Sabbath Devotional :: Spiritual Memory

The Manhattan Temple, where I have had some wonderful experiences

For this Sabbath devotional, I wanted to share these verses I have been reading and pondering on this week and a few thoughts related to them:

Alma 37

6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

8 And now, it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these things should be preserved; for behold, they have enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls.

9 Yea, I say unto you, were it not for these things that these records do contain, which are on these plates, Ammon and his brethren could not have convinced so many thousands of the Lamanites of the incorrect tradition of their fathers; yea, these records and their words brought them unto repentance; that is, they brought them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer.

10 And who knoweth but what they will be the means of bringing many thousands of them, yea, and also many thousands of our stiffnecked brethren, the Nephites, who are now hardening their hearts in sin and iniquities, to the knowledge of their Redeemer?

11 Now these mysteries are not yet fully made known unto me; therefore I shall forbear.

12 And it may suffice if I only say they are preserved for a wise purpose, which purpose is known unto God; for he doth counsel in wisdom over all his works, and his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round.

These chapters of Alma where he is speaking to and counseling his sons are some of my very favorites in the Book of Mormon. I think these words bear particular significance, distilled from his life and experiences into the essential lessons he wanted to teach and emphasize to his sons.

These verses on memory and bearing spiritual witness have always struck me. Obviously Alma is talking about the importance of recording these teachings that would become the Book of Mormon, but I think his words bear relevance in our personal lives as well. I always have good intentions of writing in my journal but life gets the best of me and I often fail to start. A month or two ago I was looking back through some of my old journals and was surprised by some of the stories and memories I had written about that I had no recollection of until rereading what I’d written about them. I was so grateful to the many hours my past self spent diligently writing in my journal and keeping those memories (insignificant though they may be outside of my own life) safe.

Our spiritual memory is of great and significant importance and I think the practice of bearing witness through the written word can be a very remarkable thing. My dad was able to help my grandparents record and write their testimonies and other gospel-related thoughts while they were still in good health and now me and their other grandkids have that record to refer to and learn from. I know the spiritual promptings and experiences I recorded in my own journals were also beneficial for my later perusal, to be reminded of my experiences in the gospel and the things I learned or came to understand in a deeply personal way.

As I have been reading and thinking about these words from Alma I am trying to recommit myself to treating my own spiritual memory with reverence and gratitude.