Day 57: September 15, 2011

1 Nephi Chapter 17

Verse 23

Nephi asks his brothers if Moses and the Children of Israel would have been delivered from the hands of the Egyptians and delivered from their bondage if they had not listened to the Lord’s commandments. They wouldn’t have. They would have remained slaves and never would have found the Promised Land. It really makes me think. What am I missing out on by not always being as obedient to the commandments as I should be? What blessings am I being kept from because I don’t heed all the promptings of the Holy Ghost? I don’t want to miss out on what the Lord has in store for me. I want to know that I am doing everything in my power to keep the will of the Lord. I know that I will fall sometimes because that is part of this life. But I can do a lot better than I am right now.

Verse 36

I really like this verse. It teaches us the purpose for why the earth was created as well as why we were created. The earth was created that it might be inhabited and we were created that we might possess the earth. Our Heavenly Father created this world so that we could come and live and learn and experience things that we need in order that we can become like him. Life is hard sometimes. I struggle daily with things and I often feel like it is more than I can handle. Heavenly Father promised us that he would never give us more then we can handle. This knowledge gives me strength and helps me understand a little bit better why I am here. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father and his son created this beautiful world. It is amazing to me how beautiful it really is. I am sitting here at the top of a hill in Salt Lake City and I see the vast city and valley below. Its night time and so the lights of the city are prominent in my view. I can see the state capitol in its majesty. I see tall buildings and lights as far as my eyes can see. But the one thing that stands out more then all of these is the Temple of the Lord. I see it with its spires lit and I am reminded of how blest I am to live on this earth at this time in history. The gospel has been restored. The church is spread forth among the world. And temples dot the land. What a blessing. Why do I sometimes forget this great blessing? Why do I sometimes do stupid things that would prevent me from all the blessing which my Father has in store for me? He loves me! He loves me and wants me to be happy and worthy of his blessings. I know that I kind of got off topic from what the verse was talking about, but I feel like the spirit directed me tonight to come up here so I can contemplate the beauty and peace found in my father’s creation and I needed to record those feelings as they came to my mind in conjunction with this verse.