Oliver Cowdery and Eric James Stone

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time." (D&C 6:14)

What fascinates me about this scripture is that the Lord first praises Oliver Cowdery for seeking and following divine guidance--but then has to prove to him that he actually did the thing he's being praised for! Which suggests that Oliver, like so many of us, isn't quite sure whether he's been following a divine plan, or just wandering in a big strange earth.

I've had experiences that made no sense when they happened but felt important later. I've had other experiences that felt important when they happened, but then confusing later. And I've had a few experiences that felt first important, then confusing, then (years later) important again...and that may, for all I know, have one more round of confusing left in them as the stories I use to make sense of my life change.

Yesterday at Everyday Mormon Writer, we reprinted an Eric James Stone story that does justice to the intense existential motion sickness that can come when your own story for the meaning in your life has been called into question. And if you're interested in this topic, I also have to recommend Pres. Uchtdorf's talk "See the End from the Beginning."