Two Parents

It's been two weeks since my husband moved back home with us. Every time I think about how it worked out with this new job of his I can't help but feel gratitude, peace, and the sense that this is what Heavenly Father had planned all along. There were many many things that I learned over that trial, some I shared with you. But the thing that is standing out to me tonight is how much my children need two parents. When my husband comes home from work he reads to the kids while I finish dinner. Or he takes our oldest boy out to play catch. Little things like that, that I haven't been able to do much of or not even at all because of the duties that I had to do all on my own. I have a deep appreciation for those women who, for one reason or another, don't have a husband to help them. I understand on a different level why parenting is so important both for the husband and the wife. I am grateful for that new understanding and Tender Mercie.

Courage

For the last few months I've been studying, reading, and thinking a lot about Nephi. He is a prophet in The Book of Mormon. This past Sunday one of the speakers in sacrament meeting talked on Faith. In her talk she mentioned Nephi and the Faith he had. If you're not familiar with his story I'll do a short summary, go here if you want to read more.
Nephi's father, Lehi, was also a prophet. They lived in a wicked city and Lehi preached repentance. In a dream the Lord told Lehi to take his family into the wilderness because the people were going to kill him and the Lord was going to destroy the city. After they had traveled many days the Lord commanded Lehi to have his sons return to the city to get the Gold Plates (Scriptures). They went. The two older brothers didn't like their father and lacked faith, unlike Nephi who had a lot of faith. They tried two times to get the plates and failed. Nephi didn't want to return to the wilderness unless they got what the Lord had told them to get. The two older brothers beat him up. An angel came and stopped them. Nephi returned to the city alone and the Lord delivered the plates to him. The story goes on and there are many many more lessons to learn from Nephi.
As the speaker was talking in church my mind started to drift to Nephi and what he must have gone through. On this earth we are here for only a short time. When you think about that time, you are here with your siblings the most. Your parents lived before you were born and will die before you. Just like your children will live longer than you. But your siblings will be with you for the longest time. Those relationships should be important to you because of that. I love my brothers and sister and their spouses. We get along really well and love to do things together. I love my husband's brothers and sisters and their spouses. We have so much fun together. When thinking about Nephi and what he endured with his siblings I can't help but admire the courage he had. He knew he needed to do what the Lord asked him to do. But every time he tried to do what was right, his two older brothers tried to stop him, sometimes by beating him up and once tied him up for days. Thinking about my relationship with my family, that would be extremely hard to do. Nephi had true courage. He did the things the Lord asked him to do even under the most difficult of circumstances. I need to try and be more like Nephi.