Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read Mormon's prayer that his brethren would once again come to a knowledge of God and become a delightsome people.   Words of Mormon 1:8 "And my prayer to God is concerning my brethren, that they may once again come to the knowledge of God, yea, the redemption of Christ; that they may once again be a delightsome people."

In the Old Testament we read about a repeated cycle of how the children of Israel would be blessed by the Lord but then they would forget about Him and rebelliously break His commandments.  Then the Lord would allow their enemies to vex them and in the time of their trouble, they would again turn to the Lord and beg for mercy.  The Lord would listen to them and things would start going better for them, only to have them again rebel and become evil.  Then they'd turn to the Lord again and He would again hear them.  Do we sometimes find ourselves getting into a cycle like this?  Do we only turn t the Lord in times of trouble, and then forget about Him when things are going well?  Nehemiah 9:25-31 "And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.  Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations. Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.  But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;  And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God."

A verse with a thought booklet tells us no one should look down on another person because they are young.  But even the young can set an example for believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Indeed, during the many years I taught primary I saw many, many instances in which the children taught me more than I taught them. We need to remember that children can serve as messengers from God, and we need to be open to every opportunity to learn from them.   1 Timothy 4:12 "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."