Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read that even though Zions might claim that the Lord has forgotten her and forsaken her, He has not.  A woman might forget the child that she has born, but the Lord will never forget the House of Israel. The Lord will lift up His hand to the Gentiles and set up His standard to the people.  Kings will by their nursing fathers and will lick up the dust from their feet.  All shall know that the Lord is God and those who wait for Him will not be ashamed.  1 Nephi 21:14-23 "But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not. For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.  Thy children shall make haste against thy destroyers; and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about and behold; all these gather themselves together, and they shall come to thee. And as I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on even as a bride. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants; and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.  The children whom thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the first, shall again in thine ears say: The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell.  Then shalt thou say in thine heart: Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where have they been? Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.  And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face towards the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me."

In the Old Testament we read that Moses requested of the king of Edom that his people be allowed to pass through their land peacefully, but he refused.  Numbers 20:14-21 "And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:  How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers:  And when we cried unto the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border:  Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king's high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders.  And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.  And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet. And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.  Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him."

A verse with a thought booklet tells us that in the presence of the Lord we and our families should eat and rejoice in everything we have because the Lord has blessed us. The story is told of a boy who was born on the 4th of July who thought that that the fireworks each year were celebrating his birthday. It was only when he got only did he realize that the fireworks were not meant specifically for him.  But that didn't change his love of the fireworks.  It may be true that the beautiful mountains and lakes and birds and autumn leaves and flowers weren't put there specifically for us, but maybe they were.  Maybe the bird with the beautiful song who nests in the tree in our backyard is a blessing directly from God to us. He created all the wonders of the world to bless us and for our enjoyment.  Maybe they're also there for everybody else, but they're there for us specifically too.  Deuteronomy 12:7 "And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee."