Bringing Hope

This morning I was reading in Alma 56 and I came upon a scripture that reminded me of a powerful lesson I learned on my mission. The scripture is Alma 56:16-17. It describes the effect Helamen's reinforcement of 2000 stripling warriors had on the warriors of Antipus. It says,

"16 Yea, and they were depressed in body as well as in spirit, for they had fought valiantly by day and toiled by night to maintain their cities; and thus they had suffered great afflictions of every kind.
17 And now they were determined to conquer in this place or die; therefore you may well suppose that this little force which I brought with me, yea, those sons of mine, gave them great hopes and much joy."

On my mission sometimes I unrighteously judged other missionaries especially older ones that I saw as having lost their missionary fire. I thought myself better than them and judged them without trying to truly understand why they were the way they were. However, one day when I read this story on my mission I realized that many of these missionaries were just like Antipus's soldiers.

Just like these soldiers these missionaries had fought valiantly, but many of them suffered great afflictions in the course of their mission, whether it was beloved investigators disappearing the week before baptism, or maybe terrible news from home or difficult circumstances, all of these missionaries I had judged were simply struggling because of afflictions they had faced.

I'm sure when Helamen's stripling warriors saw the warriors of Antipus and the state they were in they had no judgement, only respect for the valiance with which they had fought. The soliders' afflictions were very clear and present before their eyes. However in these days many of the afflictions and struggles the people around us go through are unseen to us. We see their struggling, but not their afflictions.

If we act with love towards our struggling family and friends and treat them not as unworthy, but rather as struggling because of their valiance in fighting a great battle we can see them and their struggles with love. And that is when we will be able to truly help lift their spirits as the stripling warriors did.