All Good in their Place

  

When we think of the challenges that the early Church faced, we don't often think of the spring of 1849 and the California Gold Rush.  But I believe that event was almost as daunting as any challenge faced by the early Church faced.  News of the gold first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley sometime between April and June in 1848.  The news that seemed to set the whole world in motion was particularly tempting to the Saints who had endured that first miserable winter in the Valley.  Because no Saints had arrived in the valley until July in 1847, supplies had been dangerously scarce that first winter, leaving many disenchanted with their new desert home.  Needless to say, California's fertile lands, temperate climate, and mineral riches attracted many of struggling Saints.  When Brigham returned to the Valley later that year, he began warning the Saints of the dangers of going to the gold fields.  Indeed, his discourses between October 1848 and June 1849 contain multiple warnings to the Saints.  While the majority of the Saints listened to Brigham, some still set their sights on California's riches.

In the midst of these struggles, as Brigham and the other leaders were trying to hold the Church together in the Valley, Brigham had a significant dream.  He retold the dream as follows:

“You will perhaps recollect a dream I had in the  spring of 184[9], when so many were going to California.  It seemed as though the whole community would be carried away with the spirit of gold, which caused much anxiety in my mind and enlightened my understanding.  I dreamed I was a little north of the hot springs, with many of my brethren, among some scattered timber. I thought of sending to Captain Brown’s, on theWeber river, to get some goats, which I had previously bought from him; but while I was conversing with the brethren, I thought the Prophet Joseph Smith came up to us, and I spoke to him. I thought I would send for my goats which I had purchased from Captain Brown, and brother Joseph started off to the north, and I thought very likely he would purchase the whole of brother Brown’s stock; but I felt quite reconciled, if he did. I thought I stood there some time talking with the brethren, when I looked up towards the road on my right, and behold I saw brother Joseph returning, riding on a waggon without any box to it; but it had a bottom of boards, and on these boards there was a tent and other camping implements, &c., as though he had been on a journey of some length. He alighted from the waggon, and came to where we were standing. I looked, and saw, following the waggon, an almost innumerable flock of sheep of all kinds, sizes, colours, and descriptions, from the largest, finest sheep I ever saw, down to the ugly decrepit dwarf. The wool on the large ones, I thought, was as white as snow; then the next smaller ones had also nice fine wool on them, and some where black and white; others had coarse long wool upon them, approximating to hair; and so on, until they became a mixture of goats and sheep. I looked on the strange flock and wondered. While I was looking, I asked Joseph what in the world he was going to do with such a flock of sheep, and said to him, “Why, brother Joseph, you have the most singular flock of sheep I ever saw, what are you going to do with them?” He looked up and smiled, as he did when he was living, and as though he was in reality with me, and said, “They are all good in their place.” This is the dream.”

I believe there is great value in Joseph's short statement, "They are all good in their place."  Sometimes we want everyone to look and act and believe the same.  We want every member to be a rock solid member of Zion without any struggles and problems.  I believe that the Prophet's message to Brigham and his message to each one of us is simple:  Not all members are alike and not all of them are at the same place in their lives, but they are all important and essential members of the flock.  Sometimes we just need to be happy that people are there, even as we work with them (and they with us) to help us grow into what we ultimately need to become.

I'm grateful for a Shepherd who has loved me and worked with me in spite of all my flaws and imperfections.  More than that, He has laid down His life for me.  What a blessing our membership in this Church and our knowledge of that Shepherd truly is!

Brett