Today's Favorite Verse: Doctrine & Covenants 51:16-17

Today's Favorite Verse: Doctrine & Covenants 51:16-17

"And I consecrate unto them this land for a little season, until I, the Lord, shall provide for them otherwise, and command them to go hence;

And the hour and the day is not given unto them, wherefore let them act upon this land as for years, and this shall turn unto them for their good."

I guess I missed the fact that the saints were told even before gathering to Ohio that they wouldn't be there long. Even with that they settled, and eventually built a temple. I remember when a church leader was asked about the timing of the second coming. They said "we still plant cherry trees". Wish I could find that quote. I think it was either President Kimball or President Hinckley that said it. Those words stuck with me. We don't just give up, thinking the end is coming so why plan for anything in the future. Nope, we are still to act as if we will be here for years. That is the attitude of faith and hope, and being good stewards over all that we have. 

I did find this interesting quote from Brigham Young.

"How many times have I asked the Latter-day Saints what they could do with regard to building the New Jerusalem? Suppose the word were to come to us that Jesus had appointed a certain time in which he would again visit this earth, and that he wanted a place prepared for him; or the command, “Go forth, ye Latter-day Saints, and begin to build the New Jerusalem, and prepare to receive the city of Enoch that will come down out of the heaven;” where is the man competent to go and collect stone fit to lay in the first tier of the foundation of the walls of that city? To judge from their improvements, there is hardly a man capable of judiciously directing the labor of even two men—hardly a man that can properly erect a gristmill or a building for carding machines. Where are your useful machinery, your beautiful habitations your fertile gardens, your lovely walks, and magnificent palaces? You may reply, “We are not going to stop here, but are going to the Center Stake of Zion,” and so you pass on in comparative inactivity, and attempt only to build log houses or mud shanties. If you had the spirit of your calling, you would be anxious to build the best houses you could, and make the best gardens, fields, and vineyards, though you knew that you would not enjoy them one day after they were completed."

(JD 8:293, Remarks by President Brigham Young, made at Willow Creek, June 12, 1860)

Day 2054