days 7&8: 1 Nephi 7-8

Again, I DID indeed read last night, I was just too tired to get out of bed and get the computer. That's what I get for waiting until right before bed to read (which is exactly what I'm doing right now...oops).

Anyway, as of last night, Nephi and his brothers are married men! They went back to Jerusalem after Lehi received another vision stating that they do this, to snag Ishmael & Co, and marry the daughters, and surprise, surprise, Laman and Lemuel whine and complain, but this time they take some of Ishmael's family with them, and seek to take their brother's life. It's a good thing Nephi is so faithful though, because his faith enables him to  free himself from the cords that his brothers bind him with, and is able to soften their hearts.

Chapter 8 is comprised of Lehi's vision of the tree of life/iron rod/great and spacious building etc.  My study guide book talks about how Christ is the tree, the focus of the vision, as he should be the main focus of our lives. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the "spacious building"-ness of our world, even without realizing it and the simplicity of the symbolism really puts it all into perspective.

days 5 & 6: 1 Nephi 5-6

I did read both days I promise! The whole blog thing is even harder to keep up than the reading scriptures part.

Anyway, 1 Nephi 5 goes into the joyous reunion of the family, and some descriptions of the plates brought back from Laban.

Chapter 6 is short and sweet, with Nephi explaining that his purpose in writing is not to give a genealogy of his fathers, but to write things to persuade those that will read it to come to Christ. And while history and genealogy is important, nothing is more important than coming to Christ. Thanks for the perspective, Nephi.

days 3 & 4: 1 Nephi 3-4

Whoops... well there goes my perfect streak! These two chapters are fun to read together though. Chapter three begins with the brothers making the trip back to Jerusalem to get the plates, along with their failed first attempt, murmuring  brothers, the same brothers smiting Nephi with a rod, and an angel coming to rebuke them. The fourth chapter deals with the slaying of Laban by Nephi, the taking of the plates, and gaining Zoram as  member of their group.

Chapter three can be summed up in the following words: He will prepare a way. 1 Ne. 3:7. Going back to Jerusalem and getting the plates is bound to be a difficult task, but in the above verse, Nephi states that he will go and do the thing the Lord commands,  because he know the Lord will not command something that he will not prepare a way for. I love Nephi and his faith. Whereas Laman and Lemuel are (surprise!) are as UNfaithful as ever.

Why is it so hard for Laman and Lemuel to trust in the Lord? They just saw an angel, and they STILL murmur and wonder how the Lord could possibly deliver Laban into their hands, because Laban is such a "mighty man".

Being removed from the situation it is so easy to see the stark difference between Nephi and his wicked brothers. To us, it seems so obvious what the right thing to do is. It is so important to use this as a guide for our own lives and do as Nephi would and follow the Lord, with pure faith.

day 2: 1 Nephi 2

Day 2! And there is a post! :)

Alrighty, so the second chapter of 1st Nephi. Lehi has another dream, in which he is told by the Lord that the inhabitants of Jerusalem are pretty ticked (obvi) and are going to try and kill him. Lehi and his family must leave Jerusalem with pretty much nothing, and travel in tents to survive. Sariah, Sam and Nephi go willingly, Laman and Lemuel, not so much. Lehi tries his best to keep his sons strong in the Gospel, but half of them aren't interested.

Does the Lord really ask that much of us? Personally, I have never been told to leave my house and live in the woods. Of course, it's not always easy to do what the Lord asks. Quite honestly, I don't really blame Laman and Lemuel for "murmuring". Not justify and to say that they should have, but out of the things to cause you to complain, I think that leaving everything you own (including your friends, bed, good food) behind and living in the deserted wilderness is pretty high up on the "good reasons" list. But therein lies the point; the Lord at various points in our lives is going to give us things to do, that are hard. So, we are then left with a choice: to do it willingly (like Lehi, Nephi, Sariah, and Sam) or unwillingly (Laman and Lemuel). Who does it turn out better for in the end? I'm going to go ahead and vote Nephi, based on the fact that he and his seed didn't get cut off from the Lord later on. When Nephi prays to the Lord, he is promised that as long as he keeps His commandments that he will prosper and be led to a land of promise, and we see later on that this does happen. Simple as that. We keep our promises to the Lord, He keeps His to us. I love the simplicity of the Gospel.

day 1: 1 Nephi 1 and an intro

Here we are, the day after Christmas. For Christmas, one of my gifts from my husband was a Book of Mormon companion/study guide. This book is full of all sorts of insights for each chapter in the Book of Mormon. This blog is my attempt to hold myself accountable to reading the words of this book everyday. 

Up until this point in my life, I have not been so great at reading the scriptures every day, and has continuously been a spot of weakness for me. I've always had a desire to really know the Book of Mormon. Not just the stories and main points, but be the kind of person to know it backwards and forwards, rattle off scripture references, and have it so constantly in my heart that I draw comparisons from it daily to my own life. So what better way to make a habit than to blog about what I read and the promptings I have felt on a daily basis. I felt prompted to make this blog halfway into my reading of 1 Nephi 1 today. In my book, it mentioned that a main theme of this chapter is record keeping, and it's importance, and I thought that making a blog of my journey through the Book of Mormon is a perfect way to 1. Make a "record" for myself and future posterity (now that is a weird thought!) and 2. Hold myself accountable to reading each day, by using my addiction to the computer to my advantage.  So without further ado, 1 Nephi 1. :) 

So, here we begin the story of Lehi and his family told from the perspective of Nephi, his son. Lehi is a very righteous and successful man. I mean lets be real here, Lehi is a stud. He is apparently a successful businessman, scripture historian, spiritual giant, survivor man, and trader. Not to mention he is strong in his beliefs and loves his family. He has a vision, and foresees the destruction of Jerusalem. He then preaches this to the Jews of Jerusalem and is not received well. So, why were the Jews so angry? He told them that they were being wicked, which is somewhat of a blow. I would imagine that most people don't like to hear this, because of a little thing called pride. But why the hostility? If they really thought that Lehi was a nutter, they would have blown him off, even laughed at him. To me, this is evidence of Satan's involvement, stirring up anger and hatred in the hearts of men,  because he knows Lehi is right. He knows that if any one of those people in Jerusalem took heed* and followed Lehi's counsel that they would have been led in the right direction and saved their families, and their posterity would have gone on being raised in the ways of the gospel.

*Take heed is one of my favorite phrases from the scriptures. My brother Josh, when he was 10 or so, would  use the phrase when he was mad that someone didn't listen to him. He would say something like, "I told you, but did you take heed?!" That kid cracks me up.