This postThis morning I was reading Mosiah 18:8-9 and got to thinking about the part which says followers of Christ are “willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death…” And the rest of this entry is what I wrote in my scripture journal:
Selflessness is an amazingly powerful principle, really. What I mean is that the ability to put others before oneself is a real, almost tangible power. Selfishness, on the other hand, replaces it with an opposite power, one which boards up the windows of one’s soul and litters the front yard with “Do not disturb” signs. It looks to itself as a source of power, but while there may indeed be some to draw from at first, it doesn’t take long before the well is dry. Love, however, and the power inherent in it, are self-sustaining and last forever. Selfishness is like a surge protector plugged into itself. Not only does it lose power itself, but it can no longer provide power to those plugged into it. (Nor does it want to.)
We’re all in this together, though, stranded on an island far from home. We all share the common goal of getting back home, since we don’t want to be stuck on the island for the rest of our lives. And yet the island has its pleasures, and some of us forget about home and decide to stay on the island, embracing it and doing our best to forget about who we were back home. Others, though, focus all their energy on finding a way back, because they know that no matter how nice the island seems to be, home is where real happiness lies, for that is where their families are.
[Note: this second image (I won’t call it a metaphor just yet :)) is still in embryo, and of course the parallels can only be taken so far. It’s begging to be written into a story, at any rate, so we’ll see what happens.]
