“O that I were an angel”

During the period immediately prior to and at the beginning of my mission, it seemed that I was hearing the song “O that I were an angel” just about all the time.  It is, of course, based on Alma 29:1-2:

O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

I confess that I didn’t like it.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe I thought it hokey.  Maybe I’d just heard it too often (and, too often, badly performed).  Anyway, my dislike for the song somehow impacted my feelings toward the scriptural passage itself.  Whereas Alma 29:1-2 was a favorite passage for many people, it wasn’t one of mine.

Over the years, though, my feelings have changed very much, both toward those Book of Mormon verses and, even, toward the song itself.

I’ve found the passage going through my mind many times when I’ve heard or read examples of human cruelty and of needless suffering caused by the callousness, selfishness, or wickedness of others or by grievously mistaken choices made by the victims themselves.  I’ve wished, just as Alma did, that I might somehow be able to do something “that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.”

I’ve come to identify with Alma, and with his ardent desire, much more than I once did.  And, certainly, I’m rather ashamed to say, in a deeper way than I ever did as a nineteen-to-twenty-one-year-old missionary.

Perhaps it’s because, in the intervening decades, I’ve seen a fair amount of pain and suffering that might have been avoided had people been living the Gospel.  I’ve watched with deep sadness as people that I’ve known have made choices that, I knew, would eventually lead to regret, ruptured relationships, and sorrow, and as, in more than a few cases, those foreseen results have occurred with horrifying speed.

I’ve become more and more convinced that, as Alma also teaches, “wickedness never was happiness” (41:10).

Now, I’m not claiming, not even remotely, that happiness cannot be found outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Nor do I claim that living the Gospel prevents all sadness and loss, or guarantees a mortal life of continual bliss.  On balance, though, lives conforming to the principles of the Gospel — whether in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or, to the extent that those principles are taught and cherished elsewhere, without it — will generally turn out better than those that are devoted to narrow self-interest, materialistic greed, malevolence, and the never-ending and never-satisfied quest for pleasure.

Thus, Alma 29:1-2 has become a favorite passage for me.  And I’ve also come to treasure this wonderful passage from a 15 December 1840 letter written from Nauvoo, Illinois, by the Prophet Joseph Smith to the Quorum of the Twelve:

“Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons of God. A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.”