Mosiah 8:1-12
God is just the gift that keeps on giving. My kids had a hard time last night, drama drama drama all the time, mostly with the people taking care of them, they are good kids, they just need their mother, and as always I am over the top anxious for them. But today while I was driving into work, I was listening to the August 2013 Ensign, when the article "Grace for Mother Duck and Me" came on. The synopsis at the beginning says "just like the mother duck, I sometimes come up short. And that's when the Savior steps in." The story is about a woman who, while leaving her house, saw a mother duck walk over a gutter grate while crossing the street and 6 of her ducklings fell through the grate into the gutter. She says "I hopped into the car while muttering self-righteously, 'she doesn't deserve to be a mother.'" A little harsh for judgement on a duck, but she says that while she was gone for the next hour and a half "I made many of my recurring parenting mistakes... when I snapped at one of my kids for teasing another, my words echoed loudly in my ears 'she doesn't deserve to be a mother.' Suddenly I felt overwhelming compassion for that mother duck. She was trying to navigate the world with the instincts she was given, just as I was. But sometimes those instincts simply weren't enough, and it was our children who suffered." This was when I perked up, this is my story, I'm doing my best, but my best is so far short of what my children need and deserve, I am the mother duck! She then comes home and finds that her neighbor had lifted the grate and was rescuing the little ducklings that had been trapped. "The frightened little birds scrambled to find their mother, who was pacing nervously in a nearby bush. She hadn't asked for help, but my neighbor had stepped in when her protection was simply not enough. I was overcome with emotion as I thought of the Savior doing the same for my children and me. Sometimes we come up short, even when we have the best intentions and try our hardest. However, the Savior's 'grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before (Him.)' It comforts me to know that my shortcomings will not ruin my children and that they will be the recipients of love, peace, understanding and grace from our Savior. He 'reaches my reaching' and wants my family and me to succeed. Our shortcomings will not prevail when we humble ourselves and stand with the Lord by our side." This was my message, this was the Lord telling me to relax, that he loves my children more than I do, and that he will make up for what I lack, so basically he will make up all of it. Now as I'm reading this, I can see it as a call to humble myself before God and seek to stand by him and do his will, not ask him to do mine.
Again, very interesting but limited chapter, as far as references go, we'll see what we get but I'm trying to limit the amount that I speculate, because that's not really learning, that's just me making stuff up. I will include a few diagrams here that I've found helpful in understand the movement of the people.
8:1-12 - I find it very interesting that when asked to speak to the people after Limhi, Ammon "rehearsed unto them the last words which King Benjamin had taught them, and explained them to the people of king Limhi, so that they might understand all the words which he spake." When asked to recount the history of his people for the last almost 80 years, he found it to be of the highest importance to teach about covenant that his people had accepted of Christ. It would seem to me that this man Ammon, being probably quite an adventurous and strong man, was very much a spiritual leader as well, because if the teachings of King Benjamin were important enough to him to teach it to other people, then he must have gone home and studied, pondered, and prayed about the messages, as admonished by King Benjamin. It was a lot to remember and he clearly held it to be very important information so there must have been quite a bit of study of the words in his part. Again, Ammon shows himself to be a student of knowledge and history when Limhi brings the records of his people for the last 80 years and Ammon "read the record," and I could imagine that those records were pretty long. But I also realized that I was wrong, here today too. I had previously said that when the expeditionary party went out to find Zarahemla and ask for help, when they found the Jaredite bones, they mistakenly thought that it was Zarahemla and that they had been destroyed. This was a wrong assumption on my part, and I apologize. Verse 8 says that the search party "were lost in the wilderness for the space of many days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla but returned to this land." So when they came back from their journey, they had indeed been to a land of desolation, but they knew that it wasn't Zarahemla, and that it was another civilization entirely. When the search party returned, they brought with them records, weapons, and breastplates to prove where they had been.
Well, unfortunately I'm out of time and will have to continue on with the rest of the chapter tomorrow. Tomorrow's reading is going to include Ammon's teachings of how a seer is greater than a prophet, and I'm kind of excited because I don't know the difference between prophet, seer, and revelator. So I'm going to do some research and come back with what I've found.
Again, very interesting but limited chapter, as far as references go, we'll see what we get but I'm trying to limit the amount that I speculate, because that's not really learning, that's just me making stuff up. I will include a few diagrams here that I've found helpful in understand the movement of the people.
8:1-12 - I find it very interesting that when asked to speak to the people after Limhi, Ammon "rehearsed unto them the last words which King Benjamin had taught them, and explained them to the people of king Limhi, so that they might understand all the words which he spake." When asked to recount the history of his people for the last almost 80 years, he found it to be of the highest importance to teach about covenant that his people had accepted of Christ. It would seem to me that this man Ammon, being probably quite an adventurous and strong man, was very much a spiritual leader as well, because if the teachings of King Benjamin were important enough to him to teach it to other people, then he must have gone home and studied, pondered, and prayed about the messages, as admonished by King Benjamin. It was a lot to remember and he clearly held it to be very important information so there must have been quite a bit of study of the words in his part. Again, Ammon shows himself to be a student of knowledge and history when Limhi brings the records of his people for the last 80 years and Ammon "read the record," and I could imagine that those records were pretty long. But I also realized that I was wrong, here today too. I had previously said that when the expeditionary party went out to find Zarahemla and ask for help, when they found the Jaredite bones, they mistakenly thought that it was Zarahemla and that they had been destroyed. This was a wrong assumption on my part, and I apologize. Verse 8 says that the search party "were lost in the wilderness for the space of many days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla but returned to this land." So when they came back from their journey, they had indeed been to a land of desolation, but they knew that it wasn't Zarahemla, and that it was another civilization entirely. When the search party returned, they brought with them records, weapons, and breastplates to prove where they had been.
Well, unfortunately I'm out of time and will have to continue on with the rest of the chapter tomorrow. Tomorrow's reading is going to include Ammon's teachings of how a seer is greater than a prophet, and I'm kind of excited because I don't know the difference between prophet, seer, and revelator. So I'm going to do some research and come back with what I've found.
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