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.