What Changes Lives?
A few
questions to introduce the topic of this blog post: What changes lives? What changes the world? What events or actions actually altered the course of someone’s life?
Or the destiny of nations?
Happy Thanksgiving
I’ll be
honest, the day before Thanksgiving, I was having a little difficult counting my
blessings. I know I have so much to be
grateful for, but I was feeling a little down (as we all do on occasion). But as I read Helaman 5, I was reminded of a
great lesson I had learned earlier this year, and which I wrote about in three different
blog posts. As I re-read the blog posts,
I realized I had not done the best job of conveying the ideas I wanted to. So here is my (hopefully) final attempt.
Life is
challenging; and life is made all the more difficult by evil influences in the world. But in difficult times, we can greatly
increase our happiness if we will count our blessings. If we do so, two things will happen. 1) We
will see that God’s blessings have a domino effect in our lives, with one
blessing leading to the next, leading to the next, leading to the next.
And 2) we will see that our greatest blessings were the opportunities we had to
serve others; to change the course of someone’s life for the better.
In Helaman
5, Helaman encourages his sons Nephi and Lehi to remember the reason he gave
them their names. “I have given unto you
the names of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this
I have done that when you remember your names ye may remember them.”
He next
reminds them of another critical time in Nephite history, 400+ years after
Nephi and Lehi had arrived on the American continent. “Remember, my sons, the words which king
Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor
means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.”
And then he
again reminds them of another important time in Nephite history. “Remember also the words which Amulek spake…;
for he said… that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people.”
Helaman has
now invoked three different “turning-point moments” in Nephite history to help
his sons see God's workings in the larger context. Do we ever reflect on the Lord's workings in
the history of the world, or the history of America, or the restoration of the
gospel? Would we not see the same things
and Nephi and Lehi saw?
The Main Point
It would be
very easy for Nephi and Lehi to solely focus on the short-term history of their
people and see only the past 50 years or so. By doing so, they would miss out on seeing
God's overarching influence on the Nephites. Is it not also very easy for us to solely
focus on the short-term history of the world and see only the past 50 years or
so? By doing so, we miss out on seeing
God's overarching influence on the destiny of nations.
And just to
drive the point home, is it not also very easy for us to solely focus on the
short-term blessings we have received from God and see only the past few years
or so? By doing so, we miss out on seeing
God's overarching influence in guiding our lives with His “domino-effect”
blessings.
In the
day-to-day humdrum of life, it can be challenging to view the larger
perspective. This is why counting your
blessings is so important. It broadens
our view of how God has blessed us. And
perhaps more importantly, it enables us to see where He is leading us with
these blessings. We can see our future
destination more clearly.
And so
Helaman walked his sons through the history of the Nephites, showing them how
the Lord's hand had been guiding them where they needed to go. The Lord brought Lehi and Nephi to America. Then, at a later critical time, He reunited
the Nephite people under the rule of King Benjamin. And then He more fully established His church
throughout the land through His servants Alma and Amulek.
Reflect on
your own past and you will see God's hand in your life, leading and guiding and
directing aright. Reflect on the world's
past and you will again see God's hand in the destiny of nations, leading and
guiding and directing aright. Reflect on
your own blessings and you will see that those blessings are not random or
sporadic, but that they came at important crossroads. They were a constant, mighty river that
directed the flow of your life in the right direction. Reflect on the good things the world has
produced and been blessed with and you will see that those blessings are not
random or sporadic, but that they came at important crossroads in the history
of the world. They were a constant,
mighty river that directed the flow of the destiny of nations in the right
direction.
For example,
the printing press. This came a just the right time to influence a renaissance
and an industrial age. These things led to the printing of the Bible and the
spreading of God's word. What about the
blessings of more effective travel? Has
this not greatly aided the spreading of the gospel? And what of computers? What mighty leaps and bounds have been made in
temple and family history work because of computers that would otherwise be
impossible?
We must take
the time to reflect on the larger perspective, and continually expand our vision
farther and farther back. As we do so,
we will see God's works unfolding before us, just as Helaman reminded his sons
of three critically important points in their Nephite history.
Perhaps
reflect on three critical moments in your own history and testimony, and see
how God’s plan for you is unfolding in your life. This will certainly help foster a spirit of
thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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