Author: sp

Nephi had become old. He was old, and he was going to die soon. And before he died, he wanted to write out his testimony one more time because it had changed a little bit the older he became.

First, Nephi wrote about Jesus. He wrote about how Jesus would come to earth, and how Jesus would love everyone on the earth. He would love them and show them how to return to God. Jesus would be humble and he would be baptized so we would know to be baptized. He would help people repent so we would know how to repent. He would send the Holy Ghost so that we could feel God close to us when we are sad, or scared, or lonely, or wanting to feel like at least one single person in the universe knows our name and cares about us.

And second, for the thousandth time in this book so far, Nephi wrote that God loves his children. He loves them if they are short or tall or mean or silly or lost or ugly or even if they have forgotten all about God. Even if they are angry at God. Even if they curse God, and swear that God doesn’t love them. He loves those people too, and he knows their names, and his very greatest desire, what makes God happiest, is the hope that you and me and all of us will come home someday to live with our heavenly parents forever.

Wait, you might say, isn’t that what Nephi has been saying this whole time? You’re right! That’s what all of his visions and scriptures have said from the very first time we met Nephi. But some things take a very long time to learn in our souls, even if we have already learned them with our heads. In fact, it can take a lifetime, years and years and years. And that’s why God is always telling us that He loves us, and Jesus loves us, and that we should love each other—because those things are hard to believe deep in our souls, and we forget sometimes.

Sometimes, we think, “Heavenly Father, surely you don’t love people who disobey you. You must be too disappointed to love them. And what about people who are angry with you? Or people who don’t believe you exist? What about people who hate, or hurt each other? People who will hurt your son? People who will take Jesus and hurt him and kill him? You cannot love those people.”

Nephi would think those things too, sometimes. But whenever he thought that, God’s love would shine through in his tent all the brighter like the warm sunshine. “Yes, them, Nephi,” God would say. “Yes all people. They are mine.”

But Nephi would forget sometimes. When Laman and Lemuel were mean again, or when he thought about the people in Jerusalem who wanted to kill Lehi, he would forget that God loves them, and he would be angry or sad or frustrated. You see, it is difficult to believe God loves everyone because that means that we have to try to love everyone too. And that can be really, really hard to do because people can be mean or smelly or strange or hurtful. But God asks us to have charity.

Charity, a definition:

Charity means loving people like God loves them. Charity is patient. It is kind. It is never jealous, or proud, or angry. It doesn’t look down on people because they are poor, or strange, or different. When people are sad, it says “I will cry with you.” When people are happy, it says “I will dance with you.” It protects people, trusts people, hopes in people, and stands by people to the ends of the earth. And it is the strongest, most important, most powerful force in all the earth. It is more powerful than waves, wind, storms, or fire. It is more powerful than hate, more powerful than war. And when everything else fails and falls away, charity will never, never, never, never fail.

So you see why charity is so important, and why it is so hard to learn. But Nephi learned it, I think. On the very last page he ever wrote, do you know what he said? He thought about every single person he had been angry with. Every person he had struggled to love: Laman and Lemuel and their children who had fought his family in so many wars; the people in Jerusalem who wanted to kill Lehi; the people who would come to the Promised Land someday and would hurt the people already living here. All of these people were imperfect, and had done and would do bad things. Terrible things. And in his old age, Nephi was becoming more like God: instead of feeling angry or bitter or hurt when he thought about these people, he felt love. Deep in his soul, for the first time in his life, he felt charity filling him up like a warm glass of milk spilling over and over and over.

I have charity for my people, he wrote, including Laman and Lemuel. I have charity for the people in Jerusalem. I have charity for the Gentiles who will come and live here someday. And I believe that God loves them. And I believe that many of us, if not all of us, will be saved and will live with our heavenly parents and with Jesus someday.”

Nephi breathed out a long sigh. His hand shook as he put his pen down. “Heavenly Father,” he said, “I have tried. I have tried. I am trying.” And God gathered Nephi, who was old and weak and tired, up into his arms like a child. “Nephi,” he said, “It makes my heart glad when you try.”

