How can we avoid the "mists of darkness" and cling to the Iron Rod? Note: Please share anything that stuck out to you in these verses. Daily Talk Lehi's Dream Holding Fast to the Rod
The straight and narrow path goes right thru the middle of the world that is why it so important to cling to the iron rod. If we hold to the rod and stay worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost we can successfully press forward safely thru the mists of darkness and have clear spiritual direction... of course that is a big IF . I for one need to work and pray for this help and protection... It is a scriptural promise that if we hold to the rod as we press forward, we will be protected from the fiery darts of the adversary
I love when my daily living experience is reflective of our current scripture reading! We are experiencing some bad inversion weather right now which is making our visibility and air quality very poor. This inversion is no respecter of persons; it is covering all people just like the mists of darkness in the BoM. On bad inversion days, we are warned not to go out if we can avoid it and to not participate in outside activities as the air quality can make it difficult to breath. The lack of visibility causes people to become confused on the roads and the amount of vehicle accidents increases. When I have to leave my home and drive somewhere, I stick to familiar roads that I have already traveled often, aligning my vehicle to the continuous white line, painted on the right side of the road. If we desire to feel and see the sun, we must carefully navigate thru the inversion, using all the afore mentioned techniques, until we have reached a higher elevation above the inversion Likewise in our spiritual lives, we should avoid mists of darkness if possible but when it comes upon us, as it surely will, even while we are holding tightly to the rod, we must not fear or let go The darkness that we are required to go thru may be difficult, so difficult that we might find it hard to hang on, to be able to see clearly or breath freely. We must keep moving forward, staying true to the familiar teachings we have been taught, not deviating, with our sights and actions aligned continuously with His and though the journey may seem strenuous and long we have hope knowing that we too will rise to a higher elevation where we will again see the Son.
I love how in verse 30 it says, "and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron." The word continually stood out to me. To me that means that they were always trying to do what was right, not just when it was convenient or only on Sunday. That is a good model for me to try to be continually holding to the iron rod not just when it is convenient for me. In verse 33 how, "they did point the finger of scorn and they heeded them not." I think this is a great lesson to teach our children how to deal with peer pressure.
Our lesson on Sunday was perfect for this! (I know I'm a couple days behind) but in relief society the teacher was talking about different challenges and trials that we go through and why we go through them and what she said isn't doctrine but it's a great way to look at the 'mists of darkness' we go through. She said 'we talked to God and Christ before we came down to this earth and promised them that we would do all that we could to get back. They listed challenges and trials that we would go through in order to live with them again. If we said yes, we knew we would have to go through them in order to live in Them again. If we fell away from the rod because of these trials, we knew we wouldn't live with Them again. We took that leap of faith to say yes but they believed that we could go through them and that's why we have them"
I like the differentiation of clinging to the rod versus continually holding fast.
ReplyDeleteI have never noticed this distinction before. Great observation.
DeleteThe straight and narrow path goes right thru the middle of the world that is why it so important to cling to the iron rod. If we hold to the rod and stay worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost we can successfully press forward safely thru the mists of darkness and have clear spiritual direction... of course that is a big IF . I for one need to work and pray for this help and protection... It is a scriptural promise that if we hold to the rod as we press forward, we will be protected from the fiery darts of the adversary
ReplyDeleteI love when my daily living experience is reflective of our current scripture reading! We are experiencing some bad inversion weather right now which is making our visibility and air quality very poor. This inversion is no respecter of persons; it is covering all people just like the mists of darkness in the BoM. On bad inversion days, we are warned not to go out if we can avoid it and to not participate in outside activities as the air quality can make it difficult to breath. The lack of visibility causes people to become confused on the roads and the amount of vehicle accidents increases. When I have to leave my home and drive somewhere, I stick to familiar roads that I have already traveled often, aligning my vehicle to the continuous white line, painted on the right side of the road. If we desire to feel and see the sun, we must carefully navigate thru the inversion, using all the afore mentioned techniques, until we have reached a higher elevation above the inversion Likewise in our spiritual lives, we should avoid mists of darkness if possible but when it comes upon us, as it surely will, even while we are holding tightly to the rod, we must not fear or let go The darkness that we are required to go thru may be difficult, so difficult that we might find it hard to hang on, to be able to see clearly or breath freely. We must keep moving forward, staying true to the familiar teachings we have been taught, not deviating, with our sights and actions aligned continuously with His and though the journey may seem strenuous and long we have hope knowing that we too will rise to a higher elevation where we will again see the Son.
ReplyDeleteI love how in verse 30 it says, "and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron." The
ReplyDeleteword continually stood out to me. To me that means that they were always trying to do what was right, not just when
it was convenient or only on Sunday. That is a good model for me to try to be continually holding to the iron rod
not just when it is convenient for me. In verse 33 how, "they did point the finger of scorn and they heeded them not."
I think this is a great lesson to teach our children how to deal with peer pressure.
Our lesson on Sunday was perfect for this! (I know I'm a couple days behind) but in relief society the teacher was talking about different challenges and trials that we go through and why we go through them and what she said isn't doctrine but it's a great way to look at the 'mists of darkness' we go through. She said 'we talked to God and Christ before we came down to this earth and promised them that we would do all that we could to get back. They listed challenges and trials that we would go through in order to live with them again. If we said yes, we knew we would have to go through them in order to live in Them again. If we fell away from the rod because of these trials, we knew we wouldn't live with Them again. We took that leap of faith to say yes but they believed that we could go through them and that's why we have them"
ReplyDelete✔️
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