’s childhood or college days, we do get to start learning about him as he acted on his vision in Jerusalem to faithfully, but seemingly unsuccessfully, preach repentance to his peers.[3] He continued to amaze us by packing up his entire family and moving them to the unknown wilderness.[4] I am sure he wondered why they moved first, as he sent his sons back to Jerusalem on a dangerous mission to retrieve the plates of brass.[5] I imagine that his stress levels and responsibilities were increased as the family of Ishmael was added to his family of travelers.[6] He dealt with frustrating child dissentions throughout almost every chapter in 1 Nephi. He endured hunger, thirst, and fatigue.[7] Following a moment of weakness, he was chastened by the Lord in front of his family for murmuring.[8] Finally, after having a way too long family camping trip, Lehi crossed the ocean and landed in a promised, bountiful land,[9] all the while working so hard for him and his family to partake of that most sweet and desirable fruit that he knew filled one with “exceedingly great joy.”[10]
In fact, as we look closer at Lehi’s scripture story, we realize that Lehi’s life is a manifestation of his vision. He entered the straight and narrow path, held to the iron rod, battled through the mists of darkness, reached the tree of life, partook of the fruit, and wanted to share that fruit with his family and live happily ever after.
I don’t think I fully appreciated Lehi until I started analyzing the big questions of life, desiring to know the root cause for why we do what we do in our religion. One core outcome from our labors in this life is to follow Lehi’s example and focus on obtaining the fruit that provides lasting happiness. I appreciate how Lehi relates his vision of the fruit to his family:
And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit.[11]To be clear about the fruit, it is not a magical mango we pluck and consume at our leisure, enjoying once and never thinking of again. The precious fruit we are after is “the greatest of all the gifts of God”[12] and is something we strive for our entire lives. Elder David A. Bednar said:
The fruit on the tree is a symbol for the blessings of [Jesus Christ’s] Atonement. Partaking of the fruit of the tree represents the receiving of ordinances and covenants whereby the Atonement can become fully efficacious in our lives.[13]As we think about why we would want to partake of the fruit ourselves, it is meaningful to me to remember that the prize for partaking is the joy of lasting happiness with those we love, not a quick and temporary treat.
As I thought about a magical mango, I couldn’t help but think about my mission serving in Antananarivo, Madagascar, which had great mangos by the way. On my mission, one of my favorite things to do was family home evenings with the members. I loved having them re-enact parts of 1 Nephi 8. When we would get to verse 15, I would explain to the family members acting out the scripture that they had just received a gift that caused them to have the most happiness they have ever had, and this happiness lasted forever. Then, I would ask them to shout in a loud voice to beckon the rest of their family to share this happiness with them. It was a fun time to see them waving arms and shouting for the family to join them. Often my companion and I would ask follow-up questions about what the family could do to strive to stay on the path to eternal happiness. Many comments, such as going to church, sharing the gospel with friends and family, receiving temple ordinances, and living the Word of Wisdom, would be shared.
To emphasize our points of the lesson in the family home evening, we would at times do an activity. I would pull out of my sun-faded backpack a medium sized cup, a small coin, a bag of flour, a plate, and a kitchen knife. The first thing I would do is put the coin at the bottom of the cup. I would then open the bag of flour and ask, “What good things add to our testimony, keep us on the covenant path, and help us hold on to the rod of iron?” As answers were given, I would add flour in the cup. I would keep probing for more and more answers even once the cup seemed full.
Once the flour was heaping, I would compress the flour with the knife. In order for the activity to work, the flour would need to be very compact. At the moment the flour was compact enough, I would place the plate upside down on the cup and turn the cup and plate over carefully. I would then tap the edges of the cup gently while pulling up on the cup. If done correctly, I would have a tower of flour, much like a sand castle. At this point, we would talk about things that would eat away at our testimony, pull us away from the covenant path, or keep us from everlasting life with our family. As each member of the family took their turn, they would use the table knife to slice away a part of the testimony tower. The object was to not have the tower fall during your turn. If the tower fell on your turn, you had to find the coin in the pile of flour with your mouth. Remember the coin which was on the bottom of the cup was moved to the top of the tower and is now buried in flour. This usually produced a face full of flour by the end of the activity. I had my son help me with the pictures for this description. However, the results were the same in the mission field.
