Lessons from a famous story

There once lived not far from the River Indus an ancient Persian by the name of Ali Hafed. He said that Ali Hafed owned a very large farm; that he had orchards, grain-fields, and gardens; that he had money at interest and was a wealthy and contented man. One day there visited that old Persian farmer one of those ancient Buddhist priests, one of the wise men of the East. He sat down by the fire and told the old farmer how this old world of ours was made.

He said that this world was once a mere bank of fog, and that the Almighty thrust His finger into this bank of fog, and began slowly to move His finger around, increasing the speed until at last He whirled this bank of fog into a solid ball of fire. Then it went rolling through the universe, burning its way through other banks of fog, and condensed the moisture without, until it fell in floods of rain upon its hot surface, and cooled the outward crust. Then the internal fires bursting outward through the crust threw up the mountains and hills, the valleys, the plains and prairies of this wonderful world of ours. If this internal molten mass came bursting out and cooled very quickly, it became granite; less quickly copper, less quickly silver, less quickly gold, and, after gold, diamonds were made. Said the old priest, “A diamond is a congealed drop of sunlight.” Now that is literally scientifically true, that a diamond is an actual deposit of carbon from the sun.

The old priest told Ali Hafed that if he had one diamond the size of his thumb he could purchase the county, and if the had a mine of diamonds he could place his children upon thrones through the influence of their great wealth. Ali Hafed heard all about diamonds, how much they were worth, and went to his bed that night a poor man. He had not lost anything, but he was poor because he was discontented, and discontented because he feared he was poor. He said, “I want a mine of diamonds,” and he lay awake all night. Early in the morning he sought out the priest. I know by experience that a priest is very cross when awakened early in the morning, and when he shook that old priest out of his dreams, Ali Hafed said to him:

"Will you tell me where I find diamonds?”

"Diamonds! What do you want with diamonds?”

“Why, I wish to be immensely rich.”

“Well, then, go along and find them. That is all you have to do; go and find them, and then you have them.”

“But I don’t know where to go.”

“Well, if you will find a river that runs through white sands, between high mountains, in those white sands you will always find diamonds.”

“I don’t believe there is any such river.”

“Oh yes, there are plenty of them. All you have to do is to go and find them, and then you have them.”

Said Ali Hafed, “I will go.”

So he sold his farm, collected his money, left his family in charge of a neighbor, and away he went in search of diamonds. He began his search, very properly to my mind, at the Mountains of the Moon. Afterward he came around into Palestine, then wandered on into Europe, and at last when his money was all spent and he was in rags, wretchedness, and poverty, he stood on the shore of that bay at Barcelona, in Spain, when a great tidal wave came rolling in between the pillars of Hercules, and the poor, afflicted, suffering, dying man could not resist the awful temptation to cast himself into that incoming tide, and he sank beneath its foaming crest, never to rise in this life again.

_____

The man who purchased Ali Hafed’s farm one day led his camel into the garden to drink, and as that camel put its nose into the shallow water of that garden brook, Ali Hafed’s successor noticed a curious flash of light from the white sands of the stream. He pulled out a black stone having an eye of light reflecting all the hues of the rainbow. He took the pebble into the house and put it on the mantel which covers the central fires, and forgot all about it.

A few days later this same old priest came in to visit Ali Hafed’s successor, and the moment he opened that drawing-room door he saw that flash of light on the mantel, and he rushed up to it, and shouted:

“Here is a diamond! Has Ali Hafed returned?”

“Oh no, Ali Hafed has not returned, and that is not a diamond. That is nothing but a stone we found right out here in our own garden.”

“But,” said the priest, “I tell you I know a diamond when I see it. I know positively that is a diamond.”

Then together they rushed out into that old garden and stirred up the white sands with their fingers, and lo! There came up other more beautiful and valuable gems then the first. “Thus,” said the guide to me, “was discovered the diamond-mine of Golconda, the most magnificent diamond-mine in all the history of mankind, excelling the Kimberly itself. The Kohinoor, and the Orloff of the crown jewels of England and Russia, the largest on earth, came from that mine.”

