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1 Nephi 16 Nephi’s Broken Bow

1 Nephi 16 Nephi’s Broken Bow. Elder Neal A. Maxwell has written:

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1 Nephi 16 Nephi’s Broken Bow

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  1. 1 Nephi 16Nephi’s Broken Bow

  2. Elder Neal A. Maxwell has written: “Nephi's broken bow doubtless brought to him some irritation, but not immobilizing bitterness. After all, he was just trying to feed the extended family, so why should he have to contend as well with a broken bow? Yet out of that episode came a great teaching moment. Irritation often precedes instruction. If we are not careful, small things can become the small sifting holes through which our resolve trickles away.”

  3. He continues: “The thought evokes a further question: In the process of developing the precious quality of empathy, would we trade for some earlier relief today the enlarged empathy to be used in so many endless tomorrows? Would we trade keener perceptivity, likewise to be used throughout time and eternity, for an abrupt, premature closing up of today's upsetting scene? Without eternal perspectives, we might.”

  4. “God our Eternal Father is very serious about developing in us the eternal attributes. It is well that we focus more on our eternal possibilities, because, as Brigham Young put it, "man possesses the germ of all the attributes and power that are possessed by God . . . that God possesses in perfection." Moreover, with almost stunning insight he counseled, "sin is . . . an inversion of the attributes God has placed in [man].” These words suggest, for example, that the innate and needed desire we have to succeed, when gone awry, leads to putting others down.

  5. “Furthermore, the quality of patience, if skewed, could lead to a squandering indulgence, and the virtue of meekness could be distorted to mean sublimation to various peer groups or Caesars, or a refusal to choose independently for ourselves. The quality of submissiveness could be distorted into a feeling of diffused accountability and responsibility for ourselves. The innate sense of identity can quickly sour into pride. Likewise, love can be twisted into lust and perversion. Thus, as immortal genes are mixed in with the natural man's challenges of the flesh, "inversion" can occur—unless there is a conversion to the ways of the Lord.”

  6. “No wonder, therefore, in our development that some events almost seem to wait upon the successful completion of an eternal spiritual transaction. Then the things of the day become almost inconsequential. Sometimes our pleadings are for relief, but not for ourselves; rather, for a loved one. These can be noble requests. But if these importunings go unanswered, can we endure well? This denial may be for the same, sober reasons why our importunings for ourselves cannot always be granted to us. Therefore, will we also have faith in Heavenly Father's "designs" for our loved ones? (See D&C 58:3, 4.)

  7. “Even when special nobility underlies one's petition to God, then, this cannot always be the controlling factor. Nor can one's personal deservingness. Consider Jesus in Gethsemane! “Small wonder, given such tutorial purposes, that both President John Taylor and President Brigham Young later testified that they were glad their earlier views about the need for relieving certain human suffering had not prevailed.” Maxwell, Neal A. “Enduring It Well.” pp. 121-133 in If Thou Endure It Well.

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