The Book of Mormon is amazing! Robby and I are just weeks away from reading it together for the 6th time and I have read it personally a dozen or so times (if I were to guess) and, like the Bible, I don't tire of it, I learn new things every time! It’s something I find I can easily relate to--finding parallels to my own life, tendencies, and trials. Some of those of you who are reading this may be familiar with the story of the broken bow from the Book of Mormon, but for those who are not, the full story is here, but I’ll also give a synopsis:
Nephi was one of a party of people caravaning through the wilderness toward a promised land (think the Children of Israel in The Bible). This group of people hunted for their food. Nephi, who had the last working bow and arrow, broke his weapon. Now it seemed that the family was doomed to starvation. Nephi’s brothers were angry and everyone, including his father, the prophet, whined and complained.
Nephi was one of a party of people caravaning through the wilderness toward a promised land (think the Children of Israel in The Bible). This group of people hunted for their food. Nephi, who had the last working bow and arrow, broke his weapon. Now it seemed that the family was doomed to starvation. Nephi’s brothers were angry and everyone, including his father, the prophet, whined and complained.
*I should point out here that I’m not judging them! When I get hungry and I don’t know when I’m going to be able to eat again, I get “hangry” (hungry/angry), so I know I would be right there with them.*
Nephi on the other hand, had a different approach. He decided to DO something about his situation. If there’s something I’ve learned from my two-year-old, it’s that whining doesn’t get you what you want :) Amazingly, the same thing goes for adults, but some of us (like me. . .and Laman, Lemuel etc.) are slow learners. So what he does is he makes his own bow and arrow, asks his Father (because he’s the prophet) to ask the Lord where he should go to find food. Everyone humbles themselves, Nephi’s ne’r-do-well brothers behave--that is until the next chapter when they whine and complain about having to help build a ship (See 1 Nephi 17: 17,18, 50, 51 and 1 Nephi 18: 1-3). Nephi’s Father Lehi directs him where to go to find food and Nephi comes home with dinner.
OK. Now for the current-day application.
Sometimes we are given trials that overwhelm us and responsibilities that seem beyond our ability to fulfill. We may want to murmur and complain like Laman and Lemuel and say “this is hard! I can’t do this!” . . .I tend to do this a lot, particularly about the difficulties of motherhood; but when I think like this, I just sink into a downward spiral of ingratitude, self-pity, and hard-heartedness. Instead, I can choose to trust the Lord (like Nephi) by calling upon him for strength to do the things that I feel are beyond my capacity. I can ask where I should go, or what I should do to make life better, or to simply find peace amidst the storms of toddlerhood. I can act! If I do, I will still have hard things in front of me (heavens knows there are harder things than having a child in her terrible twos, or even than not knowing how you’re going to get your next meal) but if we call upon the Lord for help and are willing to act, Nephi and I. . .and all of God’s children, can face trials with courage, increased capacity, and an assurance that the Lord won’t let us fail. See below for more.
Post-Script
Here are some of my favorite "you can DO it!/be happy" scriptures.
Click on the reference to go to the actual scripture:
Synopsis: We can be happy in tribulation because Christ, through the Atonement has overcome all tribulation. The Lord wants us to find peace in this truth.
2 Nephi 10:23 (Robby’s favorite scripture)
Synopsis: You can do something about your life--that's something to be happy about!
Synopsis: If you do good things, you'll get good things back, at least in the long run (kinda like a spiritual Karma).
Synopsis: You can't handle everything right now, but be happy, The Lord will help you!
Synopsis: We are still learning and growing like children, it's OK that we're not all the way there yet, God hasn't given up on you. He will help you!
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