Remember how Isaiah wrote poetry that doesn’t seem to make much sense? Well part of the reason is because he was writing about two or three things at the same time. And it’s hard enough to write about one thing let alone two or three things. So while Isaiah was talking about his own people and his own time and his own children, he was also writing about Jesus who would come severn hundred years later. And while he was writing about Jesus who would come seven hundred years later, he was also writing about Jesus when he would come again thousands of years after that. And while he wrote about Jesus coming again thousands of years in the future, he also threw in some stuff that happened before anyone was ever born. Before the earth was even created. So it’s no wonder it is hard for us to know what Isaiah is talking about. 

You might wonder, what good is his poetry if it’s so hard to know what he’s even talking about? Well, while poetry doesn’t always make much sense right away, it can also be beautiful. Because when something doesn’t make normal sense, we can spend more time noticing how it sounds and how it makes us feel, and we have to use something we don’t always use when we read. We have to use our heart. And sometimes, when we’re using our heart, God speaks to us. Not always with words, but he speaks to us. And suddenly we begin to understand what Isaiah is talking about.

We realize that he is not just talking about all those other things, but he is also talking about us and our past and our future. And he is teaching us to have hope because God is coming. And because we know that God is coming we can stop being scared about monsters, or dragons, or kings, or the devil. And we can start helping to make the world a better place. Because when we don’t have to be concerned for ourselves, we have more room to care about others.

And instead of being worried we can sing the poetry that Isaiah wrote:

Heavenly Father, I will always praise you. When you could have been angry, you were kind, and you comforted me. You saved me. So I will trust you forever and I won’t be afraid of what the future holds, because Jesus is strong, and he helps me to be strong too.

And when you come, I will see with new eyes how everything on earth points to you. And then I will sing with all the rest of your children about all the beautiful things you have done for me, and for my family, and for all of us. And our song will echo in the hills and in the mountains and it will make the rocks ring like church bells. And we will see you clearly standing among us, and we will see also that you have always been there, standing with us by our side.

Remember how Isaiah talked about how God is going to come again? Well Nephi liked what Isaiah said so much he decided to say it all over again. Only this time without poetry. I guess Nephi liked saying things all over again without poetry because he’s done the same thing once already.

Do you remember how he retold the story about that tree with fruit that was bright like a light bulb? First his father saw the vision and talked about it. Then Nephi saw the same vision and then talked about it. But when Nephi talked about it, he explained all the poetry away so that people wouldn’t think it meant the wrong thing.

When Nephi tells stories, he wants people to understand, because he doesn’t want them to be confused about a few important things that people sometimes are confused about. First, Nephi wants people to understand who God is.

God loves the world. He loves the world so much. He loves the world so much he would die for it. And when I say God loves the world I don’t mean he loves the place Earth. I’m sure he loves earth too. He created it and it’s the most beautiful thing any of us have ever seen. But that earth is not what God is talking about when God says he loves the world. He’s talking about us. He loves us because we are his children. We are the world to him. We are his world. 

The second thing Nephi wants to clarify is that when God says he loves the world, he doesn’t mean part of the world.  He doesn’t mean he loves one continuent. One group of people. Or just a few friends of his. God loves everyone. And God wants everyone to be his people so that he can be everyone’s God. 

The third thing Nephi wants to straighten out is that when God talks about his people, he doesn’t mean the righteous or the rich or the successful people. When God talks about his people he’s talking about the people who repent. 

Repent (a definition)

To turn towards God

So when you do something wrong, you don’t run away from God. You turn towards God. And let him heal you. That’s what makes you God’s.

So if you ever feel like you’re not God’s, remember that you are God’s and turn back and run to him, and hold your arms wide open, and say “heal me.” And he will. And being healed by God is the best feeling in the world. It’s better than milk or candy. And guess what, it’s free!

The fourth thing Nephi wants you to know is that the Book of Mormon does not replace the Bible. They are both books that God had people write so that we would know about him. Both books are good. And both books matter. And they matter because God uses these books to write a whole different book, a book he writes personally for you and me and for each one of us. 

Because when God writes he doesn’t use a pen or a pencil. When God writes he uses his pointer finger and he doesn’t write words on paper or a computer. He doesn’t even use stone anymore. When God writes, he writes his words on your heart. So he needs us to read these good books because a lot of the words he writes come from these books. Words like repentance. Now you know it. Now God can write it and you will understand. 

