The chapter talks about fasting, and what the blessings are. It talks about the gifts of the earth, and how we're called to appreciate them and use them well.
This can't be the gem. When I was little, I used to loathe fast sunday because, well, I'd starve. There was one day when as a teenager, I couldn't make it. I (on sunday) drove to the local McDonalds. I had to get something in my gut! I felt bad breaking my fast, but it was worth it I thought. I felt bad doing it on a Sunday, because we're not supposed to make others work on a Sunday. All that said, I was starving! So I pull up the local McD, and go in for a small burger. I don't remember if I ordered the small burger to minimize the purchase, or because a small burger was all I could afford, but I think it was probably a bit of conscience. If I contribute minimally to the profit margin, that's less motivation for the business to stay open on Sunday, right?
It was logic that worked for me at the time.
So that's me. That's my background. Fasting is painful. It's denial of what you want. It's starving so you can prove to yourself that you can. There's an element of spirit over body, but mostly it's always felt like, well, like "ugh".
And now back to the current day. Doctrine and Covenants 59:14. "Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer".
Now sometimes the Lord hides key words in deep corners, and you have to search for the key meanings. He allows you to search deep in the caverns, and hands you those golden eggs when you hunt far enough to find them. At those times, both the golden egg and the successful hunt become very rewarding.
This is not really one of those times.
The Lord very clearly substituted fasting for rejoicing. What? How? I don't get it! I don't rejoice when I fast - I usually starve. Whatever the Lord meant, that message doesn't click with me. Unless it's meant to. Unless that's why I was drawn to this part of the page in this chapter.
Why would rejoicing and fasting be the same? Because we remind ourselves that it doesn't all just come naturally because we're breathing? To remind ourselves that those things we eat, wear, or use are blessings from our Father? That egg, or piece of toast isn't just something we mindlessly eat because it's there, and it fills the gut while we're doing something else - it's a gift. It originates from mother earth, which originates from our God.
It's a time to appreciate not only the bowl of cereal, but our clothing, the wood on the floor we're standing on, the roof above our heads. The water we can drink, even that light bulb! How many gifts of God does that light bulb represent? The glass, the filament, the power, the technology, the list could go on. Those small things we forget? Those are gifts to us, and there is reason to celebrate them.
So if I'm understanding that my bowl of cheerios is a gift, and that I'm surrounded by other gifts, and I can see them now because I'm not taking one of them for granted (for a day at least), then I'm grateful. And if I'm grateful for each of the 1000+ gifts around me in any given room? I guess that's rejoicing.
May we all rejoice in the "small" gifts that surround us. May we defeat the body with our spirit. May we not just survive that day, but grow our spirits and our gratitude in the same way that a mushroom cloud expands. These are gifts our Father can provide - but only if we allow Him to provide them.
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