I absolutely love my calling in the
church right now. I get to teach sunbeams. Not only do I teach the cutest and
most reverent children in all of Jr. primary (with the exception of my handsome
Turner a few classes back), but I also get to teach with one of the greatest
women in all the world. I have to admit, I use to think that I knew a thing or
two about children, until I taught with my dear co-teacher. Not only does
Sister Hansen (or Sister Handsome, as Max calls her) know a lot about teaching
the little ones, her actions match her knowledge—something I am constantly
trying to do.
Sunday Max was lucky enough to get
to say the scripture in opening exercises. The scripture is 1Nephi 3:7. He did
a great job, even if the whole primary was talking at the same time. I enjoyed
practicing it with him this week. I love Nephi and his stories! We are also
learning the Song Nephi’s courage. I love the song Nephi’s courage. For those
of you whom may not be familiar with it, it is a song that recounts a few
events in the ancient prophet, Nephi’s life. The chorus is the paraphrased aforementioned
scripture 1Nephi 3:7 “. . . I will go and do the things which the Lord hath
commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of
men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing
which he commandeth them.” The chorus words actually are: “I will go, I will do
the things the Lord command. I know the Lord provides a way, he wants me to
obey.”
Just writing the words warms my
heart!! The story of Nephi is so inspirational. Nephi was commanded to do many
things, one of them being building a boat! This account is found in 1Nephi
chapter 17. So I can only imagine how this happened—Nephi has a strong
impression/inspiration/spiritual prompting to go pray in the Mountains. As he
is praying he gets the impression he needs to build a boat. This is in a day
and age where he can’t just google “How to build a boat.” He wasn’t a boat
maker—he had NO IDEA what he was doing. He received the commandment to build a
boat, and what was the first thing he asked God? Not: “me?” Not: “You want me
to cross this ocean? In a boat I built?” He asked where he should
go to get the metal to make the tools he would need.
Nephi gives us a clue as to why he
felt like he could do this. In an earlier verse in the same chapter, he states:
“And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so
be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them,
and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing
which he has commanded them. . .” He testified that God will nourish us,
strengthen us, and provide the means whereby we can accomplish the
thing which God has commanded us.
That is the best part—this isn’t
about the 10 commandment, it isn’t about living the Law of Moses or the beatitudes,
these were individual commandments that God had for Nephi and his family. The
Lord has individual plans for us. The things that we are called to do on this
earth are individual commandments for us! We are not all commanded to build a
ship or take our family into the wilderness. Yet, just like Nephi, we all have
individual commandments. What are yours? What has the Lord put you on this
earth to accomplish?
There are several commandments that
I feel the Lord has given me. I need to pray for Nephi’s courage. I logically
know that God will sustain me the same way he sustained Nephi. Do you think
that Nephi was worried when he pushed that boat out on the sea? Or do you think
he had all the confidence that he followed God’s command with exactness? Do you
think he ever wondered why he was building a boat when they were living in a
beautiful land with a lot of fruit and honey?
How is it that people come across their
life mission? I read biographies or short bios of very successful people. Some of
them have known since they were a youth what they wanted to do with their life.
As a youth, when people asked me what I was into—the answers were always the
same “1.Children, 2. Photography, 3. Sign language.” Does that mean that these
are my life mission? Although I know that being a mother is part of my personal
commandments, I feel that every mother also has their own personal mark to make
upon this earth. I hate to say that we have more to offer, because that sounds
like mothering isn’t enough. Mothering is the greatest thing we can do, but I
feel like we all have something else (even something less) to offer this world.
What have you done to discover your
life mission? How do you go forward in faith with that plan?
Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI like how you say, I think we all have something else, even something less, to offer the world. I have a fantastic quote to share with you someday about the greatness of bringing babies into this world. Lately I have really been feeling the sacrifice of having children. And how over all it is frowned upon especially when you space your children tight. And I am trying to convince myself that changing diapers and feeding them and hopefully both spiritually as well as obviously physically, is a sacrifice worth making. I hope that by putting the most important first, that the Lord will grace me into finding the lesser contributions I have to make. I get intimidated all the time on that front. Thats for sure! That 1 Nephi 3:7 is really a beautiful thing and thanks for the insights about how Nephi might have felt, especially if he were one of us, the doubtful, the second guessing, etc. I really need to write down my guidance, stand by it, and for starters...remember what it was! Maybe not get overwhelmed so easily? Yelp.