A Very Thought Provoking Dream
This week we read about a dream that Lehi had known as the dream of the Tree of Life. My wife and I read 1 Nephi 8 and our kids drew what they imagined Lehi had seen. From the image above it is evident that everyone imagined it a “bit” differently. Even I saw it differently this time as I had in the past.
To me it’s interesting that the Lord decided to relay this gospel lesson to Lehi in a dream. Dreams let us step out of reality and have experiences that don’t make a whole lot of sense but are packed with imagery and feeling that at times can be hard to shake even after we wake up. It is pretty clear that this dream shook Lehi and was so full of incredible scenes that drove Laman and Lemuel to think on them and even more Nephi to want to see the same things his father saw.
As we read and drew and colored ( and of course, a heavy dose of brother and sisterly love…) I was able to come away with some thought provoking things that I have been pondering this week.
One of them takes me back to what Nephi said to his father after learning that the Lord wanted him and his brother to go back and get the plates. It wasn’t the “go and do” part but the “the Lord shall prepare a way” part. When we read about the river and the path and the mist of darkness and the iron rod, I was able to see that the lord in his mercy provided a way for the people to make it to the tree.
The path that Lehi saw ran along the river. If it were not for this path then there would be no safe place to walk to avoid falling into the depths of the river.
The rod of iron as described by Lehi connected the field to the tree and was found within the mist of darkness. If a person was to find and hold onto the rod they would be able to reach the tree even in darkness.
The lord provided a way to avoid the river and to navigate through the mist of darkness. He did this to help those that chose to make their way to the tree, providing a way to accomplish that which the lord commands. I had never put the river and the path together and the rod and the darkness together but had always seen them as individual things in the dream. But they are connected, in the mercy of the Lord they were provided, however it was an individual’s choice to chose to walk on the path or hold onto the rod of iron.
As we will learn next week that the tree represent the Savior, and as I have not seen Him and do not dwell in his presence, I know that I am somewhere between the field and the tree. I can ask myself where along the path am I? Am I holding to the rod? Are my steps going forward or backwards? However, I do know that I can surely hear the river water and am enveloped in the mist of darkness.
This life is downright not fun sometimes, there are highs and lows and really low lows. We may feel that we are not only in darkness but also in a deep hole that is impossible to the climb out of. During periods of my life I have seen myself holding fast to the rod looking out towards the tree and then sometimes looking back at the great and spacious building.
I remember listening to a talk of a recently returned missionary where he explained a phrase that I have never forgotten, it was the phrase “It’s the Direction, not the Position”
I take this to mean that it doesn’t matter where we are along the path. It doesn’t matter if we are 10 feet or 10 miles from the tree. As long as we are on the path and holding to the rod and in the right direction the Lord will get us to where He wants us to go.
He wants us at the tree! He wants us partaking of His goodness! The tree is Him, the fruit is Him! He beckons us to follow Him and has provided the means to find our way back to Him. We must choose to walk His path and hold tight to his words.