Low-Maintenance, high-yield.

His is sandwiched between the lengthy novels of fatherly and prophetic counsel to his two brothers.

Chapters before include a father and Prophet talking to an extremely successful and righteous son, praising and celebrating. The chapters after feature the same father talking to his extremely sinful son, reprimanding and warning.

But the middle son, Shiblon? His personalized message and special instruction canonized in scripture? A mere fifteen verses in Alma 38 found in the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

And it’s a special message to a middle son who is doing the right things and making Heaven proud. A middle son who doesn’t need constant vocal reassurance to justify doing good.

Now, I love the chapters pre and proceeding Shiblon’s chapter, and I’ve received similar degrees of inspired instruction and answers to prayer from them.

However, in this light and in most seasons of my life, I’ve always hoped to be more like Shiblon. It seems as though fifteen verses was all he needed.

Here are some words I hope are true of me; if not now, someday soon.

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“And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your faithfulness unto God; for as you have commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for blessed is he that endureth to the end.”

“I say unto you, my son, that I have had great joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy patience and thy long-suffering…”

“For I know that thou wast in bonds… and thou didst bear all these things with patience because the Lord was with thee…”

“…now thou knowest that the Lord did deliver thee.”

“And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day.”

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I’ve received years of inspired Fatherly direction. I don’t take that for granted.

And as Greg Townsend’s kid, I always wanted to be what he would describe in his simple, “low-maintenance, high-yield.”

I wasn't an outstanding athlete, but my truest sense of competitive accomplishment came when I put more points on the board than turnovers. A consistent player was better for a team than an unpredictable all-star.

I didn’t always need to be the first choice when people made fun plans or guest-lists, but I was to be a friend to everyone, always. That mindset secured a confidence in who I was and Whose I was.

A baseline for performance, a measuring stick for appropriate reactions. To aspire to be a low-maintenance, high-yield individual is not to shadow one's own light, but use it to illuminate in the right ways.

As Greg’s kid, I hope I’ve done well.

But as God’s kid, my desire to do well is far greater. The help of His Only Begotten is the way that desire is fulfilled.

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As I sat yesterday in the House of the Lord, those words to a middle son landed.

With desires to do good and follow God, steps forward become more confident with occasional confirmation of Heaven’s approval.

That confirmation is available.

"In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost." Prophet Russell M. Nelson

I witness of the truth of those words, because a mere fifteen verses delivered by the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Spirit was all this middle kid needed, too.

And after all is said and done, I, too, know that it was the ‘the Lord that did deliver me.’