Reflections

For this weeks prompt, we were asked to reflect on our examination of pages 381 and 639-649 of the Joseph Smith Papers. As unusual as it may seem, I took a lot more interest in page 381 than in the large section of pages we were supposed to read. Pages 639-649 were rather interesting, just not attention grabbing. At least not for me. These pages had the minutes from a meeting in which the high counsel of the church was organized. I understand the importance behind this meeting, but it had a very political feeling to it, and I have difficulty thinking through things politically.

Page 381 had a very different style. The part that we were supposed to be examining was the statement at the top of the page stating that the High Counsel had been organized that day. This is interesting because it wasn't until nearly 300 pages later that they places the information from that meeting into the revelation books. The rest of the page is what really stuck out to me though. It was one of those doom's day sort of revelations where it talks about the civil war that would soon break out and the famine and natural disasters that would occur before Christ came again. Maybe it's just my depressed attitude lately, or maybe it's because of all the stuff going on in the world as earthquakes destroy cities, but for some reason this portion of the page that I wasn't supposed to be focusing on really hit me. The revelation ends with "Wherefore, stand ye in holy places and be not moved until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly." The way the revelation ends just hit me really hard. It talks of death and destruction and fear, but it ends with a simple message of how to deal with all of it.