September Presidency Message

On the Plains of O No!!!  (Ono)

In the Old Testament, there is a fascinating story I would like to share with you.  Nehemiah was a Jewish official working in a Persian court.  He learned that the walls of Jerusalem still lay in rubble after being destroyed more than a generation earlier.  After praying, fasting and making sure his heart was right with the Lord, the Spirit prompted him to go to Jerusalem and begin repairing and fortifying the walls of this great city.  He enlisted other Jews to help him, who were mostly unsure of their ability to do the work (sound like us?), but the scripture records:  “And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.”  Once the effort was begun, a tremendous opposition surfaced, (familiar story, right?) which Nehemiah had to overcome.  At one point enemies to the cause begged Nehemiah to “come down” and meet them on the Plains of Ono, but Nehemiah knew better.  He knew they sought to do him mischief.  I think just the name of the Plain: O NO!!! (J) is enough to make you wary!  Wouldn’t the spirit warn us all to stay away from a figurative Plain of O Nooooo!!??  I love the fact that Nehemiah could not be deceived by their taunting and continuous efforts to get him to come down from the wall-building.  Instead he says to them:  “…I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?”   The enemies continued to try to taunt the workers to get them to stop their work by saying such things as, “Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done”.  What was Nehemiah’s response?  “Now therefore, O God, strengthen my [our] hands.”

As a new Relief Society Presidency, we desire to serve you and help you as the Lord would have us.   We feel this message from Nehemiah incorporates everything we would like to focus on.  We will seek guidance from the Spirit through prayer, fasting and putting our hearts right.   Our hope will be that we can all:

·      “Rise up and build…”  (each other, ourselves, the kingdom of heaven on earth)

·      “…I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down…”  (always engaged in good works)

·      Stay away from the Plains of O No! (what are the things we should avoid in our lives?)

·      “Strengthen My Hands”  (know that with the Lord’s help, we can do anything)

As you focus on these four points and incorporate them into your life, I know great blessings will come.  It will be felt in the ward, as well as in your personal life and family.  I love you, I believe in you, and I am so grateful to serve you at this time.

-Tracy Kleinhenz