Book of Mormon Reading: 2 Nephi 1-2

I absolutely LOVE reading the doctrinal chapters in the Book of Mormon. But it wasn't always so.

When I was young, my mother would tell us stories from the Book of Mormon.

Nephi.

King Benjamin.

Ammon.

Captain Moroni.

Samuel the Lamanite.

And when I was baptized, my parents gave me one of those XXL blue cover editions of the Book of Mormon. On the front cover my mother wrote the following:

To our daughter, Darla. on her baptismal day,
We greatly appreciate you and love you very much. Always love Heavenly Father and keep His commandments. Remember to read your Book of Mormon, a scripture everyday, and Heavenly Father will bless you.
     Love you, Daddy and Mommy

I remember being SO excited to read the Book of Mormon at eight years old. But I soon realized that after the stories of leaving Jerusalem, the Brass Plates, the Broken Bow, and Building a Ship, there were a lot of other words that I didn't quite understand. . .  until I came to the story of Enos . . . then more stuff I didn't understand. . . . and then King Benjamin, and so forth and so on. It took so long for me to get to the stories I knew!

But over time, because I followed my mother's counsel to read the Book of Mormon every day (and I am sure I missed a lot of everydays), I began to see that those "words" in between the stories, contained plain and precious truths--the doctrines of the gospel.

2 Nephi 2 is on example where nearly every verse can be a study of doctrine in and of itself!

As I read 2 Nephi 2 today, I realized that one reason I LOVE this chapter is because it includes the three pillars of eternity: the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement.

Something I have been pondering today is this part of Lehi's counsel to his children:

1. Look to God
2. Hearken to His commandments
3. Be faithful to His words
4. Choose eternal life

Choose eternal life.

Interesting, don't you think? That even after looking, hearkening, and being faithful, I still must choose eternal life.

I must choose every. little. thing. along the way. Because making one right choice today doesn't mean I'll automatically make the right choice tomorrow.

Elder Dale G. Renlund said:

So, choose faith in Christ; choose repentance; choose to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost; choose to conscientiously prepare for and worthily partake of the sacrament; choose to make covenants in the temple; and choose to serve the living God and His children. Our choices determine who we are and who we will become.