Mormon is such an awesome teacher.
There he is, watching the demise of his people, and rewriting the records from hundreds of years of Nephite history.
Mormon has the gift of wisdom, and while he does a great job at narrating the events from the plates, he can’t help but interject his own lessons throughout his abridgment.
And what’s that famous phrase that signals us that Mormon is about to teach a lesson?
“And thus we see…”
(Sometimes, “thus we can behold…”)
He switches from story-telling to spiritual commentary.
He takes a time out from telling us about who was the chief judge and who was murdered and who was baptized…
And instead focuses on the lesson to learn.
“And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.” -Helaman 12:3
Mormon is a great example at using BOTH storytelling and explicit teaching in order to get a point across.
I think it can be easy to think that by living a pretty righteous life, our kids will catch on.
Don’t get me wrong, setting the right example is probably the most important element in teaching the gospel to our kids.
But it’s not the only element.
We also need to explicitly teach gospel principles to our children.
In family nights, studying Come Follow Me, and other home-centered gospel learning, there are so many chances to do some straightforward teaching.
And not always in formal settings either!
Mormon beautifully weaved his “thus we see..” observations throughout his summaries.
So when my kid sees a church building out of the car window and yells, “church!”, I can take that moment to teach them about why I love church and how happy it makes me.
I can’t be afraid to teach. Or even hesitant to teach.
I HAVE to be explicit. I have to point out the spiritual lessons in real-time as much as I can.
Because we truly need both: the examples and stories, and the Godly principles being boldly proclaimed.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
