1 Nephi 1

(January 3, 2015)

                One trait in my life that I have difficulty with is that I internalize the suffering of others.  I have always thought that was a good thing – that it was appropriate to feel other’s pain and to sorrow with them (mourning with those who mourn, so to speak).  I recognized that I didn’t necessarily deal with it in the correct way, but I felt like it was a good thing.

                I still feel that way, but I do have to reconcile that with something I read in this chapter.  Lehi has just been granted a vision, and in that vision he sees the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian Captivity (not a pleasant time for the children of Israel).  But, in verse 15, we read that his soul did rejoice – he was still extremely happy with what he had seen.

                I think it is good to mourn with those who mourn, but we become ungrateful if we allow that to overwhelm each of us and for us to lose sight of the fact that we are all (each and every one of us, no matter how miserable our lives may appear) blessed beyond measure and blessed beyond what we deserve.  We should never let our empathy for our fellow men (good though that trait is) overcome our gratitude for the Lord.  I have seen that in those who read the Old Testament and call it a “terror text” – they have allowed their empathy for those they have never met to overwhelm their gratitude to the Lord who blessed both them and the people that may have been destroyed (and, frankly, I have felt that same inclination in myself a time or two).