Week 2 - Looking Back

I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, . . . make a record of my proceedings in my days (see 1 Nephi 1). And that is how the Book of Mormon begins.

Pres. Kimball said, “Accordingly, we urge our young people to begin today to write and keep records . . . Your own private journal should record the way you face up to challenges that beset you. Do not suppose life changes so much that your experiences will not be interesting to your posterity. Experiences of work, relations with people, and an awareness of the rightness and wrongness of actions will always be relevant. . . . Your journal is your autobiography, so it should be kept carefully. . . . Your story should be written now while it is fresh and while the true details are available. . . . What could you do better for your children and your children’s children than to record the story of your life, your triumphs over adversity, your recovery after a fall, your progress when all seemed black, your rejoicing when you had finally achieved? . . . Get a notebook, my young folks, a journal that will last through all time, and maybe the angels may quote from it for eternity. Begin today and write in it your goings and your comings, your deepest thoughts, your achievements and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies.” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball [1982], 350-51).

And 1 Nephi 1 ends this way explaining one of the purposes of this sacred record: I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.

In the April 2005 General Conference, Elder David A. Bednar’s talk was entitled, The Tender Mercies of the Lord. Each of you has a copy and you may also access it at

http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,49-1-520-33,00.html

I hope you have referenced that talk in the margin next to 1 Nephi 1: 20. Elder Bednar shared with us one of his “tender mercy” experiences and shared a few from others from whom he had received permission. He defined “tender mercies” in this way, “…the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ.”

He also added, “We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance” (see 1 Nephi 1:20).

We also used Elder Bednar’s words to try to come to an understanding of what this phrase means: those whom he hath chosen (see 1 Nephi 1:20). He explained in some detail that “God does not have a list of favorites to which we must hope our names will someday be added. He does not limit ‘the chosen’ to a restricted few. Rather it is our hearts and our aspirations and our obedience which definitively determine whether we are counted as one of God’s chosen” (see Moses 7:32-33, Moses 1:39, D&C 11:20).

Another talk we discussed, though not as thoroughly, was Pres. Henry B. Eyring’s, O Remember, Remember, from the October 2007 General Conference. You may access it at

http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,89-1-775-24,00.html

He said: “Tonight, and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve that memory for the day that I, and those that I love, will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him. I testify that He loves us and blesses us, more than most of us have yet recognized. I know that is true, and it brings me joy to remember Him.”

What can we learn from Nephi and Elder Bednar and Pres. Eyring? Record our doings – our goings and our comings. And most importantly, become more aware of the hand of the Lord in our lives and remember to record those transcendent moments when we know that he has extended a tender mercy to us. To make an attempt to put those moments into words and onto paper somehow helps us to internalize them even more. It’s a spiritually strengthening occasion when we read what our own hands have written. It allows us to experience the goodness all over again! It will also be of inestimable worth to our children.

As Nephi began his abridgement of the records of his father, we discussed how & why Lehi was commanded to leave Jerusalem. We listed what he left behind and what he took with him. We searched for the reasons that Laman & Lemuel murmured and Nephi and Sam did not. We discovered that Nephi’s theme song could have been Hymn #270.

When it was time to go back and get the brass plates from Laban, you role played the brothers’ three different attempts to achieve the goal – 2 failures and 1 success. (Some of you have very active imaginations, by the way).

In just a few short chapters, we have already witnessed the character of Nephi over and over again. He knew how to commit to something and how to stay at it until the job was done. His word was his bond.

So, what should we each ask ourselves?

1. Am I willing to do whatever the Lord asks of me – no matter how hard it is or how much it costs or how long it takes or how scary it is?

2. Am I known as someone who if I say, “I will go and do,” that I really will “go and do?”

3. Do I look for and recognize the Lord’s hand in my life – and when I see/feel it, do I write the experience down for not only myself, but my children and my children’s children?