Day 203 Nourish the Word, Pluck the Fruit of Life

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 203 on our 365 day journey.

Today, you're going to be reading Alma chapter 32, verses 29 to 43. We're going to finish that chapter. I got to tell you, there are so many lessons that can come from this one that it's hard to just pick one.

There's the seed lesson, there's the nourishment lesson, there's the fruit lesson inside of this. I hope that you take time to decide which of these lessons is most important for you as you seek the Spirit going forward today in this reading. This is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful chapters in the Book of Mormon when it comes to testing the Word of God and finding out if it is good for you in your life.

The answer is yes, by the way, but test that out and find it. Today, we're going to take a look at a small verse and a small lesson with just a couple of different ideas with it. We're going to look at Alma chapter 32, verse 40 today.

And thus, if you will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, you can never pluck the fruit of the tree of life. Now this is the kind of the middle of the story and the example that Alma's giving here, and yet it's a vital one. We have several parables from Christ's time as well that talk about, you know, the seeds and the sowers and planting the seeds in the different grounds.

And here we get a reminder of the importance it is when we're testing the Word of God and it's starting to grow in our lives, the importance of nourishing the word. And the thing that I thought about, and maybe I'm going to out my family a little too much here, but hopefully they still love me afterwards. I'm sure they will.

But it got me thinking about our tomato plants in our garden. Some years we plant our tomato plants, and we nourish, and we weed, and we water, and we fertilize. We do all the things, and that tomato plant, right?

It can get to like four feet tall, and it got tomatoes all over the place, and we're eating tomatoes with every meal, and it just tomato, tomato, tomato. And we get this fruit of the plant, right? Because we did all the things.

We looked forward with an eye of faith to the fruit. And other years, we plant the tomato plant, and we kind of forget about it, and we kind of let the weeds grow. And sometimes we water it occasionally, and sometimes, you know, and then we get like a four-inch plant where no tomatoes grow because there was simply not any nourishment at all, right?

The Gospel and the Word of God is very similar to the plant life in the world today. We can't create and form and grow testimonies in our lives if we're not willing to nourish the Word of God in our lives. What does it look like?

Well, savory salt is one of those. We've talked about that. Start diving into the scriptures, investigating what scriptures mean to you, the word of God, the words of prophets, other testimonies from families and friends, testing out what the things are saying in our own lives, living the commandments, testing the commandments, trying to be like Jesus Christ.

All of these things are things that we do to nourish the word. And if we sometimes do that, or if we occasionally pull out our scriptures, or if we pull out our scriptures when our parents or our church leaders tell us to, or whatever it is, right? Like whatever happens when it comes to nourishing the Word of God there.

And verse 41, you're absolutely going to have this tree springing up into everlasting life. So I hope that you can take time inside of this, pick the lessons that are important to you. And as you do so in the very action of doing it, you're nourishing the Word of God in your life and hopefully finding the fruits of love that come as you grow your testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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.