Over 30 years ago I felt the Spirit of the Lord invite me to stop skimming the surface of the Book of Mormon and slow down and record the thoughts and insights He opened to me. Here is another excerpt from Jacob that surely fits the times we are living in. (And especially as we are witnesses to how the Lord is guiding President Nelson to miraculously adjust to face these times!)
Jacob1:2, 4
2. I should write upon these plates a few of the things which I considered to be most precious…
4. And if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates.
Once again, I must testify of how important writing can be in our on-going journey of recovery. There has never come a time when it hasn’t been beneficial to me, even vital.
Our prophets have urged us, for many years, to keep a personal journal, writing daily if possible. For many of us this has seemed like a totally impossible challenge. Maybe, we can get some encouragement from the Lord’s instructions to Jacob. Notice the italicized words, “a few,” and “the heads of them.” These phrases give us some clue as to just how much writing the Lord would be glad to have us do. It doesn’t sound to me like He’s asking for a lot, but notice they should be that which is “most precious.”
THE POWER OF THE LITTLE BIT
In my twelve-step work, I have learned the value of “the little bit.” Being a perfectionist, one of my problems is that I think that I have to do it “all,” and if I can’t, I tend to do nothing. It seems to me that Jacob is modeling this very principle of “the little bit.” How much do we need to write? Long, exhaustive histories? Lots of facts and figures? Not necessarily.
Just a little bit is sufficient. Just the precious parts. The coincidences, the little miracles of our everyday. Just the “heads” or in other words, the “headlines.” This was sufficient for the Book of Mormon to be preserved for us. It will be sufficient to satisfy the Lord.
AND IF YOU FEEL CALLED TO KEEP WRITING
Now, I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t admit that there are some of you–and you’ll know who you are as you break down the Liar’s barrier against writing and begin to do some–who once you begin, you’ll fall in love with writing. You’ll find that writing is your “calling”–in other words, that it calls to you with a power that you recognize the Spirit of the Lord is in. If you are one of these people, rejoice! Personal writing is one of the most therapeutic things one could ever do. It can serve to calm us down, get us centered, restore us to sanity and give us deliberate, focused conscious contact with the Truth. Never turn down a chance or a call to write–it may well be your errand from the Lord.
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