Good morning. I am grateful to have the assignment to be with you today. I compliment you for taking time to continue your religious education. In April conference of 1852, President Brigham Young told the Saints:
There are a great many branches of education: some go to college to learn languages, some to study law, some to study physics, and some to study astronomy, and various other branches of science. We want every branch of science taught in this place that is taught in the world. But our favorite study is that branch which particularly belongs to the Elders of Israel [and I might add to the Sisters of Israel]—namely, theology. Every Elder [and I would again add every Sister] should understand this branch better than all the world.[1]
Your attendance at this education week is certainly in the spirit of that prophetic counsel.
Now, I understand I am somewhat of a keynote speaker today and it is suggested I address the theme of this year’s education week which is taken from the 36th chapter of Alma in the Book of Mormon. I hope it hasn’t been presumptuous of me, and it is probably evidence of my free spirit, but I’ve never felt obligated to stick to prescribed themes. Hopefully, my approach is justified in light of the revelation which says, “But not withstanding those things which are written, it has always been given to the elders of my Church from the beginning, and ever shall be, to conduct all meetings as they are directed and guided by the Holy Ghost.”[2]
However, in this case, I have been so fascinated with the chosen theme that I’ve decided for better or worse to stick with it! Part of my attraction to the theme is that it comes in the midst of a spiritually candid father and son conversation in which Alma tells Helaman both good and bad things about Alma’s past. I know it is usually wise to teach from our strengths, but I wonder sometimes if our youth today might be encouraged more in their attempts to confess and forsake their sins if they heard some of us older folks admit, at least in a general way, that we made a few mistakes ourselves in years past.
So, in Alma chapter 36 we have Alma bearing his soul and his testimony to Helaman, telling him how tormented he once was by his sins and then sharing his joy as he repented and felt forgiven. His effort to convey to his son these things of his soul is recorded in these words: “so exquisite and sweet. . . was my joy” that “methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their God.”[3] And then in the midst of Alma’s recounting his transcendent gaze into heaven, he affirms to Helaman, “yea, and my soul did long to be there” (emphasis added). What a wonderful thought-provoking statement and appropriate theme for this education week.
“And my soul did long to be there.” I must confess that in all my previous readings and study of the Book of Mormon this sentence had gone largely unnoticed. But now, for me—and I hope for you—it has become one of those priceless passages of scripture that the Prophet Joseph said “enter with great force into the feeling of [our hearts].” [4] I bet it did into Helaman’s.
When I first began to think about Alma’s statement as I prepared for my talk today, I was impressed that it evidences both the power of desire (“my soul did long”) and the critical importance of the objects of our desire (“to be there”). I wondered what there might be about being where God is that would cause Alma to long to be there? Why would he or we, as thoroughly enmeshed as we are in earthly matters, desire something as seemingly ethereal as to be where God is? As begotten sons and daughters of God[5], we surely come to earth with an inborn affinity for Him (and parenthetically for his beloved companion, our mother in heaven) and thus we quite naturally want to be where they are. We know from modern revelation that “Man was also in the beginning with God.”[6] It just seems spiritually intuitive to me that those who were with God in the beginning will yearn to be with Him in the end. Provided, of course, they continue to see things “as they really are and as they really will be.”[7] I am also confident that the prospect of such a destiny was shared with us as part of our “first lessons in the world of spirits,” taught to us even before we were born, as revealed to President Joseph F. Smith in his vision of that world.[8] Surely, even though as a concession to agency a veil of forgetfulness has been drawn across our minds, some echoes of the teachings and experiences of that premortal world can occasionally still be heard through the veil, especially by those who intently listen. Just as surely, too, those echoes are calling us back to our heavenly home.
I have always been intrigued that some members of the animal kingdom possess a strong homing instinct. Trout, salmon, some varieties of birds, and even dogs, cats, and other domestic animals have an attachment to home and an uncanny ability to return there, often over great distances. Experiments have been conducted in which starlings have returned to their nests after being transported 500 miles from home and swallows 1,100 miles. A bird known as a Manx Sheerwater returned from Massachusetts to Britain, a distance of over 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in 12½ days.[9] This being the week of primary elections, at least in Utah, I am reminded of President Boyd K. Packer telling us once that as a boy he trained homing pigeons. Because it was so difficult to get election results to the county clerk in Brigham City in a timely way from the distant communities of Grouse Creek and Park Valley in Box Elder County, his pigeons were employed to assist. They were transported by car to those towns and on election night the results were written on small pieces of paper by the judges of election and were then slipped into tiny pouches attached to the pigeons’ legs. The birds were released and quickly flew the 100 miles or so to President Packer’s coop in Brigham City. He then retrieved the results and took them immediately to the nearby clerk’s office! I know this sounds terribly outdated in this day of computerized voting, but it does show that the homing instinct of which I speak can have even commercial value! There is obviously something built into birds of this type that brings them home.