The fifth thing Nephi wants you to know is what to do when you feel God writing words on your heart. What you’re supposed to do is exactly what Nephi did. You’re supposed to write it down. So that you can remember it. Because you can’t go looking at your heart all the time. And it’s even harder for other people to see what God wrote on your heart. So write down what God tells you so you can remember and so you can help other people who don’t yet know that God is writing on their heart. 

The last thing Nephi wants you to know is that when God comes again, it’s going to be awesome. It will be like a petting zoo. Only it won’t just be lambs and goats. There will also be lions and snakes and oxen and elephants too. Oh and friends. Lots of friends. And the children will be in charge of all the activities. It will be like a day on the beach. Only instead of the ocean we will all be tanning and playing and swimming in the knowledge of God. 

Well that last bit might have started to sound a little bit like poetry. I guess even Nephi sometimes can’t say things straight. Sometimes he slips. Whatever God told Nephi about his second coming must have been so big and beautiful that Nephi couldn’t think of a normal way to say it. So he said, look out Isaiah, here I come. 

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Do you remember how Jacob was reading from the prophet Isaiah? Jacob and Nephi really liked Isaiah. Of course, they had never met Isaiah. All they had was a book. A book God had given them. A book they almost left in Jerusalem, but God really wanted them to have this book so he sent Nephi and Lamen and Lemuel and Sam back to get it. Do you remember that brass book? Well Nephi and Jacob really liked the book and in particular they liked Isaiah. 

Of course, Isaiah wasn’t the only prophet in the book. There were a whole bunch of prophets, but Isaiah was their favorite. Isaiah wrote a lot of stuff we call poetry because it doesn’t make much sense right away. But Jacob and Nephi really liked his poetry because they felt that they could relate with it.  

RELATE (a definition)

To relate is to put on the same pair of shoes. So if you have ever tried on your mother’s heels and slipped and tripped and said, “wow, these are slippy, trippy shoes.” Your mother could reply, “child, I relate with you.”

And if dark clouds are twirling and thundering in the distance. Big and dark and empty like your stomach before dinner—rumbling and tumbling and maybe a little grumpy. Then you could say, “Clouds, I relate with you.”  

Well Nephi and Jacob could relate with Isaiah. Isaiah kept writing about his people, his city, his family. They were doing all sorts of bad things. God had made them wealthy but the people were using their money to buy big and unnecessary treasures for themselves rather than helping the poor. God had given them a land full of animals and resources. But they had taken the horses and the resources and turned them into weapons, like chariots. God had given them life and a body like his own body: legs, shoulders, head, and hands. But the people had used their hands to make sculptures of pretend Gods that didn’t even look like them. In short, they had taken everything God had given them and walked away without even thanking him for it. 

This made Isaiah sad. The people believed they had made their own wealth because they were smart. They believed that they won their own wars because they were strong. And they believed that they were successful because they were righteous. But it wasn’t any of those things. It was because of God. 

And so Isaiah went from feeling sad to feeling angry. He was so angry he wanted God to punish the people so that they would know they were being bad. And so they would know that without God they weren’t very smart or strong or righteous. They were nothing without God. 

But God shook his head and told Isaiah to go and preach repentance to the people so that they could be happier. Because God knew that when people start believing that they are their own reason for success, then they start believing that they are their own reason for failure. They begin to think that they deserve what happens to them. And living like this is very sad and very lonely because it misses grace. 

GRACE (a definition)

Grace is realizing that everything is given to you like a birthday present. It’s not really deserved. It’s not really earned. It’s a gift. And it’s given by someone who loves you. And knowing this makes all the difference. And so no matter what it is, whether it’s fame and money or baldness or cancer, you can have the strength to unwrap it and say, “Thank you God.” 

Grace is what the people were missing. Even Isaiah got so caught up in what his people were doing wrong that he too missed grace. He didn’t want to preach to them because he knew they might listen. And if they listened, they would hear the truthfulness of God. And then they would repent. And Isaiah knew God well enough to know that if the people repented, God would heal them, no matter what. 

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You may have noticed that there aren’t that many happy stories so far. Don’t worry, there will be. But you should also know now that this book doesn’t end happily, exactly. There’s going to be a lot of sad stories that lead to a really sad ending. But that’s the thing about Jesus. He can take our very saddest stories, the most terrible moments in our lives, in the history of the world, and redeem them. 

