I am reading a chapter a day in the Book of Mormon while focusing on the New Testament this year. I am now at Alma 32 and 33, and between those verses and some inspired counsel from apostles and prophets compiled in the Institute manual, I had some sweet random thoughts the past couple days, including,
Alma 32:23 "And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned."
Elder Neal A. Maxwell commented on this in the April 1996 General Conference,
“Children often have the ‘thoughts and [the] intents of [their] hearts’ focused on the Master. Though not full of years, such children are full of faith! Too young for formal Church callings, they have been ‘called to serve’ as exemplifiers, doing especially well when blessed with ‘goodly parents’ (1 Ne. 1:1).
“Just as the scriptures assure, ‘little children do have words given unto them many times’ (Alma 32:23). For example, the resurrected Jesus revealed things to the Nephite children, who then taught adults and their parents ‘even greater’ things than Jesus had taught. (3 Ne. 26:14)."
As I talk to, play with, and simply hold my grandchildren I feel their faith and their good spirits. There is indeed much we can learn of Christ through them. My heart is full just thinking about it.
Too soon, they will grow up and be subjected to the "firehose" of the world's experiences, for both good and ill. One of the things they will be told again and again is that "seeing is believing", that tangible proof is essential to accept any truth. I find it helpful to consider the words of Elder Boyd K. Packer in this regard,
“In a world filled with skepticism and doubt, the expression ‘seeing is believing’ promotes the attitude, 'You show me, and I will believe.’ We want all of the proof and all of the evidence first. It seems hard to take things on faith.
“When will we learn that in spiritual things it works the other way about—that believing is seeing? Spiritual belief precedes spiritual knowledge. When we believe in things that are not seen but are nevertheless true, then we have faith”
In another quote, Elder Packer goes on to explain that just because it is difficult to express spiritual feelings in words does not negate their truth,
"President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, shared an experience that describes the difficulty of verbal expression. He bore his testimony to an atheist that there is a God. The man said he could not know such a thing. President Packer compared his testimony and knowledge with knowing what salt tastes like (see commentary for Alma 30:15–16 on p. 214 (of the Institute manual); see also “The Candle of the Lord,” Ensign, Jan. 1983, 51–52).
I also find it noteworthy that patience is an important part of faith. It is my personal experience that one can never have too much patience. Patience is required to have faith, faith is required to have patience, and both faith and patience have to be consistently nourished ... or else the result is yet another case of "use it or lose it".
Allow me to quote President Packer another time,
“My experience has been that a testimony does not burst upon us suddenly. Rather, it grows, as Alma said, from a seed of faith. . . .
“Do not be disappointed if you have read and reread and yet have not received a powerful witness. You may be somewhat like the disciples spoken of in the Book of Mormon who were filled with the power of God in great glory ‘and they knew it not’ (3 Nephi 9:20).
“Do the best you can. Think of this verse: ‘See that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order’ (Mosiah 4:27)” (in Conference Report, Apr. 2005, 7; or Ensign, May 2005, 8).
President Uchtdorf has also spoken on the importance of patience and consistency in nurturing faith and testimony, in this instance in the April 2009 General Conference,
“A friend of mine recently wrote to me, confiding that he was having a difficult time keeping his testimony strong and vibrant. He asked for counsel.
“I wrote back to him and lovingly suggested a few specific things he could do that would align his life more closely with the teachings of the restored gospel. To my surprise, I heard back from him only a week later. The essence of his letter was this: ‘I tried what you suggested. It didn’t work. What else have you got?’
“Brothers and sisters, we have to stay with it. We don’t acquire eternal life in a sprint—this is a race of endurance. We have to apply and reapply the divine gospel principles. Day after day we need to make them part of our normal life.
“Too often we approach the gospel like a farmer who places a seed in the ground in the morning and expects corn on the cob by the afternoon. When Alma compared the word of God to a seed, he explained that the seed grows into a fruit-bearing tree gradually, as a result of our ‘faith, and [our] diligence, and patience, and long-suffering’ [Alma 32:43]. It’s true that some blessings come right away: soon after we plant the seed in our hearts, it begins to swell and sprout and grow, and by this we know that the seed is good. From the very moment we set foot upon the pathway of discipleship, seen and unseen blessings from God begin to attend us.
“But we cannot receive the fulness of those blessings if we 'neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment’ [v. 38].
I can hear President Uchtdorf in my mind in his humble, energetic German accent, as he continues,
"We cannot expect to experience the blessings of faith by standing inactive on the sidelines any more than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching sporting events on television and giving advice to the athletes. And yet for some, ‘spectator discipleship’ is a preferred
if not a primary way of worshipping.
“Ours is not a secondhand religion. We cannot receive the blessings of the gospel merely by observing the good that others do. We need to get off the sidelines and practice what we preach. . . .
“. . . Now is the time to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, become His disciples, and walk in His way”
(“The Way of the Disciple, Ensign, May 2009, 76–77).
Then I came to the encouraging words of President Eyring, as he explains (in October 2001 General Conference) that frequent prayer, even mighty prayer, is more about the feelings we express to the Lord than the number of words we use,
“When God has commanded us to pray, He has used words like ‘pray unceasingly’ and ‘pray always’ and ‘mighty prayer.’
“Those commands do not require using many words. In fact, the Savior has told us that we need not multiply words when we pray. The diligence in prayer which God requires does not take flowery speech nor long hours of solitude. . . .
“Our hearts can be drawn out to God only when they are filled with love for Him and trust in His goodness”
(in Conference Report, Oct. 2001, 17; or Ensign, Nov. 2001, 16).
Indeed.
