We do not travel alone

On the Lord’s Errand

By Emily Freeman

Jacob 5:2 – Jacob 6:6

Yesterday we read a line that I can’t stop thinking about…

“Wherefore I, Jacob, gave unto them these words as I taught them in the temple, 

having first obtained mine errand from the Lord.”  (Jacob 1:17)

I am good at errands.

I go to the store with a list of grocery items quickly scribbled by Meg.

I am on her errand school lunch supplies, snacks, and favorite dinner items.

Then I am off to the auto shop to drive home the old blue ford pickup.

I am on my husband’s errand now allowing him to stay at work just a few minutes longer.

When it is late afternoon I make an unexpected run to the junior high sports fields.  Grace forgot her lacrosse goggles.  I am on her errand ensuring she will be safe during practice today.

I can’t help but think of Jacob as I journey.  His errand was from the Lord …and he did magnify his office, taking the responsibility, teaching them with all diligence, and laboring with all his might.

I wonder if I have set aside any time in my day for an errand from the Lord.

It is as I read the words of Zenos quoted by Jacob in chapter five that I begin to understand

what an errand from the Lord might look like.

Perhaps it will require pruning, digging, and nourishing.
I am not a farmer, but I have life experiences that look like those three words…

I think of what it means to prune and words like adversity, repentance, and change come to mind.

In my mind the digging symbolizes preparing a way for the nourishment to come.  …setting aside time to read my scriptures, attending church, and going to the temple might be errands that could help me accomplish this.

Nourishment is what I get when I arrive at those places if I have prepared my heart.

There is a phrase repeated several times within this chapter…with all diligence…with all our might.
I wonder how different my errand from the Lord would look if I did it with all diligence…with all my might.

My study, my worship, my serving.

Within the top margin of this chapter I have one sentence written…what could I have done more?

It causes me to reflect.

Now I take time to really ponder my errand from the Lord…as a wife, as a mother, as a teacher, as a Saint.
Have I performed my responsibility with all diligence, with all my might?

What could I do more?

My life focus changes.  My perspective adjusts.

The Lord knows what I could do.  He knows how I might do it.
After all, it is His errand I am on.

I take the promise found at the end of the chapter to heart, “And blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me…behold ye shall have joy with me.”  (Jacob 5:75)

The best part of being on the Lord’s errand is that we do not travel alone.

He has promised to labor with us.
He has also blessed us to experience joy therein.

What does your list of things to do look like today?

Have you left a little room for an errand with the Lord?