Some Sabbath Learnings

Who knew that I'd learn something at church today? Of course I am exercising some sarcasm here. Who knew?! In theory, each Sunday should be an opportunity to feast in the teachings of the Gospel and learn a thing or two. Unfortunately that doesn't always happen for me and that is entirely my OWN fault. I'll readily admit that. Sometimes, I'm just not focused and some Sundays the scent of the Devil comes into the building in the form of the McDonalds that's right behind our church building (the harshness of that geographical twist of fate comes into clear and painful focus on Fast Sundays). Those fries, bubbling in their toxic, teasing fat, and their scent are a siren song of temptation and when they hit the building, suddenly a doctrinal discussion becomes an epic battle of good learning versus satisfying my primal urge for a Diet Coke and fries (although, I am pleased to report that I've not touched a fry in more than six months)!

A lack of focus was not the case today. During our Sacrament service, I was reading from the Book of Mormon and read a familiar verse from 1 Nephi 8 - Lehi's vision of the tree of life. It was the 23rd verse - "And it came to pass that there arose a mist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lost their way, that they wandered off and were lost."

I've read this verse countless times and it was the simple word "wandered" that got me. It's another warning. We don't slip from God's path in one fell swoop. Think about it - when one wanders away, it's slow and you hardly realize that you've gotten lost. It struck me that we must be ever vigilant to temptation and the ways of the enemy himself. It's not like we haven't been taught that for years - we have. As I read it today, it was a powerful reminder. One of the Lord's tender mercies, which, ironically, is mentioned in the 8th verse of that same chapter. Good, good stuff.

So it's been a good Sabbath - Sundays are a good day. I have to give props to Justin B, a friend of Courtney's - Bro, forget the personality debacle with the KMart. You have more personality than the folks at Blue Light Special land would ever know what to do with. I nearly lost an organ laughing today because of you and your timing. Bro, you rock!