The Ball, the Bow, and the Boat

Following some good advice, I spent part of this afternoon looking ahead at the upcoming week's Come Follow Me lesson. I specifically focused on the Primary version of the lesson, since that's the one I'm going to help teach next week. The lesson seems to focus on three familiar stories from the Book of Mormon: the finding of the Liahona, the breaking of Nephi's bow, and the building of the ship. The title of the lesson is “I Will Prepare the Way before You,” and I can see why. These three stories seem to share the common theme of God providing aid to help the faithful through difficult and otherwise impossible tasks.

The first bit of aid God offers is the ball or compass that later came to be known as the Liahona. God provided it to Lehi and his family to give them direction as they traveled in the wilderness toward the Promised Land. They had never been through this part of the wilderness, and they had no idea where the Promised Land was. Without clear direction, they could easily have gotten lost. In fact, since the Liahona worked only according to their faithfulness to the Lord, there were times when they stopped  heeding God, lost the guidance of the Liahona, and spent some time being hopelessly lost. The Liahona shows that we need to be faithful in order to receive God's guidance.

Shortly after Lehi finds the Liahona, Nephi's bow breaks, making it almost impossible for the family to hunt enough food. Many family members complain about their bad luck and how doomed they are and how they never should have left home. However, Nephi was faithful and diligent. He made a new bow, consulted the compass, and followed its directions toward food he could hunt for his family. This story shows that, even when difficult circumstances arise, God can help us get through them as we follow His directions and do our part.

And finally, the family reaches the ocean and have to sail across it to reach the Promised Land. The bad news is that none of them know anything about shipbuilding, but luckily, God does. The Lord gives Nephi directions, which he and his family then follow, and as a result, they are able to make a sea-worthy vessel that carries them across the ocean, through a storm, and into the Promised Land. Building a boat, especially a sea-worthy boat, would have been an impossible task for them without the Lord's guidance, but as they follow His plan, the family succeeded with miraculous results.

The combined message seems to be that, if we are faithful, the Lord can guide and direct us to accomplish difficult things, even things that would be impossible for us on our own. I like this message, and I especially like how it ties these three stories together. This should help make the lesson cohesive and succinct and thus easier for the children (and us) to remember and apply. Our circumstances aren't exactly like Nephi's, but we also have challenges that we may not be able to overcome on our own, and as we rely on God's guidance, he can help us overcome our challenges. The journey may still be difficult, but with God's help, nothing is impossible. We just need to seek His directions and follow them.