Why is one of the main purposes of the Book of Mormon, as stated in the Title Page, to remind us of the great things the Lord has done for our ancestors? Why would this matter?
Hopefully that doesn’t sound like too selfish of a question.
But really, why do we care to read about miraculous things that have happened to other people a long time ago?
We’ve all heard the phrase “turning our hearts to the fathers”.
I think the Book of Mormon teaches us exactly how to do this.
As we read and ponder the miraculous stories, we can remind ourselves that these are actually much more than “stories”. These are true events that happened to our predecessors.
Try these 2 questions out as you read through the Book of Mormon this year:
1. How would WE react in each of these situations that we read about in the Book of Mormon?
(Okay, secret-spilling time – this question is actually how I come up with many of my posts here!)
Instead of thinking, “That’s so cool that Helaman did that!” we can start to turn our focus to, “What would I have done if I were in Helaman’s place? What does that reveal about my strengths and weaknesses right now? What can I do to improve?”
aaaaaaand….
2. What would WE want our children to learn from each life lesson?
Many of these prophet-leaders in the Book of Mormon recorded their life experiences for their posterity, or for us in particular.
So if we were going to tell our children about the personal faith crisis that we endured, or the difficult decision we had to make, what lessons would we want them to learn from it?
We can all pass on our own “record” to our children, whether we are actually recording words in a physical journal or not, through the stories we choose to tell them.
What lessons will we make a priority? What will affect their lives in a positive way the most?
If we focus on these questions this year, the Book of Mormon can come alive to us. We will be able to recognize these men and women as real people living real lives with real challenges.
And I think we will improve our ability to study and sincerely change ourselves through that study.
And that’s the purpose, right? True change and conversion.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
Artwork by Michael Malm
