January 13-19: 1 Nephi 8 - 10

1 Nephi 1:17 - “ I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men.”

Also see 2 Nephi 2:4 - “... wherefore, thou art blessed even as they unto whom he shall minister in the flesh; for the Spirit is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.”

“Those who live worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost—whenever and wherever they may live—are blessed equally with those who experienced the Savior’s ministry among them in mortality.” - Doctrinal Commentary on the Book if Mormon

We are not offered a second place or consolation prize due to the time in which we live. Those who walked the earth along with the Savior were blessed greatly. Through His gift of the Holy Ghost to us, Father in Heaven has blessed us equally. Such is the importance of the Holy Ghost in our lives and our worthiness to partake of his presence!

In 1 Nephi 8:10-12 Lehi describes seeing in vision a tree whose fruit was more sweet than anything he had ever tasted. He then describes looking around and beckoning to his family to join him at the tree to partake of the fruit with him.

While serving a mission in Anaheim, California my companion and I were having dinner with a family from the ward we were serving in. After dinner the family invited us to go outback and pick an orange for ourselves from their orange tree. I had never seen an orange tree in person before and was very excited for the experience. After picking an orange I looked at the tree more closely and was astounded by the amount of fruit the tree held. It was more than the family was able to make use of themselves and many oranges had fallen to the ground and were in various states of decay. That fruit was no longer edible and the family had missed those opportunities to share the fruit of the tree with others.

I wonder who in my life the decaying fruit on the ground might represent. Which opportunities to share the gospel with others have I missed? Who in my life has missed out on the blessings of the gospel as a result?

As regrettable as the decaying fruit of that orange tree and the lost opportunities it represents are; it is far more important now to focus on the fruit that remains on the orange tree. Who has the Lord prepared for me to share the gospel with now? What opportunities are now before me? How will I prepare myself to share the gospel with them? How will I rely upon the Lord to help me?

I know this is from last week but something that was really interesting to me was this verse: 1 Nephi 2:16: “ And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.”

What stood out to me is the phrase “...and did soften my heart” which means to me, his heart was hardened in order for it to be softened. We hear a lot about Laman and Lemuel murmuring, beating, binding, etc. but I realized that it was hard on all of them, even the strong and righteous Nephi, to pick up and leave their home.

I also watched an interesting video last week that showed pictures and the geography of the area that Lehi and his family may have travelled. I think I may have been like Laman and Lemuel - unfortunately, and murmured, especially when asked to travel back 10-14 days to get the plates. Thankfully, they did it and of course, the Lord provided a way.

Just a few things I found interesting last week

I love that! Maybe we all have a bit of a hard heart at some point. The difference for Nephi is that he was willing to ask and let Jesus soften his heart!