Alma 58

(November 1, 2015)

                There are certain lines in the scriptures that are life-altering (if we allow them to be), and this chapter has one of them.  “But behold, it mattereth not.”  Helaman faced an enemy abroad that wanted him dead, he lacked the resources to adequately defend the cities he was responsible for, and he had (with good reason, it turned out) suspicions regarding the civilian government.  If ever something should have mattered, his dire position should have.  And yet, it didn’t matter.

                So much of our lives are like this.  We face difficulties, betrayal, pain, suffering, challenges, overwhelming odds, setbacks, and everything in between.  We can look on these things and be burdened down by them in the realization that they can destroy our hopes and our dreams.  But this can only happen if our hopes are in this world and our dreams are transitory.  No matter what happens to us, if we keep our mind fixed with an eternal perspective, it doesn’t matter.  All will work out in the end, and I am convinced that one of the great tests we experience in mortality is to prove that we can keep that perspective even when those things we love are taken from us.