Redeem, a definition:

To redeem means taking something that’s completely lost, or broken, or ruined, and making it okay, even when that seems impossible. And that’s what Jesus does. He finds people who are lost, people who are broken, people who have fallen into dark, dirty, deep, smelly holes where they are hiding their sad and ruined selves, and He brings light into the hole where they had been stuck. And He lifts them up from the ground and wipes the dirt from their eyes, and He holds them close and weeps with them because they were sad and also because He is glad that they have been found. 

And this story starts with something terribly sad. Laman and Lemuel had become so unhappy and hurt that they stopped believing that Nephi loved them, and that Lehi loved them, and that God loved them. And that made them sad, and then that made them angry. Every time they saw Nephi they felt sadness and anger boiling together in their bellies. And that was uncomfortable to have a roiling, bubbling belly all the time. And they thought, maybe if they don’t have to see Nephi any more, their bellies won’t hurt so much all the time. And so they decided they wanted to do a bad thing. They decided they wanted to kill Nephi. 

But God protected Nephi, like he had protected Lehi and Sariah. He told Nephi that he needed to bring his family and run far away to a new home in The Promised Land. So Nephi and Sam and Zoram and their wives, and their children, and Jacob and Joseph and their wives, and their children packed up all their things and slipped away into the night. The next time they saw Laman and Lemuel, they fought again. But it wasn’t like brothers having an argument. They were fighting with bows and arrows and armies because the family was actually at war with each other.

Everything had become topsy turvy. God had sent them here to The Promised Land because God loves families, and He wanted to save this family and give them a home where they could be safe and happy. And now the family was actually destroying itself. Instead of feeling safe and happy, they were fighting and hating and trying to kill each other. Everyone felt confused, and scared, and heartbroken, and sometimes angry. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen at all!

And one day, Jacob’s heart was aching so he decided to read his scriptures. He was reading something that another prophet called Isaiah wrote. And maybe, a hundred years earlier, Isaiah was also feeling sad, or scared, or hopeless, because God was comforting Isaiah. Jacob read: 

Do you think that I have forgotten you? Or that I sold you away to someone else to take care of you? Or maybe do you think that your sin is more powerful than my goodness? Perhaps you think that I do not have the strength to redeem you. Have you forgotten me? I dressed the sky in a blanket of stars so you would have light. I raised continents up from the ocean so you would have land, and the waters and the rocks speak my name. I put fish in the rivers, and plants on the earth so you would have beauty and strength and life. And you are precious to me. 

Wherever you are, I will love you. When you are in the wilderness, I will comfort you. When you are in the garden, I will rejoice with you. When the continents fall back into the ocean, and the waters dry up, and the earth becomes so old it is like a rag with so many holes, I will come to you and I will call you by name, and you will see that I have never forgotten you for a moment.

Jacob read what Isaiah wrote, and he understood. Even though everything was all wrong, God would make everything alright. Maybe not now. Maybe not in while he was alive. But someday, God would send a redeemer. The Redeemer, Jesus. And Jesus would find every single one of God’s children from whatever holes or corners they were trapped in, and he would redeem them all. Every single one.

But what is remarkable, what you maybe have noticed already, is that redeeming is what Jesus was doing at that very second. He had found Jacob, and his family, and Nephi, and his family, and Sam and Joseph and Zoram and their families, and he saw that they were in a hole called confusion and despair. And he was standing in the hole with them, and weeping with them, and weeping for Laman and Lemuel who were so angry and unhappy, and he was reaching out to all of them, and trying to help them see that even this sad story would be redeemed.

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This is a story about a very old man with a grey beard and hair as white as your eyes. You know him as Lehi the prophet. He is the same man who preached in Jerusalem. He took his family into the wilderness where they walked around for eight years. They built camps, bows, and a ship. They even crossed the ocean. 

But that was just the beginning. After crossing the ocean, they built a new home in The Promised Land. Now it was called The Promised Land not only because it was the land God promised to them, but also because it came with a special promise. It came with the promise that if Lehi and his family were good and kind and righteous, then they would be safe and happy forever. 

But the problem with forever is that the closer you get to it, the further it runs. It’s like trying to catch a squirrel or a dog that doesn’t want to be caught. Or it’s like trying to place one of your toes on the horizon. Or maybe it’s like trying to see the back of your head without a mirror. Or like looking between two mirrors and finding where your reflection disappears.

