1 Nephi 1

(January 3, 2014)
It is hard to know what to write about a chapter that I have read so many times, and with such care, over the years.  For years whenever I would resolve to improve spiritually I would start with a conscientious reading of 1 Nephi 1.  I have teased so many things out of this chapter that just about each verse of it has meaning.  I can only imagine what my life would be like if I had held that intensity through the entirety of the scriptures.

But despite that, each time I read this chapter something new seems to pop out at me.  This time it was the fact that Lehi was not praying for himself – he was praying for the people.  I have spent a good bit of time thinking of the motivations that led Lehi to pray, but I do not recall having noticed that.  It struck me how similar Lehi’s prayers were to the prayers of the brother of Jared.  It seems that our prayers for others are more readily answered than our prayers for ourselves (which is only natural, I suppose).