Mosaih 19

I wonder what kind of reception the men who had ditched their wives and children got when they returned home to their families. That would be very hard to forgive.  I know it doesn’t matter, but I am also very curious about what “ended the ceremony” means when the two groups of men were sharing information. I would like to know what that looked like.

I’m glad that King Limhi was a just man despite the wickedness of his father. It gives me hope that my children will be okay despite my imperfections and parenting mistakes. I know they have their agency to become and do what they choose, but I also know that I have the responsibility to teach them the right ways. I am afraid I am not always a good example in that way.

Mosiah 19

Mosiah 18

I wonder if it made people more willing to listen to Alma because he had been a priest of King Noah and was in hiding. I’m sure that made people curious about what he had to say, and what was going on. It makes me think about the comment Leticia made in Relief Society once about how, through repentance, the Lord is even able to take our sins and make them blessings and use them to get us to a place we wouldn’t have otherwise been. Alma was able to do a lot of good that would have been much harder if it hadn’t been for his past mistakes. 

I love stories like this where people are being converted and gather to hear the prophet. I am sure they all had other things going on in their normal lives that they could have been doing. It shows a lot of faith to let our business go and “choose that better part.” It is so easy to be distracted by all the other good things we need to do.

As I read Alma’s discourse about desiring to take care of each other I felt prompted to stop and try and make visiting teaching appointments right then. I am willing to bare the burdens of others, and mourn together and offer comfort, but again, sometimes it is so easy to get distracted by my own life and lost in my own head. And sometimes I get into the thinking and learning but not the doing. I feel like that is where I have been lately, and I need to do better.

I love thinking about the fact that when we enter into the covenant of baptism he can pour out His Spirit more abundantly. I felt like I really understood what that means for the first time in Beehives yesterday, as I thought about how the Spirit leads my life along so that I read things and understand things and hear things just in time to be able to help those I love. What an amazing gift to always have that guide with us. It really is a great blessing.

I love the description of total unity among the people, with no contention and everyone sharing their possessions. It seems so hard to overcome so much pride and so many desires to get there. I know people would say that was a hippy commune now, but it’s such a beautiful idea. I guess the hippy thing is just Satan’s counterfeit of a Zion people.