1 Nephi, Chapter 22

Verse 31: "...Wherefore, if ye shall be obedient to the commandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day. And thus it is. Amen."

A beautiful promise. If we are doing our best to obey the commandments and endure to the end, we will be saved. And because the promise comes from God, we can know that He will keep His end of the bargain no matter what. It's up to us to keep our end of the deal.

1 Nephi, Chapter 17

What I pulled from this chapter is that the commandments of God must be fulfilled and if we will just follow Him and do as he asks, He will provide a way.

There are many times that I think that I cannot do what the Lord has asked... it's just too hard, I don't have the time, I don't have the energy or the resources. But if I just follow Him and do my best, He will help me find a way to do what I should do.

1 Nephi, Chapter 16

Haven't you always been curious what the Liahona looked like exactly? I have a picture in my own head, but I wonder how close it is to reality.

That's not really my scriptural pondering for the day, just something that came to mind as I was reading. ;)


But my thought to consider for today is about Laman and Lemuel. At the beginning of the chapter they humble themselves and are walking in righteousness, but by the end they are right back to being hardhearted and disobedient. I know a lot of times when I've read this story or talked about it in classes, everyone kind of shakes their head over Laman and Lemuel and wonders how they could go through this cycle again and again. But today it struck me that I go through that cycle again and again also. Maybe not to the extremes of Laman and Lemuel, but still.

I have things that I struggle to believe and to obey and sometimes I do really well and do all that I should be doing. Other times I fall down and feel hardhearted until I have to repent and start the cycle over again. And again. And again.

So I guess my lesson for today is to not be so judgemental of Laman and Lemuel when I read their stories. And to not be judgemental of people that I encounter in my everyday life... I may not approve of some of the things they do, but there's no telling where they are in this cycle. Given time, they may be the ones to help me when I fall down to the bottom of the cycle.

1 Nephi, Chapter 2

Lehi had wealth and property and probably a very comfortable life until the Lord commanded him to go into the wilderness. And he did it. He didn't argue or negotiate or plead for more time to get ready. He just left everything behind and went with his family into the wilderness.

What an incredible example of obedience. The Lord spoke and he obeyed.