Made in....Zion?



Will our stamps say "made in Zion" or "made in Babylon"?

So I read something in Nephi chapter 18 that stood out to me. My old companion had pointed it out to me weeks ago but this time it hit me again really hard. Nephi has been asked by God to build a boat. He's never in his life built so much as a raft and yet he gets to work. His brothers mock him and refuse to help but after some help from the Lord and by bearing testimony to his brothers they decide to help him. What I love though is how Nephi begins to build. It says in 1 Nephi 18:2-3 " Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men. And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things."
What stood out to me in this was that Nephi did not build the boat "after the manner of men" but in the way the Lord showed him. How did he do this? By frequently praying to God for guidance. In our own lives we are not asked to build boats, but we are asked to build our lives. Today there are so many "manuals" available to us on how we can build our lives. Self-help books, T.V. shows from Oprah to Doctor Phil, examples from celebrities, expectations of the world, and so many other sources. The question is who will we look to build our lives after?

When I was in middle school I had a class project. We were put in groups of five or so students and given a certain number of toothpicks. We were asked to build a bridge 6 inches long by tomorrow using just those toothpicks and some glue. Tomorrow the teacher would rest 5 pounds on the bridge and if it held we would pass, if not; we would fail. He then showed us a little video clip of bridges that have been built around the world. The video highlighted the triangle and how it was used often in architecture because it was one of the strongest formations out there. After the video we were set to work. As you can guess pretty much every group began to madly cut up their toothpicks and make them into triangles. Soon there were elaborate schemes and structures being sketched and discussed all about the room. I sat there looking at the scene and wondered; how was our group going to build our bridge. Grades have always been important to me and so I looked around confused and scared-how was I to build my bridge? I quickly said a silent prayer and waited. Suddenly a voice in my head said "don't use the triangle. Set a layer down horizontal then a layer on top going vertical. Do as many layers as you can this way". Immediately I knew that was how to build the bridge. I asked my group for their OK and although a little nervous, they agreed. We were done in minutes and we then had all class period to look out over the rest of the groups. Being finished so soon made us all nervous and as more and more groups finished their bridges we realized how different and odd our bridge looked. We were all nervous, and we all went home wondering; would our bridge hold?
The next day my stomach was in knots. Naturally, our bridge was tested last. We saw some bridges hold and others break and as the hour went on I was sure our bridge would fail. I could imagine how everyone would laugh at our bridge and how mad my group would be for my hair brain idea. Finally the big moment came. Our teacher placed our bridge across a gap made by two textbooks and placed the five pound weight on the bridge. I closed my eyes waiting for the sound of a snap. When I heard none I opened my eyes and saw that our bridge was in tact; strong, firm, and erect. Our teacher smiled and grabbed another weight. Time after time he piled more and more weight on that bridge and it never broke. It got to the point that the surface area was too small to add any more weight and he declared our bridge "unbreakable".

That experience has stood out to me since then. I realized then how God works in our lives. We, like Nephi, have a choice. We can build our lives after the manner of the world or after the manner of God; it just depends on where we go to get our advice and direction. Will we turn to the world or will we turn to God in prayer and study of His word? I often think of toys and how they have stamps on them "made in USA" or "made in Taiwan" or "made in India". The principle is the same in our lives. Every day we make choices that will determine our stamp, and when we are finished will ours say "made in Babylon" or "made in Zion"? It just all depends on who we let manufacture our lives.