I believe in like manner, we were created instinctively to return to the place of our spiritual beginnings. The author of Ecclesiastes eloquently expressed this thought by saying of God’s children, “[God] hath set the eternal in their heart.”[10] Thus, Alma’s “longing to be there” may be a God-given heavenly homesickness in which we all share. Perhaps the old saying, “there is no place like home” has an eternal dimension we haven’t fully appreciated.
The desire we feel to be with our Heavenly Parents can’t be completely explained by our divine heritage. We just don’t automatically love our earthly parents because we bear their genes. We love them mostly because of our experiences and relationships with them and because they love us. Alma’s longing to be with God is therefore a wonderful commentary on the depth of his conversion and personal relationship with God. One of the blessings of Joseph Smith’s experience in the sacred grove was to make known how near and accessible God really is. I am deeply moved each time I read Enoch’s conversation with God in which he confirms that accessibility even in the midst of the vast cosmos. In his words:
And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still [God is still in production];and yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and also thou art just; thou art merciful and kind forever.[11]
Enoch’s description of God’s attributes is tremendously encouraging and inviting. To come to know God is to come to know He is there and to experience His mercy and kindness. I am personally grateful to have felt God’s involvement and love in my life. I felt it as a boy when I was close to nature, animals, and the changing seasons. I felt it in my adolescence as I struggled to find my place and worth in the world. I have felt it in times of discouragement and temptation when I’ve fallen short of my own expectations and of His. I’ve felt it as a father and husband as each of our eight children was born, coming fresh from Him. I felt it as my father and mother, each in turn, left this life for the next. I feel His love today, in this very moment, and I am grateful for it. I’m convinced that Alma felt it too, and that those feelings are a prime reason for his “longing to be there.”
Because of Christ’s unique role in relation to this world, most direct human encounters with Deity have been with Him rather than God the Father. As Jesus taught, however, “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever [the Father] doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”[12] I think therefore we can safely assume if one experiences Christ’s love, he experiences the love of God. I say this by way of preface because during his service as an Apostle, Elder Melvin J. Ballard related the following sacred experience concerning Christ’s love:
Away on the Fort Peck Reservation where I was doing missionary work with some of our brethren, laboring among the Indians, seeking the Lord for light to decide certain matters pertaining to our work there, and receiving a witness from him that we were doing things according to his will, I found myself one evening in the dreams of the night in that sacred building, the temple. After a season of prayer and rejoicing I was informed that I should have the privilege of entering into one of those rooms, to meet a glorious Personage, and, as I entered the door, I saw, seated on a raised platform, the most glorious Being my eyes have ever beheld or that I ever conceived existed in all the eternal worlds. As I approached to be introduced, he arose and stepped towards me with extended arms, and he smiled as he softly spoke my name. If I shall live to be a million years old, I shall never forget that smile. He took me into his arms and kissed me, pressed me to his bosom, and blessed me, until the marrow of my bones seemed to melt! When he had finished, I fell at his feet, and, as I bathed them with my tears and kisses, I saw the prints of the nails in the feet of the Redeemer of the world. The feeling that I had in the presence of him who hath all things in his hands, to have his love, his affection, and his blessing was such that if I ever can receive that of which I had but a foretaste, I would give all that I am, all that I ever hope to be, to feel what I then felt![13]
What more can be said about God’s love and the desirability of being where God is? Perhaps at least this much: In John 3:16 it is written that “God so loved the world that he gave” What he gave as mentioned in that passage was “his only begotten son,” the most valuable of all gifts. But giving with God doesn’t stop there. As Paul taught the Corinthians, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”[14] Ultimately, everything the “Father hath shall be given unto [us]”[15] and all He asks in return is that we love Him and keep His commandments. We speak sometimes of sacrificing for God’s kingdom, but there must be a better word. How can it be a sacrifice when what we offer up is comparable to a handful of dust and what we’re promised in return are worlds without number? Though we know relatively little about the particulars of life with God, the promises He has made concerning eternal life or life with God certainly give hope and contribute greatly to our “longing to be there.”
