The Gardens of Our Hearts

There are many times in scripture when you and I are compared in metaphor to the trees of an orchard or the grain of the field. One such occasion is in the third chapter of Matthew when John the Baptist preaches in the wilderness of Judea. John's growing popularity had become a concern for the ruling classes who had gained power and wealth by subjecting the people to often ridiculous additional rules and regulations cloaked as inspired additions to the Law of Moses.

Speaking to these ruling classes, but also to all of us, John declared: "If ye receive not [the preaching of him whom God hath sent] in your hearts, ye receive not me; and if ye receive not me, ye receive not him of whom I am sent to bear record; and for your sins ye have no cloak. Repent, therefore, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance" (JST Matthew 3:34-36).

Like a tree or a staff of grain, each of us bears the fruit of our labor. Worthy actions and desires are equivalent to good fruit in the metaphor. John reminds us that true repentance includes receiving God's word in our hearts and then changing our actions so that we may again be worthy of the Lord's harvest. Lest we think we can repent half-heartedly or offer impure fruits to the Lord, John reminds his listeners that "the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire" (Matthew 3:10).

A lot can be and has been said about how we can change our actions, but John's repentance flowchart dictates that we focus first on planting the right seeds in good ground or, in other words, cultivating righteous desires in our pure, receptive hearts. This is also the focus of another agrarian metaphor, the Parable of the Sower, which Christ shared with an audience similar to John's. In the parable, which could also be called the Parable of the Soils, a sower goes out to plant seed in his field. Some of the seed falls into the road, some onto rocks, some into patches of weeds and some onto good ground where it can grow strong and bear fruit.

Two of the soils in this parable-- the rock and the road-- are hard and impenetrable. People with similarly hardened hearts may appear do everything right on the surface, but ultimately are unable to produce good fruit because they lack the depth of conviction and the ongoing spiritual nourishment to support their testimonies through tough questions or a difficult season in life.

Likewise, if we plant desires in our hearts that are not consistent with the word of God, even if they seem to be good at the time, we may find one day that the fruit we hoped to grow has been suffocated by other plants. The Savior taught that "where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also" (Matthew 6:21). We cannot plant our fields with corn and then be surprised when there's no wheat to harvest.

Elder Ardern recently reminded us that planting the right seeds in our hearts requires our attention and intention. "With the demands made of us," he said, "we must learn to prioritize our choices to match our goals or risk being exposed to the winds of procrastination and being blown from one time-wasting activity to another" (A Time to Prepare, October 2011). If we truly desire the things of God, we may find it necessary to do a little weeding from time to time to keep our growth on track.

Finally, the prophet Alma expounded how to plant the right desires in our softened hearts. "If ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart," he taught, "behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves-- It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me" (Alma 32:28).

He continues, "If ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life. And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst" (Alma 32:41-42).

In the words of Elder Oaks, our "desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming" (Desire, April 2011). The desires we plant in our hearts determine the fruit we will eat now and in eternity.

Each of us has many desires competing for our attention each day. Some, such as desires to meet physical needs, may be strong without much effort from us. Others depend more heavily on our nurturing. In all cases, the desires we consider most important are most likely to be transferred into action. This includes overriding compelling physical desires to go camping, to fast or to work through the night; or allowing unrighteous desires to overcome our want of health, honesty or virtue.

Of course, ultimately we decide what desires are allowed to take root in our hearts; but the Lord has promised that we will yield the fruits of what we plant. "A just God," Alma taught, "granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life" (Alma 29:4).

From the farmer's point of view it may seem obvious that planting the right seeds in good ground is essential to yielding a profitable crop, but very few inherit such conditions. What do we do when we find patches of rocky or weed-filled ground in our garden? How can a person change what they treasure or have already planted in order to eventually harvest that field of wheat or orchard of delicious fruit?

Around the turn of the 20th Century, Robert Butchart moved from Ontario to Vancouver Island, Canada. He was among the first to develop and sell cement that could be packaged in sacks rather than barrels and Vancouver Island's rich limestone deposits were an integral part of his formula. He constructed his first quarry and cement plant in 1904 and would soon become a primary supplier of cement to rapidly developing cities from San Francisco to Seattle.

Robert's wife, Jennie, was the company's chemist. She was also a homemaker who cared very much for the sweet peas and roses planted at her family home near the quarry. As the limestone deposits were exhausted, Jennie determined to create something of beauty from the enormous pit that mining had left behind. She had tons of topsoil carted in to line the bottom of the abandoned quarry. Then she began to plant.

Jennie Butchart planted terraced flowers, white poplars and Persian plums. As more deposits were exhausted, she planted a Japanese garden and ivy that climbed up the quarry walls. She planted Tibetan blue poppies, California Redwoods, a private garden, a rose garden and two Italian gardens. Robert collected ornamental birds for the gardens and began assigning cement plant staff to help with weeding and maintenance. Little by little the garden grew and with growth came notoriety.

