Day 176 Ammon's Example: The Power of Priesthood Blessings

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 176 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together.

Today, you're going to be reading Alma chapter 17, verses 4 through 20, right in the middle of one of my favorite chapters of all time. I love this one. Things have shifted now from our adventures with Alma and Amulek, as we have them interact with the sons of Mosiah.

And then, all of a sudden, the story just goes straight into Ammon. And then we're going to have lots of missionary adventures coming over the next several chapters. So I hope you're going to enjoy those.

And I got to admit, I'm going to be seeing this through a different lens than I have before, because my daughter is off and rolling on her mission. And that's a first for me; I've never had a daughter on a mission before. So it's going to be a new lens as I read about Ammon and their experiences as missionaries and having my own missionary out in the mission field at the same time.

So I'm excited to see what kind of lens comes out to play, but just letting you know in advance that that's the lens of the world that I'm going to be seeing things through. Today's verse is going to come from Alma chapter 17, verse 18, and it is through this lens of my current experiences. It says, "Now Ammon, being the chief among them, or rather he did administer unto them, and he departed from them, after having blessed them according to their several stations, having imparted the word of God unto them, or administered unto them before his departure, and thus they took their several journeys throughout the land." First of all, I love this because the front end of this shows that Ammon is labeled the chief among them, and then it says, "actually, he did administer unto them." And so I love that there's a whole leadership lesson inside of that, that he's the chief administer, right?

He's administering to them and teaching them and blessing them in their several stations. And then he administered unto them before his departure. This led me down the idea—this blessing them before they go—to something that's been very common in my own life and something that I've brought into my family's life as well.

And that is the power of priesthood. I was raised in a family where we were regularly able to ask our father for father's blessings and for priesthood blessings. I was encouraged in my family growing up to ask for priesthood blessings if I felt like I needed particular counsel.

Blessings in what he was able to direct in our lives, and he stayed very close to the Spirit in terms of what that direction could be. I recently had the opportunity to give a couple of my daughters blessings—one that was headed off to camping, you know, and then another one that was headed off on her mission. And the experiences there are deep, and they are a wonderful opportunity.

And I even continue in my own life to also occasionally ask my ministering brothers to come over and give me a blessing of direction and counsel. I just wanted to add, inside of today's episode, a thought from the Church itself in terms of just the description of what these blessings are. Inside, on the ChurchofJesusChristofLatter-daySaints.org—you know, or ChurchofJesusChrist.org—sorry about that full deal.

Inside of it, as you search "Father's Blessings" or "Blessings of Comfort and Counsel," this is what it says: "Father's Blessings and other priesthood blessings are given to provide direction and comfort as guided by the Spirit. A father who holds the Melchizedek Priesthood may give father's blessings to his children. These blessings may be especially helpful when children go to school, go on missions, get married, enter military service, or face special challenges.

A family may record a father's blessing for family records, but these blessings are not preserved in Church records, right?" And then it says, "Melchizedek Priesthood holders may also give blessings of comfort and counsel to other family members and to others who ask for them." My friends, I love that inside of this story here we have a record of Ammon blessing each one of these guys as they go out and serve in their missionary service. And I want to encourage you, as we go forward reading into these next chapters in Alma, that you look for the way that Ammon's blessings come to fruition. We don't know exactly what he said, but we absolutely see miraculous events happen.

I love the connection here that Ammon blesses them and then they go their separate ways into the world. I love the blessing it is in my life to seek and have priesthood blessings, whether it's others seeking for me to give a priesthood blessing or me seeking other priesthood holders to give me a blessing in my life. It has absolutely increased my ability to have the Spirit in my life, to have the counsel of the Lord in my life, and it's uplifted me in some of my hardest times in life.

That is a blessing that I will forever be grateful to the Lord for. 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, and I hope you are too.