Tight Like Unto A Dish

To my son,

Today in Primary you talked about the Jaredites and their voyage to the promised land on barges. You brought home the paper you colored and used that to create a replica of the barges and waves and their trip across the ocean. You used your building skills to create that, just like the brother of Jared used his to create the original barges. This is one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon because it shows both how the Lord can help us in our challenges and how we need to work hard to do the things he asked. The brother of Jared and his family had traveled a long way and came to the ocean. After they had been there for a long time, the Lord gave the brother of Jared these instructions: “Go to work and build, after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built.” Sometimes the Lord wants us to work and to build to the best of our abilities. And so that’s exactly what the brother of Jared did: “And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did go to work, and also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they had built, according to the instructions of the Lord. And they were small, and they were light upon the water, even like unto the lightness of a fowl upon the water” (Ether 2:16). The Lord gave the brother of Jared instructions and inspiration, but he still had to do the work. It must have taken a very long time to build all eight of the barges, and I would guess they had many challenges to overcome as they sought to build these vessels that would take them safely to the promised land. The Lord blessed their efforts and they built barges capable of withstanding the storms they would encounter.  

Here is a description that Moroni gave us of the barges: “And they were built after a manner that they were exceedingly tight, even that they would hold water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish” (Ether 2:17). This gives us a key detail about the barges: they were waterproof. A “dish” is of course something that we eat food on, and certainly if we had a dish that leaked we would not use it for very long! Somehow they found a way to make these barges which were probably made of wood to be so tight that they didn’t let in any water. That must have been an incredible engineering feat. I think there is powerful symbolism in this for us: our lives should be “tight like unto a dish” in that we don’t let in the evil influences of the world. We should “tightly” hold to the commandments of the Lord and strive with all our hearts to keep those in order to protect ourselves from the power of the adversary. We should never compromise our gospel standards even when the world tempts us to do so—that would be like intentionally putting a hole in our own boat! As we strive to follow Him and do all we can to “go to work and build,” He will direct our lives such that “the wind [will] never cease to blow towards [our] promised land” (Ether 6:8). I know that you have a desire to follow Jesus and do those things that He would have you do, and I urge you to always put His commandments first in your life. Then your life too can be tight like unto a dish in the face of all the temptations around you.

 

Love,  

Dad