3 Nephi 1:29 -- On Growing Up

"And there was also a cause of much sorrow among the Lamanites; for behold, they had many children who did grow up and began to wax strong in years, that they became for themselves, and were led away by some who were Zoramites, by their lyings and their flattering words, to join those Gadianton robbers."
3 Nephi 1:29


What struck me about this verse today is the "cause of much sorrow" part... it's sad to watch people walk away from God, especially when it is someone close to us.  It's sad for others to watch *us* walk away from God as well, and I think the biggest sorrow, for friends, family, and for God, is that when any of us walk away from God we're walking away from potential and happiness.

In this case it was similar to the idea of innocent children growing up and joining the mafia.  The Gadianton robbers were the worst thing out there, openly embracing murder as a means to gain power.  Hopefully the departures in our own lives are less serious and still reversible... because that's the thing with the lies that Satan tells us, or that we tell ourselves.  They don't last.  The truth is always there, and it takes more and more effort to hide from it.

Today, if we've gone astray, let's grow up *toward* God rather than away from him.  He is willing to forgive, if we are willing to repent.  ... That's hard.  It means tearing down the lies, even the ones that we've told ourselves, and it means actually working for answers from God rather than just assuming that he acts arbitrarily.  It means really learning and changing, what we do and also the way we think about things.  It means we have to learn to love and learn to be better, and sometimes all of that is hard.  ... It also, though, gets us turned in the right direction--towards happiness and not away from it, and that of course is priceless. :)