In the opening pages of the Book of Mormon, Nephi’s father Lehi
has a vision in which Jerusalem is destroyed. He is commanded by the Lord to warn
the people of the city, who mock and even seek to kill him. Subsequently, the
Lord commands Lehi to take his family and flee into the Arabian wilderness. He
is told that if he keeps the Lord’s commandments, he and his family will be
“led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea,
a land which is choice above all other lands” (1 Ne 2:20).
We read of the family’s highs and lows, their periods of
trial and times of blessing. Their course is not easy. Young mothers had babies
and reared children in tents and on the move. They endured times of near-starvation,
avoiding marauders along the way. There were internal family struggles,
including death threats among brothers and in-laws. Loved ones died, their
ailments and suffering certainly compounded because of the physical conditions
they endured. A dozen years after leaving the comfort of the family’s lands and
estate, they landed in the Americas, where they had to plant and harvest and
build a new life and community from the ground up.
From a certain view, all that work and sacrifice may not
seem like such a reward. However, all of God’s children can benefit from
the sacrifice and faith of Nephi and his family. Consider the additional scriptures
brought forth, the record of Christ’s visit to the Americas, and the
restoration of so many of God’s truths and doctrines as a result. Nephi knew he
was blessed, and because of his faithful perseverance, I’ve been blessed too.
Years ago, when our first son Ethan was just a baby, I had a
dream. My wife Darcie and I were walking, pushing Ethan in a small, rickety
stroller. We walked for miles, day and night for weeks and weeks. We were in a
seemingly never-ending run-down city that can only be described as a slum. It
was dirty, dangerous and scary, and we walked through wind and rain and heat.
Finally, we climbed a great hill, arriving at a new house in a lovely
neighborhood with tree-lined streets. We somehow knew this new house was our home, and we walked through its
doors in peaceful, joyful comfort.
I have often pondered that dream, thinking of its
significant lessons. On one level, I took comfort, knowing the six days a week
I worked while we lived in a tiny, old, rented duplex would eventually pay off,
and we would one day live in a nicer home. Over time, I grew to believe the
dream was not meant to teach or remind me about striving for prosperity, but to
encourage me as I fought through challenges that come to a young father doing
his best to raise a family—a message something like, ‘don’t worry, you’ll get
through this.’
After almost twenty years of thinking of this simple dream,
I have thought of other lessons it teaches. The house in my dream was clean,
bright, and beautiful, but also modest. It reminds me not to aspire for riches,
but to put the Lord first and let Him take care of the rest of my temporal
needs. The dream is also a reminder of the mansions the Lord has prepared for
us in His Father’s house.
The parallel between traveling to the house in my dream, and
the Nephites’ striving to reach a promised land prepared by God, didn’t dawn on
me until a recent re-reading of Nephi’s writings. Prayerfully reading the
scriptures, pondering them, and also contemplating the lessons of my own little
dream has led me to ask myself a new question…
What promised land (metaphorically and literally) has the Lord prepared for me to reach in this life?
And what land of promise has He prepared for you?
