“nevertheless”
-they did
it anyway, so why didn’t they just do it with the right attitude? In fact, Laman and Lemuel did everything that
Nephi did (left Jerusalem, went back for the brass plates and Ishmael, built a
ship, sailed to the promised land, etc.) they all shared the difficulties of
the same trials but they got so very little out of it. What a shame for them, it is almost funny
because even with all their opposition they did not get it any easier. All went
through the same trials, they could easily have endured it in such a fashion so
as to have been “better for it” as easily as being condemned for the way they
handled it. Isn’t a mission the same
thing? The most diligent and the worst
slacker both spend two years.
Complaining and being disobedient don’t make it any shorter –in fact it
seems all the longer when we fight against it. Isn’t life the same thing? All go through it! We can pursue the path of happiness by living
the way that permits us to travel that road or we can choose some other way in
pursuing “the object and design of our existence.”
"did
follow me up..."
-there is
great persuasive power in the simple example of doing! Most people who are, for some reason, stuck
in indecision or opposition will fall in behind one person who acts with
confidence and surety. This works both
ways: in the pursuance of evil and
good. Most of us want someone else to
take the dangerous step of initiating an action. It takes courage and commitment that very few
possess to not only know that is right but to engage, to do, what is right.
-Nephi
took the lead and created a situation where others had to make a choice. There must be leaders who have such
conviction of character! Our leaders
need to take the first steps and live up to their calling… they will then find
that others of lesser courage will follow.
This is especially true when a voice of opposition has been
sounded. Although it makes the situation
all the more tenuous, a person who knows the truth must pursue that truth
whichever way the winds of opposition blow and regardless of if they are simply
“prevailing” or “gale force” winds.
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