Seeking God

Jared made a cardboard boat for Savannah one evening.  She was pretty happy about that.  Seeing the boat made me think of one of my favorite stories from the Book of Mormon, about the Brother of Jared, who prayed to God in seeking for a way to light their boats as they crossed the ocean.  While their boats were not sailboats (but were airtight barges), Jared's cardboard boat gave me an idea to supplement one of our New Testament lessons.  In the Sermon on the Mount, it talks about seeking first the kingdom of God and a theme in Matthew 6-7 is prayer. I used the idea of seeking and put together a treasure hunt in the house.  Each of the clues also had a clear stone (to represent the 16 stones in the story of the Brother of Jared).  The clues had scriptures on them, with a key word that led them to the next clue.  Aside from the first one (seek first the kingdom of God), it was pretty evident where to look for the clue.  The first one relied on how well they listened in the first part of the lesson, when we talked about ways that we seek God (by reading scriptures).  That first clue was on the shelf by our scriptures.  Some of the other clues had things like the "bread of life" and "let your light shine" or "come unto me and I will give you rest".  It was pretty fun for the kids to run around the house doing their treasure hunt.

Once they collected all 16 stones, we talked about the story of the Brother of Jared and how faith and prayer allowed him to be successful in getting light for their boats and to reach their destination.  We talked about how our own prayers and faith help us to reach our goals.  I love the thought of the vessels being us, with the light of Christ inside, lighting our way.  

Ether chapter 6

 2 For it came to pass after the Lord had prepared the stones which the brother of Jared had carried up into the mount, the brother of Jared came down out of the mount, and he did put forth the stones into the vessels which were prepared, one in each end thereof; and behold, they did give light unto the vessels.

3 And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness.

One side note that I find interesting about the story of the Brother of Jared is the role of the wind in getting them to their destination.  

5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.

 8 And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind.

10 And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water.

While we usually think of wind as a hindrance, something that we struggle with, the winds were a good thing in this story.  The winds, that God caused to blow, pushed them towards their destination, the promised land.  They needed the winds to constantly push them along in their journey.  And even amidst all of the storms, the winds were a blessing, and the light continued to shine for their whole journey.  I love thinking about how sometimes we have to let God push us along and also that His light will never cease to shine (if we want that and allow it on our journey of life).