12/5/2018 - Section 126:1-3

December 5, 2018

Section 126:1-3

Church Service, Callings that Prepare Us, Learning Opportunities, Learning Takes Time and Devotion,

This section consists of 3 verses, all directed to Brigham Young. The apostles have been on missions in Europe for some time, and now—July 1841—they are beginning to return. It’s interesting that the study manual says that Brigham Young was now able to spend more time with his family than he had been able to in the previous several years, and then it says that he was near to his family and the prophet 28 of the last 36 months of Joseph’s life. That means he was still absent from his family 8 months, which was 25% of those last 3 years. I always think if the demands on those early saints: the prejudice that was against them, the multiple moves and in the end…moves that also involved much peril and sorrow and deprivations and other severe life impacting situations. Add to that the amount of time the leaders were away from their family—these times were more difficult for a longer time than I ever imagined. I feel sure that there were also times of enlightenment and comfort and answered prayers—but I can see how the individual saints could seek for good and for the Lord’s help OR become discouraged or despondent and feel that no church should cause this much disruption in their lives. And yet I also know that that small group had all the forces of Satan attacking them.

The study manual also points out that this time that Brigham Young spent in Joseph’s presence was a time of training and learning for him and for his future role a the next prophet. He spoke of that time: “In the days of the Prophet Joseph, such moments were more precious to me than all the wealth of the world. No matter how great my poverty—if I had to borrow meal to feed my wife and children—I never let an opportunity pass of learning what the Prophet had to impart.” I’m certainly no apostle, but at this time, with all the communication wonders of the world, I should be more diligent in doing exactly what Brigham Young did. I can, with a few strokes on my computer, bring up President Nelson’s talks…and talks of all the apostles who are serving now, and those who served and taught and are now no longer living. A decision to spend, even a bit of time in that pursuit, could change the depth of my everyday living.

11/2/2021 – D&C 126

On July 9, 1841, Joseph visited Brigham Young, who had just returned from his final mission which had been in England. In Brigham’s first five years as a member of the Church, he had served missions throughout upper Canada, in New York and in other eastern states. He had been part of Zion’s Camp journey from Ohio to Missouri. It was at that visit that D&C 126 was given. After 5 years of missionary work, the Lord told Brigham that “it is no more required at your hand to leave your family as in times past, for your offering is acceptable to me. I have seen your labor and toil in journeyings for my name. I therefore command you to send my word abroad, and take especial care of your family from this time, henceforth and forever.”

Brigham served with all his might, and his family went through many significant hardships while he was away from home. During Brigham’s absences, his wife, Mary Ann, moved the family from Montrose, Iowa Territory to Nauvoo where she constructed a log home with blankets hung over the doors and windows to keep out the elements. The day Brigham had left for his final missionary work—this time in England—it was just 10 days after Mary Ann had given birth to their 4th child, and she was also still suffering from malaria. This was the 8th time since they had been married that they had been separated for Brigham to serve his missions. Both Brigham and Mary Ann had always trusted that the Lord would provide for them. The Lord’s statement here didn’t mean that Brigham had completed all the work that Heavenly Father had required of him.  There was MUCH more ahead for that family. How kind this scripture was, for it gave them reassurance that the Lord felt they had all worked and that work had been well done.

I came across an interesting account of Brigham Young. We often hear of his uneasy friendship with Emma, and of his ‘bull dog’ tendencies, but this gives us another view of Brigham: “At age 23 he married [his first wife,] Miriam Angeline Works. Two daughters were born to them. Brigham supported his family by making and repairing chairs, tables, and cupboards and installing windows, doors, stairways, and fireplace mantels. …“When Miriam contracted tuberculosis, Brigham assumed much of the burden of her work in addition to his own. As she became progressively more bedridden, he regularly prepared breakfast for the family, dressed his daughters, cleaned up the house, and ‘carried his wife to the rocking chair by the fireplace and left her there until he could return in the evening,’ when he cooked supper, got his family into bed, and finished the household chores [Susa Young Gates and Leah D. Widtsoe, The Life Story of Brigham Young (1930), 5]. His experiences in his youth and early marriage in caring for children and managing a home taught him much about family cooperation and housekeeping. Years later he counseled the Saints on these subjects and teasingly boasted that he could beat ‘most of the women in [the] community at housekeeping’ [Deseret News Weekly, Aug. 12, 1857, 4]”

Elder Neal A. Maxwell spoke about the Lord’s reassurance in OUR lives: “Obviously, our imperfections make God’s full and final approval of our lives impossible now, but the basic course of our life can be approved. If we have that basic reassurance, we can further develop faith. Once our direction is correct, we can give attention to pace. There are various and specific duties in the ‘course of life’ which go with (and help us to keep) the commandments. These duties are usually quite measurable and are quite familiar. They include partaking of the sacrament, attending meetings and the temple, praying, fasting, studying the scriptures, rendering Christian service, attending to all family duties, being involved in missionary work and reactivation, doing genealogical work, paying our tithes and offerings, and being temporally prepared. … When we perform these measurable duties properly, they produce a series of highly desirable results which are less measurable but very real. Indeed, when we have personal, reinforcing spiritual experiences, they will almost always occur in the course of our carrying out the duties just named. Further, carrying out these duties will entitle us to an ever-increasing companionship of the Holy Ghost.”