At Peace

In preparing for my RS lesson tomorrow, I did some reading about Martin Harris. I think too often members of the church remember him only for the loss of the first 116 pages of the Book of Mormon. Several years ago, Elder Dallin Oaks gave a talk in conference about witnesses, and specifically about Martin Harris. He was a prominent member of the community, owned a large farm and was well-respected, in part because of his service during the War of 1812. As the translation was being completed, Martin Harris was chosen by revelation to be one of the Three Witnessses. He mortgaged his farm to pay for the printing of the first 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon, and later, sold 150 acres at auction to pay that bill. He was present on April 6 1830 when the church was organized - and in fact, was baptized that same day. In addition the Three Witnesses were assigned the task of selecting and calling the first Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He remained in Kirtland when the Saints moved on, but when he was in his 80's he accepted the invitation from President Brigham Young to join the Saints in Utah, which he did, and bore a powerful testimony - in the Tabernacle - of the Gold Plates and the angel who had shown them to him.
The message for us? Martin Harris nagged God until he got his way, lost the pages, suffered the consequences and then repented. I believe we should remember of couple of things. Obviously we should not nag God, but more importantly, we are blessed with the opportunity to repent when we make mistakes. I am so grateful.