Prosper

Prosper.  Don't we all want to prosper?  We want our lives to be filled with abundance.  We feel "prosperous" when our needs are met and there is nothing lacking.  

And as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we have read the Lord's promise in the scriptures:

Mosiah 2:22 
And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

As a young woman I took those words literally.  I was sure that as long as I was living the Gospel the best I could, the Lord would make sure I was prosperous, lacking for nothing.  

Actually I was sure that He was required to provide me with every need.  I had this scripture as evidence of that.

D&C 82: 10

I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.

It was so easy to believe that the result of good choices would be overwhelming blessings, wealth and prosperity.  

After all, wouldn't you say to prosper means to be prosperous?

Life is not as easy as that.  One of the best books I ever read was Rabbi Harold Kushner's "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People".  He helped me to become a more thoughtful person, centered on understanding how life's trial become a blessing in our lives and help us to grow.  I have a more mature faith as I have changed my definition of the word "prosper".

Here are some quotes from the book.  You will see how they changed my thinking.

“Pain is the price we pay for being alive. Dead cells—our hair, our fingernails—can’t feel pain; they cannot feel anything. When we understand that, our question will change from, “Why do we have to feel pain?” to “What do we do with our pain so that it becomes meaningful and not just pointless empty suffering?”

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“What did I do to deserve this?” is an understandable outcry from a sick and suffering person, but it is really the wrong question. Being sick or being healthy is not a matter of what God decides that we deserve. The better question is “If this has happened to me, what do I do now, and who is there to help me do it?”

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“We can't pray that God make our lives free of problems; this won't happen, and it is probably just as well. We can't ask Him to make us and those we love immune to diseases, because He can't do that. We can't ask Him to weave a magic spell around us so that bad things will only happen to other people, and never to us.

People who pray for miracles usually don't get miracles, any more than children who pray for bicycles, good grades, or good boyfriends get them as a result of praying. But people who pray for courage, for strength to bear the unbearable, for the grace to remember what they have left instead of they have lost, very often find their prayer answered.”

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“God does not cause our misfortunes. Some are caused by bad luck, some are caused by bad people, and some are simply an inevitable consequence of our being human and being mortal, living in a world of inflexible natural laws. The painful things that happen to us are not punishments for our misbehavior, nor are they in any way part of some grand design on God's part. Because the tragedy is not God's will, we need not feel hurt or betrayed by God when tragedy strikes. We can turn to Him for help in overcoming it, precisely because we can tell ourselves that God is as outraged by it as we are.”

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“We don't have to beg or bribe God to give us strength or hope or patience. We need only turn to Him, admit that we can't do this on our own, and understand that bravely bearing up under long-term illness is one of the most human, and one of the most godly, things we can ever do. One of the things that constantly reassures me that God is real, and not just an idea that religious leaders made up, is the fact that people who pray for strength, hope and courage so often find resources of strength, hope and courage that they did not have before they prayed.”

― Harold S. Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People

So how then do I choose to define the word prosper?  

"The verb prosper commonly means to generate wealth, as in “she hopes to prosper from her new investments.” But more generally it means “grow stronger” or "flourish" — crops will prosper when they have adequate sun and water, and rescued animals can prosper in a loving home."  

As Latter-day Saints we aren't concerned about prospering in wealth.  We are concerned that our faith and testimonies will flourish! 

Prosper:  to have a testimony of God's love for you, to have peace in your heart, knowing that He lives and you are in His care and keeping.  Life's ups and downs will not disturb your peace.  You are centered in Him.  

D&C 101:16 

Therefore, let your hearts be comforted . . .  for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God.