We may not see the promised land
but our children will.
Thought
Every time I read The Book of Mormon I find myself reflecting on the death of Ishmael in the wilderness. Ishmael was obedient to the invitation of a prophet and friend to journey toward a promised land; a land which he never saw, but believed was there.
Whilst Ishmael did not see the promised land, his decision to follow a prophet ensured that his children, grandchildren and many generations thereafter did.
Sometimes we will not see or be the one’s who will eat and enjoy the fruits of our righteous actions of today. But our posterity will be.
How many of us are enjoying gospel fruit from the spiritual trees our ancestors planted, perhaps long before we were born? As we harvest and enjoy, we must continuously care for the orchard of faith that we inherited, we must nurture the existing trees and plant new ones, or else our orchard will become unfruitful and of little use to us and our posterity.
Quote.
Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order f nature and the existence of free wills involve, and you find you have excluded life itself.
- C.S. Lewis (The Problem of Pain, p.25)