While I would have enjoyed having done this activity with each of you during your home evenings, I hope that you can envision the effect of building the tower, the tower falling, and the toil of finding the coin. One last part of this activity is that the flour can be put back in the cup, repacked, and rebuilt. All is not lost if the tower falls. However, a lot can be learned about the importance of keeping our testimony towers strong. In Lehi’s vision of the tree of life, there were those that “after they tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.”[14] We should all build, maintain, and rebuild our towers to avoid falling away. Keep in mind that tower maintenance is easier than tower reconstruction.
Much like this tower activity, there are a multiplicity of methods, lists, practices, and programs to build us up and keep us moving forward on the path of righteousness toward lasting happiness. However, with our limited time, I would like to focus on this advice given by President Thomas S. Monson:
Essential to the plan is our Savior, Jesus Christ. Without His atoning sacrifice, all would be lost. It is not enough, however, merely to believe in Him and His mission. We need to work and learn, search and pray, repent and improve. We need to know God’s laws and live them. We need to receive His saving ordinances. Only by so doing will we obtain true, eternal happiness.[15]Let’s break this advice down into three parts.
First, “work and learn, search and pray, repent and improve”[16]—these are all calls to action. We can infer that we are not on a moving sidewalk of life but that we must decide to move ourselves down the path. In 2 Nephi 31:20, we get further insight as to how we move forward.
Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.[17]
When I was a student here at BYU-Idaho in 2002, I took a summer job working custodial for the girls’ dorms. One of the jobs we were asked to do was clean out hundreds of dresser drawers. Granted, this was not the most glamorous job, but I learned a valuable lesson about the importance of cleaning the corners. You see, I found out that if you clean the corners first, the middle would follow easily and the drawer would be clean. If you skipped the corners, often you would have to go back and clean the drawer again.
“Cleaning,” as my kids would say, “sounds a lot like work!” Well, it is. Cleaning the corners of life by praying, studying scriptures, going to church, loving your neighbor, and pressing forward as Latter-day Saints is gratifying work that can keep us on the path of righteousness. As we attend to our life’s corners, we can all discover that the middle parts of our life are easier to maintain and keep clean. Work is key. President Thomas S. Monson has one of my favorite formulas for action called, “‘Formula W’: Work Will Win When Wishy Washy Wishing Won’t.”[18]
I encourage each of us to work, learn, search, pray, repent, and improve and then work to encourage family and friends to clean their corners and take the action needed to press forward.
Second, “We need to know God’s laws and live them.”[19] I interpret the first part of this advice as studying the scriptures, reading conference talks, attending our religion classes, and going to church. In a popular hymn, we learn,
Hold to the rod, the iron rod;‘Tis strong, and bright, and true.The iron rod is the word of God;‘Twill safely guide us through.[20]The word of God teaches us His laws and it gives us examples of how we should live our lives. One example of our Heavenly Father’s teachings for us is found in Matthew 22. In this chapter, we see the Pharisees unsuccessfully attempting to trick Jesus by asking:
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.This is the first and great commandment.And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.[21]It is a heavenly law to love God and our neighbor. To obtain lasting happiness with our family and friends, we need to know and live this law and many others. These laws may at times seem restrictive. In fact, the world would want us to think that we cannot be ourselves if we have to conform to laws, rules, regulations, commandments, or covenants. We may even think that it is too much effort or that if we commit, we might fail. I believe the words of President Russell M. Nelson saying:
The Lord loves effort. The Lord loves consistency. The Lord loves steadfastness. While we surely will come up short from time to time, our persistent efforts to hear Him and follow the inspiration He gives us will help us to “wax strong in the Spirit” (Mosiah 18:26).[22]In the fall of 2022, I coached a community flag football team of kids from 4th grade to 6th grade. When we started the season, we were not all that good. When we ended the season, we were still not the best. However, I was very proud of my team who had put forth extreme effort and improved greatly over the course of the season. In our final game—the only game we won—the other team’s player was racing for the end zone and it looked hopeless for my team. Suddenly, I saw sprinting from the other side of the field one of my players who had not given up. He followed the other player all the way down the field, reaching the other team’s player just in time to pull the flag before the touchdown was scored. That was tenacity. Not giving up on defense was a principle we had worked on as a team over and over again in practices. More than anything else that was accomplished during the game eclipsing the mistakes we made, and more important than the end score were the efforts given by the players. If my team can cause such feelings of delight and happiness in me because of their efforts, think of how worthwhile it must be to our Heavenly Father to see our efforts to obey his commandments. Striving to be obedient is valued so much by the Lord that we are blessed for that obedience.
