I'M ONLY ONE PERSON. WHAT CAN I DO?

When I was a child, I had a little Golden Book about a man called Johnny Appleseed. In the story, Johnny (whose real name was John Chapman) lived on the American frontier in the late 18th century.  He was born in 1774, 2 years before the Declaration of Independence. When he was 18, he went to work as an apprentice in an apple orchard near his home. His affinity for apples became his life's work as he left his home to wander as an itinerant preacher, walking barefoot with nothing but a pack, a walking stick, his Bible, a cooking pot on his head, and a sack of apple seeds.  

John planted small apple orchards wherever he traveled.  he built fences around the tree to protect them from animals and left someone in the neighborhood to care for the orchard. Over his lifetime, he planted hundreds if not thousands of trees.  In the 1800s, when Americans began to move west, many were blessed to come across an orchard of trees full of ripe, sweet apples.   He died in 1845.

Why am I writing about one man? To show what one man, with the right seeds, could do to bless the lives of thousands of others.

Alma was one man.  Of all the priests of King Noah, he was the only one to listened to Abinadi and gained a testimony of the Savior.  He began teaching some of his friends and neighbors the things Abinadi had taught him. The king heard about it and planned to kill Alma as he had killed Abinadi.  Alma took those who followed the teaching of Abinadi and they fled the city. In a moving scene at the Waters of Mormon, Alma invited his people to enter into a covenant with God through baptism. Many years later, Alma and his people were able to return to Zarahemla where he became the prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ.  

When Abinadi died, he could see no fruits of his labors.  He didn't realize that one person listened, believed, and changed his life and the lives around him for the better. Of all the seeds Abinadi planted, only one took root and grew to produce much fruit. He grew a kingdom.

If you think no one is listening (or in my case, reading) remember Alma. One man was changed by another man's words.  Not only did the word grow to included many, the son of Alma went on to become a great prophet and plant the word among his people who were lost and in bondage to sin.  Said he:

Now, we will compare the word unto a seed.  Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves - It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me. (Alma 32: 28)

There is a saying that you can count the seeds in an apple, but you can’t count the apples that come from one seed. Only one person was receptive to Abinadi’s testimony, but that one person—Alma—influenced generations of Nephites.  How does this message apply to us? What can we do to share our testimonies with others? What seeds can we plant? (Come Follow Me 2020: May 11 - 17)

^{© Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson May 2020}