Weekly Study Questions
What does this chapter teach me about God's relationship with His children?
What does this chapter teach me about my Savior?
How can I use the principles and examples from this chapter to improve my own relationship with the Savior and my Heavenly Father?
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS TO PONDER
The records the Book of Mormon prophets kept proved to be very valuable witnesses of Christ almost two thousand years after the Nephites perished. Why do you think the Church encourages us to keep records of our own lives through journals? What kind of impact do you think those records might have on future generations? On you personally?
In verse 6, Alma explains that "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass..." Where else do we see this principle in the scriptures? Where have you seen it in your own life? What small and simple things are you doing right now that you hope will bring to pass great things in the future?
In verses 36 - 37, what are the various ways Alma outlines we can and should communicate with Heavenly Father? How does each bless our lives?
In verse 43, Alma explains that the Liahona was "not without a shadow," meaning that the Liahona was also symbolic of other spiritual truths. We can find powerful symbols in almost all of the stories in the scriptures, and God often gives us symbolic lessons even in our own life stories. What are some spiritual lessons or symbols you can identify in some of your own personal life experiences?
In verse 43, Alma explains that the Liahona was "not without a shadow," meaning that the Liahona was also symbolic of other spiritual truths. We can find powerful symbols in almost all of the stories in the scriptures, and God often gives us symbolic lessons even in our own life stories. What are some spiritual lessons or symbols you can identify in some of your own personal life experiences?
This may sound silly, but in answer to the very last question, I remember a time on my mission in Russian when our area turned the hot water off for several weeks (Months? It's a blur.) and the only bathing options were either to boil pots of water on the stove to take a "bucket bath" or to take a freezing cold shower that felt like icy needles each day.
ReplyDeleteBecause of our busy schedules, boiling water wasn't a realistic method for us and I found myself dancing on my tip toes in the icy water each morning for the coldest adrenaline rush of my life! One morning, as I danced, I was pondering the concept of opportunity cost (I suppose readying myself for business school when I got off the mission) and I had to ask myself why on earth I was willing to subject myself to such awful suffering every single morning. Somehow, it seemed that if I had been faced with such pain at home in California, I would have simply refused to take the shower. Hands down. Nothing was worth this pain.
It occurred to me though that the natural landscape of Russia lent itself to more dirt than my California home. Ok, a LOT more dirt! I would come home sometimes with my legs literally caked in mud and it was actually a health hazard to forego bathing because of the various illnesses that could be contracted from the dirt. Simply put, it was more important to be clean than to be comfortable. The alternative of getting sick or sleeping with mud-caked legs would always outweigh the discomfort of the cold showers.
And there was my simple yet profound spiritual lesson. It is more important to be clean than comfortable. Sin is often, on the outset, a more comfortable place to reside, but the reality is that the inconvenience and discomfort of repenting and/or of doing what's right in the first place is just plain more important. Feeling clean and actually being clean before the Lord is far more important than any little or huge inconvenience - even when it feels like icy needles stabbing your entire body! And the discomfort of getting a serious spiritual "illness" from the "dirt" of sin is far more uncomfortable than those showers.
Needless to say, I actually came to LOVE those crazy showers and felt so invigorated afterward! Shortly thereafter, they turned our water entirely off for two days and oh, how I longed for those freezing showers again! What a gift they had been!