Today I was pondering the symbolism found in the journey of the Jaredites as found in the Book of Mormon. I started yesterday on the prompt from "Come Follow Me":
You may find spiritual insights if you compare the Jaredites’ voyage across the ocean to your journey through mortality. For example, what has the Lord provided that lights your way like the stones in the Jaredites’ barges? What might the barges represent, or the winds that “blow towards the promised land”? (Ether 6:8). What do you learn from the actions of the Jaredites before, during, and after the voyage? How is the Lord leading you toward your promised land?
Minerva•K. Teichert (1888–1976), Journey of the Jaredites across Asia, 1935, oil on linen on masonite, 35 x 48 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art.
I had started yesterday and done it about halfway, brainstorming that the barges could represent our actual physical homes, as well as those communities we build around us: family, friends, church, local, homeschool, etc.
Today I spent more time thinking about the fierce winds. We had a very strong wind system that blew through a couple days ago, knocking down many trees and making some areas go without power. It was perfect timing to help me relate to the "fierce winds" that blow. As I studied these passages, I noticed a few things about these fierce winds:
-they caused tempests
-they did not cease to blow
-they drove the people in the barges to the promised land
-God made them
It made me think about mortality and how God never ceases to "blow us," figuratively speaking, to the promised land, or becoming like Him. But then I thought, "Well, some people don't want to progress and He doesn't force them." As the hymn goes, "He'll call persuade, direct aright, and bless with wisdom, love and light. In nameless ways be good and kind...but never force the human mind." ("Know This That Every Soul Is Free," hymnbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
I then realized another personal symbolism of the barges reflected on the previous day. Our barges can be the covenants we make with God. When we make a covenant we put ourselves in God's hands to direct us. We trust Him as we pay tithing; consecrate our goods to serve Him and the poor; serve in callings; multiply and replenish the earth; are baptized and weekly make time to partake of the Sacrament. All these are actions of trust and take faith, symbolically putting those parts of our lives in His hands.
I was then struck with further connection: in a very real sense, when we enter into the barges of our covenants, we are letting God prevail, one of the very definitions of the word "Israel." We are letting the winds that He blows in our life drive us to be like Him, trusting Him as the Jaredites did in such a literal way--gathering all their family and possessions into a barge that they could not direct nor steer. We are becoming part of the gathering of Israel.
Is this choice to let God prevail mindless? Far from it. It is very intentional and requires preparation and purpose. It is a choice. There is so much we can enjoy and experience while in our barges, but "the wind will never cease to blow" our overall course to our promised land as we counsel with Him, trust Him and submit ourselves to the mandates of our covenants, symbolically building our barges with our faith we place in Him.
Are there other winds that blow? Absolutely.
Can we stay on that shore and never enter into those barges and still survive? Absolutely.
But it may just be that we will never make it to our own "promised land," that place where we experience a fulness of our potential and a fulness of joy.
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