Repent or Perish
The last verse of chapter 16 in 1 Nephi says, “And it came to pass that the Lord was with us, yea, even the voice of the Lord came and did speak many words unto them, and did chasten them exceedingly; and after they were chastened by the voice of the Lord they did turn away their anger, and did repent of their sins, insomuch that the Lord did bless us again with food, that we did not perish.” This is the culmination of an episode where Lehi and his family have experienced tremendous hardship in getting food and where everyone except Nephi seems resigned to complaining about their situation.
For some reason, the phrase “that we did not perish” struck me as an essential idea about life and our hardships. What it says to me is, at least you didn’t die! This is always what happens when we come out at the end of a trial (unless you do die—in which case you ought to prepare for the inevitable). I see Nephi as always hopeful, which is probably why he became a great leader and prophet. It is hard to argue against optimism as a tool to confront the world.
Sometimes, the Lord leads us by the hand in good paths, while other times, he swoops in at the last moment and saves the day. In the case of the story we are discussing, Nephi had to take the initiative to build a bow and arrow from materials at his disposal and not be like the others who seemed content to sit around and complain. As a result, the Lord helped him, and they didn’t die. The others took note and repented for a while.
So, what can we learn from this experience? There are two main things: 1) If all you do is sit around and complain, you will probably perish. 2) If you maintain some optimism and get up and go to work with the Lord’s help, at least you won’t die. There are many times in our lives when we face this exact scenario. Bad things happen, or we face complex challenges. These challenges come in many forms, and each time they come, we must change or do something to overcome them. Not changing or doing nothing is not optional.
Repentance is to change, to stop doing something or doing things differently. To optimize the repentance process, we need to practice it every day. If we wait until something significant comes along, it is exponentially more challenging to change enough to make a difference. Another advantage to daily change is that we can have variety in our lives. There is something about making even minor tweaks to our surroundings or routines that gives us a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment. Positive change is a refining process.
Some of the changes I make that give me a more positive outlook on daily life are to change up the things I interact with. For example, I rearrange the items on my desk, clean out a drawer, or organize my tools in a way that improves the way I use them. Another small thing that makes a difference is changing the background on my phone and computer or rearranging the icons on my phone. None of my changes are random but are an effort to reach some goal or objective. These little changes make things fresh and remind me of the new objectives that I am working on.
These little daily reminders cause me to reflect and focus on what is important to me. Tweaking my spiritual life is a part of the process as well. We can change the way we read or study the scriptures. Many of us use electronic devices as the primary means of consuming spiritual content. However, if you diversify your methods, you may get more out of your study. One thing I do is to read the scriptures in the temple each week. The change of surroundings and my mindset in the temple is distraction-free, resulting in additional insights and impressions.
The idea of daily repentance, change, reflection with optimism, and reliance on God will keep you fresh and vibrant. Our challenges will be less, and we will not perish.