What does it mean to “sustain” another? Most often we think of sustaining in terms of indicating our approval of an individual by an uplifted hand.

Sometimes we limit what God can give us by the “receptacle” or “vessel into which something is received” (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary) we bring to him. We may come to God begging for spiritual food while holding out a single finger…

It appears that Mormon, the abridger of Nephite history, intentionally framed the story of Alma the elder and his people onto Nephi’s vision of the tree of life using word links and other imagery.