For my mission preparation class, we were challenged to read Jacob 5 closely. As I did, I realized something. It's something I've known, but for whatever reason, this time it had extra force.
This story has a happy ending.
Jacob 5 is, of course, the allegory of the olive tree. It shows the trees, tame and wild, and the fruit, bad and good. We are the fruit and the master of the vineyard is the Lord. The chapter chronicles the Lord's efforts in His vineyard to gain a good harvest, with good (righteous) fruit. It is a story of humanity. As I read through the end, it really hit me for the first time that this story, our story, has a happy ending.
"And it came to pass that when the Lord of the vineyard saw that his fruit was good, and that his vineyard was no more corrupt, he called up his servants, and said unto them: Behold, for this last time have we nourished my vineyard...and I have preserved the natural fruit, that it is good, even like as it was in the beginning...and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard." (Jacob 5:75-76)
It ends well!
This is so important to me, that this story, our story, my story, ends well. We can find joy.
"If you ever feel your burden is too great to bear, lift your heart to your Heavenly Father, and He will uphold and bless you. He says to you, as He said to Joseph Smith, "[Your] adversity and [your]afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if [you] endure it well, God shall exalt [you] on high." (President Uchtdorf, "Your Happily Ever After," May 2010)
The other important part of Jacob 5, that fits in well with President Uchtdorf's talk, is the middle. The part where the vineyard is constantly back and forth between bad and good . This is the part of life that I think we are all intimately familiar with. This is normal life. Things go back and forth between being good and bad- we go back and forth between being good and bad.
"Sandwiched between their "once upon a time" and "happily ever after," they all had to experience great adversity. Why must all experience sadness and tragedy?...The scriptures tell us there must be opposition in all things, for without it we could not discern the sweet from the bitter...Adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way. Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy."("Your Happily Ever After")
The world is filled with "bad fruit" and if we let it get to us, we too will become bad. But if we stand strong, we can be the good fruit that lasts through the days to the happy ending that we have been promised. Dan Clark spoke at today's devotional in the Marriott, and he talked about how we become like the people we spend time with. He compared it to putting one sick and one healthy child in a room together- you will get two sick children. (Brother Clark's talk was really good, I may do a separate post on parts of it).
This is coming down to the same thing that I've said so many times before: If we do our best and work our hardest towards the light, then we will reach our happy ending. We will be able to live with our Father again, as long as we strive to get there.
So don't stop moving forward! Don't give up, because if you keep moving, you will get a happy ending.