You see, the main problem is that we can spend our whole life walking towards forever and still never reach it. And that’s what Lehi had done. He spent his life looking for a place where he would be safe and happy, and his children would be safe and happy, and where his grandchildren would be safe and happy forever. And that’s why he did all the stuff he did. Because he believed that if they worked together, they could reach forever. 

Lehi was getting old and realized he was not going to reach forever and so before he died he gave each of his sons a blessing. A blessing is like a gift that would give them strength to keep walking even when they got tired. Or would help them be good even when they wanted to be bad. Or would give them encouragement even when they were ready to give up. 

To Laman and Lemuel he gave the blessing of forgiveness. Even though they had done bad things and would do bad things, God would be merciful. He would let them repent and they could be cleaned. And their mistakes would be washed away not just from their own lives, but even for the lives of their children. 

To Jacob he gave the blessing of knowledge. He told Jacob about Adam and Eve and how God had created all of mankind. And that they were all children of God. And that God would look after them. And while sometimes things were hard and sometimes people were bad, it was all for a greater purpose. It was not insignificant. Nothing was insignificant. This gift of knowledge would help Jacob see beauty and grace even when things seemed bad and sad and unfair. 

To Joseph he gave the blessing of hindsight and foresight. He told him about other people named Joseph. Like the Joseph who was sold into Egypt. And Joseph Smith the farmer. And his son Joseph smith the prophet.  By looking back across history and across his life Lehi’s son Joseph was able to see that God’s hand had been in everything. And by looking forward he could see that God’s hand was still going to be in everything. And so he didn’t have to worry so much. He knew everything was going to be alright.

To Sam and Nephi (and even their friend Zoram) he gave the gift of children. Which in a way was all the gifts. Through children they would learn to repent and forgive. They would gain knowledge. Most importantly, they would learn about love. What it is. What it feels like. And in this way they’d understand God a little better. Because God is also a father and a mother who loves their children. And when they had children, Sam and Nephi and Zoram would see grace in the past and have hope for the future. Because having a child is having hope.

And these were the blessings Lehi gave his children. And he told them to take these blessings and to keep on heading towards forever. Lehi’s voice was rough. His skin was wrinkled like a bed sheet in the morning. There was a tear in his eye. And he said he loved all his children and their children and their children’s children. And he told them to keep heading for forever. And he told them that when they reached it, he would be there waiting for them. 

And then he was gone.

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This is a story about a very old man with a grey beard and hair as white as your eyes. You know him as Lehi the prophet. He is the same man who preached in Jerusalem. He took his family into the wilderness where they walked around for eight years. They built camps, bows, and a ship. They even crossed the ocean. 

But that was just the beginning. After crossing the ocean, they built a new home in the Promised Land. Now it was called the Promised Land not only because it was the land God promised to them, but also because it came with a special promise. It came with the promise that if Lehi and his family were good and kind and righteous, then they would be safe and happy forever. 

But the problem with forever is that the closer you get to it, the further it runs. It’s like trying to catch a squirrel or a dog that doesn’t want to be caught. Or it’s like trying to place one of your toes on the horizon. Or maybe it’s like trying to see the back of your head without a mirror. Or like looking between two mirrors and finding where your reflection disappears.

You see the main problem is that we can spend our whole life walking towards forever and still never reach it. And that’s what Lehi had done. He spent his life looking for a place where he would be safe and happy, and his children would be safe and happy, and where his grandchildren would be safe and happy forever. And that’s why he did all the stuff he did. Because he believed that if they worked together, they could reach forever. 

Lehi was getting old and realized he was not going to reach forever and so before he died he gave each of his sons a blessing. A blessing is like a gift that would give them strength to keep walking even when they got tired. Or would help them be good even when they wanted to be bad. Or would give them encouragement even when they were ready to give up. 

To Laman and Lemuel he gave the blessing of forgiveness. Even though they had done bad things and would do bad things, God would be merciful. He would let them repent and they could be cleaned. And their mistakes would be washed away not just from their own lives, but even from the lives of their children. 