Today, Butchart Gardens is one of the five most renowned gardens in the world. 550 staff care for the 55-acre garden that receives more than a million visitors annually from around the world. Tourists come to tour the gardens, to take in an outdoor symphony concert or fireworks show, to ride the carousel with their kids and to enjoy the wonderful and awe-inspiring natural scenes unique to Butchart Gardens.

We may feel at times like our hearts, in whole or in part, are as hard and empty as an exhausted mining quarry. It may seem impossible to grow anything good or that all or part of us is just destined to be an empty limestone pit. While these feelings may be very real for us and even duly justified, they are tragically limited in their scope. We too often see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today; but our Heavenly Father, Elder Wirthlin has taught, sees us in terms of forever. Like Jennie Butchart, He looks at the empty hole in our hearts, sees the majestic gardens we can grow and then makes it possible for us to start planting.

Inevitably, we will all have to lay down some new soil from time to time. We do this as we decide we want to want to. In Alma's words, "behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words" (Alma 32:27). We break apart the stony ground and prepare it for planting as we set aside our cynicism in order to hear and feel the testimonies of the faithful.

The scriptures speak about this change in terms of what we seek. "When people [in the scriptures] are described as 'having lost their desire for sin,'" Elder Oaks has taught, "it is they, and they only, who deliberately decided to lose those wrong desires by being willing to 'give away all [their] sins' in order to know God." The Lord has taught that we should seek earnestly the best gifts (D&C 46:8) and that we will find what we diligently seek (1 Nephi 10:19) and consistently pursue.

When we have prepared our hearts and aroused our faculties to live the teaching of the gospel the best we can, our desires will sprout and begin to grow. We will begin to see how paying tithing, serving others and living the commandments beautifies our lives. We will defend time dedicated to studying the scriptures, serving others and building family relationships against even the most appealing intrusions and continue to nourish righteous desires through our faith and persistent effort.

"What we insistently desire over time is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity," Elder Maxwell has taught. "Only by educating and training our desires can they become our allies instead of our enemies" (According to the Desire of [Our] Hearts, October 1996). Every day the world will try to influence our desires to buy something, click on something, play something, read or watch something. We must consistently seek to refine, purify and elevate our desires; to train them to be wheat instead of turning to corn.

As we plant more of the word of God in our hearts, we will be increasingly able to see what the completed garden will look like. The vision of what we can become will increase our desire and power to act enormously. Like Jennie Butchart, we will want to plant more gardens and to share what we have found with others. The transformation in our hearts will be as if we had been born again.

Along the way, we will learn a simple formula that will help us receive the blessings we seek from the Lord. The formula is recorded by Enos, among many others, who prayed "with many long strugglings" for his cousins, the Lamanites, "and labored with all diligence" to that end. The Lord recognized Enos' desires and efforts. "I will grant unto thee according to thy desires," the Lord responded to Enos' prayers, "because of thy faith" (Enos 1:11-12).

It is by grace we are saved after all we can do; and it is the faithful combination of our righteous desires and diligent efforts that will yield the blessings of the Lord, including the fruits of repentance, peace and prosperity that will enrich our lives on earth and forever after. "Let us remember," Elder Oaks taught, "that desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. In addition, it is our actions and our desires that cause us to become something, whether a true friend, a gifted teacher, or one who is qualified for eternal life."

The Spiritual Value of Work

On a cold Winter day in Wiesbaden, Germany, two missionaries knocked on the door of a dear sister. The frozen world around them lie in perfect stillness for several long seconds and it seemed as though the cold had frozen time itself. Finally, they heard the rattling sound of the door being unlocked and a slow creak as the aging woman opened it wide. Joyful greetings ensued and the sister welcomed them into her home.

The missionaries and a member of the local congregation took their normal places on the far couch and the woman brought in the same fruit tea and cookies that had become customary for their visits. She'd been meeting with the missionaries for several weeks now, often multiple times each week, and felt the spirit of God as they visited.

She had similar feelings when she had attended church with them and as she read assigned passages from the Book of Mormon, so there was no need to hesitate during today's visit when the missionaries asked if she knew the Book of Mormon was true. "Yes," she told them. She knew it was. She knew her prayers had been answered. She knew Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the true and living church of God on the earth. She knew it; and she told them so.

"If you know these things are true," one of the young missionaries asked, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized for the remission of your sins, as a covenant that you will follow the Savior, and for membership in Christ's church?"

It was quiet for a moment as the woman pondered her response. The second missionary reassured her and testified of the blessings she would receive from living the commandments of God that she had had been taught over the last several weeks. Though warm inside the small apartment, time again seemed to freeze for several moments. Finally came the reply.

"No," the woman said, "I cannot. It is too hard."

The missionaries did their best to respond, to encourage, to support, and to inspire. The woman agreed with all they said, but returned again, firmer this time, "It's too hard." More visits, more church meetings and more fellowship were ultimately pushed aside by an unwillingness to overcome, to grow, and ultimately, to work.

Willingness to work had been in abundance decades earlier when economic disaster left one in four workers in the United States and Europe unemployed. It wasn't just the economy that went through a Great Depression in these days. With the lack of work came abandoned families, plummeting birthrates and suicide rates that spiked by more than 50 percent in 1929 and remained high for over a decade.

