“By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. …
“… And by very small means the Lord … bringeth about the salvation of many souls”
Alma 37:6-7
To read about how I was inspired for this picture keep reading below.
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I was so exited to be asked to join this circle of such talented women, but with that came the pressure of finding the perfect scripture and then interpreting it in an amazing and thoughtful way. All this month I knew I needed to be focusing on finding the scripture that spoke to me but hadn't been having any luck. Then while sitting in church a week and a half ago the scripture above from Alma was read, and I immediately knew it was my scripture. It is one that I have always liked, have always felt hope and encouragement from. Before I could even start to formulate how I was going to express it in a picture, the speaker went on to relate this following story from a talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard . . .
"How can we free ourselves from this tangled web of challenges and uncertainties to find peace of mind and happiness?
Oftentimes
we are like the young merchant from Boston, who in 1849, as the story
goes, was caught up in the fervor of the California gold rush. He sold all of his possessions to seek his fortune in the California rivers, which he was told were filled with gold nuggets so big that one could hardly carry them.
Day
after endless day, the young man dipped his pan into the river and came
up empty. His only reward was a growing pile of rocks. Discouraged and
broke, he was ready to quit until one day an old, experienced prospector
said to him, “That’s quite a pile of rocks you are getting there, my
boy.”
The young man replied, “There’s no gold here. I’m going back home.”
Walking over to the pile of rocks, the old prospector said, “Oh, there is gold
all right. You just have to know where to find it.” He picked two rocks
up in his hands and crashed them together. One of the rocks split open,
revealing several flecks of gold sparkling in the sunlight.
Noticing
a bulging leather pouch fastened to the prospector’s waist, the young
man said, “I’m looking for nuggets like the ones in your pouch, not just
tiny flecks.”
The
old prospector extended his pouch toward the young man, who looked
inside, expecting to see several large nuggets. He was stunned to see
that the pouch was filled with thousands of flecks of gold.
The
old prospector said, “Son, it seems to me you are so busy looking for
large nuggets that you’re missing filling your pouch with these precious
flecks of gold. The patient accumulation of these little flecks has brought me great wealth.”
I was captured by the story and the seed for this picture was planted. The necklace was a gift to me from my Grandpa when I was a girl. He panned the flakes and made the necklace. It has always been special to me and I love that now every time I look at it I will be reminded of the message of this scripture and be lifted up.
