Alma 32 and 33 are about exercising faith, tending and increasing it over time, and ultimately receiving great joy. Upon first reading through this, the lesson I thought I was learning was one of patience. In Chapter 32, Alma talks about planting the seed of faith, even just based on a desire to believe. Tending it, gradually seeing the seed take root and begin to sprout. Alma doesn't put a time frame on it, but I get the sense that the process of going from the beginnings of faith to the "perfect knowledge" described in verse 34 could take a while. It will take "dilligence...faith, and...patience with the word in nourishing it. By and by ye shall pluck the fruit which is most precious" (v 42).
Okay, Lord. I can be patient. I can exercise faith, see it beginning to work, and wait patiently until one day I become happy.
But that's not it at all. In Chapter 33 Alma explains that you needn't wait for joy. That joy is available all the way through the tending and nourishing process, as we call up on the Lord for it, through the Son. "In thee is my joy...because of thy Son" (v 11)." How long until that joy? "Plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell, nourish it by your faith. And it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the Joy of the Son" (v 23).
That makes the process of receiving the blessings of lightness and joy pretty fast--right at the beginning and after the "springing" of your planted faith. The comfort and rest of the Savior is available to all those who want it, and it's available awfully fast. His light is warm, and the act of looking towards it (v 19-21) causes the springing.
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