If I am supposed to "liken the scriptures" to my own life, I can start to ask the question, "How can I be more like Ammon, Aaron, and his brothers? How can I be more like a servant to those around me?"
Here are some steps that I gathered from that story:
- effort
- correlation
- listening to the spirit
- not waiting to act
- following through with good ideas
- being humble enough to do hard work
- sacrificing my own will
Effort
All of the missionary efforts of these righteous missionaries involved a lot of effort. They traveled from one place to the next. They endured some difficult times. They were not bumps on a log waiting for things to happen to them. If I want to be a good missionary, I too need to exert effort.
Correlation
As I illustrated in an earlier post, I really think that Ammon shard his missionary strategies with Aaron and his brothers. I think that's where Aaron got the idea to approach the King of all the Lamanites and offer to be their servant. Correlation meetings work best when they are people-focused instead of task-focused. When we talk about needs, feelings, and situations of individual people then that is when the spirit is able to influence us with ideas for the tasks that we need to be involved in. I can do this better in my calling. The individual needs of people for their own family history naturally involves these kinds of correlation meetings.
Listening to the spirit
It's important to mention that all missionary work is directed by the spirit. Who cares what we decide in a correlation meeting, if the spirit tells you to do something contrary to that, you should do it. It is imperative that we get used to listening to the spirit and recognizing personal revelation when we receive it.
Not waiting to act
Aaron and his brothers quickly went to find the King of the Lamanites. It was important for them to do that quickly while the King's heart was still soft enough to listen to their words. Waiting around is not good!
Following through with good ideas
This might seem exactly like the above idea, but it's slightly different because it's not just that we have to act quickly, it's that we have to move forward with the ideas that we already have. What I mean is, we don't have to have a perfect knowledge that our ideas about what we should be doing are inspired. We can simply press forward trusting that we are on God's errand, so he will prevent us from messing up too badly! I think God wants to let us stumble a little bit and try to figure out solutions to problems on our own. That's why he doesn't direct us in every single little detail, even though he knows those details and the solutions that will work. We can approach him for help, and we should go forward with confidence even without knowing for sure that it's "inspired." Personally, it's super irritating to me how often people bat around that term. I'm sure only going to use it when it's something I know with some kind of certainty, because I don't want it to be a manipulative church-speak phrase.
Being humble enough to do hard work
Aaron and his brothers were humble enough to offer their lives to the king as menial servants. In the same way, I can be humble enough to not run away from, avoid, fear, or try to get out of the tasks that I find particularly unpleasant. Such as answering email.
Sacrificing my own will
Aaron and his brothers were willing to submit both to God's will for them, and to the King's will for them. Basically, this kind of agency is about respecting the agency of others, and aligning your own will with God's.
Answer:
I think all of the above sound like a pretty relevant recipe for how to be a successful mother, to be honest.
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