Posts Tagged ‘lds’

So, I’m thinking that trying to summarize each section like I do with my kids as we read, is kind of much, particularly since it’s fairly easy for anyone to see what’s going on in this chapter. There are lots of ways you can draw out a comparison to our semi-annual general conference, where we gather to hear what our prophet and leaders have to say. For now, I’m just going to comment on what stood out to me this time:

“… for I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.”

That’s from verse 9 of Mosiah 2. A few weeks ago, a friend and I were talking about how strange it is that we take revelation for granted. We really do believe that God speaks today through His prophets as well as to our hearts. That should be a BIG DEAL, right? Why is it so easy to take what we’re given and set it aside? We say to ourselves, “Well that’s nice. I’ll think about it,” … and that’s if we even took notice in the first place. Why is it so hard to take heed?

Could it be that I’m paying too much attention to the other messages out there? As Elder Holland put it in this past conference: “If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you.”

The “epistle” part had me visualizing my mailbox full of junk: ads saying I don’t have enough, magazines saying i’m not pretty enough, bills saying I need to pay more, credit card offers saying I can play today and don’t have to pay for a long, long time…. sounds like the messages I hear every day even without checking the mail! Wouldn’t a personal message from the One who loves me most be so much more than all that? Do I give the world’s messages to and about me equal weight with what I hear at conference, in the scriptures, or through the Spirit? Now that I think about it, … well… I do. Hopefully realizing that will help me work on booting those negative messages out and opening my heart and mind to the Spirit of truth.

So, sometimes I don’t even read chapters sequentially. Tonight I needed this. I was looking up something else for the kids at FHE and ran across this one instead. It’s Nephi’s copy of one of his favorite chapters from Isaiah (because those scriptures were valuable to him, too).

Anyway I don’t want to go into too much detail, but suffice it to say, today was rough: I feel like I’m getting myself into a pretty mess, and all the struggling myself silly has only left me tired and still stuck in many ways. I don’t even know what this chapter is really supposed to mean, but tonight it meant this to me:

God didn’t cause my problems: I did (1). But the Lord still has power to deliver me just as He has power over earth (2) and heaven (3). I’m tired, but I can take it a day at a time; the Lord knows what I need to hear in every season if I’ll just heed His word (4). Christ opened his ears & heeded perfectly (5) and though he still suffered (6) he was strengthened (7). God will fight with us (8) and help us, so we don’t need to fret about those who would condemn us (9). So trust in the Lord and walk in His light (10) rather than trying to light the way myself (11).

Glad someone out there knows just what I needed to hear.

(PS: I also happened across Ether 12, starting in verse 6. Again, much needed.)

So I was going to dive right in to Mosiah, but since we’re talking about King Benjamin here, we might as well jump in where he’s truly introduced: in Omni. Omni is a strange book, again just one chapter. (I remember it being a pretty cool magazine, too.)

Omni straight up admits he has not done as he should have. Wow. But he kept the plates, fought for his people, wrote his piece, and transferred them to his son Amaron. Amaron fairly summed things up in a few short sentences, then passed the record to his brother Chemish, who actually goes to the effort to carve this out:

“Now I, Chemish, write what few things I write, in the same book with my brother; for behold, I saw the last which he wrote, that he wrote it with his own hand; and he wrote it in the day that he delivered them unto me. And after this manner we keep the records, for it is according to the commandments of our fathers. And I make an end.”

He’s like, “Dude. My brother just barely wrote his schpeel, just now, and handed the records to me. What can I say?”

His son explains it this way:

” And behold, the record of this people is engraven upon plates which is had by the kings, according to the generations; and I know of no revelation save that which has been written, neither prophecy; wherefore, that which is sufficient is written. And I make an end.”

I think it’s interesting that he says “Look, the kings have their records and they’ve written sufficiently. What good could come of what I have to say?” And yet he took the time to say that much, and Mormon left it in during his editing for our sakes so we could read it today.

What’s the value here? Maybe we have a tendency to think that what we have to say or do pales in comparison to what’s being said and done by the bigger, better people around us. Maybe we don’t do anything at all & just leave it up to someone else. All of these people were commanded to keep the records and write their histories & they all did that… kind of. Seems they didn’t really take their record-keeping seriously.

(had to continue this the next morning – benadryl had kicked in!)