There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.[23]The blessing most desired for, most sought after, and the reason for all of our efforts to be obedient is eternal life.
Third, “We need to receive His saving ordinances.”[24] When I hear this phrase, I feel like I am about to receive the best gift ever, one that I have been anxiously anticipating. We should look forward to receiving our saving ordinances. So, what are these saving ordinances?
In True to the Faith, we read:
An ordinance is a sacred, formal act performed by the authority of the priesthood. [The] ordinances [that] are essential to our exaltation . . . are called saving ordinances. They include baptism, confirmation, ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood (for men), the temple endowment, and the marriage sealing.[25]After we work, learn, obey, and understand, then comes the binding promises that secure everlasting joy. Many of us may have learned about choices and consequences in Primary. I like the way it is taught to our Primary children when we use a choice and consequence stick. On one end of the stick is our choice and the other is our consequence. We cannot pick up the choice end of the stick without picking up the consequence end. Often when we think of consequences, we think of negative consequences, but there can be positive consequences as well. On the devotional discussion board, Sherida Lafayett said:
Receiving saving ordinances helps me face the difficulties of this mortal experience. I am an endowed sister, but there is something special about taking that step to be baptized. I was born and raised in the Church in Jamaica where I was questioned about making such a big decision at such a young age. People sometimes would ask if my parents forced me to be baptized. I would happily tell them that my eight-year-old self was fully aware that I was following in my Savior's footsteps. Every time I think about that response, I am reminded that I chose my Savior before coming to this earth and when I was eight. And that I will keep following and choosing Him.
Overcoming hardship and following the Savior are two of the many blessings we all receive from saving ordinances. Obtaining the essential ordinances is key in the plan of salvation and provides us with the positive consequences in our quest to live with our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and our family for all eternity.
Lehi knew the core outcome of religion, the why behind what we do. In Lehi’s last mortal moments, he is blessing his family and giving them advice before he dies. It is clear that he wants his children, grandchildren, and all his posterity to understand how to obtain lasting joy. He says:
But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.[26]Let us all remember that there is a purpose for strengthening our testimony tower, taking action, learning God’s laws, and obtaining saving ordinances. Wishing and hoping for a magical mango to save us is not the plan. The plan of happiness happens as we press forward to obtain that eternal joy that comes from our Savior Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] “Enrich Your Life,” BYU-Idaho, https://www.byui.edu/devotionals.
[2] 1 Nephi 1:1.
[3] See 1 Nephi 1:8–13.
[4] See 1 Nephi 2:2.
[5] See 1 Nephi 3:2–3.
[6] See 1 Nephi 7:1–2.
[7] See 1 Nephi 16:35.
[8] See 1 Nephi 16:26.
[9] See 1 Nephi 18:23.
[10] 1 Nephi 8:10–11.
[11] 1 Nephi 8:12.
[12] 1 Nephi 15:36.
[13] David A. Bednar, “Lehi’s Dream: Holding Fast to the Rod,” Ensign, Oct. 2011.
[14] 1 Nephi 8:28.
[15] Thomas S. Monson, “The Perfect Path to Happiness,” Ensign, Nov. 2016.
[16] Ibid.
[17] 2 Nephi 31:20.
[18] Thomas S. Monson, “Seven Steps to Success with Aaronic Priesthood Youth,” Ensign, Feb. 1985.
[19] Thomas S. Monson, “The Perfect Path to Happiness,” Ensign, Nov. 2016.
[20] “The Iron Rod,” Hymns, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[21] Matthew 22:36–39.
[22]Sarah Jane Weaver, “President Russell M. Nelson suggests 3 resolutions in his first message of 2022”, Church News, Jan. 1, 2022.
[23] D&C 130:20–21.
[24] Thomas S. Monson, “The Perfect Path to Happiness,” Ensign, Nov. 2016.
[25] “Ordinances,” True to the Faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[26] 2 Nephi 2:24–26.