"And it came to pass that after they had bound me insomuch that I could not move, the compass, which had been prepared of the Lord, did cease to work."
1 Nephi 18:12
I like the idea here that we can't progress when we don't behave righteously. I think the Lord sends us that message over and over and over again, but, like Laman and Lemuel in this story, we often don't listen, or try to justify our actions.
Both sides of every conflict typically think of themselves as the good guys. Laman and Lemuel likely felt that way until 4 days later when they finally realized that God was trying to send them a message to let their brother go. And while it is uncomfortable to think of ourselves as the Laman and Lemuel in the story, I think that is probably who we are more often than we like to think... we get in the way of our own progression more often than other people get in our way.
As an oldest child, I can kind of relate to Laman and Lemuel. I mean, wow... little brother trying to boss me around? It's hard to be humble when it is turning your world upside down like that. ;) And I guess that's my point here. We need to take a step back sometimes and realize that there aren't convenient gospel exceptions for the things and people that bug us. :) God didn't ask us to love other people *unless* they cut us off in traffic or vote for the candidate that we don't like or take that promotion that we wanted, or try to boss us around.
When Christ asks us to love and serve and be good, he means even right now, even in traffic, and even when it is super hard. And our lives are not going to progress as they should unless we clear some of those things out of our way. The more we clear out resentments and the little mean things we sometimes do, even to friends and family, the more our lives will open up and we'll be able to progress in our journey to our own promised land. :) Today, let's work on making sure we aren't getting in the way of our own progression.
1 Nephi 18:12
I like the idea here that we can't progress when we don't behave righteously. I think the Lord sends us that message over and over and over again, but, like Laman and Lemuel in this story, we often don't listen, or try to justify our actions.
Both sides of every conflict typically think of themselves as the good guys. Laman and Lemuel likely felt that way until 4 days later when they finally realized that God was trying to send them a message to let their brother go. And while it is uncomfortable to think of ourselves as the Laman and Lemuel in the story, I think that is probably who we are more often than we like to think... we get in the way of our own progression more often than other people get in our way.
As an oldest child, I can kind of relate to Laman and Lemuel. I mean, wow... little brother trying to boss me around? It's hard to be humble when it is turning your world upside down like that. ;) And I guess that's my point here. We need to take a step back sometimes and realize that there aren't convenient gospel exceptions for the things and people that bug us. :) God didn't ask us to love other people *unless* they cut us off in traffic or vote for the candidate that we don't like or take that promotion that we wanted, or try to boss us around.
When Christ asks us to love and serve and be good, he means even right now, even in traffic, and even when it is super hard. And our lives are not going to progress as they should unless we clear some of those things out of our way. The more we clear out resentments and the little mean things we sometimes do, even to friends and family, the more our lives will open up and we'll be able to progress in our journey to our own promised land. :) Today, let's work on making sure we aren't getting in the way of our own progression.
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