3 Nephi 13:33-34

13:33-34 – It might seem like these two verses aren’t worth their own blog post, and initially, I thought that, but the more I thought about it and the more that I read about it, the more I thought it worth our attention. It was interesting because listening to the Ensign the whole focus was on treasures in heaven and putting the kingdom of God first. Jesus continues his lesson to the twelve disciples, they will be taken care of in their temporal needs, when they “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought foe the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.” The theme of the last several verses is that we are to trust God, and really it’s about putting off the natural man, and allowing Christ to change our hearts. I read about seeking treasures in heaven on Friday, and it just so happened that our stake conference was this last weekend and Elder Russell M. Nelson presided and as I listened to him I thought about who he was and what his example was. He’s a cardiovascular surgeon, was quite prominent among his professional peers, his list of accomplishments is pretty extensive, so by all measures he could have been well off. He could have lived in a big house, taught at an Ivy League school, driven fancy cars, even had his own tv show, as is standard today. But instead, I don’t know how big the house he lived in was, I don’t know what kind of car he drove, but he did have 10 children, and was devoted to them and his wife. He told of the experiences that they had together as a family, and I remember thinking, “he probably didn’t have tons of money because he was so busy doing service work and spending time with his family. I found a quote, even though I can’t cite it, that says, “Throughout Dr. Nelson’s distinguished medical career, he served faithfully in all of his Church assignments. He served in Sunday School, priests quorums, bishoprics, and high councils. From 1964 he served as President of the Bonneville, Utah Stake. In 1971 he served as General President of Sunday School, and in 1979 he was called as Regional Representative to the Kearns Utah region. Prior to that call, he served as Regional Representative to Brigham Young University. In April 1984, Dr. Russell M. Nelson was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In humility he stated, ‘I have a deep and abiding faith in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ. The work I’m now engaged in is the most important cause in the world. It is all encompassing, it’s fulfilling and it’s challenging. I must do my best, because I have an accountability for this stewardship.” How interesting that of all the positions that he’s held in his life, his service to the Lord is the one for which he feels accountable, not his positions as educator, not as his position as life altering surgeon, but in his service to God. When I considered that had he only had a few children, he would have had lots more money to spend on nice things and lots more time to make more money. I considered the quote from last week that said that perhaps, the treasure in heaven is family, and surely that is the case here for Elder Nelson, his children were his treasure. In the August 2014 Ensign Article entitled “We Know Where He Is,” is tells of a boy names Ezequiel, who “grew in spirit and in faith. His mother was his most prized treasure. He always had a special compliment for her. One day he told his mother, ‘Mama, I love you more than dinosaur bones!’ We all laughed because looking for dinosaur bones was his favorite activity.” This boy’s treasure was his mother, and it makes me wonder what my treasure is, if I were to lose everything, my job, my house, my car, my food, everything, what would I want most, what would I work to obtain, and to be honest, I’ve thought about this many times, and the truth is, the gospel. I would work as hard as I could to obtain further light and knowledge through the gospel, and my second would be my kids. If I lost everything, those are the two things that I would still desperately want. And the other interesting part to this lesson that I’ve been learning about the last several days is that I’m really struggling knowing what to do with my kids and my job. They’ve really been hurting, the transition back to school has been hard and especially my son’s heart is hurting right now, and so I’ve been going back and forth about what to do, should I quit my job? Should I look for another job? I’m really kind of at a loss as far as what to do, and my answers have been coming, “seek first the kingdom of God,” and “material things are not important, treasure in heaven is,” and most prominently yesterday, “trust God to provide for your needs.” This might come across a little disjointed as I wrestle with putting this all together in the right order, but in my mind, these concepts all flow together. In the article “God’s Harvest,” we learn, “Just as earthly seeds require effort and patience, so do many of the blessings of heaven. We cannot put our religion on a shelf and expect to harvest spiritual blessings. But if we plant and nurture gospel standards in the daily life of our family, there is a high probability that our children will grow up to produce spiritual fruit of great value to them and to future generations. God’s answers to our prayers do not always come immediately- sometimes they do not appear to come at all- but God knows what is best for His children. Assuredly, one day, we will see more clearly; and on that day we will recognize the goodness and generosity of heaven. In the meantime, our goal and great joy is to walk in the footsteps of our Master and Savior and to live good and refined lives so that the promised and precious harvest of God’s priceless blessings can be ours.” When feel like we need something or deserve something, in my case, a different shift or a different job, because that’s how I feel my children would thrive best. So if I pursued that option with all my energy and vigor because that’s what I think is the best solution, I will miss out on the harvest of blessings that will come from abiding my time in the spot where I’m at and doing my best to learn the lessons that God has prepared for me, and there have been many. Despite me kicking and screaming pretty much the whole time, I’ve been rewarded and able to serve and numberless other positive aspects to working this shift that I’ve been blessed with despite my insistence that I don’t want them. In another article entitled “Act Upon This Land As For Years,” the author says, “I suspect most of us had childhood dreams about what our life would be like when we grew up. I also suspect that most of us have, at one point, looked back at our lives and exclaimed, ‘This isn’t what I thought would happen!’” Yes, this is me pretty much every day. He continues, “Two scriptures help us keep our lives in perspective. First: ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” This was definitely an ouch moment for me. It was hearing this that reminded me that my purpose in life wasn’t to fix everything or run a mess, I’ve already shown that I know how to mess everything up just fine by myself. My purpose in life is to learn to listen to Jesus and Heavenly Father and do what they say. It’s exceptionally arrogant for me to assume or believe or even just to act like I need to change things to fit my needs without in depth counsel from the Lord. I was reminded that God has a plan for me and a plan for my children and my family and that he doesn’t need me to decide what that plan is, he doesn’t need me to run around crazy trying to do everything, he needs me to listen and be obedient. That’s how I seek first the kingdom of God right now, by learning to listen and obey and serve. As I continue to do that, to find God’s plan for me and live in compliance with what His will is, I will have peace, joy, comfort, and guidance. But the Lord knows how I will feel and what I will need, because the next scripture is “(God) doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world.” The article continues teaching “These scriptures teach us that everything Heavenly Father does is ultimately for our benefit, even if we cannot understand why. And since God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours, we need to elevate our lives to be more in harmony with His plan for us.” I'm not saying that this article was written just for me, and I'm not saying that it was organized in this fashion just for me, but Jesus knew that the first part would be a kick in the face for me and quickly added in the second part as a comfort and a reassurance that I'm not just expected to endure His will, but that it will be for my eternal benefit. It was a very resounding, "I know what I'm doing, but trust me, I will do what's best for you," and I can believe him as the all knowing, all seeing, all present deity, with unlimited time, energy and resources. In another article entitled “When I Followed the Prophets, I Found…” President Ezra Taft Benson was quoting as teaching, “When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives.” This is the lesson of the day for me, I must learn to put God first in all things, then watch as everything else falls either into or out of place. Again in the article President Henry B. Eyring is quoted as teaching, “We can’t insist on our timetable when the Lord has How own… Sometimes our insistence on acting according to our own timetable can obscure His will for us.” Again, the lesson of the day for us, the longer I fight against God to get what I want the longer I will suffer, the more unhappy I will be. My lesson now is to learn how to put God first and seek the kingdom of heaven before anything else, trust God and build my relationship of faith with Him.