We cannot expect to lift others unless we stand on higher ground ourselves.
— Gordon B. Hinckley
Recently, I’ve been reading my Book of Mormon in German so that I can keep up on my German for my upcoming teaching job.
As I was reading it this afternoon, somehow the wording of the language helped me to see Lehi’s dream of the tree of life a little differently. Lehi first describes himself as walking up to the tree of life and eating the fruit. Next, he notices his family (with the exception of Laman and Lemuel) and he describes them as not knowing where they should go. After having experienced the joy felt from partaking worthily of the fruit, he sees them and beckons to them to come and partake also. He guides them to the iron rod and helps them to get to the tree of life.
For some reason this really hit me today because it’s so analogous to our lives. We’re all on our own journeys through life, yet we sometimes aren’t sure of the way. Fortunately, we are blessed with family, friends, and religious leaders who can sometimes see more clearly than we do.
Similarly, we also can provide that guidance for others as well. Once you’ve tasted of the fruit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you want to help others to feel that same joy as well.
It just reminded me of how we need to guide and support others through life, just as we need to be humble enough to accept that same assistance in return.
1 comment:
It is nice to know that others can help us during difficult times. It can sometimes be difficult to know who should follow whom. How do you know when you are seeing more clearly than others and when others are seeing more clearly than you?
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