Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon King Benjamin admonished his sons to search the scriptures diligently and keep the commandments. If they would do these things, they would prosper in the land. Mosiah 1:6-7 "O my sons, I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true. And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can know of their surety because we have them before our eyes. And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to search them diligently, that ye may profit thereby; and I would that ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may prosper in the land according to the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers."


In the New Testament I read about the terriby calamities that would befall men when the day of the wrath of God would come--earthquakes, stars falling from the heavens, and men wishing the mountains would fall on them to hide them from the face of God. Revelation 6:12-17 "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"

Some verses with a thought booklet tell us how precious little children are in the sight of God and how if we place a stumbling block before one of these little ones, it would be better for us to have a great millstone fastened around our neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea. The thought that went with this, written by Wilma Musser from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, illistrates this point very well, as she describes something she vividly remembers from her own childhood, which must have happened 70 or 80 years ago. Here's what she said: Many years ago I was playing next door with a neighbor girl when a woman came to visit the girl's mother. I do not know if we were making a nuisance of ourselves, or if she just wanted privacy, but she wanted us to play outdoors. I remember that the woman suggested that we make a clover chain to go all the way around the house. She even promised us a quarter a piece if we completed the task. Back in those Great Depression days so long ago, a quarter was a fortune to a young child. Hour after hour in the hot sun we tied clover stems together and dreamed aloud of spending our quarters. I shall never forget the let-down feeling I had when she said before she left that she had no quarters or even pennies for us. This was the first time I remember being etrayed by an adult. Could I ever trust a grownup again? I determined that day that I would never make a promise I could not keep. Much later I decided that I would never knowingly do anything to destroy a young child's faith. Matthew 18:1-6 "At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."