Trees

So, Elder Lachaga and I were out walking around one day with an investigator named Frank.  We wandered into a swampy kind of area when Frank pointed out that a bunch of the trees in that area were fallen and he explained why.  He said that the soil that had previously been a stable foundation, had become water-logged, and the roots that had before been adequate were not sunk deep enough to provide the support needed.  The once solid ground no longer provided ample footing for the roots of the trees and when any kind of storm came, it took almost nothing to knock them down.   

As members of the church, we have roots.  We have ancestral roots, genetic roots, and spiritual roots.  The question that comes to me is "How well rooted are we in the Gospel of Jesus Christ?"  Some people try to live their lives relying on the same size root that they had when they were children and inevitably, the tree falls.  Unless we sink our roots deep into the gospel, we too put ourselves in jeopardy of toppling over.   Are we too setting ourselves up for failure by trying to grow tall and be firm in swampy marshy ground?  What is the best way that we can firmly root ourselves in the gospel of Jesus Christ so that when the storm comes we too will not be numbered among the fallen? The answer is simple. Its the seminary answers; reading your scriptures, attending church, keeping the commandments, repenting daily. 

Unlike the trees at High Acres, when we fall, its not the end.  There is life after mistakes.  Jesus Christ set up the way to stand us up again.  He payed the price for our sins so that he can raise us up again, to get us back on track and moving in the right direction again.  Alma 41:7 says "These are they that are redeemed of the Lord; yea, these are they that are taken out, that are delivered from that endless night of darkness; and thus they stand or fall; for behold, they are their own judges, whether to do good or do evil.

Let us root ourselves deep in the gospel of Jesus Christ so that we can be those who the scripture says "stand and do good" instead of those that "fall and do evil".   And when we do fall, as it inevitably happens to each of us, let us look to Christ to stand us up again.  He knows the way, He is the way, through Him alone can we stand up again when fallen, and  through Him alone can we find the strength to stand the trials of this life.

_Elder Halbert