Walking Around Inside Myself

When I was a missionary in the California, my mission president would often recite a quote he read once from a church magazine: "One must spend time walking around inside himself to answer the hard questions in life." I love the imagery of the quote; it denotes pondering, meditating, and carefully planned thought processes in order to find the answers.

As I was reading The Book of Mormon this past week, the story of the brother of Jared caught my attention. In the first few chapters of Ether, Jared and his family have traveled to the water's edge where the Lord commands them to build ships. Upon building the ships, they discover that there is no way to have light while in them, so the brother of Jared goes to the Lord to find out what they should do. The Lord's response is almost surprising. Instead of giving the brother of Jared the solution or a direction to go, He simply asks, "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?"---essentially asking, "Well, what do you think?"

The brother of Jared came up with a solution of special, clear rocks that permeated light once touched by the Lord. The solution he came up with was acceptable by the Lord. By the same token, I believe that sometimes, instead of searching for God to give me an answer to a problem, I need to take a step back, ponder on what could be a solution, and then go to the Him, asking for confirmation that the solution is correct. In this fashion, I am able to progress and learn as I "walk around inside myself" searching for what the Lord would have me do.