![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_3820.jpeg\")
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The idea that someone like Esther had \u201ccome\u2026 for such a time as this,\u201d implies that timing is important. At least in the case of a few crucial people, the right person arrives at the right time, when they can \u201cseize the day\u201d and make a difference. The idea is crucial to the hero\u2019s journey, the kind of stories we tell each other to encourage and influence each other to put in heroic efforts that make the difference.<\/p>\n
The hero\u2019s journey is a powerful model for stories. And while it is often used for stories where a single individual saves an entire people, such as in the case of Esther, to a degree it works in the lives of all of us. We may not save our people, or even anyone else besides ourselves, but saving ourselves is enough\u2014and in an eternal perspective, saving ourselves is also saving an entire people. The idea that we are here on earth learning to be like our Heavenly Parents means that we need to not only experience a version of the hero\u2019s journey, saving ourselves, but also that we have things we need to accomplish, and timing often makes a difference.<\/p>\n
This lesson shows that much of the hero\u2019s journey, of the effort to save ourselves and others, appears in our daily lives. We are put in situations where we can bless others, helping them through the struggles of life. This can require courage and we may need to fast and pray to get help from the Lord.<\/p>\n
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I wish this were more true today than it is. In the west our car-center culture and remote lifestyles tend to isolate us more than put us in situations where we meet others, let alone bless them. Nevertheless, I think we often meet people who need help\u2014even if they are those we know well. If nothing else, the same devices that mediate our lives and allow us to be remote from others also allow us to connect to others\u2014and perhaps bless them. Perhaps you are like me and occasionally encounter people who need help. I then struggle with how to help, trying to figure out the best way to help that is moral, best for those involved, and matches my capabilities. Usually my efforts aren\u2019t ideal, and too often they are blunders.<\/p>\n
No doubt a part of this is related to how I react \u2014 my attitude toward life. Sometimes that attitude itself can be a service to others, as the poet Ida Stewart Peay suggests in this poem. I love the suggestion that the grandmother she describes found ways to bless others despite her trials and age: \u00a0\u201cAnd with her ninety years and one \/ She managed still to bless \/ Some life each day, if e\u2019en a child\u2019s, \/ Bright\u2019ning at her caress.\u201d<\/p>\n
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by Ida Stewart Peay<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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1918<\/p>\n
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Famously, heroes are thought to have an \u2018Achilles heel\u2019, a defect that leaves them vulnerable and keeps them from completing their work. The most common, I think, is pride\u2014the idea that the hero has, or has the potential to save others. Pride assumes that we know everything, that we accomplished the task, and that we don\u2019t and didn\u2019t need the Lord\u2019s help. Even if we have actually finished the task, pride can undo what we have done.<\/p>\n
I like the following poem, from the poet most often considered the equal of Eliza R. Snow. However, Carmichael succumbed to a mental illness in the late 1860s and spent 50 years in an institution. As a result we lost a lot of poetry and a fine mind. Here she examines our pride in choosing \u201cthe best,\u201d when \u201cthe best\u201d that we choose is so often based on fashion and what has already been called \u201cthe best\u201d by others.<\/p>\n
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by Sarah E. Carmichael<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1859<\/p>\n
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An under-discussed part of the heroes journey is the hero\u2019s introspection into why the hero is on the journey and how to proceed. Rarely is the hero endowed with exceptional strength or particular talents that alone make the difference. Instead, the hero needs to know themself and often the solution comes in the strategy the hero discovers instead of the hero\u2019s strength or talent. This is the role of fasting and prayer, it is seeking the Lord\u2019s help with our introspection, helping us to know ourselves and decide how to proceed.<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, I haven\u2019t found a lot of poetry that talks about fasting. This poem by the prolific poet Joel H. Johnson is one of the exceptions. Here he suggests that fasting and prayer are the way to learn from the Lord and receive His blessings.<\/p>\n
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by Joel H. Johnson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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1882<\/p>\n
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The struggles in the heroes journey require courage. In life we are often stuck in the day-to-day or in difficulties or sin of our own making. Even when we have caused our own problems, getting out of them requires courage. This is one of the reasons why looking down on those who are in sin, especially if we haven\u2019t ourselves had to struggle to get out of a similar situation, is wrong. Struggles are real, hard and require courage that not everyone can muster.<\/p>\n
Here Alfred Osmond tries to instill that courage in each of us, so we can struggle out of the sins and difficulties we face. Osmond was an early English professor at BYU, and was the half-brother (in a polygamous family) of the well-known Osmond\u2019s grandfather.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
by Alfred Osmond<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1911<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The idea that someone like Esther had \u201ccome\u2026 for such a time as this,\u201d implies that timing is important. At least in the case of a few crucial people, the right person arrives at the right time, when they can \u201cseize the day\u201d and make a difference. The idea is crucial to the hero\u2019s journey, the kind of stories we tell each other to encourage and influence each other to put in heroic efforts that make the difference. The hero\u2019s journey is a powerful model for stories. And while it is often used for stories where a single individual saves an entire people, such as in the case of Esther, to a degree it works in the lives of all of us. We may not save our people, or even anyone else besides ourselves, but saving ourselves is enough\u2014and in an eternal perspective, saving ourselves is also saving an entire people. The idea that we are here on earth learning to be like our Heavenly Parents means that we need to not only experience a version of the hero\u2019s journey, saving ourselves, but also that we have things we need to accomplish, and timing often makes a difference. This lesson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":54168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2895,53,2906,2462,1323],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-come-follow-me-currculum","category-latter-day-saint-thought","category-old-testament","category-poetry-arts","category-sunday-school-lesson-old-testament"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_3820.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54140"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54175,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54140\/revisions\/54175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}