My friend dropped these pretty flowers off as a surprise the other day. It put a smile on my face!
Today I read Omni 1 – The record of Amaleki. Every time I get to this part of the Book of Mormon, I feel a deep gratitude that Ameleki took the record-keeping more seriously than his dad, his grandpa, and some of his previous ancestors. Here we actually get some more of the story of the Nephites after over 141 years (and only 11 verses) of “well we had a lot of wars, and I was a soldier so I fought in them.”
(I’ve probably written about this before, but since it’s my daily study, Dear Reader, you get my daily thoughts, even if they repeat sometimes. Love ya’. ❤ )
This part amazes me.
Two kingdoms unite – there was no fighting battles or any bloodshed. I realize that there still may have been difficult or tense situations to work through, but I have tremendous respect for these two kings to pull this off. What does this say about their leadership? (* Tangential thought below the quoted verses.)
King Mosiah was told by the Lord to take the righteous people of his land and flee to a different place because the persecutions against God’s followers were so dangerous. They do as the Lord told them, and come upon another group of people they’d never encountered before. These people didn’t speak the same language and they had no written records, so King Mosiah’s people join with them and teach them how to read and write in the language of the Nephite people. King Mosiah helps them to record their own genealogy (and I assume some of their history) as it had been kept orally by the people of King Zarahemla.
The people of King Mosiah could have been considered invaders by the people of King Zarahemla, and yet they peacefully join and coexist. King Zarahemla even concedes the authority of the kingship to King Mosiah. I think that would take a lot of persuasiveness on the part of both King Mosiah and King Zarahemla toward the people, but also a great deal of humility on King Zarahemla’s part. It also says a great deal about the level of respect that all the people had for King Mosiah, that they wouldn’t fight the change, but willingly go along with it.
“18 But it came to pass that Mosiah caused that they should be taught in his language. And it came to pass that after they were taught in the language of Mosiah, Zarahemla gave a genealogy of his fathers, according to his memory; and they are written, but not in these plates. 19 And it came to pass that the people of Zarahemla, and of Mosiah, did unite together; and Mosiah was appointed to be their king.”
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* So I was proof-reading this and when I got to this line, it triggered another thought:
“Two kingdoms unite – there was no fighting battles or any bloodshed. I realize that there still may have been difficult or tense situations to work through, but I have tremendous respect for these two kings to pull this off. What does this say about their leadership?” How many situations do we find ourselves in with the need to unite two very different groups? It could be the effort to unite two families as a result of marriage, or re-marriage; or different groups of people (culture or race) in a neighborhood; or when there are new people who come to join a church group or club. What principles were followed to allow these two kingdoms to unite without severe in-fighting? I need to think about this some more.
Weathering The Journey 