{"id":37547,"date":"2018-01-15T05:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=37547"},"modified":"2018-01-08T06:46:08","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T11:46:08","slug":"the-fleeting-joy-of-bountiful-reading-nephi-174-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2018\/01\/the-fleeting-joy-of-bountiful-reading-nephi-174-6\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fleeting Joy of Bountiful – Reading Nephi – 17:4-6"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This post is part of a series of reflections on I Nephi. If you’re interested, the introduction to the series is here.<\/a>\u00a0To peruse earlier entries, click the authors tab at the top of the page and then click on my name. I welcome your own thoughts on these specific verses (or on my reflections) in the comments below.<\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

I Nephi 17:4-6<\/a><\/p>\n

Like the story of Moses (to which Nephi often refers) the story of Lehi\u2019s & Saraiah\u2019s exodus is epic and foundational, as well as typological. Each of us can see ourselves and our lives reflected in the journey. Sometimes, the most striking elements are not the ways in which their story resonates, but the way in which it differs from our own. And sometimes it does both. I\u2019ve wandered through my wilderness. I often hope to embody Nephi\u2019s ethic while worrying that I more accurately portray his older brothers\u2019. I\u2019ve wandered in the wilderness, with ears and heart less finely attuned\u2014or perhaps my ears and heart are merely more \u201csubtle\u201d instruments\u2014than a Liahona to guide me. Or perhaps it is only my faith that is more \u201csubtle.\u201d I have wandered in the wilderness, but not for eight years\u2014I start to feel \u201cexceedingly\u201d afflicted after a few months.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve wandered in the wilderness, and I continue to wander. I\u2019ve not yet come to Bountiful, let alone the Promised Land (though like Laman, I think right now that I\u2019d far prefer Bountiful to Lehi\u2019s & Sariah\u2019s eventual promised land). I\u2019m grateful for my Lemuels and Shazers and Nahoms, my temporary respites. And I trust that if I endure (apparently, for more than a few months and even a few years), I\u2019ll experience the deep joy that Nephi only briefly alludes to in the coming out of the wilderness and into a land prepared<\/em>. I hope my faith is such to believe in and make my way toward and co-create a Promised Land, and that I\u2019ll not simply wallow in the mire of dreams for a future life.<\/p>\n

Irreantum\u2014 it\u2019s a beautiful word. What language is that? Surely our Nibleys and our linguists have had a field day with this word. But I\u2019m ignorant, and wonder at the term. I also wonder, who called it that? Who was there already? A land as rich and abundant as Nephi describes was undoubtedly already inhabited, even if only sparsely or intermittently. I suspect that part of the \u201cprepared\u201d nature of the land consisted in the other inhabitants and the benefits to their families that came from those inhabitants.<\/p>\n

Nephi notes that despite their hardship, they were all incredibly happy to have hit Bountiful\u2014to get a bit of fruit and honey. This juxtaposed fact further highlights the hardship they passed through. It also highlights how understandably upset his brothers would have been when Nephi\u2014who seems to be a clear leader of the families at this point\u2014starts taking steps to leave. How long was it before this happened? Surely long before the wilderness wounds were healed. And whose timing drove them? Was it the Lord\u2019s? Or was it Nephi\u2019s own zeal or perhaps wanderlust? Would Zion have failed had they rested longer? Perhaps they were reaching the critical tipping point, where the family would have split rather than all journey on together had they remained (and if so, would that have been a bad thing?). Regardless, the beauty of Bountiful was likely its own sharp thorn when they so soon had to leave.<\/p>\n

In all of this, I see their suffering and hardship as a focal point. Nephi revived that Old Testament passage that it is better for one man to perish than for a whole nation to dwindle. This exodus\u2014like the earlier exodus\u2014makes me wonder if it isn\u2019t likewise the case that it is better for one generation (the founding generation) to perish, than for a dispensation to be still born. The mysteries of God in this are impenetrable.<\/p>\n

But the great lesson here is the reality of joy. Nephi shows us how to have joy, even if we\u2019re being sacrificed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like the story of Moses (to which Nephi often refers) the story of Lehi\u2019s & Saraiah\u2019s exodus is epic and foundational, as well as typological.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37547"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37578,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37547\/revisions\/37578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}