One of my Relief Society president's in college once shared how every now and then she gets a paperback copy of the Book of Mormon, writes her question inside and starts praying and fasting and marking it up. And every time the scriptures come to life in a new way for her! So, for my personal scripture study I have been studying how we receive strength beyond our own.
I was also inspired a while back by a visiting general authority and his wife. She had many touching things to say and her testimony was beautiful. She mentioned briefly that she had written a book called The Book of Mormon: A Pattern for Parenting. This may explain in part why all throughout First Nephi I was drawn to ways to better live the gospel as a mother and wife. So here are some insights on a fruitful tangent. (I'm sure if I thought hard enough I could make a nerdy math joke, but I won't.)
Chapter 1: Personal Prayer and Journal Keeping
This may be stating the obvious but I'll go out on a limb here and write it anyway: You can't be a good parent without a whole lot of prayer. And I don't mean the desperate in-the-moment child-abuse-preventing kind, though those may be necessary at times. I'm talking about talking with the Lord in gratitude and with an intent to act upon the answers He sends.
In verses 1-2 and 16-17 we learn about another helpful habit of successful parents: journal keeping. Lehi taught his son Nephi (and probably his other children as well) to read and write. Thus Nephi would be able to read the scriptures taken from Laban in addition to writing a scriptural record of his own. But he also abridged his father's record, or a piece of it anyway. If you're not familiar with why this was a wise use of his writing and family history skills, check out this link to the LDS seminary manual regarding the translation of the first section of the Book of Mormon.
Another wonderful blessing of journal keeping is witnessed in verse one. Nephi writes that despite his life being hard, "nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days." I'm not sure if his keeping a record as commanded by God was what allowed him to come the such a knowledge and testimony, but our latter-day prophets have testified again and again of the importance of keeping a personal record.
President Spencer W. Kimball taught:
But I promise you that if you will keep your journals and
records, they will indeed be a source of great inspiration to
your families, to your children, your grandchildren, and
others, on through the generations....
From time immemorial the Lord has counseled us to be a
record-keeping people.
Nephi may be writing what we know as the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon in hindsight, but one of my fondest prayers in my choice callings of wife and mother is that I and my children will be able to recognize from our lives the many tender mercies which come from faithful obedience to true principles.
Chapter 2: Sanctifying Obedience
So here's another obvious lesson about good parenting: it involves sacrifice. And I'm talking about true sacrifice where we give up something good for something even better. Because let's face it: giving up whatever we want to do what God wants us to makes us better people period. I firmly believe doing so is one of our main purposes of this mortal probation!
What sort of things might we sacrifice as parents? Sleep, our pride and sometimes our dignity, our sanity, personal dreams, postponed travel plans, time alone, financial security... What can we learn from Lehi about sacrifice? Well, let's ponder his examples of sanctifying obedience. 1) He risk his life to deliver his prophet message or burden as Isaiah sometimes calls it. 2) In order to save his life and because he was commanded of the Lord, he abandoned his way of life and relative comfort for a really long camping trip and boat ride with some less than cooperative children. 3) He was grateful for the warnings of God even if they were hard to follow: so grateful in fact that he built an altar of stones and made an offering! 4) Even in the desert he found ways to fulfill his eternal calling as a father and teach his sons of the Lord's ways.
My parents have always been great example to me. I have memories of learning principles of "faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities" from watching, playing with, and working alongside them. My dad was always inviting us to draw gospel parallels and asking us what we learned. While I didn't always have the best attitude about it growing up, I appreciated it even then, and more so now as I am a parent myself.
Learning from the less-than-teachable attitudes of Laman and Lemuel and recalling that just about everyone in this caravan would have murmuring moments before reaching the Promised Land, I believe it's important to always be aware of your attitude and how it is affecting your current situation. Notice I didn't say how your attitude is affected by your current situation. If you're looking for a way to adjust your attitude for the better? Come to know that dealings of Almighty God. (See verse 12 and recall lessons from the previous chapter of 1 Ne. 1:1.)
I think Lehi did this and his example led Nephi to do so as well. Consider the juxtaposition in verses 14 and 15. Lehi is filled with the power of God to the confounding of his two murderous sons and yet he dwells in a tent. While he would've been justifiably angry, I don't think he could have had so profound an impact in rebuking them if his words were just spoken in rage. It says he was filled with the Spirit of God and that he spoke unto them" until their whole frames did shake before him." The Lord can help us as we seek to teach and discipline our children. Of course He will, I mean they're His children too after all! I am certain Lehi sought the Lord's assistance regularly in prayer and that is part of what prompted his then youngest son Nephi to go to the Lord in prayer and receive a testimony that his father was indeed a prophet called of God.
1 Nephi 15:3-6 Dealing with Challenges
Some things are just hard to understand. Unless you inquire of the Lord.
Sometimes we're discouraged by the actions or lack thereof by those around us. Sometimes we're less than hopefully. When we are already discouraged, Satan will come and try to make it worse. But we can still choose our reactions and we must remember that Christ has descended below ALL things. He has born your grief and experienced YOUR sorrows. We can also receive strength from God.
Once we are strengthened we must forge that strength of character by strengthening and edifying others.
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