Day 253 Hardened or Softened by Trials

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. Difficult circumstances can harden you or they can soften you. Which will you choose?

Welcome to day 253 on our 365 day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today, you're going to be reading Alma chapter 62, verses 22 to 42. And inside of it, you're going to see some very fascinating things happen.

One being that a ton of prisoners of the Lamanites are going to choose freedom and say, please, just let us be a free people. And they're going to go over to the people of Ammon and they're going to become farmers and be a great lift to the Nephites. Such an interesting one.

In fact, I almost picked one of the verses inside of there today for savory salt. But instead I landed on this verse today as we kind of are wrapping up this length of the war chapters inside of Alma. We get almost this little bookmark moment here.

And that what I wanted to point out in Savory Salt today, in Alma chapter 62, verse 41. And it says this: 'In so much that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility.' Now, it's interesting inside of here that we get it mentioned twice in the same verse. Because of the exceedingly great length of the war, these things happened.

So, long war happening, and because of that, we seem to see a separation. Two types of people here seem to start to come out of the war. Those that become hardened, they are war-hardened people.

They have seen atrocities and battles and bloodshed and it has caused them to harden. To the point, as we learn with a couple of verses on each side of this verse, that they have chosen wickedness because of the hardness of their hearts. But then we seem to have these people who have gone through the same battle experiences, the same wars and contentions, and they've been softened because of their experiences.

The afflictions that they had have humbled themselves before God even to the depth of humility. So it seems to me that in these difficult difficult situations—and you and I experience them personally as well, maybe not to the level of war, perhaps to the level of war, whatever atrocity can come to mind or whatever difficult thing you experienced—you have the same choice that these people had in their lives. Are you going to let this experience harden you and close you off to the feelings of the Spirit?

Are you going to choose to be angry and bitter and frustrated? Or you can choose to be softened because of the affliction and challenge. You can ask the Lord for help and support.

You can seek to humble yourself before God and see what it is. You know, it's interesting. It took me into some thinking, and I don't know if this is necessarily directly attached, but a lot of people inside of their challenges seem to think that their challenges are just unfair.

And Elder Renlund gave a talk a few years back called 'Infuriating Unfairness.' And he actually referenced this scripture that we just shared today. He says inside of this something that I think is worth sharing and remembering when it comes to the challenges that we face and it comes to the opportunity that we have to choose hardness or softness. He says: 'Do not let unfairness harden you or corrode your faith in God.

Instead, ask God for help. Increase your appreciation for and reliance on the Savior. Rather than becoming bitter, let him help you become better.

Allow him to help you persevere, to let your afflictions be swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Join him in his mission to heal the brokenhearted.' What a beautiful invitation by Elder Renlund and a promise that we can turn to our Savior in our times of trials and challenges. And when it seems like that war or that battle or whatever challenge you're experiencing seems to be going on for a long time, as it was for the Nephites and the Lamanites here, remember that you have a choice to be hardened or a choice to be softened.

Both of them bring their own consequences with it. I hope you and I can see the role the Savior plays in our lives as one that uplifts and strengthens and can bring a true sense of joy, real joy in our lives, regardless of the difficult circumstances we face. 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.