The Devotion of Reepicheep

One of the most endearing characters in the Chronicles of Narnia is Reepicheep, the courageous little mouse who was the leader of the Narnian talking mice.  He was one of the characters in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and he was determined to make it to the end of the world where Aslan’s country supposedly was.  Their ship was the Dawn Treader, and they sailed east through various adventures in uncharted waters, and Reepicheep never feared the storms or sea monsters or darkness or a host of other difficulties that caused the others to tremble.  Near the end of the book they reached an island which is at the “beginning of the end of the world,” and the crew discussed whether or not to continue forward into the unknown.  They were told that when they reached the “utter east” one of them would have to be left there to never return, and the brave mouse immediately volunteered.  Reepicheep then said this about his determination, “My own plans are made.  While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader.  When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle.  When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws.  And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan’s country, or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise and Peepiceek will be head of the talking mice in Narnia” (chapter 14).  Ultimately his determination was to make it to the land of Aslan, the Christ figure, and nothing could prevent his giving his all to do so.  His devotion to arrive at all costs is precisely how we should feel in our discipleship, that nothing will stop us from giving our all to serve the Lord. 

                 The scriptures teach that the Lord wants a Reepicheep-like devotion from us in serving Him.  In mortality He said, that the “first and great commandment” is this: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matt. 22:37-38).  This was really a quotation from the Law of Moses, which says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deut. 6:4-5).  In the Book of Mormon, Nephi put it this way: “And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out” (2 Nephi 25:29).  Amaleki also exhorted us to give everything to the Lord in our discipleship: “I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end” (Omni 1:26). In our dispensation the Lord renewed this charge: “Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:5).  The Lord wants us to give our all our might, our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength in our service in the kingdom, to let nothing become more important than our devotion to the gospel.  I love the way He encouraged John Whitmer, “And your whole labor shall be in Zion, with all your soul, from henceforth; yea, you shall ever open your mouth in my cause, not fearing what man can do, for I am with you” (Doctrine and Covenants 30:11).  We are to seek Zion—to work to become the righteous people of the Lord—with that same unfailing devotion that Reepicheep sought for the end of the world.