1 Nephi 4:20-38 Choices

One man in a wicked environment chose to follow God.  While my immediate surroundings are peaceful, the world is rapidly increasing in wickedness and distancing itself from God.  The world calls "evil good, and good evil." Isaiah 5:20-21

How can I keep myself prepared to hear and follow God when he calls?  Even when the "whole world" cries one thing, how do I keep my ears and heart turned towards God?

We see Nephi prepared to do God's work, and I think Zoram is also prepared.  Of all the people in Jerusalem who were chosen to leave Jerusalem, there is Lehi and his family, Ishmael and his family, and Zoram, a servant of Laban.

We know little of Zoram's life before this time, but we do know he is chosen by God to accompany Lehi's group into the wilderness, and is later commended as being a true friend to Nephi and is promised that his descendants would be blessed and prospered in the new land.

I think when Nephi speaks to Zoram, the Spirit of God conveys the truth of his words.  Whether Zoram  was outwardly religious or righteous before this time or not, when he heard Nephi speak, Zoram chooses to follow the path to freedom, the path of obedience, and the path to God.

1 Nephi 2:1

Lehi was blessed because of his obedience, the "things which thou hast done."   But because of his faithful obedience, his life was threatened, and he had to take his family, leave behind all his earthly wealth, and depart into the wilderness.

I looked up some of the other people who heard the words "Blessed art thou" in the scriptures.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, Luke 1:28
Simon Peter Matthew 16:17
Lehi 1 Nephi 2:1
Nephi 1 Nephi 2:19
Alma Mosiah 26:15
Alma the Younger Alma 8:15
The wife of Lamoni Alma 19:10
Joseph Smith D&C 6:10

All of these people were on a path of righteousness; some had been travelling it longer than others, but they all had a long ways to go and many challenges to face before they were done with this life.

My questions are:

What choices were these people making on a daily basis?

How did they live their lives after they heard these words?

What do I need to be doing to be/feel blessed of God?

1 Nephi 1:16-17

Nephi records that Lehi beheld many visions and dreams and that he recorded many of his prophesies and counsel to his children.  Nephi will follow his example in recording events and revelations in his own life.

When I look at my parents and their lives, I see the echoes in my life, or maybe they're seeds that have taken root and started to grow.  I guess parents and children are like the parable of the sower.

Children don't have a lot of control over what happens in their lives.  Parents provide the environment and the seeds, but eventually the children are responsible.  Lehi's children probably had similar environments and similar seeds, but each had to eventually choose their own path, their own soil, their own seeds.  I've never really understood why, when given a choice between what is good and bad and wrong and right, people ultimately make the choice they do.

I'm old enough to pick and choose what I will nurture and what I will grow in my life, so the question is, What do I choose?  What am I choosing today?  What will I choose tomorrow?  What seeds am I choosing to sow, which am I inadvertently sowing along the way and how will I make changes to the seeds I don't like?

From "The Family: A Proclamation To The World" paragraph 6,

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children...Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another. The Family: A Proclamation To The World

The scriptures tend to shine light into the dark recesses of my soul and make visible what I may not have otherwise seen.  Things I am lacking, things I need to improve.

I don't remember where I originally heard this story related by Robert Fulghum, but it is beautiful.  Here is the ending:

I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world -- into the black places in the hearts of men -- and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life.  http://christysclipart.com/mirror.html

What am I doing with my soil and how am I nourishing the soil of my family/friends/community/county?

How far can my influence reach?

What are my purposes and responsibilities in this life?

How do you see yours?