To Jacob he gave the blessing of knowledge. He told Jacob about Adam and Eve and how God had created all of mankind. And that they were all children of God. And that God would look after them. And while sometimes things were hard and sometimes people were bad, it was all for a greater purpose. It was not insignificant. Nothing was insignificant. This gift of knowledge would help Jacob see beauty and grace even when things seemed bad and sad and unfair. 

To Joseph he gave the blessing of hindsight and foresight. He told him about other people named Joseph. Like the Joseph who was sold into Egypt. And Joseph Smith the farmer. And his son Joseph Smith the prophet.  By looking back across history and across his life Lehi’s son Joseph was able to see that God’s hand had been in everything. And by looking forward he could see that God’s hand was still going to be in everything. And so he didn’t have to worry so much. He knew everything was going to be alright.

To Sam and Nephi (and even their friend Zoram) he gave the gift of children. Which in a way was all the gifts. Through children they would learn to repent and forgive. They would gain knowledge. Most importantly, they would learn about love. What it is. What it feels like. And in this way they’d understand God a little better. Because he is also a father who loves his children. They would see grace in the past and have hope for the future. Because having a child is having hope.

And these were the blessings Lehi gave his children. And he told them to take these blessing and to keep on heading towards forever. Lehi’s voice was rough. His skin was wrinkled like a bed sheet in the morning. There was a tear in his eye. And he said he loved all his children and their children and their children’s children. And he told them to keep heading for forever. And he told them that when they reached it, he would be there waiting for them. 

And then he was gone. 

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There are many reasons that living in the desert can make you discontent. There are bugs and spiders and probably scorpions. It gets very hot during the day and it can get very cold at night. There are not fast food restaurants or any restaurants for that matter. It is very easy to get lost, because every direction looks the same. There are no mountains or oceans or anything to tell you which way you came from or which way you are going. But worse of all, there are not many people who live in the desert. You could very easily walk through an entire desert and not meet a single other person the whole time. It’s just you, the heat, the sand, and too little food. And so the one thing you are sure to be in the desert, is discontent.  

Discontent, a definition:

Most people are mostly content most of the time. You might not think so because when you are content, it is very hard to notice. We only notice when it is too hot or too cold or we’re hungry or tired or hurting or sad. But most of the time we are comfortable. And so we keep doing what we’re doing without even noticing how practically perfect everything is. And we keep right on being thoughtlessly content until we become hungry or sad or cold. There are many ways to become discontent and they all feel more or less like an empty stomach. Because it’s your body’s way of telling you that something needs to change.    

There are several things that made Lehi and Sariah’s family discontent. One of the first was the no-people problem. “We cannot live in this world alone,” they said. “We need family and friends. We need girls and boys. We need people to play with and think with and talk with and flirt with and have kids with. We need more people!” 

And God heard their prayers and agreed. And so God sent Laman and Lemuel and Sam and Nephi back once more to Jerusalem. And this time, instead of getting a book, they got people. They found a family with lots of kids who would make excellent friends. But instead of stealing the family, like they had stolen the book, they just asked a simple question. 

“Hey,” they said. “Do you want to leave your home and your air conditioning and your restaurants and your friends and your happy content lives, and come and live with us in the desert?” And then a miracle happened. Even though the family had not listened to Lehi the first time—when he told everyone that Jerusalme was going to be destroyed and everyone had better pack up and leave—they listened to Lehi’s son’s. And the family said yes. Because God had come into their hearts. 

It’s not that God wanted the family to be uncomfortable, it wasn’t going to be safe and comfortable and careless in Jerusalem much longer anyways. But beyond that, God knew that the parts of life that we care about and cling to and love and cherish the most are the parts we notice. And to notice our life, sometimes we have to do things that are early or hard or uncomfortable.  

Now that Lehi and Sariah’s family had friends and companions and sweethearts and playmates, do you think they were content? Not quite. Because now that they had all these people, they had to feed them. And there were no grocery stores anywhere. And so they had to hunt with bows and arrows and forage with their fingers and fingernails. And they had to eat whatever they could find like birds and ants. And to make things worse, their bows and arrows were breaking one by one and then, they were all broken. And so they were again, discontent. 

And God showed them how to make new bows and arrows because God also knows that sometimes when we are angry and mean and bad the problem is not that we are angry or mean or bad people. The problem is that we are hungry. 

