Spiritual

Patriarchal Blessing

#HearHim - Lesson March 23 - 29 Enos - Words of Mormon

 As we study the book of Enos I remember how this scripture became so important to me. I associate the relationship to my father and hunting. We had many wonderful hours together and hunting with my father was some of the best. I liken that to Enos spending time hunting with Jacob. My father was a just man that taught me many things. Hunting was a special time with my father.  One occasion that I remember very well was out west in Long Canyon.  This particular day we were watching a patch of woods on the north side of the hill. These woods were isolated on all sides.  We could watch the deer enter the woods from above and see them leave on either side or the bottom.  We could not shoot the deer at the top because they were over a 1000 yards away. If a deer were to come out of the woods further down the hill we could hope for a good shot.  Neither my father nor I could set and watch a hill side for too long.  He suggested that I could use up some of youthful energy by going into the patch of trees and work my way up from the bottom. He suggested that if I move through the woods carefully I may get to see a deer.  Also I may scare one out for him to shoot.  Many people call this “bird dogging it”. I then set out and was moving through the forest as quietly as possible. After some time I heard something moving up the trail towards me. Coming up the trail right towards me going full speed was a young fawn. I waited and then stepped out waving my hands and hollering.  It turned and fled the other way. I did see a deer and everything went as my father had stated.  I would not shoot a fawn but that was my choice.  The real value was spending time with my father and being in the woods. 

When I received my Patriarchal Blessing we went as a family of three; Kathryn, Boyd, and myself. Thus, we each heard three blessings, which was very spiritual but somewhat overwhelming.  When we got through it was hard to remember who got which blessing.  One of the points I remembered from my blessing was that I would be like Enos. My problem was I remembered nothing about Enos.  I went home and looked Enos up in the Bible Dictionary and found that he was the son of Seth and could make little sense of the reference. Then several months later we studied the Book of Mormon and after Jacob I found a whole book about Enos.  He had a good father as did I.  He loved to hunt in the woods as did I. He had prayed much longer than I and he received an answer.  A voice told him that his sins had been forgiven and he was blessed.  At this time I felt that the reason I had been unable to understand my blessing was my sins were not forgiven.  I then felt strongly that my sins were forgiven when I read this passage. During the intervening time I had been improving my life.  This event testifies to me that the gospel is true and that repentance works. 

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