Opportunities

Alma 43:9
“And now the design of the Nephites was to support their lands, and their houses, and their wives, and their children, that they might preserve them from the hands of their enemies; and also that they might preserve their rights and their privileges, yea, and also their liberty, that they might worship God according to their desires.”

I would like to focus on the line, “support their lands, and their houses, and their wives, and their children...”

Land belongs to an individual, and he is free to do with it as he pleases.

Land could thus represent opportunity. We receive opportunities, and we are free to leave them to grow weeds, or plow and plant and build on them to grow skill and talents, education and resources.

Houses represent such. With houses we create homes, we build families, we design refuges from the challenges of life. Our talents in life do the same: houses represent the talents and resources in our disposal.

Wives are mentioned first in this verse, of apl people. Wives complete us men in purpose and identity. Wives become the most important person to us in mortality. Our priority is to God becaue God's priority is to the spousal relationship. His goal is to perpetuate the relationship by supporting it with principles and commandments with which we can use our talents and resources in the realms of obedience and agency – doing many good things out of our own free will.

And children. Need I say more than to mention the skills and character needed in the raising of a child? Almost anyone can create a human, but it takes a truly dedicated parent to give that child life.

This verse teaches us that the successful marriage and family is built upon how we treat the opportunities placed in our path. Do we maximise our learning experience from them? Or do we shrug many off?

It is left as an exercise to the reader to relate this to themselves.