"And it came to pass after my father, Lehi, had spoken unto all his household, according to the feelings of his heart and the Spirit of the Lord which was in him, he waxed old. And it came to pass that he died, and was buried."
2 Nephi 4:12
It is pretty cool that Lehi could predict his death well enough to know to give his final advice to his family. Lots of people in the Old Testament had that prior knowledge too. I wonder if it is just something that comes with being close to the spirit--knowing how to wrap things up. :)
I also love that he spoke according to the feelings in his heart, which to me personally it seems like we just don't do enough of in life. We're scared about baring our souls, sometimes legitimately, worried that others will take advantage of the knowledge or maybe just worried about how others will react or that we haven't had time to think things all the way through and the raw stuff coming out of our hearts isn't really fit for human consumption yet. We don't want anyone to laugh at our dreams. :)
As far as the gospel goes though, I think it is something that God encourages, at least in a "speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls" way (Moroni 6:5). Proverbs 23:7 also tells us that "as he thinketh in his heart, so is he," which is interesting because it talks about thoughts coming from the heart, but which also makes me wonder... if we aren't sharing the things in our hearts, then who knows who we really are? Maybe only God and ourselves... and even then sometimes only God, since we sometimes have a hard time figuring ourselves out.
Today, let's not wait until we're near death to tell our loved ones what is in our hearts. Let's open up and find ways to share the real person inside, and be authentic to how we think and feel. I mean, this isn't an encouragement to go and tell everyone how resentful we are about that time in grade school or something. :) Rather, it is encouragement to be open about being imperfect, and working towards salvation. :) To be accepted, at least by God, there is no need to pretend to perfection. He knows that we are works in progress and that we all need refinement. And, hey, once we stop putting all that effort into hiding our imperfections, maybe we can spare some more time to figure out who we are, and work on improving. :)
2 Nephi 4:12
It is pretty cool that Lehi could predict his death well enough to know to give his final advice to his family. Lots of people in the Old Testament had that prior knowledge too. I wonder if it is just something that comes with being close to the spirit--knowing how to wrap things up. :)
I also love that he spoke according to the feelings in his heart, which to me personally it seems like we just don't do enough of in life. We're scared about baring our souls, sometimes legitimately, worried that others will take advantage of the knowledge or maybe just worried about how others will react or that we haven't had time to think things all the way through and the raw stuff coming out of our hearts isn't really fit for human consumption yet. We don't want anyone to laugh at our dreams. :)
As far as the gospel goes though, I think it is something that God encourages, at least in a "speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls" way (Moroni 6:5). Proverbs 23:7 also tells us that "as he thinketh in his heart, so is he," which is interesting because it talks about thoughts coming from the heart, but which also makes me wonder... if we aren't sharing the things in our hearts, then who knows who we really are? Maybe only God and ourselves... and even then sometimes only God, since we sometimes have a hard time figuring ourselves out.
Today, let's not wait until we're near death to tell our loved ones what is in our hearts. Let's open up and find ways to share the real person inside, and be authentic to how we think and feel. I mean, this isn't an encouragement to go and tell everyone how resentful we are about that time in grade school or something. :) Rather, it is encouragement to be open about being imperfect, and working towards salvation. :) To be accepted, at least by God, there is no need to pretend to perfection. He knows that we are works in progress and that we all need refinement. And, hey, once we stop putting all that effort into hiding our imperfections, maybe we can spare some more time to figure out who we are, and work on improving. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment