Jacob 5

The allegory of the olive trees always seems so long and involved to me when I read it. Sometimes I read it and get a lot of insight from it. Other times I struggle with it. This is one of the times that I was struggling to pull meaning from it.

But what I did get is that sometimes you can plant a seed in the best soil and nurture it carefully and have all the best expectations, and it still brings forth bad fruit. Other times a plant grown in bad soil with little care can unexpectedly flourish. So it's important not to get set in your expectations of others just because of where they came from or what their past history may be.

Also, with enough care and nourishment, sometimes a plant that brings forth abd fruit can be turned around and eventually have good fruit again. Reason enough to have hope and keep working toward that end.

Jacob 4

How appropriate to read this verse as we are approaching Christmas and our celebration of the birth of Christ:

4 For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us.

Hundreds of years before His birth, people were anxiously awaiting His coming. They knew of Him and gloried in Him, even before He came to Earth. How much more should we glory in His life and His love because we know of His words and His works.

not today

I'm having kind of a rotten day and I'm not in a mood (or rather, I AM in a mood - a bad one!).

I know that this is when you should force yourself to do things like your scripture reading and get past the bad mood... but I'm just not able to do it today.

Jacob 3

1 But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction.

Okay, so no one is seeking my destruction. And my afflictions are pretty small at the moment. But still, I am worrying over the furnace, and hoping my pipes won't freeze, and concerned that they might declare a snow day for Haley while I am tied up in meetings all day and will not be able to easily get home to her. So none of it huge, but it adds up. This verse spoke to me and reminded me that I should PRAY about it. The only way to get the help I need is to ask. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go do that now...

Jacob 2

It's so easy to spend my time focused on our finances. Things are so tight right now that sometiems it feels like that's all I can think about/obsess over/dwell on. Verses 18 and 19 remind me that my focus should be elsewhere:

18 But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.

19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.

Jacob 1

When Nephi died, the Nephites loved him so much that they decreed that their leaders afterwards would still be called Nephi. And yet, it only took them until the reign of their second king after Nephi to start hardening their hearts and being wicked.

Even with the best of intentions, it's easy to get off track. Little mistakes lead to bigger and bigger sins if you're not careful to repent and get back onto the straight and narrow path.

2 Nephi, chapter 33

A lovely farewell as Nephi ends his writing and a testimony of the truth of his words.

11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness.

Almost a challenge, really, that if you don't believe in his words, then just wait until we're standing at the judgment bar and then we'll see. Personally, I'm not inclined to take him up on his challenge. I will have faith and believe the things I read. I believe that Nephi received this words and revelations from God and that we can trust the words of Christ as given to us through Nephi.