Search and Ponder

Follow the Prophet (PMG Ch. 4) In 1622 a Spanish treasure ship called the Atocha made a voyage from Colombia back to Spain. Because there was so much cargo--treasure, civilians, soldiers--the ship left later than planned and ended up traveling in the middle of hurricane season. As night fell, the sea was choppy, and by the time the morning came they were stuck in a vicious storm that beat at the masts and sails. The Atocha was carried up on a giant wave and smashed back into the water. It sank and only five passengers survived.* The world we live in is constantly changing, and sometimes it can be scary. In the media all around us we see constant messages designed to shape the way we think. What is beauty? What does a person have to do to be successful? What is acceptable as entertainment? Social media succeeds more and more every day in shutting us off from our surroundings, and definitions of 'tolerance' and 'love' evolve with society. Some people in the wor

Agency and the Fall of Adam and Eve (PMG) 2 Nephi 2:25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy. Yesterday I went on a class assignment to the BYU Folk Dance Ensemble show called The Gathering.   In the opening prayer I heard the words "please help anyone here who is in need of an added measure of joy , that it may be granted them." The words stuck in my mind as the show began. They were doing a few dances like this:                                     and the words from the scripture in 2 Nephi came to my mind. We really are in existence so that we can have joy. Men are that they might have joy . I was amazed by how powerfully that little gem came to me. About 2100 years ago there was a man who had command over a lot of things, and a lot of people. He was a king, and he had power, by worldly standards. He hadn't made the best use of his power, and had put many disobedient and incapable servants to death, on top of any other wars an