So the next son, Amaleki, says a bit more. Mosiah was warned to get out of the land, and he did. And after some wandering and guidance, who should they run into but another group: the people of Zerahemla who had also come from Jersualem some time before. The interesting thing is that they were very excited to find that Mosiah had brought along the record of the Jews (the old testament) — something they’d needed and missed. They had no records and had suffered for it — even their language had become corrupt. They had another record (this one on a large stone) of another group of people but didn’t know how to read it. But Mosiah was able to translate it with God’s power. Seems the Lord believes these records to be a big deal, too, eh?

(to be continued…)

Day one. As I mentioned in the previous post, my kids and I have made a habit of reading scriptures non-sequentially. Think of it this way: you’re reading your Bible and get stuck in Numbers every time (we have). Same thing seems to happen to a lot of LDS people with 2nd Nephi and the Isaiah chapters (though personally I adore Isaiah!) What if you just treated the separate books like they really are separate books and read them in whatever order you’d like? And if you get stuck for a while, finish up the book you’re in, then start one that catches your interest? It seems to be working well for us. The kids and I are reading the New Testament together this way right now, and I’m also starting again with the Book of Mormon.

So today I’m starting with “Words of Mormon” which has only one chapter. It goes pretty well with the intro video I posted, too. Basically, Mormon’s inserting his commentary between the records he was editing. Mormon is the second-to-last prophet in this history, and he’s just about to give this project over to his son. He’s tried to keep only the most important details in this book, and which details should he choose but the people’s dealings with God?

That’s another reason I’m going to try to be more real about my spirituality in my blog. Faith & family really are the most important aspects of my life and I want to keep these memories safe & real. Mormon kept his most important materials on gold plates so they would last. I’m hoping to keep mine at Vaultpress.

Anyway, Mormon’s whole society is about to be wiped out. He knows he and his people are going to be gone soon because of their terrible war, which only came about because of the evil in their hearts. Past societies — like King Benjamin’s which he introduces now — were able to garner enough humility to correct their problems and have peace. And it took a lot of hard work. These stories of King Benjamin (in the book of Mosiah) are among my favorites, so I guess I know what I’ll be reading next!

I say that as though I’ve been in the closet about it. I haven’t been. I just haven’t said much about it, either, but I’ve decided that’s going to change.

Does this mean I’m going to shun you if you don’t agree with me? Not at all. Does it mean I’m going to force anything down your throat? No. Do I want to fight about religion? No. But am I going to be more real about my faith? Let’s hope so.

Today’s big decision: I’m going to do what a good friend of mine did, and start blogging my take on chapters in the Book of Mormon. So check out this video by means of introduction, if you’d like, or read on to find out why I’m doing this.

The Book of Mormon is divided up into “books” by different authors, and each book has chapters. I’ll follow chapters sequentially, but since I don’t always read the books sequentially, I’ll just blog them here the way I read it.

So why am I doing this?

I’m always having random realizations from the random happenings in my life. It’s how I roll. And often I don’t really do much about them other than say, “Well that’s nice.” But last night, some random event/realization sequences joined forces in such a way that I really want to take action.

Event 1: On Facebook, a few friends shared the aforementioned video on the Book of Mormon. I thought it was really cool, but I hesitated sharing it myself.

Realization 1: Years ago I would have shared it in a heartbeat. I’ve learned to hide my faith along with whatever other thoughts, feelings, and convictions kept me from conforming to unspoken expectations of the people around me. I’ve never been ashamed, only afraid. I’ve been afraid of all the wrong things.

Event 2: I opened Google Reader for the first time in a long while and stumbled across a friend’s blog post about how some factors of blogging tend to get in the way of our goals and intentions, particularly when it comes to writing as a means to financial freedom.

Realization 2: My blog isn’t my hobby or my financial freedom. It’s my history. Nothing warms my heart like walking in and finding my kids reading through old posts. This blog is a treasure chest of experience, but because of the aforementioned fear, I’ve hesitated to write about what matters most to me.

Event 3: Not going to say too much about this one (see the NDA section of Dating 2.0), but suffice it to say, when I was hanging out with a non-religious friend last night, I encountered more than a few bugs in my personal programming anytime the topic turned to faith, not to mention a few unexpected behaviors. Again, not ashamed, but afraid. In this case, afraid to be unlikeable.

Realization 3: If I want people to like me for who I am, I’m going to have to learn to be myself.

Event 4: Checking google analytics: hardly anyone reads new posts here. My tweets and facebook posts get much more exposure.

Realization 4: I haven’t much to risk, here, so it’s a very safe place to practice being more real. And clearly I’ve already started to be more real emotionally here. Might as well be more real spiritually, too.

So, welcome to a part of me you probably haven’t seen before. And wish me luck and perseverance with this. It’s going to be a big project, but I think it’ll be worthwhile.