1 And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?
3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.
Dad: How does this apply to our family?
It is obvious that this is a missionary scripture, but the real meaning for our family comes when you ponder the word "instrument".
ReplyDeleteOk- I've had lots of thoughts about this- so this might be kind of all over the place, but here goes:
ReplyDelete1) Verse 2: Can't you just hear Mom and Dad saying that to us? The key to being happy and getting through trials is to stop and recognize all the blessings we are getting along the way.
2) Verse 3: The phrase "We have been made instruments in the hands of God"
He MADE us- and we have a purpose. It's humbling to think that God took the time to make each of us different and unique- and that our purpose is to help each other and other people.
3) Verse 3: "The marvelous light of God" - Light doesn't have a shadow- stop and think about that for a minute. If we are letting God use us as an instrument, then we help create Light that dispels darkness. Even one match can be seen from far away and dispels the thickest darkness. A little goes a long way and makes a big difference.
4) Watch this new Mormon message if you haven't seen it already: https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/reflections
We watched it in seminary this week. It talks about how we get too caught up in ourselves and that can cause us to lose everything we care about. Service is what saves us.
Here are a couple of scriptures I heard or found during church today that also go good with this week's scripture:
ReplyDeleteD&C 123:13
13 Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven--
D&C 59:21
21 And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments
Verse 2 causes me not only to reflect upon my beginnings, but to think also of the beginnings of Dad and Mom the day they chose to be sealed together. Then my thoughts turn to each of you and I remember your "first moments" to be married, to become parents, and so much more. Marriage is two imperfect people who won't give up on each other. But when you add more little ones to a marriage, it magnifies the source of our eternal happiness family. All that I hold dear in life has required great sacrifice for the blessings that I want to share with my family. Recently I had been trying to organize our family pictures over the past year. As I was doing so, the joy of those memories rolled down my cheeks as I too recalled the goodness our family has been blessed with.
ReplyDeleteI liked Jen's comment about light. As the world drifts farther and father from the role of the family as God intended, we will become and even greater light to those around us. The family is of God.
My thoughts have been similar to that of dad. The prophets use there words with exactness. As I pondered I the word of instrument, I thought why not use the word tool or some other word. I looked deeper. Instrument Defined -mechanical tool or implement, especially one used for delicate or precision work: surgical instruments, musical... So in that light I look at what makes me, me. We are foreordained to do a work, we are given families to prepare us, to continue to shape us for our work. We have trials and hardships and temptations but we also have the inverse: the joys, blessings and gifts. They are all for a purpose to make us His instrument to do His work.
ReplyDeleteSometimes we are crafted to be one instrument at one point then remade to be another for a new purpose. Refined, changed for the task at had.
So I ask my self am I fighting to become His instrument or fighting to prevent the changes to be what I need to become. I'm not sure if that made sense or was even what we were supposed to focus on from that scripture, but that's what I got out of it.
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DeleteWill- you always amaze me with what a deep thinker you are. Wish you could come teach my seminary class...
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ReplyDeletePookie's Comments:
ReplyDeleteWe can all be instruments in our own hands. I love this scripture so much because we are called to be instruments for God !
So no Lissa and mom and dad did a joint response.
ReplyDeleteI'll check in with Melissa and Mom. See what I can find out.
DeleteI will be working on posting Will's scripture.
I love this scripture very much and I hope that we can be like the savior in our life's .
ReplyDeleteMariah sparrow