Bread of Life and the Living Water

I’ve given a little bit more thought to the concept of the “bread of life” and “living water,” meaning that I’m working to fully understand and incorporate the idea that living spiritually is more important than any physical consequences, be it humiliation, hunger, fatigue, or death. It just so happened that the Ensign that I’ve been listening to in the car is the July 2010 issue and since it’s July there’s a lot of focus on pioneers, and in the Latter-day Saint Voices section a man talked about his experience deciding whether or not to attend the service project to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the pioneers entering the Salt Lake valley. On the same day as the service project, he had a college class to attend and didn’t think that he would be able to make the service project. He says “I felt that everybody would understand, but then I came across a pamphlet titled Faith in Every Footstep. When I read excerpts about the travails of the Saints on their trek to the western United States, I was moved to tears. Some Saints left their comfortable homes to go to a desert, unsure of what they would find. Others forged ahead even after every other member of their family had died along the way. In the midst of sickness, pain, hunger, and poverty, they had faith that if they migrated to the West, they would be free from oppression. I felt bad that the early Saints had to make great sacrifices, even their own lives in some cases, to see that the Church continued moving forward. Because of their sacrifice and faith, I now enjoy the blessings of the gospel.” I imagine myself living a decent life, settled, probably stable as far as food and shelter go, and I would probably leave and come west, but I don’t usually equate the death and suffering that people endured crossing the plains, and I have pioneer heritage, like a lot of it. There’s a story about a Sunday school class that was discussing the crossing of the plains by the Martin handcart company and they were criticizing the leadership for allowing it to leave so late in the season, and “one old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it, then he arose and said things that no person who her him will ever forget… He said in substance “I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the handcart company out so late in the season? Yes! But I was in that company and my wife was in it… We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities! I have pulled by handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up for I cannot pull the load through it. I have gone to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me! I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the Angels of God were there. Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No! Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company.” The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay. How amazing is that, from a man who suffered, a people who suffered. Something we talked about yesterday seems to work in here, the teaching that, at the day of judgment, everyone will understand, know and agree with the Lord’s ruling, to me this implies that there will be a period of time after this life, when all the experiences we’ve had, all the suffering, all the heartache will be understood and rectified. I know that that is part of the Atonement, reconciliation for both the victim and perpetrator. When we look at the law of tithing, the protection that comes to the righteous, the promptings of the Holy Ghost, the “coincidences” that are sewed for us, the things that just seem to work out, the power of God is immense, and endless. He works miracles for us, and by definition, a miracle is something wonderful that we can’t explain, we see it so often, there are so many miracles that saturate our lives, we must believe that God is capable of the most amazing things that we can’t explain. When we look at how he loves us and treats us so kindly in this life when we are not always very obedient, we must know that somehow in some way in some time, all the physical and emotional pain and suffering that we experience in this life will be compensated for. John tells us in Revelation 21:4 “and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there by any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” That is so beautiful, so comforting, and gives so much hope. So if all the terrible things from this life will be done away, and we will have immortal resurrected bodies, what then of our spirits? Is our spirituality not so vitally important that we must protect it through obedience to the commandments no matter what? If we starve to death, freeze to death, then our suffering is short, a few days or weeks at most, but we have eternity to lament our spiritual destruction. Our bodies will be redeemed to perfection as a free gift from God, but our spirits will only be redeemed to the point that we choose to participate in God’s plan of happiness. The suffering that people in this world have experienced is immense, and Jesus descended below it all. If anyone had a reason to get up and walk away, it was Him. But he didn’t, he stayed, he finished his course, and lost his own life in the process, even though he alone was the only man not worthy of death. He did this so that we might also lose our lives in this service and that he will restore to us our lives, hearts, soul and body in perfection and joy.