Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Wise Man



  There is a popular children's song that is well known to church members around the world, called "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man". In the song it describes two men and their efforts to build their houses. The wise man builds his house a rock, and the foolish man builds his on the sand. All seems well until a storm comes, and it starts to flood. Now those of you from coastal areas of the world know that it is not a good idea to build a house right on the beach, because you have the possibility of water damage. The story goes on to describe how the wise man's house is immovable through all of this rain and flooding because of the rock it is built on, while the foolish man's house is washed away and lost.
This story is not only entertaining but also has some deep morals.  In The Book of Mormon there is a prophet named Helaman who talks about this. He talks about building our house on Christ because He is that sure foundation. He also says that doing this will help us withstand the "hail and mighty storms" of the devil. Think of the sand that the other man built his house on. It was not sturdy, it was ever changing like the world around us. How many of us get our feet knocked out from underneath us everyday because we have nothing to cling to that is strong and immovable?
This is a simple story like I said, but there is something to be learned from it. Compare yourself to these two men, which one are you? Are you building your life on Christ, our sure foundation, or are you following the world and getting thrown around by all the confusion that exists today? I know that by following Christs example and striving to do our best to follow Him, that we will be blessed. We can experience greater peace and happiness by following the council of a modern day prophet and apostles, and by studying the teachings of those in the past. "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation" - Helaman 5: 12


Read Helaman here: http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/hel/5.12?lang=eng#11http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/hel/5.12?lang=eng#11

Sing the complete song here:  http://lds.org/churchmusic/detailmusicPlayer/index.html?searchlanguage=1&searchcollection=2&searchseqstart=281&searchsubseqstart=%20&searchseqend=281&searchsubseqend=ZZZ