...With Shiny Rocks

There is a story in the Book of Mormon about a group of people who the Lord is leading to a promised land. The prophet of these people was directed on how to build barges, or ships, that would carry them across the ocean. He came across a few different problems though, one of them being that they had no source of light. The Lord told the prophet to think of a few ideas and then pray about it. The prophet then shaped stones, and carrying them to the top of a mountain, asked the Lord to touch each one, knowing that each stone would then shine bright. (See Ether 2-3)

As I read this story, the significance of the stones stood out to me more than past times when I had read it. I was amazed at the effort it would take to carry 16 large stones up a mountain, having faith that the Lord would perform the miracle you hoped for.

Symbolically we each have stones we need to carry up mountains to the Lord. In this same book of scripture we are told by the Lord: "if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficent for all men that humble themselves efore me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." (Ether 12:27)

When we bring those heavy, ugly stones up unto the Lord he can cause our weaknesses to be strengths, lighting our way. Our weaknesses can be made strong, and we can use those strengths to lead and help others.

"And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in the darkness, to give light unto men" (Ether 6:3)

...With Building Faith

As I was reading in the Book of Mormon I came across this verse:

"For the brother of Jared said unto the mountain Zerin, Remove—and it was removed. And if he had not had faith it would not have moved; wherefore thou workest after men have faith." (Ether 12:30)

I thought that was pretty cool: the brother of Jared moved a mountain! I'd aspire to move as much as an ant hill! Can you imagine how much faith it would take to create such a miracle? I doubt there are many people out there that have that much faith. So, how did the brother of Jared do it?

Earlier in the book we read about the family of the brother of Jared. As the Lord confounded the languages at the tower of Babel, the brother of Jared prayed that his family would be kept safe. God led them to a beautiful area, rich in the resources they needed. His family was there for four years when the Lord came again and "for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord." (Ether 2:14)

The brother of Jared, a prophet of God, had a time of weakness. For four years he didn't trust in God or turn to Him for direction. But, rather than fall back into making that same mistake, he corrected his wrong and worked hard to build his strength in God. Then, after what I'm sure took a lot of work and time, the brother of Jared eventually built enough faith that he saw Jesus Christ in the flesh and even had enough faith to move a mountain! What an incredible example of making "weak things become strong." (Ether 12:27)