7 A final word

I liked this reminder from a recent column, "Sites and Insights," published in the Mormon Times section of the Deseret News on February 12, 2009. It was written by Wayne Brickey, and I share excerpts from it here.

The next time you see a pickup truck, you could remember one of the stern and persistent themes in Church history: the need for migration.

Changing location. Circulating among the Father's other children, setting up house in strange surroundings. Moving. And, of course, leaving the familiar behind.

Nineteenth century wagon boxes were normally about 3 feet wide and 8 or so feet in length. The sides could be a foot or more deep. In other words, about the same capacity as a modern pickup truck. . . .

So, how many possessions could fit in the back of a small truck? Bedding—blankets, quilts, tick mattresses—will take more space than you hoped. So will will your precious food supply: things like a barrel or two of grain or beans; a large basket or two of potatoes, carrots, or apples; a box of salt-cured bacon; tins of molasses or sacks of sugar. That doesn't leave much room for your small collection of clothes, tools and implements, a basin, a few pots, and cooking utensils to fit in there somewhere. . . .

A 3-by-8-foot space will keep your personal belongings simple and few. There will be repeated wagon boxes in your future [if you were Joseph Smith or his wife, Emma]. Moving on with a few things, leaving the rest behind—this will be a part of life. But not the important part. Wagons and lofts—or trucks and warehouses, for that matter—will all perish, as do whatever things we can stuff into them. The treasures of heaven are not containable in earthly places.

On your watch, priesthood has come down from heavenly courts, a pristine testament of Christ has been published, and His own church restored in purity. The personal possessions of deity have been in your care in Palmyra, in Harmony, and now in Fayette.

When the master of the vineyard asks that you relocate to Ohio, His goods will multiply in your hands and grow brighter with your labor, though you must leave yet more of your own things behind.

Again and again the wagon box will carry your family about in the Kirtland area. Later comes the long haul to Missouri. There you will start over again and then again, ever setting your goods down on unfamiliar floors in humble spaces.
Missouri will not be the end of moves. Next will come appointments with cells and a dungeon floor. And less than a wagon box full of things . . . will end up with you in Illinois, on the boggy banks of the Mississippi.

God, who will not suffer losses because of you, will show His appreciation as only an infinite being can. To those who lose cargo in the journey of faith—losing not only things, but intangibles such as health or strength or education or time or even friendships—Joseph testified: "All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful. By the vision of the Almighty I have seen it."