I have started to reread the Book of Mormon again. So this week I've been reading again about Nephi's family. Laman and Lemuel are real boogers, aren't they? They are the "bad guys". We use them as examples of how NOT to behave. And it's true, they really are not good.
This time reading though, I thought of Sariah, their mother. I thought of how heartbreaking it must have been for her to see her sons rebel and cause so much trouble for everyone. They tried to kill their brother - more than once! But she still must have loved them. It was sad to read Lehi's pleading with them to be strong and righteous; fixed and immovable. It was sad to read, knowing that they would not hearken to their father's counsel and would instead choose a very different path.
These parents wanted what I want for my kids. What I think every parent wants for their children. And even though Laman and Lemuel were wicked, their parents still loved them. It just made me feel very differently about them this time. Instead of thinking of how horrible they were and being mad that they would treat their parents and siblings the way they did, I felt so sad for them. So sad for the family. And so sad for Sariah.
I pray I never know what that feels like.
1 comment:
'Barbara' posted this on Tue 6 Apr 2010, 4:44 pm
Amen!!!
Sometimes - up to a point - before beating up their brother and certainly before murder - I understand some of what they went through. For whatever reason, their testimonies were weak. They slept during Sacrament Meeting and Seminary, threw spitballs during Sunday School, and all they were interested in during Home Evening was the refreshments. They just didn't get it. Then they left everything -money, social status, home - to go wandering in the wilderness with their religious fanatical father. Lehi and Nephi would be in raptures over feeling the Spirit, but they didn't feel it or didn't recognize it and wanted to go back to their friends. It is a hard thing to have a weak testimony. Maybe they were 'men of science' who didn't trust emotionalism. I know good people who are caught in that trap. And of course, little brother Nephi was 'the good one.' Papa's pet prophet. It seems obvious to us that they could have bettered their condition with some fervent prayer and obedience, but, hey, change is hard. And sometimes, we don't think we want it. Besides, I am a true believer but I still have trouble with true prayer. I am sad for them, too. And their children!
But yes, the heartbreak of Sariah and Lehi. They lost a third of their sons - like Someone Else we can think of. I feel sad for Him, too. and the lost ones.
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