Crowns in the Gutter, Gospel Edition

Something interesting happened in Sunday School.  The teacher handed out a worksheet.  On the first part you were supposed to write down what you needed and what you desired from Sunday School that day.  On the next part you were supposed to pick from a list of topics/scriptures from the reading and do a little personal study on it.   The topics weren’t supposed to directly connect to what you wanted or needed, but the idea was that formulating those to yourself you were more likely to get spiritual insight while studying the scripture.  It worked for me.  It worked very well.  Indeed, I have noticed that many barriers to the Spirit fall when we are forthright about what we want and need; I think this is a big part of what Jesus meant when he said to become as a little child; little children want things, they don’t dissimulate to themselves about it.

I will forgo telling you what I wrote down in the needs and desires sections.  Suffice it to say I went big (though not Napoleonic–pic unrelated).

I chose to study a topic from the first part of D&C 11.  If you notice, there was a fairly standard response the Lord gave to people who asked for a personal revelation through Joseph Smith.  You see it in D&C 4, 6, 11, 12, and elsewhere.   That’s what I read, and the Spirit was strong almost as soon as I opened to the section.

People are Napoleon-quoting lately.    One of his most famous quotes is “I found the crown of France laying in the gutter and picked it up.”  It was just there for takers.  Economists call this “low-hanging fruit.”  Or in the modern mantra that is also going around, “you can just do things.”  The D&C standard personal revelation is the Lord’s equivalent.  The field is white ready to the harvest.  All you have to do is reap.  Doors will be opened.  All you have to do is knock.  God will give.  All you have to do is ask.  Not just one fruit but many.  Not just one crown but many.

I, like you, sometimes don’t ask for things nor seek for them because I am embarrassed to admit I desire things or because I am afraid the Lord will say.  Those are motives we all have for not asking nor seeking and are ones that we are willing to admit to.  We also have other reasons for not asking nor seeking that we don’t admit even to ourselves.  We are afraid the Lord will say yes.  We perceive that we desire so greatly and that the Lord’s response to our desire would be a gushing, furious stream.  We are afraid of our own righteous desires in their fullest extent, so we keep them chained like we would a tiger.  We are afraid to ride it.  But the Lord says, Ride!  He says no other mount is fit for His child.