Family is a place where we learn to work and find joy. |
It’s about joy: where to find it, how recognize and then
cultivate it. It’s about a father’s love. And as such it is written with the
power and feeling that only a father’s perspective words to his son could
offer.
As I read and reread this second chapter of Second Nephi, I began
to realize how difficult it was to comprehend. I did a google search and discovered my perplexity had company. Lehi’s use of syntax and seemingly disconnection of ideas lead me
to sift through the truths that stand out and use them as best as I could. It was only when I stepped back and saw
Lehi’s message as a, “a dying father’s letter of inheritance to his young
impressionable son” that I began to understand a deeper purpose and the greater
whole of Lehi’s message.
This father's blessing is a deep and abiding plea for his son to
not only understand the joy that he carries within him but to appreciate and
cultivate it. And because Joy is unmistakably connected to and associated with
the correctness of law, Lehi chooses to leave his son with a discourse on the
power of our Savior’s love and the role it plays in our finding and accepting
something greater than "the will of the flesh", something greater than happiness – joy.
When I think about joy it is always connected with me doing
something right, or overcoming a challenge, or learning a new task. It's been a long time but I still remember when I mastered tying my shoes, or caught my first fish - without help. Joy is
undeniably connected to our experience of overcoming self. Happiness comes from
many things: smiles, good food, comfort, gifts, friendships etc, but Joy… comes
from a heart that has learned to understand the laws of heaven that govern
self.
As a parent I want nothing more than for my child to have
all of his needs met. The marrow of my existence works to secure my children’s
safety, happiness, and longevity of life. I want to pass on lessons that will
help my child’s life be better than my own. In my efforts to protect and provide for my child I sometimes fail to understand that while man is able to pass on temporal knowledge that improves the
quality of life and brings a greater sense of happiness,(fire, wheel, computer
etc) joy can only be found from choosing to live correct principals that lead us along a path of spiritual and
emotional growth. Joy cannot be passed on, it must be both earned (by
overcoming the law) and received (by acceptance of the Savior’s mercy and
grace).
My own mortality makes me sorrowful for what I cannot give
my children. Like Lehi I might from time to time look back on my children and
say, “thou hast suffered afflictions” that I could not protect you from. I
might feel sorrowful for not being able to always give you the basic needs in
life, for not always protecting you from affliction, sorrow, or "rudeness of they brethren"(v 1) or whatever it was I could not see or
understand. But when I reach above
my mortal state and recognize the power God’s love has given to each of us, I
am able to stand back like Lehi and say, “thou knowest the Greatness of God and
he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.” (v.2)
Each one of our children has
helped us along our journey of discovering truth. Recently while visiting my
eldest daughter I was impressed with the amount of peace and security that was
present in her home. Upon asking her about it she showed me how she had adapted
Lehi’s principles of self independence in her young children. Through using a token system that uses a child's need and want to help create an environment of self motivation, she had taught
them the value of work. I was impressed at how they were caring, kind, loving and selfless towards one another. Work instills confidence, dependability, obedience, responsibility, thriftiness, courtesy, independence, kindness, and bonding.
In today's world where children are whist away from us at an early age, where commercialism is instilled in them through many kinds of media, where selfish gain is taught over selflessness, it is easy for a parent to want to give their children what the world offers. It is easy to fall into the trap that we must do for a child with the child's only requirement that they give us the pleasure of their smile. The problem is that smiles come from happy children and children are happy because of how they feel about themselves and who they are becoming, not because of what they have been given.
Gifts have a place. They are for celebrations, for times when we cannot provide for ourselves, but they should never replace the child's ability to provide and do for himself what his maturity allows him to do. It is the parents responsibility to give the child the gift of self-reliance and self- actualization. For this is the greatest gift of all. And it is where true and lasting joy not only comes from, but grows and flourishes not just for this life, but for all of eternity.
When you read the entire chapter with the perspective that
Lehi is trying to impart the lesson of
Joy on his son Jacob you might realize:
Vs1 –Joy through Sorrow - Lehi is remiss for what he
could not protect his child from – affliction, sorrow, rudeness of his brethren
but this remembrance brings him to the realization from where Joy comes.
Vs. 2. Affirmation-
Joy comes to those who “know the greatness of God.”
Afflictions work with the law to help us overcome ourselves
and find Joy.
3 – Joy through
Redemption- Service brings
joy. Joy comes when we realize that we are not alone but have the
“righteousness of thy Redeemer”
4- Joy through
Remembrance – Remember the Joy when you “beheld in thy youth his
glory”. Inspiration, revelation,
understanding bring joy through learning how to receive the spirit that
prepares our way and brings us
salvation.
5- Joy through the Law-
In order for a law to have impact it must be taught. The law brings us the
possibility of Joy by giving us opportunity to use it to help us find joy.
However. The law will is exact. It will cut off. It will not justify. There
cannot be joy by the law alone.
6-10 Joy through the
Messiah – We find joy when we do all we follow the truth of the law and
receive the gift of grace from the Lord, Jesus Christ.
11-15Joy through
Opposition- Joy comes through righteousness. Righteousness comes through
having the opportunity to choose and seeking the “wisdom of God and his eternal
purpose”
16- Joy through self actualization - we must learn to act for ourselves
through choice that comes through oppostion
17-24 Joy through
Repentance - Adam fell that
man might have family and given probation. That we might make choice and repent
25- Joy - Adam
feel that men might be and men are that they might have joy
26-27 Joy through
knowledge – Joy through knowing good from evil – Joy through using that
knowledge to act for yourself – Joy through using that knowledge to overcome
the punishment of the law – Joy through the freedom to choose - Joy through overcoming the “power of
the devil.”
29-30 Joy through the
“welfare of your soul” - Joy
is found when we understand the concept of the game of life that the power has
been given to us to control our own lives.
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