Day 70 The Whole Earth at Rest and Quiet

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me and know that I'm cheering for your every success. Welcome to day 70.

Well done on your path. We're going to share one of our final Isaiah chapter scriptures today. You've made it to mostly the end of it.

We've got one more little sneaker Isaiah chapter coming later, but it's after Nephi gives us some incredible teachings here in the next couple of chapters. Today on your 365 day journey through the Book of Mormon, you're going to read 2 Nephi 24:1–22. Now, I say that this is our final Isaiah reference simply because I know that tomorrow I'm going to be sharing a verse from chapter 25, which is already outside of 24, even though the reading will include some of 24 there.

I wanted to dive in today to our verse because after the destructive nature of our conversation yesterday, the verse today is short and it's beautiful and it's amazing. And it's a vision of the future after Christ comes and after the earth has accomplished an incredible time of peace. And I want to share that with you today.

The verse for today comes from 2 Nephi 24:7. Very, very short, but I want you to lean into this one with me a little bit. Verse 7 says this: 'The whole earth is at rest and is quiet.' 'They break forth into singing.' Now, there's not a lot to this verse, but I got to tell you, I want more of that in my life.

I want more rest. Not just laying around and doing nothing rest. Rest from the chaos and the noise that surrounds me in my daily life.

I want some rest and quiet, and I can find that as I lean into spiritual opportunities with Jesus Christ. I wanted to share an opportunity that I had as a teacher at Brighton High School several years ago. I had a chance to teach a class that was a regular taught-in-the-day class.

Welcome to 'The Power of Silence and Prayer.' And 'The Power of Stillness.' And most of the major religions will encourage their participants to have a time of quiet reflection or prayer to their given deity or deities. A time of quiet meditation. I asked the students if they wanted to take an opportunity to see what that felt like.

Not in a religious sense, but to simply see what it felt like to hold the space. The students wanted to go down that realm and experience that a little bit. And so we actually started a practice in that class.

I love that class, by the way. Probably, I mean, I hate to say favorites, but probably, man, I love the students in that class. Such an amazing class.

It was an incredible experience for me. So the first opportunity that we took, I found an app that simply just had sounds of nature. And that's kind of what I hear inside of verse seven here: 'the whole earth is at rest.' I think about going up into the mountains, going to nature and getting away from all of the noises and the chaos, and just listening to nature.

And so I would take this app and I would set a timer within the app, just push play. I'd dim the lights in the class and give the students an opportunity to just listen to the sounds of nature. And I picked different naturescapes, right?

Different places around the world. And so different birds would sing or different rivers or streams would be playing in the background, different animals. And yet it was an opportunity for these students.

And they got to the point that they loved it so much that that's how we began class every day, was an opportunity to simply take in the peace that nature had to offer. Verse seven is that same opportunity. And I look forward to the day when the Lord will bring rest and quiet, and we can break forth in singing our praises to the Lord for bringing that rest and peace in all of our lives.

That's all for today, my friends. Remember that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt.

I'll be here tomorrow. I hope you are too.