Mahonri What??

This past week I read the entire book of Ether. Of course, it’s only 15 chapters long, but there are some 1,700 years jam packed into those 15 chapters. I finished reading the last chapter Monday night, and then Tuesday morning I woke up to the news that there had been terrorist attacks in Brussels. I couldn’t help but watch that news coverage with the horrible tale of the Jaredites echoing in my brain.

Most people who live in the United States have this complacency that lulls them into thinking that nothing can happen to us because our country is too strong, too great to fall. Considering that this nation has only existed a little over 200 years, we are really just in our infancy stage. Many European nations have been around far longer. The aforementioned Jaredite nation was around nearly 2,000 years before completely annihilating itself.

I work in court as the judge’s court reporter. I hear all kinds of bad stuff. Some is just nonsense, some is just sad, and some is just horrific. The judge has a difficult task before him, and it impresses me to see how he does it. Many defendants ask to be given “one last chance,” and sometimes the judge clearly states that this IS their last chance. Later, when they come back after a probation violation, the judge or the prosecutor reminds the defendant of the judge’s words at the last hearing.

Over the 1,000 years the Nephites were here and the 1,700 the Jaredites were here, they were given chance after chance after chance to humble themselves and repent, being warned or reminded that the Lord places great value on this part of the world, calling it a choice land. The Nephites danced an endless circle of righteousness-prosperity-pride-evil. The Jaredites lived and died through the same cycle, until they were all gone. There were so many prophets who often lost their lives as a result of trying to warn the people.

Why did the Lord make sure this was included in the Book of Mormon? It is very clear as you read the book of Ether that our world would very much resemble theirs, and this is our warning. Don’t be like the Jaredites. Well, except for in the early days. The brother of Jared was a man of great faith, far greater than most others. He trusted in the Lord and did hard things because he knew the Lord would watch over him. I wait with eagerness for the day when we are able to read the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon so we can learn more about the Jaredites. I feel like there was far more to tell than a mere 15 chapters could contain.

Every day I pray that a segment of our population will feel inspired to view others with love and compassion and that that segment of the population will overcome the selfish, loathsome segment of the population until that is just a thing from our past.

Sometimes that 10% Feels Like So Much More.....

When Christ came to the Americas and visited the Nephites, He made sure that their scriptures included prophecies that had been made and fulfilled which, for some weird reason, the Nephites had neglected to do. He also made sure that their scriptures contained information written by a prophet who had lived in Jerusalem 200 years after Lehi had left, so they wouldn’t have been able to take his words with them. What, you may ask, was this important piece of scripture? It was about tithing. Now all of our standard works contain this information.

What does it usually mean when the Lord repeats himself? First, it must be awfully important for us to know; and, second, it must be something with which we struggle to an embarrassing degree. Yep, tithing fits right in there with those criteria, doesn’t it?

Tithing is really a small portion of our income, yet it is so hard for many of us, myself included. It’s not that I don’t believe that I must obey the Lord’s commandments, nor have I failed to gain a testimony of this principle. I have lived its blessings. And being obedient feels amazing. But there is agency, mine and my husband’s. Neither of us has the right to force the other to do something, which includes being obedient to all the commandments. I know that sounds weird. It is unnatural, in a sense, but this is really a time for all of us to learn and grow and experience and, hopefully, come out the other side better and stronger people.

This month I met someone who, by all appearances, is living a “successful” life. She is a Relief Society president. She and her husband have several children and grandchildren. She is very nice. At least one of her sons, who happens to be in the ward we just left, has been a bishop and a member of his stake’s high council. I would imagine there are others in the family who have so served.

Today I learned something I hadn’t expected to learn:  Her son, the one we know, really isn’t her son. She said she’d like to take credit, but she’s really his stepmother. And I suddenly felt a kinship. She is a stepmother. The only more thankless task, I think, is that of being a stepfather. Love and kindness in a biological (or adoptive) relationship is tough enough without the added “feelings.” It’s always the feelings, isn’t it?

At any rate, I have recently been having similar experiences where I look at others and feel like I know who they are only to be surprised to learn something completely unexpected about them. Fortunately, in the life I have led, I rarely feel judgment upon learning of the clay feet of most of us mortals. It is almost comforting. This I understand. I also know someone who literally was a bishop and was excommunicated while serving in that capacity. His wife told me. It was a huge surprise. But then I realized I liked them more. I loved them more. They had and likely will still be suffering for a long time. I can only imagine the way they have been treated by others. What a joy to honestly look at them and realize I still want to be their friend. I still want to be supportive and kind. I want to see them walk through this experience and get out on the other side successfully.

Back to tithing – we have struggled with this principle for years, as I said. But it is a commandment. The promises of God are true. Our faith still wavers, however, and we strive to work out some of the obstacles in our way so that we can follow our faith rather than our fear. My prayer is that those who know us who may hear about this (who would tell them, I wonder?) will not think less of us but rather recognize in us kindred spirits who are just stumbling through life’s rocky terrain, but we haven’t given up. 

May all of us be willing to see one another this way. It was so important for the Savior to make sure the Nephites had Malachi’s teachings about the Law of Tithing, so it is clearly a very important law. It was also important to Him that He should atone for our sins and give us the wonderful blessing of repentance so we can be forgiven. Makes me want to say, “Wait, what? You only want 10 percent? Seriously?”