March 19, 2016 - Saturday in Nauvoo

It was just one year ago, today, that mom and I moved into the Carthage home and began our nearly six month assignment there.  Now we are here in Nauvoo and gearing up for our 2nd summer season here in the mission field with a little different view of what is coming.  Last year we saw the calendar there in Carthage and recognized some big groups were coming.  This year we are in a more simple role of site assignments and handcart responsibilities.  This will be a great summer!  Then we prepare to return home!!!   Yea!!

We were up pretty close to our normal time this morning after our late night, two show, Rendezvous.  We had our morning devotional and prayers and then our morning walk around Nauvoo.  The air was cold and brisk, but it made for a wonderful workout.  We got home around 7:20am after leaving at a few minutes past 6:00am.

Mom had the Post Office assignment today, and I had the George Riser Boot shop assignment.  We were just a block away from each other.  We had three tours in the boot shop, and I spent most of the day reading or talking to my companion.  We attempted to solve all the mission problems, so it was a productive day....??  The visitors are starting to come more frequently forspring breaks, and the weekends seem to be the time that they start heading back home.  The first part of the week seems to be the arrival times!

Often times we get caught up in complaining and murmuring at some point in our lives.  I have been thinking about this concept a lot lately.  It is especially prevalent when there is a changing of leadership in a ward or stake or a mission.  I have done a little research on this subject and took a look at what Elder Neal A. Maxwell had to say about murmuring;

First, the murmurer often lacks the courage to express openly his concerns. If the complaint concerns a peer, the murmurer seldom follows Jesus’ counsel, “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” (Matt. 18:15.)

Second, murmurers make good conversational cloak holders. Though picking up no stones themselves, they provoke others to do so.

Third, while a murmurer insists on venting his own feelings, he regards any response thereto as hostile. (See 2 Ne. 1:26.) Furthermore, murmurers seldom take into account the bearing capacity of their audiences.

Fourth, murmurers have short memories. Israel arrived in Sinai, then journeyed on to the Holy Land though they were sometimes hungry and thirsty. But the Lord rescued them, whether by the miraculous appearance by quail or by water struck from a rock. (See Num. 11:31; Ex. 17:6.) Strange, isn’t it, brothers and sisters, how those with the shortest memories have the longest lists of demands! However, with no remembrance of past blessings, there is no perspective about what is really going on.

This powerful verse in the Old Testament reminds us of what is really going on: “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” (Deut. 8:2.)

Perspective makes such an enormous and constant difference in our lives. It shouldn’t surprise us, therefore, that Satan, we are told, does not know the mind of God. (See Moses 4:6.)

Perhaps when we murmur we are unconsciously complaining over not being able to cut a special deal with the Lord. We want full blessings but without full obedience to the laws upon which those blessings are predicated. For instance, some murmurers seem to hope to reshape the Church to their liking by virtue of their murmuring. But why would one want to belong to a church that he could remake in his own image, when it is the Lord’s image that we should come to have in our countenances? (See Alma 5:19.)

The doctrines are His, brothers and sisters, not ours. The power is His to delegate, not ours to manipulate!  One especially fundamental fact about murmuring is contained in this verse: “And thus Laman and Lemuel … did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them.” (1 Ne. 2:12.)

Laborers in the Lord’s vineyard who murmur over life’s inequities, declared Jesus, murmur “against the goodman of the house.” (Matt. 20:11.) The goodness of the Lord is attested to in so many ways—mansions await!—yet we ungrateful guests still complain about the present accommodations.

The pleading of one filled with faith who is also concerned with the welfare of others, as with Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail, is not murmuring. This is not the murmuring of a superficial follower who is quick to complain and who is slow to endure. Reassurance and further instruction followed with Joseph being told: “My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment.” (D&C 121:7.)

I especially appreciated this insight by Elder Maxwell;

Damage to ourselves is sufficient reason to resist murmuring, but another obvious danger is its contagiousness. Even faithful father Lehi, for one brief moment, got caught up in the contagion of murmuring. (See 1 Ne. 16:20.) Similarly, when Moses lapsed, very briefly, it was under exasperating pressure from rebels. (See Num. 20:7–12.) No one knows how to work a crowd better than the adversary.

Instead of murmuring, therefore, being of good cheer is what is needed, and being of good cheer is equally contagious. We have clear obligations to so strengthen each other by doing things “with cheerful hearts and countenances.” (D&C 59:15; see also D&C 81:5.)

It is so easy to get caught up in complaining and murmuring about our leaders, our circumstances, or even the lessons that we have been given to prove ourselves to our Heavenly Father.  I think that for me, and those I might be able to influence for good, being of "good cheer" is the way to go, and really is much needed in this challenging time in our different and varied circumstances!  Who will join me?