2.208 I Shall Have Great Joy in You!

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello, my friends, it's great to have you with me.

Today, let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Ah! One of the most rewarding, difficult, frustrating, amazing experiences in this life is that blessing and opportunity of being a parent!

That's what we're going to take a look at today as we wrap up this week's readings. We have been inside of Doctrine and Covenants sections 81 through 83 as well as Alma chapters 34 through 38. As we get into Alma, what is it, around 36, 37, we start to see Alma talking to his sons.

And we talked yesterday about how Alma 35 is this chance for Alma to come in. He sees the challenges around him. Some of the advice that Alma gives to his son Shiblon in Alma chapter 38.

Next week, we're going to have an opportunity to continue this discussion a bit as we spend the entire week inside of Alma's advice to his other son as well, which is going to be great. You know, it's interesting, these chapters, and I'm kind of given the thought before the verse, but these chapters are a great model for us. I mentioned this yesterday, but they're a great.

All of these are great models for us. Those of us that are parents, those of us that are grandparents, those of us that are trying to raise others, even older siblings could take lessons from this. Because the models that we see inside of here with Alma and his sons, we can see how to bear testimony to your kids.

We can see how to provide correction to your kids. We can see how to provide encouragement to your kids. We can see the awareness that Alma has as a parent in terms of what's happening in the lives of his children.

These models are phenomenal. So perhaps as you go through them this week and next week, it's worth not necessarily diving in verse by verse, but instead looking at kind of the pillars that Alma provides as a parent to his kids. Now that takes us into our verse for today.

As we see in Alma 38:2, Alma is very impressed. He's excited and he finds great joy in his son Shiblon in terms of the choice that he's making. And this is what he says to him.

He says, to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments. For blessed is he that endureth to the end. You know, I love this one.

Here's one that's an encouragement verse. Right? Alma is talking to his son and he's saying, hey, well done!

Like you're making good choices right now, son, and I want you to remember to continue to keep making those good choices. This is such a great opportunity for us as parents to remember that when we see our kids doing good things, we reinforce that, we encourage that, and we invite them to continue doing that. So in those moments that you might spy your kids kneeling next to their bed and praying, maybe you spy them reading their scriptures for a moment or writing in a journal, I don't know what it is, whatever it is that you are excited about them doing, be explicit the way that Alma is here.

Well done in your steadiness and faithfulness unto God. Keep doing those things, because you're going to find even more blessings as you endure to the end. I am excited and grateful for these parenting chapters that we have from Alma 36 to about Alma 42.

It's a great opportunity for you and me, regardless of parenting calling, so to speak. It's a great chance for us to see how we can address and talk to those that we have stewardship in our lives. That's all for today, my friends.

Lift up your hearts and Rejoice! Cleave unto the covenants you have made and together we will be savory salt. For more information, visit www.savorysalt.org.