What I Learned from Alma the Younger

I love the Book of Mormon. I have read it several times, and like church leaders always teach, I really do learn something new every time I read it. Most recently, I encouraged (well, bribed) my family--the ones who still live at home--to read it in 100 days.

(We used this nifty little reading guide to keep us on track.)

 The reward for everyone who took the bribe was that everyone who honestly completed the Book of Mormon in 100 days would be treated to a cruise this summer. I felt strongly that this was something that we needed to do. I was actually surprised that everyone (meaning my single kids and my husband) did it! I have offered smaller but similar challenges before, and they really haven't gone far, but a cruise must speak more loudly, or maybe my kids were ready to do it. For whatever reason, I am happy that we did it! And I can't speak for anyone else, but for me it was a very powerful experience!

In addition to reading the BofM, I have also become "addicted" (in the righteous sense of the word, of course) to audio CDs of different speakers, mostly LDS but some of other sects as well. (I have a subscription to www.rentldsaudio.com so I can receive 3 audios at once and send them back when I am finished in order to receive my next fix--kinda like Netflix used to be before there were so many streaming options. I also love the Gospel Library app that allows me to listen to a plethora of General Conference talks, scriptures, and other gospel literature at the literal touch of a finger.) I feel my mind opening and being filled with so many new outlooks, maybe even "hidden treasures of knowledge," and it is so exciting to me! I listen to each one several times, and I have started a notebook where I transcribe my favorite parts so that I will remember them forever. 

I have recently experienced a powerful deepening of my understanding of the Atonement and how focusing on this amazing gift from our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ--our Savior--can release us not only from the consequences of sin but also from sorrow, grief, pain, and human weakness; He offers us a strength beyond our own. In the words of David A Bednar in April 2014 General Conference, "Not only does the Atonement of Jesus Christ overcome the effects of the Fall of Adam and make possible the remission of our individual sins and transgressions, but His Atonement also enables us to do good and become better in ways that stretch far beyond our mortal capacities." (Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease) The deepening of my own understanding came from a few different references that meshed together. The stories are separate, but the meanings are the same. I hope I can explain it the way I feel it, because the way I feel it has changed my life.

Also in Elder Bednar's talk, he mentions the words of the Savior found In Matthew 11:30, "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light," and he illustrates the meaning of these words by sharing the story of the people of Alma when they were in bondage to the people of Amulon and their afflictions and persecutions were so great that they began to cry unto The Lord for help. Once they turned their thoughts to Him, the actual physical burdens were not immediately removed but they no longer felt the burden because they turned to God and they BELIEVED that He could and would help them--they allowed His yoke to carry the load.

I was talking with a friend (well, rather, FaceBook chatting, which is often today's form of talking) and she mentioned that if you search "yoke" in the scriptures, the majority of the references are of the "yoke of bondage," which is of course directly opposite from the yoke that the Savior of offers. The yoke of bondage is placed upon us by Satan when we allow our lives--our thoughts, words, deeds--to be governed by him. It holds us down in the gulf of despair and misery. The yoke of Christ is one of ease and comfort--it frees us and brings us joy.

When Alma the Younger was struck by an angel, he lay unconscious for 3 days, harrowed up in the pain and anguish of his sins. "I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins. Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments... now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul." (Alma 36:12-13, 16)  But then he switched his thoughts. He remembered what he had been taught about the mercy of God. "And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.  And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" (Alma 36:17-20)

John Bytheway, in his audio called "Weed Your Brain; Grow Your Testimony," he mentions this account and talks about what it means to be "harrowed up." 

This is a harrow: 

Farmers use it to soften hard ground. They drag these metal blades across the ground over and over again until it is soft enough for the seeds to be planted. Obviously, it's a necessary process when the ground is hard because seeds would not otherwise be able to take root and grow. Imagine the pain, now, if one of these was being dragged over a human being. Doesn't sound pleasant...

If our hearts are hardened by sin or doubt or fear or pain, we may need to be harrowed up for a time until we become soft enough for the Atonement of Christ to take root, but it would be unneccesary and rather stupid to continue to lay there and experience the pain forever, yet we often do this by allowing our minds to remain focused on those things that cause us pain. We deny the power of the Atonement to lay claim on us. Sometimes, even when we know about the Atonement and we believe in and even preach of its power, but we don't really believe He can do it, or that He will do it, or that we are worthy enough for Him to really do it for us. I think sometimes, too, we feel like the only way we can really be worthy to enter into His Kingdom is to do it all ourselves, so we refuse to accept the gift He so lovingly gave to all of us. I believe that many of us who do this don't realize we do it, we just don't fully understand the Atonement, what it's for, and how it works. 

Though I have read these scriptures several times, this time they hit me hard, but in a joyful way. I saw them from a new angle that opened up the meaning much more clearly to me. Maybe it is because I was harrowed up in sorrow and my heart and mind were sufficiently soft to receive the seed. All Alma had to do to change his exquisite pain to equal joy was change his thoughts from his painful past to the love of the Savior. Realizing this helped me release the painful thoughts I was experiencing over and over again--I believe He took them from me. The space I created in my thoughts from letting the Savior take them from me allowed room for His joy to enter in. 

I'm sure it's a lesson I will have to learn again, and again, and again. Maybe it will happen at a deeper level each time, but I know that I won't go backward from here. I have been changed by the word of God through His prophets. I'm grateful for the scriptures and for the words of living prophets and for the power of the Spirit that opens them up to me, teaching me hidden treasures of knowledge.