I wish now to say something about the power of desire. So much of what we achieve or become in this life and thus in the next, relates directly to the longings and desires of our hearts. Desire denotes a yearning or craving. Desire is of critical importance because desire and action are inseparably connected in a cause and effect relationship and thus, in process of time, our desires will make us what we are. Alma was personally aware of the inexorable consequences of desire. He said: “[God] granteth unto men according to their desires, whether it be unto death or unto life; . . . according to their wills whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction. Yea, . . . he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires.[16] Elder Bruce C. Hafen has formulated the same thought in this way: “Not only will the righteous desires of our hearts be granted, but also the unrighteous desires of our hearts. Over the long run, our most deeply held desires will govern our choices, one by one and day by day, until our lives finally add up to what we have really wanted.”[17]
Because our desires play such a significant role in determining our eternal destiny, educating and training our desires is a key to personal spiritual growth. With God’s plan for us firmly in mind and with honest commitment to our sacred covenants, we can choose to exercise our agency in countless small ways that will help our desires to become more worthy and eventually even holy. Unlike Alma’s case, our own mighty change and the attendant transformation of our desires will likely come about mighty slowly. This process is described by Elder Neal A. Maxwell: “Each assertion of a righteous desire, each act of service, and each act of worship, however small and incremental, adds to our spiritual momentum. Like Newton’s Second Law, there is a transmitting of acceleration as well as a contagiousness associated with even the small acts of goodness.”[18] Even the Savior’s spiritual growth appears to have taken place gradually, over time. It was revealed to Joseph Smith that “[Our Savior] received not of the fullness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fullness; and thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fullness at first.”[19]
As with our Savior, so it can be with us. I often see concrete evidence of this ongoing process of improvement in the lives of others, especially faithful Latter-day Saints who are in what we call their “golden years.” There is a wholesomeness, a refinement, a charity about such followers of Christ that is inspiring. I think an important part of achieving such spiritual growth is to take time in our busy lives to continually assess the worthiness of our desires. Paul suggests this might be done during our participation in the sacrament service. “But let a man examine himself,” Paul says, “and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup."[20] A lifetime of regularly examining ourselves (especially our desires) and of reviewing our commitment to be true disciples of Christ will inevitably result in us exercising our agency in ways that will result in the desires of our hearts becoming more righteous. Our goal is to continually improve until eventually we come more perfectly to desire what God desires, which is the ultimate step in becoming more like Him. Meanwhile, as recently as this past week when the current issues of Western Horseman and the Ensign magazine arrived in the mail at our house on the same day, I found myself, during my brief period of bedtime reading, making one of those innumerable small choices that will shape my eventual character. I will leave it to you to speculate about the resolution of my dilemma!
Examining the scriptural setting of Alma’s “longing to be there” statement may also be helpful in educating our own desires, for as someone once said, “a text without a context is a pretext.” To begin, I wish to point out that Alma chapter 36 is a striking example of the Hebrew literary form known as chiasmus. Chiasmus is a form of parallelism in which patterns of words, thoughts or concepts lead to a central point of emphasis and then repeat in inverse order. This form of writing creates interest, facilitates learning, and helps establish a priority of one concept over another. A simple way to visualize the chiasm contained in Alma 36 is to think of the Greek letter χ (chi), the 22nd letter in the Greek alphabet. Resembling our English letter “x,” chi is the etymological source of the word chiasmus.
The first half of Alma chapter 36—the portion in which Alma recounts the visit of the angel and Alma’s resulting pain because of his sinful past—is prelude for Alma’s explanation to Helaman that in the midst of this very painful experience he, Alma, “remembered also to have heard my father prophesy until the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.”[21]
Alma’s recollection of his father’s teaching concerning the Atonement is the spiritual highlight of chapter 36. It is also the doctrinal focal point of the chiasm. Figuratively speaking, it is where the two lines forming the “x” or chi intersect.
