The Wilderness

This past week in Brother Griffins class we have been going over the first couple chapters in 1 Nephi. It wasn't until my mission that I could see the powerful teachings that are found in the first 15 chapters or so of the book of mormon, but just like any chapter in the Book of Mormon it takes an honest effort by the reader to pull the most out of it.
Taking this class, even though we've only had 3 class periods, has reminded me of the depth of study one can have while reading the Book of Mormon. I'd like to focus on one verse that is found in 1 Nephi 2:4.

And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and ^adeparted into the wilderness.


In class Brother Griffin talked about the wilderness being the "growth zone". We talked a little about this topic but since then I have been thinking more about this comparison. To begin with, what is wilderness? How could we define wilderness? According the Nephi, wilderness is leaving home, leaving comfort, riches, friends, familiarity and more. I believe there are a couple different levels of the this "Wilderness" in our lives. The largest level would be the Plan of Salvation. We are here on earth in our growth zone. We are in an unfamiliar world, away from our home and comfort, being tested but we have what we need in order to "survive". Lehi took his family with him, provisions and tents. He had what he needed to survive in this zone of discomfort. Just like Lehi, we have the resources to help us survive and grow here on the earth. Another level would be the trials that we face here on this earth. Trials cover a huge range of the Wilderness. That could include starting a new job, going on a mission, school, losing a loved one, moving to an unknown area or anything else that could be a trial. These are what stretch us, make us, help us, and overall teach us. We all have our own wilderness's that we go through everyday, wether big or small, we all have them. These zones are opportunities for us follow Gods Plan for us so that we can become what we need to to fill our roles in His great Plan. I think there is one section of this "Wilderness" that can help all other sections. Our own weaknesses. If I am going to improve my own weakness it has to be my choice. No one else can do that for me. Weaknesses scare us. We are afraid of failing, messing up, not doing good enough but this is precisely what makes us stretch, improve and learn. That is exactly what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for, to help us improve our weaknesses and that is exactly what the Book of Mormon teaches.
Lehi's example is great. It teaches us that in order to gain something, we must give up something. In order for Lehi to receive the promise land, he had to give up his own land, gold, silver, precious things and his home. In order for us to become like Our Father in Heaven we had to give up our heavenly home for a time. We see this pattern throughout scripture and the history of the Church. So when it comes down to it, I should ask myself, which of my weaknesses is impeding me to do better, to not fail, to not mess up, to grow. We are afraid of entering our weaknesses because often it is unknown territory, unfamiliar, and dark. It takes courage to enter and work on them. In Lehi's example we have two famous examples, Nephi and Laman and Lemual. They both "entered" but they had two different experiences. We can enter and work at it day by day, or we can enter and complain and murmur about it and still have to do the same things without any results. They all helped build the ship, but i'm sure Nephi's faith grew more than Laman's. Our weaknesses effect every aspect of our lives, which I think is a good thing. Here are a couple examples: Patience, if I work on patience, then my home life could improve because I could develop better skills of communication and then the Spirit could be more of an influence in the home with less contention. Missions; service mends problems. If I work on serving my companion then we will have a better relationship which allows the spirit to be with us more.
There are so many examples, view points, options, and results we could come up with. Improving weaknesses means improving character which improves situations.

We shouldn't be afraid of the wilderness. Eventually we will have "explored" all of the wilderness and will know it perfectly.