The Sacred Grove



When Colton was about 4 years old we were on our way to church.  I was watching out the window as we passed the flooded farmlands of southern Indiana when suddenly he spoke up from the back seat. 

"Wait a minute! If Jesus said Joseph Smith shouldn't go to any churches why do we have to go?!!"

We had a good laugh and have chuckled about it over the years. 

Eight years later when he was teaching our Family Home Evening lesson about The First Vision, he asked 4-year old Ella.  "What happened when Joseph Smith prayed in the grove?"

Without skipping a beat she smiled and said, "He got runned over!"

We all burst into laughter as she looked at us with confusion, her little eyebrows scrunching up.  "If you pray in the road you will get runned over." 

Colton corrected road to grove and the lesson continued.  We laughed many times as this became a favorite family story.

In both cases they had incomplete understanding.  They needed more details, teaching,  study, life experience and prayer to help them develop their own testimonies of the truth of Joseph Smith's vision.  

Ten years later Alex and Ella had the opportunity to attend an EFY session at Palmyra. They had the blessing of daily scripture study in the Sacred Grove.  Here is what Alex wrote in her journal:

"Joseph had pondered before praying in the Grove.  Part of trust is following promptings we don't understand." 

My kids' testimonies didn't come over night.  And they are still working on it.  So am I. 

Just like Joseph Smith had to prepare and study and learn over time as well.

In JSH 1:13 he says "At length I came to the conclusion..."

At length.  It wasn't overnight. And then it wasn't anywhere close to the complete answer. It was the next action step.  He was inspired to pray.  

In our instant gratification world it can be easy to think "I prayed and asked and the answer didn't come".  

Instead we can be assured that an answer not coming yet or in the way someone else's answer did, doesn't  mean there is something wrong with us or that He isn't there.  It may just be that we aren't yet at the length needed for us to learn and understand.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trust

Image
  As I was riding a bike down the former train route along the Idaho-Montana border, I had hours to quietly reflect and appreciate the lush mountain landscape extending around me as far as I could see.   I was in a prayerful state, open to the promptings of the Spirit.   At one point I came to the edge of a meadow and needed to sit and rest for a bit.   There I found a lovely rustic bench made from a tree right there in the forest.  And it occurred to me how often the things we need are right there in our lives around us. The people, the resources, our talents and gifts. Psalm 34:8 lovingly promises “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him”. He will provide.   And as we learn to recognize that help, we will become more grateful and happy. 
Read more

Pancake Stirrers

Image
 Have you ever found yourself super upset over a rather simple offense? Generally when that happens it is actually due to much more than that incident.   It is likely just that incident that was the last straw, or used up your final bit of patience. Yesterday I had a student come to my room absolutely outraged.   She has a significant trauma history and so has learned to fight at all costs. Her counselors and our staff are working to help her build some new, more effective ways of dealing with frustration and confrontation. In this instance her role in her culinary arts class was to stir the pancake batter.   Only someone else did and her immediate reaction was to want to fight her. She knew that wasn’t appropriate so walked out and came to my room. After she had vented and calmed down, we talked through it.   Humor is a very effective tool for her so after gauging her body language I simply asked, “Are you going to let your whole day be ruined because someone else stirred the pancakes
Read more

Entitlement

Image
  As we stopped to get family donuts this morning, the sign in the restroom caught my eye. “Please be considerate of others and clean up any messes you may have left.” It reminded me of a sharp contrast I observed several years ago.  As a young class visited the restroom, a student balled up their paper towel and attempted to toss it into the trash can from across the room. He missed and went over to pick up the paper. His teacher immediately stopped him and commented, “Oh you don’t need to pick that up, that’s what we have janitors for.” What a missed opportunity. The child had naturally felt responsibility for his own actions and had tried to pick up his mess. Yet instead of helping cement that foundation of personal accountability, the teacher had reinforced entitlement and laziness. This same attitude is increasingly prevalent in society today.   It sounds like “Why should I have to?”, “Someone else will do it” or “It’s not my job”. Elder Dallin H Oaks stated, “The values of the wo
Read more