Remember the Overarching Vision

The second principle in getting through adversity is to remember the overarching vision of life and honour the small missions given you.

“Without vision," the proverb says, "the people perish."

When adversity strikes a visionless life, then—like our hero’s travelling companion—we are apt to head to safety and warmth rather then walk through our trial.  

Our hero in the swamp had a vision towards which he was working; it propelled him through adversity.  “We should not permit,” he said years later, “…[anything]…to draw us aside from pursuing the great object which God has sent us to perform.”

What was our hero’s ‘great object’ and is it ours as well?

Our Hero’s Vision

A brief foray into literature related to and written by our hero unearthed an intriguing pattern of vision—“Seek first the kingdom of God [or ‘to build the kingdom of God’, as Joseph Smith translated it] and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Intriguing to me because what appears to be a general commandment is transformed into a overarching vision and life mission.

He had been given a stewardship, a sacred responsibility and trust, to build the kingdom of God.  To him this encompassed the literal visions of the Old Testament prophets.  This was an epic work.   

“Our aim is high,” he later said, “our destiny is high, and we should never disappoint our Father, nor the heavenly hosts who are watching over us. We should not disappoint the millions in the spirit world who, too, are watching over us with an interest and anxiety that have hardly entered into our hearts to conceive of.

“These are great and mighty things which God requires of us.”

Sitting in the alligator swamp this majestic vision kept the young man turned toward Memphis.  There were people in Memphis who needed the vision he had been granted.

Small Missions in an overarching Vision

"Your work," the Lord told the early Saints, "is to keep my commandments."  That was the overarching vision that our hero was committed to.  His goal was heaven.  But between where he was and where he fully intended to be there was a world full of irritations, mishaps, lack, poverty—and other adverse conditions.

And so the overarching vision is spanned by small missions.  Missions to not just get through the adversity--but to be refined by the struggle.  To stretch and find, contrary to our immediate belief, that we don't break in the stretching. For example…

Rebekah…called to leave her home and family to marry an unknown cousin—her mission: trust God’s sending.

Job…lost his comfy retirement, his family and his health—his mission: retain integrity.

Esther…her fairytale existence threatened by duty to her people—her mission:

speak with courage.

Paul…shipwrecked and floating in the sea for three days—his mission: hang on.

Peter… distracted from walking on water by fear—his mission: reach for the Master and cry for help.

Nephi …finds his plans to retrieve the Lord’s word failed miserably—his mission: follow the Lord’s plan instead.

Without these individual's ‘small missions’ their life work would never have been accomplished. 

The Joys of Mission

[The joys of mission.] These are what I call right-track feelings,” Truman Madsen says. “The sense that no matter where we are or what we are doing, we are on the Lord's errand--that we are serving Him even in trifles. The conviction is that where you are is the best place for you to be as long as you need to be there. This applies even to sickbeds and dentists' chairs…

In the Church, our purr word is active, and it is of course crucial. But even if we are partially disabled--and we are, most of us, in various ways--even then, if the heart is continually filled with righteous desires, they themselves are transforming. The activity Christ most cares about is within us amidst the bustle. In short, wherever we are can be a pleasant place if Christ approves us there and attends us there.”

Even an alligator swamp.

So...what is the overarching vision of your life?  What 'small missions' have you been entrusted with?

Further Reading (or Listening)

“What is your Mission?” by John Groberg

“The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength” Truman Madsen

“What is your calling in life?” Jeffrey Thompson 

"Fulfilling the Measure of your Creation" by Patricia T. Holland