The last half of chapter 36, the verses following the central point of emphasis on the Atonement, is filled with Alma’s exultation or rejoicing because through the Atonement his sins were forgiven and he is “harrowed up by the memory of [his] sins no more.”[22]
It’s also the later half of chapter 36, specifically verse 22, that contains the vision of God sitting on his throne in heaven and Alma’s memorable statement of this education week’s theme that his “soul longed to be there.” It is very interesting to me that verse 22 has such a positive tone and is full of great anticipation on Alma’s part in desiring to be with God. On the other hand, verses 14-15, the counterparts to verse 22 in the parallel chiasmatic structure, provide the antithesis. In these verses which appear in the text before Alma tells of remembering his father’s teaching of the Atonement, Alma is full of regret and shame. Rather than longing to be with God, the “very thought of coming into the presence of God did rack [his soul] with inexpressible horror.”[23]
Contrasting these verses removes all questions about the benefits and blessings of the Atonement. Having remembered his father’s teaching of one Jesus Christ, Alma went from a state of existential despair desiring to be extinct both soul and body rather than face God, to the affirmation that his soul longed to be with God. This transformation of Alma’s desires could not have taken place without the divine help that can come to each of us through the Atonement. Continually drawing on its power and fully appreciating its cost are the factors I feel can influence and change the desires of our hearts most effectively. I think Alma’s experience teaches us that the Atonement is much more than a powerful concept at the center of a chiasm, but rather that it must be the central anchor and motivating influence of our lives.
I want to pause at this point to share a lesson Elder Dallin H. Oaks once taught. He had written a talk for a special occasion and, as the Brethren usually do, before giving it he shared a draft of the talk with two or three Members of the Twelve, inviting their comments and suggestions. The drafts were returned and at the top of the first page of one of them the reviewer had made his only comment. It was in the form of a question: “Therefore, what?”
Clearly the point of this anecdote is that good teaching should result in beneficial changes in the lives of the students or listeners. One can teach to inform (this is the information age), or to entertain (a spoonful of sugar certainly helps the medicine go down), but the highest form of teaching, and I might add the most difficult, is to motivate students to apply the lesson taught in their lives.
Following Elder Oak’s counsel, I have prayerfully considered what should happen in your lives and mine as a result of being together today. What I hope would occur is that over our lifetimes, we will care much more about the things of God than the things of the world. If we do, we will exercise our agency accordingly and our hearts will quite naturally come over time to desire what God desires. When we arrive at that blessed state, our souls as did Alma’s will “long to be there.”
I observed the end results of walking this very desirable path about 13 years ago while I was serving as a mission president in Rochester, New York. One day I interviewed an 84-year-old senior missionary to renew his temple recommend. He was a devoted, Church member and an exceptional husband and patriarch of a fine family. He was on his fifth full-time mission. I dutifully went through the prescribed temple recommend questions with him and when I reach the next to the last one, I felt almost apologetic as I asked, “Have there been any sins or misdeeds in your life that should have been resolved with priesthood authorities but have not been?” He looked at me with the clearest and most honest of eyes and said, “Oh, Brother Jensen, certainly not. At my age, I’m going for the finals, you know!”
Really at any age, we are all “going for the finals.” When that day ultimately comes—if we have schooled our desires, we will not, as Alma suggested, fear to “look up to our God [or] . . . be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.”[24] Rather, we will experience supreme joy because, in Moroni’s words, “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” and, as Moroni prayed, “that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure”[25] is also my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Journal of Discourses 6:317
[2] Doctrine and Covenants 46:2
[3] Alma 36:21-22
[4] Joseph Smith History 1:12
[5] Doctrine and Covenants 76:24
[6] Doctrine and Covenants 93:23, 29
[7] Jacob 4:13
[8] Doctrine and Covenants 138:56
[9] The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998, Vol. 14, p. 789
[10] Ecclesiastes 3:11; see footnote b
[11] Moses 7:30
[12] John 5:19
[13] Bryant S. Hinckley, Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin J. Ballard, 1949, Deseret Book, p. 156
[14] 1 Corinthians 2:9
[15] Doctrine and Covenants 84:38
[16] Alma 29:45
[17] The Believing Heart [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1986], p. 26
[18] Neal A. Maxwell, “According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts,” Ensign, Nov. 1996, p. 21
[19] Doctrine and Covenants 93:13-14
[20] 1 Corinthians 11:28
[21] Alma 36:17
[22] Alma 36:19
[23] Alma 36:14
[24] Alma 12:14
[25] Moroni 7:48