Had Ali Hafed remained at home and dug in his own cellar, or underneath his own wheat fields or in his own garden, instead of wretchedness, starvation, and death by suicide in a strange land, he would have had ‘acres of diamonds.’

In our lives I think too often we are like the man Ali Hafed in this story. We allow the adversary (much like the priest) to tell us all about diamonds and how much they are worth. He will tell us that joy and happieness are to be found outside of the gospel truths we know to be true. But that is simply not the case! We have the gospel of Jesus Christ, the pearl of great price, all we need to be happy in our own backyards. We just have to remember to dig in our own backyards and stick to the truths of the gospel.

Pursuit of Charity -- "Give me ALL your fishes"

I've had a story on my mind the last few hours and i want to share it. I feel like it is something that teaches a powerful principal of charity. What has been on my mind is the popular new testament story of when Christ miraculously feeds the five thousand. I had a friend who talked to me about this story, he told me something that has stuck with me and for some reason as of late has been playing over and over in my head, so much that i feel compelled to write about it. The account tells of how Christ is able to feed 5,000 people with only five loaves and two small fishes. Only one of the stories authors (to my knowledge) tells where these five loaves and two fishes come from. In the Book of ST John it tells us that they come from a young man. VS. 9 "there is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?" This is the verse that has been on my mind. I feel like there is a real lesson of charity to be learned from this story. Why would Christ ask the young man for his bread and fish? He is the son of God, if He wanted don't you think he could simply have commanded the rocks at his feet to become bread? Or perhaps summoned fish out of thin air... Why did he need the boys food? I personally feel that he is using this to teach us something. I think its a lesson of consecration, what are we willing to give to the savior. Are willing to give all of our "fishes" and all of our "bread" to the savior? I have often, especially when asked to do seemingly hard things, pictured the Lord coming to me and saying "give me all your fishes". Its a thought that reminds me to always be willing to give of myself for the Lord. He may not need my fishes, but if I am willing to give them to him, He can make so much more out of them than I ever could alone! He can feed a lot of people with my fishes and my bread. What a great lesson for the pursuit of charity

The Pursuit of Charity

1 JOHN 4:19 "We love him, because he first loved us"

Charity has been defined in so many ways by different people, but of all the definitions that i have heard my favorite is that Charity is "Perfect and Everlasting Love". Charity is the love that Christ has for us, as well as the kind of love that we should have for each other. Of course getting to a point in our lives where we have that much selfless love for others is not an easy task. Charity requires a lifelong pursuit! I'm writing this blog in order to put down in words some of the thoughts that come to me in relation to the pursuit of charity. For any who read this, my hope is that you will be able to overlook my obvious weakness in writing, and find something in the thoughts I have written that will be of worth to you.

Becoming Selfless in Pursuit of Charity

The first thought that comes to my mind when it comes to the pursuit of charity is selflessness. I don't think we can ever really have charity until we are able to forget ourselves and focus on those around us. One of Satins greatest tools is to get us thinking so much about ourselves; our wants, our needs, our trouble, that we forget to serve others. We must be willing to surrender what we want for what is of real worth. the adversary is good at making the cares of the world seem so important, but if we take a minute to think about what is really important in life I think that our time can often be spent in the pursuit of much better things. I have sometimes caught myself thinking thinks like "if I take the time to do this... for him, I will not have time for this...". Though serving others does require some sacrifice, I think it's important to remember that when we let the lord use our time He can accomplish much more with it than we ever could otherwise. The goal is "ultimate submission". I have heard it said that our wills constitute all we really have to give God. Everything else that we have is already His! But our own personal will He will never take from us, we must choose to give it to Him. In return God promises that the fully faithful will receive "all that [He] hath'! In light of that eternal truth giving up my petty concerns and selfish desires to serve others becomes much easier. My Dad often says (Speaking of life) "We are all in this thing together" I love that statement. We are not alone, we are all here together, and we are here to help each other succeed! The man content to get to heaven alone will never get to heaven!