storytelling

I'm going to talk about storytelling in class tomorrow. Mosiah 7-14 is just stories. There's very little "ministry". After a 300 year gap and the words of Benjamin Mormon still included it. What do we learn from stories?  

Several philosophers have noticed this.

"Man is the storytelling animal, the only creature on earth that told itself stories to understand what kind of creature it was. The story was his birthright, and nobody could take it away."

Salman Rushdie, Joseph Anton: A Memoir

1/3 of Jesus's recorded teachings are stories / parables. It must be useful.  

Scripture stories

Conference stories

Personal and family stories

I'm looking forward to hearing how these stories have influenced everyone.

Hushed anxiety

Mosiah 23:28

Notice Alma did not hush the people’s fears. Rather, Alma counseled the believers to remember the Lord and the deliverance only He could bestow (see 2 Nephi 2:8). And knowledge of the Savior’s protecting watchcare enabled the people to hush their own fears.

Doc&Cov 19:23

Doc&Cov 59:23

Therefore They Hushed Their Fears  

By Elder David A. Bednar

Elder Bednar talks about the worldly fears we encounter. Unfortunately, anxiety is a flood of fear for no actual reason. That doesn’t make the fear any less real. Fortunately, Jesus Christ covers irrational fears just the same as rational ones. 

You might have guessed I have some things I need to do in the next week that's causing some lovely anxiety. Here I am trusting and trying to hush my fears.

we need to believe

We need to believe in angels and miracles and the promises of the holy priesthood. We need to believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost, the influence of good families and friends, and the power of the pure love of Christ. We need to believe in revelation and prophets, seers, and revelators and President Russell M. Nelson. We need to believe that with prayer and pleading and personal righteousness, we really can ascend to “Mount Zion, … the city of the living God, the heavenly place, the holiest of all.”

Motions of a Hidden Fire  

By President Jeffrey R. Holland

Doctrine and Covenants 76:66.

both teams

Sometimes we’re like these captive Nephites, suffering because of our sins, wondering how we’ll ever find peace again. Sometimes we’re like Ammon, feeling prompted to reach out to others and eventually finding that our efforts have inspired them to “lift up [their] heads, and rejoice, and put [their] trust in God” (Mosiah 7:19). No matter our circumstances, we all need to repent and “turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart,” with faith that “he will … deliver [us]” (Mosiah 7:33).

- come follow me manual 2024

This is such a great way to view these chapters. We all have times and places where we're stuck. We're also given opportunities to work with the Lord's rescue team. Sometimes, both at the same time.

you'll love me more if you do the chore

According to these verses, what happens in our lives if we do the things described in verse 11? How have you, or someone you love, experienced these changes? Compare these changes to the changes described in Mosiah 3:19.

Come follow me manual 5 may 2024

Nash brought up service as being a way we follow Christ and show love to our fellow man. 

That reminded me of the first lesson my dad taught me after we met. We were sitting in their living room and I asked if I could go get a drink of water. He put his hand on my arm and said to go ahead and sit down because he'd ask one of the kids to get it for me. I said it was no trouble but he gently said no. He said you love the ones you serve and the kids needed to love me as their sibling. He also said he allowed them to do things for them. I think there was a little bit of an excuse in that. I'm going to start telling the kids they can do the dishes so they'll love me more. 😆😆😆

It is true that we love the ones we serve though. We usually love the ones that serve us too so it should go both ways.

wait! I'm not done

"I received an admonition to return to my ministry with more urgency, more consecration, more focus on the Savior, more faith in His word."

Motions of a Hidden Fire  

By President Jeffrey R. Holland

April 2024

Doctrine and Covenants 112:4-5, 14

I was struck by this when elder Holland said he'd been admonished to be more. I guess we all need to be more our whole lives.  

My seminary teacher gave a lesson on "endure to the end". We were each given a piece of modeling clay, told to close our eyes, and shape something that represented us. Questions about time limit were asked. He said he'd stop us when it was time. We could quit whenever we wanted to.  

Our teacher then began teaching to a class full of kids playing with clay with our eyes closed. Slowly, people started saying they were done. I thought maybe I was done but ice always been a believer in using all the time you have during a test. When the teacher said stop, I was ready. One other person said, "wait!". We were the only two of 30+ kids that used all of our time. We had "endured to the end".

That lesson has always stuck with me. It reminds me that I'm never done.  

fog

To believe, we need to get the gospel from our heads into our hearts! It is possible for us to merely go through the motions of living the gospel because it is expected or because it is the culture in which we have grown up or because it is a habit.

We all need to seek to have our hearts and very natures changed so that we no longer have a desire to follow the ways of the world but to please God. True conversion is a process that takes place over a period of time and involves a willingness to exercise faith.

Do I Believe?  

By Bonnie L. Oscarson

April 2016

I know she's talking about conversion and committing to keeping the commandments. However, I feel these words differently as I climb out of the recent depression pit.  

Depression makes it difficult to see anything clearly, even God's love. Those habits, or going through the motions, are essential for me to keep my head above water.  

I may be in cruise control as my eyes pass over the words. The fog is thick but the commitment is there.

Slowly, the mists begin to thin. Bits of hope begin getting through. Just familiar words and phrases that touch an unconscious part of my soul.  

The little bits of love and hope form together until they burn through the haze. Like waking up, the memory of God’s love for me shones through. 

With that pure light and warmth, the mists clear and I'm still within the Lord’s paths. Interacting with scriptures daily gives my soul a chance to grab the life line. The way back is slow but it's there. The Lord keeps us in His hands even when, especially when, we can't comprehend it.