I can picture righteous Jacob, trying to convince the Nephites more fully of Christ, just throwing his hands up at the end of his sermon. ⁣

“Just be mature and smart, and I won’t need to keep giving you directions on every little thing!”⁣

“O be wise; what can I say more?” (Jacob 6:12)

I feel like President Nelson can relate. ⁣

How exactly do we keep the Sabbath day holy?!

How do we gather Israel?!

How do we keep our covenants?!

Just be wise. ⁣

You have knowledge. Now, counsel with your Father in Heaven, and just make good choices. ⁣

I obviously don’t know exactly what the living arrangements in heaven will be like, but I like to picture myself living by righteous saints from all walks of life and all time periods!

Some kept the Law of Moses while on earth.

Some served missions for multiple years around the world.

Some saw Jesus.

Some had the Come, Follow Me program.

Some held church in a small isolated house. ⁣

There’s no single “right way” to do everything we are supposed to do. ⁣

Essentially, we have been told to “be wise”. ⁣

We use our knowledge of Sabbath day observance, scripture study, teaching principles, modern-day prophets, love of family, and so much more…⁣

And we apply those principles with as much spiritual maturity as we can. ⁣

This doesn’t mean perfection is our goal (or even attainable).

But we do our best to gather our knowledge and seek for wisdom.

We study correct principles, and then we figure out how they are going to realistically and wholeheartedly apply to our lives.

If we are doing this, then we are choosing to be wise.

And there’s not much more to say.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Just be wise!  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Am I showing good results as a member of the Lord’s restored gospel?

I try to study my scriptures each day.

Say prayers.

Serve others.

Fulfill my calling.

Keep the sabbath holy.

It can start to become too much. I can start to become weighed down.

Yes, it’s good fruit.

But when it starts to outgrow my roots, that’s when there’s a problem.

When I study the olive tree allegory, the Lord of the vineyard seems the most concerned with two parts of His olive trees:

The roots

AND

the fruit.

“And this I do that, perhaps, the roots thereof may take strength because of their goodness; and because of the change of the branches, that the good may overcome the evil.” (Jacob 5:59) 

Sometimes, I’m so focused on producing “good fruit” that I forget it’s impossible to do so without strong roots.

And roots need constant nourishment.

Instead of just checking off my scripture study for the day, I try to really connect with God and feel the Spirit in order to nourish my soul.

I turn off the fun TV show and listen to a conference talk, really focusing on connecting with God.

I find meaning in my church service instead of just getting things done.

And it makes a world of a difference.

When I feel “exhausted”, I’m usually not taking care of my gospel roots. I’m usually only focusing on the “good fruit” that other people might see.

But when I start taking care of nourishing my “roots” a lot more, feeding them a steady stream of scripture, doctrine, and goodness, guess what starts to happen?

When my roots are strong, my “fruit” is naturally good, too.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Roots and branches  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

He was doing his best. ⁣

Preparing powerful sermons, sharing meaningful allegories, listening to the Spirit’s promptings. ⁣

But many of the Nephites still were not fully converted unto Christ and righteous living. ⁣

And then Sherem came. ⁣

He was smart. He was flattering. ⁣

He convinced many people to fall away from the gospel of Christ. ⁣

This was surely making the situation worse, right?! ⁣

Jacob’s prayers were not being answered. ⁣

Jacob and Sherem met. Sherem said there is no Christ. Jacob said there is. Sherem asked for a sign. Sherem “fell to the earth” for many days. ⁣

When Sherem woke up, he asked for all the people to be gathered together so he could speak to them before he dies. ⁣

The multitude came to listen to Sherem. ⁣

Sherem spoke about the reality of Christ. The power of angels. Of the Holy Ghost. ⁣

And the people listening were overcome by the power of God. They all fell to the earth. ⁣

The result when they woke up?⁣

“Peace and the love of God was restored again among the people; and they searched the scriptures”⁣. (Jacob 7:23)

Jacob’s prayers were answered. ⁣

“Now, this thing was pleasing unto me, Jacob, for I had requested it of my Father who was in heaven; for he had heard my cry and answered my prayer.” (Jacob 7:22)

In a completely unexpected way. ⁣

Things had to get much, much worse in order for the prayer to be answered. ⁣

But the prayer was answered.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The worst answered prayer  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Even though this lengthy allegory’s interpretation covers the entire earth and thousands of years, and could take hours of dissection and analysis…

I want to focus on what we can learn about God.

What does He do in this allegory of an olive tree?

“And it came to pass that the master of the vineyard went forth, and he saw that his olive-tree began to decay; and he said: I will prune it, and dig about it, and nourish it, that perhaps it may shoot forth young and tender branches, and it perish not.” (Jacob 5:4)

God wants to save.

He wants to save me!

He wants to give me as many chances as He possibly can.

He will not give up on me.

He will graft, prune, and dig.

Which is very arduous work.

But He is willing to do on my behalf.

He will help me get nourishment.

He’ll weep when I do not produce good fruit.

He’ll rejoice when I do!

As Elder Kearon so eloquently put, “God is in relentless pursuit of you.”

The allegory of the olive tree can be so overwhelming and complicated to dissect all at once.

But this allegory becomes so special and personal when we look at what we can learn about the nature of God.

It shows the great lengths that He will go, out of love, to save each person.

You are worth saving!

You are worth Heavenly Father’s time, effort, and attention, even more so than the olive tree.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post My olive tree lesson first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.