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The role of things and the relationship between giving and gaining.
In Alma chapter 15 there is a man named Amulek. He was a wealthy man, well known and respected in his community. He had accumulated many precious things and a reputation he enjoyed and was proud of.
When he decided to follow personal direction he received from God, not everyone in his family nor all (maybe any?) of his friends supported him.
This was a deliberate choice Amulek made. But he may or may not have known what the cost would be in terms of wealth or reputation (do any of us actually know the full consequences of our choices when we make them?). And it was probably hard for him when he realized what he had lost. Or each time a new element was lost.
But he stood by his choice. And he later talks about the things he gained - increased knowledge, purpose in his life, a chance to help others find peace and God's love in their lives, and the support, friendship and mentorship of Alma.
It reminds me of a song, Through Heaven's Eyes, from the animated Prince of Egypt
A lake of gold in the desert sand
Is less than a cool fresh spring
And to one lost sheep, a shepherd boy
Is greater than the richest king
If a man loses everything he owns
Has he truly lost his worth?
Or is it the beginning
Of a new and brighter birth?
So how do you measure the worth of a man
In wealth or strength or size?
In how much he gained or how much he gave?
So how do you judge what a man is worth
By what he builds or buys?
There are two other examples of this I want to share, one from my life, and one from a book I recently read, When Time Stopped by Ariana Neumann.
A couple years ago I lived in Alaska. When it was time to leave I had a large box that was going to be quite expensive to ship. Compounding that was the fact that I wasn't sure how long I'd be in the next place I was going. Talking with one of my friends about it, she offered to store the box in her garage's attic until I knew where I wanted it shipped so I didn't have to pay to ship it twice. I gratefully accepted her gracious offer. That offer transitioned into her offering to drop it off at my parents house when she was in the same area visiting her family for Christmas.
Fast forward to now, I still don't have that box with me. And you know what? I don't even remember everything that was in it. If I never get that box back, I'll be just fine.
The example from When Time Stopped is very different because Ariana Neumann's grandparents did not choose to leave anything behind. They were forced to when they were deported from Prague to Teretzin.
Here is something Ariana Neumann's grandfather Otto wrote to his children after spending some time as a prisoner in Teretzin:
“In the short time since our separation, I have somehow forgotten all that I left behind with you. What used to be important seems now inane. I know you will not understand me, as I myself nowadays do not understand the life I left with you. It is all like a terrible dream. Live life well. This can only be appreciated by someone who has sunk so low into humiliation as I have.”
He is certainly not saying he is happy. But he is saying that his ideas about what is important have shifted. The changes in his present influenced what he valued from his past.
I do not want people to have to lose everything, either by force or some degree of choice. But, I do wish we could more fully heed Otto's advice to "Live life well" and I hope and pray we can begin to realize that our worth is not tied to the material things we have. That we are better off building than buying. That we start to measure our value and wealth more from what we give and less from what we gained.
It has been my experience and observation that when we seek to build and give, when we worry less about our material possessions and more about our relationships and character development, we find we have gained so much more than we gave. And that what we've gained can't be taken away from us.
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