By Lacey Gunter
Today I am delighted to attend the joining together of two lovely people, my dear niece and her wonderful fiancé. They are young and sweet and thoroughly in love.
Marriage is such a powerful institution. It compels us to be better than we were and to look outside ourselves. Committing to love and be with someone even when things get worse, much worse, is difficult and takes a lot of courage, strength and patience. Modern society doesn't seem to place as high of a regard for people keeping their commitments as it used to.
In the Book of Mormona when the Nephitesb were in a particularly grievous battle with the Lamanitesc and the Nephites had gained a clear upper hand, Moroni, their leader said they were willing to stop the battle and bloodshed if the Lamanites were willing to promise not to come against the Nephites again in battle. While the Lamanites were eager to get out of the loosing battle they were in, they were not willing to make this commitment because they had no intention of keeping it. So they decided to continue to fight.
I am always amazed by this story. At this point in time the Lamanites were not a very good people. There were not a lot of very pleasant words used to describe them. But they certainly had one thing going for them, they must have been men of their words. They must have believed strongly in keeping their commitments. Otherwise they would have just committed to the Nephites to get out of the bad position they were in and then broken their promise later when they came back to fight again. They apparently believed so strongly in keeping their commitments that they were willing to die over it. If nothing else, that impresses me.
How easily people in this modern day break their commitments when things get a little difficult or inconvenient. But keeping your commitments can be such a powerful force for good. I am grateful for this opportunity today to be reminded of my commitments to my husband, family and my God. I pray for the strength, courage and patience to be at least as good as the Lamanites and honor my word and my commitments.
It may seem small, but consider the example of Abraham and Sarah of the Old Testament. Entire nations can be born of that one small commitment. And studying a little genealogy can teach you how much of who you are came from who your ancestors were. Our faithfulness to that one small commitment can ripple down through the generations of our posterity and have the power to effect the course of entire nations. That is powerful.
a The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. It is the record of the people who lived on the American continents before, during and a little after Christ's birth, ministry and resurrection
bThe Nephites were a people living in the Americas thousands of years ago before and during Christ's time. At the time of this reference they were faithfully living God's laws
cThe Lamanites were also living in the Americas at the same time but they were usually not living God's laws and often went to war against the Nephites
Today I am delighted to attend the joining together of two lovely people, my dear niece and her wonderful fiancé. They are young and sweet and thoroughly in love.
Marriage is such a powerful institution. It compels us to be better than we were and to look outside ourselves. Committing to love and be with someone even when things get worse, much worse, is difficult and takes a lot of courage, strength and patience. Modern society doesn't seem to place as high of a regard for people keeping their commitments as it used to.
In the Book of Mormona when the Nephitesb were in a particularly grievous battle with the Lamanitesc and the Nephites had gained a clear upper hand, Moroni, their leader said they were willing to stop the battle and bloodshed if the Lamanites were willing to promise not to come against the Nephites again in battle. While the Lamanites were eager to get out of the loosing battle they were in, they were not willing to make this commitment because they had no intention of keeping it. So they decided to continue to fight.
I am always amazed by this story. At this point in time the Lamanites were not a very good people. There were not a lot of very pleasant words used to describe them. But they certainly had one thing going for them, they must have been men of their words. They must have believed strongly in keeping their commitments. Otherwise they would have just committed to the Nephites to get out of the bad position they were in and then broken their promise later when they came back to fight again. They apparently believed so strongly in keeping their commitments that they were willing to die over it. If nothing else, that impresses me.
How easily people in this modern day break their commitments when things get a little difficult or inconvenient. But keeping your commitments can be such a powerful force for good. I am grateful for this opportunity today to be reminded of my commitments to my husband, family and my God. I pray for the strength, courage and patience to be at least as good as the Lamanites and honor my word and my commitments. It may seem small, but consider the example of Abraham and Sarah of the Old Testament. Entire nations can be born of that one small commitment. And studying a little genealogy can teach you how much of who you are came from who your ancestors were. Our faithfulness to that one small commitment can ripple down through the generations of our posterity and have the power to effect the course of entire nations. That is powerful.
a The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. It is the record of the people who lived on the American continents before, during and a little after Christ's birth, ministry and resurrection
bThe Nephites were a people living in the Americas thousands of years ago before and during Christ's time. At the time of this reference they were faithfully living God's laws
cThe Lamanites were also living in the Americas at the same time but they were usually not living God's laws and often went to war against the Nephites
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