I’ve cried a lot over the last several months. Someday, I hope to have the opportunity to share the detailed reasons why with anyone willing to listen. For now, allow me to turn to scripture to share, in this next series of blogposts, a very small snippet of things I’ve learned recently.
1 And now I, Moroni, proceed to give the record of Jared and his brother.
2 For it came to pass after the Lord had prepared the stones which the brother of Jared had carried up into the mount, the brother of Jared came down out of the mount, and he did put forth the stones into the vessels which were prepared, one in each end thereof; and behold, they did give light unto the vessels.
3 And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness.
4 And it came to pass that when they had prepared all manner of food, that thereby they might subsist upon the water, and also food for their flocks and herds, and whatsoever beast or animal or fowl that they should carry with them—and it came to pass that when they had done all these things they got aboard of their vessels or barges, and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God.
5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.
6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.
7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.
8 And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind.
9 And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.
10 And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water.
11 And thus they were driven forth, three hundred and forty and four days upon the water.
12 And they did land upon the shore of the promised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them. (Ether 6)
These verses will be the subject of a future YouTube video, for sure, because there are just so many good take-aways embedded in them.
However, for the purposes of this series of blogposts, I want to point out that the phrase “tears of joy” is found only once in scripture, and it’s there in verse 12. Now, that’s not to say that there weren’t times in scripture when individuals shed tears of joy—it’s just that that exact phrase is only used once to describe such an occurrence. The account of Jesus praying with the Nephites in 3 Nephi 17 is one that comes immediately to my mind and will be discussed in subsequent posts in this series.
But what does it take to get there? If we analyze what is happening to the brother of Jared and his company in those verses, it is easily seen. And, more importantly, we should be able to draw comparisons to events in our own lives that resemble the account found in these verses. Perhaps, most importantly, we should actually ask for and seek after the types of experiences that yield the tears that come with a fulness of joy.