But now the two families had friends and food, they were still not out of discontents. Because now they were lost. They didn’t know where to go or where they were going or what this whole crazy adventure was all about. And so God gave them a ball that was like a clock, only instead of telling the time, the hands of the clock pointed which way to go. 

Because God knew that we all have far more time than we know what to do with. And when we have time but no direction it’s easy to let minutes and years slip through our fingers like desert sand. And we might arrive at the end of our life and ask why we had hardly enough time to do anything at all. So instead of giving them a clock that told them what time it was, he gave them a clock that told them what to do with the time they had. 

But now that they had friends and food and direction, they were still not out of discontents. There were still bugs and hot days and cold nights. And sunburn and scorpion stings. And not enough food or water. And so God led them to a land that was full of shade, and warm days and pleasant nights. There was an ocean of fish to eat. And best of all, there was honey. They scooped it up into a jar and licked it off of their fingers and closed their eyes because it was the sweetest, tastiest thing they had eaten in years. “And after the desert, there is dessert” they laughed. They were done with the discontents and ready for some rest and relaxation. 

And they thought they were happy because everyone was all out of discontents. Everyone except God. God had one last discontent. Because God knew that happiness was more than not being discontent. It was more than full bellies and free time and money and honey. There was something more. Something better. Some place better. Someone better. And God was not content for the two families to waste their whole lives simply being comfortable. 

And so God told Nephi that he needed to build a boat. Do you know how to build a ship? Nephi didn’t either. But luckily, God knew, and he showed Nephi step by step. And it took a lot of steps. He had to go to the mountain and find metal hidden in the rocks. He had to melt down that metal into tools. He had to cut down trees and make wood from the trunks. And that was all before he could even start putting it together. 

And Laman and Lemuel did not understand. “We already left Jerusalem once,” they said. “We traveled for years. We have had hunger and thirst and injuries and loneliness and discomfort and bad food. And now that we are finally comfortable again you are telling us that God wants us to leave! That cannot be true. If God loves us, He wouldn’t want us to suffer any more than we already have.”

Nephi explained that he did not know how to build a ship let alone how to live a good life. All he could manage to do alone was keep himself eating and drinking and living. But there was something more to life than living. There was a kind of contentedness that was just as noticeable as all of their discontents had ever been. But instead of hunger, it was a feeling of being so pleasantly full that you will never be hungry again. It’s a contentedness that cannot be undone or replaced and cannot be missed or mistaken. 

And that’s what God wanted for them. And so even though Nephi didn’t know how to build a ship or live a good life, God did. And God was there helping them. And Laman and Lemuel were shocked to feel a new discontent. They too were hungry for this better life, this more filling food, this more content contentedness. It was a quiet hunger they had seldom felt before. But they felt it now. Now that they were content enough to notice.

And so they picked up the hammer and the wood and began helping Nephi. And together the four of them—Laman and Lemuel, Nephi and God—built a boat that would carry the entire family across the ocean to the Promised Land.

And when it was finished, God said “All aboard!” And the families, with all of their food and animals and clothes and seeds, climbed up inside the boat. “Goodbye, desert! Goodbye, goodbye! We’re going away to The Promised Land.” They waved, and the ship slipped away into the ocean.

And the winds blew, and the waves rocked, and the big ship which was large enough to cross the ocean suddenly felt very small and cramped and uncomfortable. If you rolled over in your sleep, you would roll right on top of someone else. Or if you wanted to stretch your arms in the morning, you might poke someone in the eye. And so it didn’t take too long until everyone felt sick, and tired, and grumpy. They were back in the desert.

“We’re all miserable, and tired, and smelly, and it’s Nephi’s fault!” they complained. They were so full of new discontents they had forgotten all about having a better, holier hunger. They just wanted to be back in Jerusalem. And this made God sad and He wept. And his tears became a great storm that filled the whole ocean. And the little boat was tossed back and forth on the waves like a tennis ball. 

And the people on the boat feared for their lives. “God,” they said, “save us!” And God calmed the storm. And everybody was so glad that the storm had stopped that they didn’t mind so much being crowded and smelly and sick. And God blew a gentle wind into the sails and pushed the ship through the ocean to the Promised Land. And when the people tumbled out of the boat and into the beautiful land they prayed “Thank you, God, for helping us survive.”

“Children,” God said, “I am not here to help you survive. I am here to help you live.”