The Life That Is Waiting For Us

"We must get rid of the life we had planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." --Joseph Campbell.

In an interesting duality, I've been reading in the end of Mosiah lately for my personal scripture study, and telling my kids parts of the story of Ammon's mission to the Lamanites for our family scripture study. My perspective has deepened as I read of Ammon's courage, strength, commitment, and dedication, and then go back after the kids are in bed and read of how it all began.

The sons of Mosiah would have grown up with a certain set of expectations, both for their behavior and their role in life. Ammon's defense of King Lamoni's flock reminded me that he was a prince, trained to the role. Given the ongoing conflict between the Lamanites and Nephites, he was probably well-versed in every art of war, hence, his ability to fell multiple rogue Lamanites with his slingshot, and then turn around and do such a fancy arm-chopping dance that his fellow servants had to work together to load up the leftover body parts and carry them back to Lamoni. Ammon was all that, he was da' man and then some.

Reading back in Mosiah reminded me that those expectations were probably first and foremost his daddy's. Mosiah was a good king. Every evidence in the scriptures points out what a thoroughly good, honest, upright man he was, and what an extraordinary king he was. Under his rule many disparate groups of Nephites, Mulekites, and other -ites were all combined into one, united kingdom. They enjoyed an unparalleled period of peace. The church grew and flourished.

King Mosiah undoubtedly had many expectations for his sons. As they grew "to themselves" they kinda shot that to heck. To his chagrin and disappointment, they took up with Alma the Younger and not only rejected the faith of their fathers; they began actively working to destroy it in others. We don't know exactly how long they spent on this downward path, but when the angel showed up to point out the error of their ways, he tells them that his appearance is due in large part to the many prayers of their fathers and others, so we can assume King Mosiah and Alma the Elder had more than a few sleepless nights watching their sons self-destruct.

And miracle of miracles, those prayers were answered. I think only a parent can understand the relief and joy and rejoicing that must have come to hear their sons renounce sin, publicly turn away from wrongdoing, embrace truth, and fervently testify of the redemptive power in Christ Jesus.

Disappointment must have been replaced with hope for a bright future as these much-loved sons returned to the path of faith. The good wishes of a loving father for his children must have seemed possible again--loving family life, peaceful citizenship & fulfillment of civic duty, a continuation of the monarchy and the family line--these are good things to hope for your children.

What did Mosiah think when his sons proposed this harebrained scheme to go preach the word to the Lamanites? Given the recent history between the people, the events just in Mosiah's lifetime, this wasn't just a dumb idea, it was asinine. It was contrary to every speck of good sense. It was futile and pointless. And if someone had to do it, it certainly didn't need to be all four princes of the Nephite nation. We know Mosiah was a hard sell on this because the scriptures record that his sons pled with him for many days, and it was only when he received his own answer directly from the Lord, that he finally agreed.

There were so many ripples from that choice. We know that thousands of Lamanites ultimately ended up being converted, relationships between the Lamanites and Nephites were changed, and the course of thousands upon thousands of individual lives and families were changed in eternal ways because of those royal missionaries.

Mosiah didn't know any of that--in fact, he didn't even live to see any of it. He was left without any sons to confer his kingdom on. As he sought guidance from the Lord, he was inspired to move to a democratic system of government and establish ruling judges--a decision that had far-reaching consequences throughout the rest of Nephite history.

When each person involved made his own personal choices, no one knew the final outcomes. Alma the Elder and Mosiah had faith, even when it seemed ludicrous, that their sons would repent. Ammon, Aaron, Omni, and Himner knew that the Lord had work for them to do, even when everyone in the kingdom would have tried to talk them out of it. Alma the Younger knew that his place was to stay in Zarahemla (and good thing, since somebody had to be the high priest and chief judge). Still, it must have been hard sometimes, to watch the carefully planned lives they expected fall away from them as they accepted the Divinely Planned lives in store for them.

It's hard when we or those we love suffer disappointments and unrealized expectations because of our own poor choices or the misuse of agency by others. During their rebellious period, Mosiah's boys and Alma's son surely brought suffering to their parents and many others. Mosiah must have wondered if he'd ever see his sons fulfill God's purposes.

It's also hard when God's purposes are far different from the life we envisioned. When his sons proposed their plan to head over to the Lamanites, Mosiah must have felt like he was going from the frying pan to the fire (not that the Nephites had frying pans, but just go with it...). The scriptures show us, over and over, that a life of faith is at least one part crazy. Living God's plan for our lives sometimes raises eyebrows, earns disapproving looks, and in some cases, can be downright dangerous.

But if there's one lesson we learn in the scriptures, over and over and over again, in a beautiful common thread, it's that all things work together for good to them that love Him. We see in the scriptures, in a broader, bigger way than we generally see in our own up-close, fuzzy lives, that His grand & glorious purposes are fulfilled by regular, flawed, slightly crazy people just like us.

I love that. I love the reminder to back off and quit judging other people when they don't fit my narrow, preconceived ideas of "right" choices they should be making; when, for all I know, they are carrying out a sublime, divinely appointed plan with farther reaching consequences than I know. I love the assurance that Christ can make even my mistakes and my sins into good ground for growing, for me and for those others affected. I love that He can take the bends and turns in my path--the ones I chose and the ones I didn't want--and turn it all into something perfect and good.

I love the reminder to give up the life and the heart I planned, and turn them over to God for something far, far better. If a prince can give up a kingdom to be a servant in his enemy's court, I can swallow the harsh words and pray with greater humility and daily seek to be a little better disciple than I was the day before.

If discipleship is my ultimate goal, in the end the life God has waiting for me is exactly the life I want most to have.

Getting Something Right

Yesterday in Primary Sharing Time the children were doing pantomimes of various activities mothers do with children. Someone acted out what was supposed to be a mommy reading a bedtime story, only none of the kids could figure it out.

The Primary President tried to help. "What is something your mommy does with you every night before bedtime....?"

Grace jumped out of her chair. "Read scriptures with us!"

Oh yeah. I'm basking.

Tip No. 8943

While walking in the park yesterday we found another fun way to review memorized scriptures:

Tag Team 'em!

Each person shouts out a word at a time, and you go around until you've recited the entire verse. I couldn't believe how well the kids could keep track. It ends up sounding like this:

"Therefore! Dearly! Beloved! BRETHREN! Letus! Cheerfully! DO ALL THINGS! {"Only one word, Mia." "That was one word." "No, that was three words." "It sounded like one to me."} That! Lie! In! Our! Power! Then! May! We! Stand! Still! With! The! Utmost! {Is utmost one word or two? Um, one.} Assurance! To! See! The! Salvation! Of God! And! For! His! Arm! To! Be! Revealed! Doctrine! And! Covenants! 123! 17!

Go team!

Tip No. 4653

When trying to help small children memorize scriptures, practice time is much more fun if you do it in silly voices. I'm not sure if this is respectful to the scriptures being memorized, but hey--whatever gets those words woven into their minds and hearts.

And let's face it--listening to Joshua 1:9 recited in whispery, scary, sing-songy, screechy, witchy, babyish, and kitty-ish voices is a pretty fun way to spend bedtime