It Was Good

In the most recent general conference, Elder Steven D. Shumway spoke about our opportunity to help do God’s work on earth. He said, “As we participate, we progress toward ‘the measure of [our] creation.’ We learn this pattern in the account of the Creation. After each day of labor, God acknowledged the progress made by saying, ‘It was good.’ He did not say the work was finished nor that it was perfect. But what He did say was that there was progress, and in God’s eyes, that is good!... As we labor with God in whatever way He asks, we grow into the measure of our own creation. God rejoices in our progress, and so should we, even when we still have work to do.” I love that idea and this lesson that comes from the Creation story. Six times we read in Genesis 1 that “God saw that it was good” as He considered the work completed in the creation after each day. If it were me, I think I would have said something like this after the first day: “Well, it looks like we’ve got a little light, but there is so much more to do! Who’s working on the fruit designs? Nobody relaxes until we get water and land and plants and animals just right. This place is so far from being inhabitable by humans—let’s get to work!” But instead of being overwhelmed by what has not yet been done, the Lord in the creation took the time to appreciate what had been accomplished and found joy in the smaller successes. This wasn’t done from pride but from a genuine appreciation for what had been accomplished under the Father’s direction.

            We see an example of appreciating success along the way in the story of Lehi and his journey. The Lord commanded them to leave Jerusalem and travel to the promise land with his family. That was quite a large task to undertake! After they made just the first leg of the journey, we read, “And it came to pass that he built an altar of stones, and made an offering unto the Lord, and gave thanks unto the Lord our God” (1 Nephi 2:7). I would have been thinking about how much further we needed to go (they still had a major desert, and ocean, and ten years of traveling to get through). But Lehi took the time to thank the Lord and express his appreciation for what they had been able to do thus far, and the enormous amount of work that was in front of him did not stop him from looking back and recognizing the good that had already been accomplished. We need to learn to find joy in the journey and appreciate the small successes even when it seems the tasks ahead of us are too large.

            I love what the Lord told us in this generation, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you; And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours” (Doctrine and Covenants 78:17-18). We can be of good cheer even when the blessings we seek seem so far away from us. As we make any progress, we can be happy with what we have done, even if there is so much left to do, and say with the Lord: “It is good.”