Conditions declined rapidly around the country. Farmers that couldn't afford to harvest their crops saw them rotting on the vine. Governments scrambled to find resources to combat starvation. Homelessness grew increasingly common as cardboard-box "Hoovervilles" sprang up across the nation's cities. Desperate women contributed to a rise in prostitution and desperate men led to increased theft and alcoholism.

American morale was perhaps the lowest it has ever been when Franklin Roosevelt became the nation's president on March 4, 1933. Less than three full weeks into his term, Roosevelt announced the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to be "used in simple work". The CCC would plant nearly 3 billion trees and build more than 800 parks across the nation, but more important than the material gains of that work, according to Roosevelt, was "the moral and spiritual value of such work". Though the depression would continue for seven more years and be followed by four long years at war, Americans at work saw lower suicide rates, lower crime rates, and higher fertility rates. Americans at work beat back depression with the glowing fire of hope.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught that, "Work is always a spiritual necessity even if, for some, work is not an economic necessity." Elder D. Todd Christofferson expounded:

By work we sustain and enrich life. It enables us to survive the disappointments and tragedies of the moral experience. Hard-earned achievement brings a sense of self-worth. Work builds and refines character, creates beauty, and is the instrument of our service to one another and to God. A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves, orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires.



Work is a gift from our Heavenly Father. He describes His plan for the happiness and salvation of His children as "my work and my glory-- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39, emphasis added). All that he does so lovingly and redemptively is, nevertheless, work; and he takes joy in the accomplishment of his work.

Likewise, God has given unto us that we should act for ourselves (2 Nephi 2:16). When Adam was cast out of the Garden of Eden, the ground was cursed for his sake, and ours as well, that by work we may know the joy of achievement and that our character may become more like that of our Father in Heaven (Moses 4:23).

Our work and our glory will be as average or as extraordinary as we make it. Many of the things we want but do not have in life remain outside our grasp because we have not yet done the work to receive them. Like a great athlete, most of the points, rebounds, assists, tackles, goals and home runs of our lives will be the result of long hours of painstaking practice and hard work. The bulk of that practice will always be on our own, away from the coach. Victory comes through personal diligence and commitment. The view of a champion, and the victory that surrounds him  or her, must never be overshadowed by the long process of becoming one. There is a time of preparation and a time of victory. The second mile of hard work is what makes the difference between the exhilaration of achievement and the acceptance of mediocrity (Elder F. David Stanley, April 1993).

Of necessity then, we must realize that there are different kinds of work and that all work is not equally valuable. Each of us has a different mix of professional work, school work, church work, family work, work on service projects and other kinds of work for our individual circumstance and season in life. Each form can stretch our talents, but Elder Maxwell cautions that blessing of work includes the challenge of orchestrating and appropriate balance of our work so that some forms, like professional work that may keep us late at the office, do not dominate the others. "Whatever the mix of work," he counsels, "the hardest work you and I will ever do is to put off our selfishness. It is heavy lifting!"

Work is honorable. It is good therapy for most problems. It is the antidote for worry. It is the equalizer for deficiency of native endowment. Work makes it possible for the average to approach genius. What we may lack in aptitude, we can make up for in performance (Elder J. Richard Clark, April 1982). Each of us is capable of extraordinary things if we are willing to work "with all [our] heart, might, mind and strength" (D&C 4:2).

Living To Be Happy

Three short chapters after Lehi declared that "men are that they might have joy", Nephi reports that his people, now distanced from his dangerous, short-tempered brothers, lived "after the manner of happiness" (2 Nephi 5:27).

At first glance, Nephi's life may not look particularly happy. His father and mother had passed away, he lived in the wilderness where hard work was required to survive from year to year and he made swords in his spare time to defend his family from his brothers who would attack from time to time.

Obviously, those aren't likely the details to which Nephi referred. Instead, consider this list of behaviors that he mentions in that same chapter. As you read, contemplate which of these you are doing, which you could do better and how your life could be happier. Nephi reports:

All those who would go with me were those who believed in the warnings and the revelations of God; wherefore, they did hearken unto my words (v. 6).

We did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes, and the commandments of the Lord in all things (v. 10).

The Lord was with us; and we did prosper exceedingly; for we did sow seed, and we did reap again in abundance. And we began to raise flocks, and herds, and animals of every kind (v. 11).

I, Nephi, had also brought the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass; and also the ball, or compass, which was prepared for my father by the hand of the Lord (v. 12).

We began to prosper exceedingly, and to multiply in the land (v. 13).

I, Nephi, did take the sword of Laban, and after the manner of it did make many swords, lest by any means the people who were now called Lamanites should come upon us and destroy us (v. 14).

I, Nephi, did build a temple (v. 16).

I, Nephi, did cause my people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands (v. 17).

I, Nephi, was desirous that [my people] should have no king; nevertheless, I did for them according to that which was in my power (v. 18).

By doing these things, Nephi writes that his people found happiness. The same principles can be likened to us today. As we live the gospel, we can be happy despite whatever else may be going on in our lives.