In Joseph Smith History, I read about how Joseph Smith was taken to see the plates, but then was told he had to wait (verse 53). Why? I wondered? Was he shown so that he could see something to keep him going? Something to confirm the words of the heavenly messenger? Why not just show him in four years when he can get them?
Or was it so he could have a vision of what was in his future? Maybe he wasn't ready at the time, but needed to have that vision so clear in his mind so he knew what he was preparing for?
It led me to think: What things do I get a glimpse of in my future, but then need to wait? Is there a necessity of vision, even if we have to wait?
When we first got "a vision" of coming to Hungary, I was ready to go. "Let's do this thing!" I thought. "If this is the 'next step', then let's get going!" Well, it was a long year later before it happened, but Joseph Smith had to wait for four years! My patience felt stretched to the limit just for one year.
But now, as I type, I think of other things we catch visions of, but need to wait. Q-dawg and I had almost a full year of unfulfilled anticipation before we found out we were expecting our first child...not a long time, of course, by the standards of anyone--especially those who wait for years, or who wait for the next life. I don't pretend to compare myself to them and the extremity of their unfulfilled longings, but we had a long year of hoping and dreaming of that vision we had created of parenting, and it wasn't easy.
People wait for years or (again) until the next life to find someone to marry, yet in the church we create that vision of family and marriage in spite of that. Vision. What is it about vision?
Is it to keep our course fixed in the direction it needs to be? What about those times when it is the vision that keeps us going in a direction, only to find out our preparation in that direction were actually getting us ready for a vision we didn't forsee at first, but our preparation was perfect for that unforeseen vision?
What do we envision for our lives now? What visions has God given us of our future or of the future of our family? Are we working towards it? Do we yearn for it, as we did for our first child? But, then, do we have the patience to endure? I think that is the hard part...living true to a vision, but needed to keep living it, day in, day out, year after year.
I feel for Joseph :).
I asked myself this same question...funny! As I was reading Nephi this morning I thought again, why? Why did Nephi have to kill Laban when the Lord had given him into His hands? And why did it take three tries to get the plates when the Lord could have given them to Nephi from the beginning. I think there is a process that has to do with faith and trust and growth and I think Nephi and Joseph, Sariah, Abraham, you, me, we all have our times of waiting, our times of sorrow, our times of pondering, our times of action that we shy away from, we all have to learn the lessons we need from the Lord to prepare us to do His work.
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