Remember

Helaman 11

Nephi is so bothered by the wickedness of the people that he persuades the Lord to cause a famine that the people will focus from war to the possibilities of destruction from famine.  This worked great.  The people after about three years went to their leaders and asked them to ask Nephi to ask the Lord to turn the famine around.  They admitted he was a prophet and had this power.  He did and the people were good for about five years and returned to their old ways.  There were many dissenters who became Gadianton robbers again. 

Are the memories of the people really so poor that they can’t hang in there longer than five years of being blessed?  This is so frustrating.  What is the cause?  What causes people to forget the kindness of the Lord when they are rescued?  Obviously, they forget the pain and start focusing on their blessings which help them to prosper.  This is certainly something we need to be aware of as a people and avoid at all costs.  How?  I suspect being anxiously engaged in the Lord’s work, recognizing His hand in all that happens in our lives and striving each day to be better than we were yesterday.  Certainly this would help.  Then I remember that one of the most oft-used words in the scriptures is “remember”.  Remember the blessings and the miracles and give the Lord credit.  This would be prayers of gratitude.

This story reminds me of the 2002 Olympics.  We weren’t suffering a famine, but we had had quite a few years of skimpy snowfall and we were about to host the Olympics.  We had invited the world to our state.  This gave us an amazing opportunity to expose the world to the goodness of the church.  I remember hearing of a planning meeting where Pres. Hinckley attended.  At the end of this meeting, the concern for the weather was mentioned.  Pres. Hinckley basically said, “You worry about the events and let me take care of the weather.” 

I was involved in the closing ceremonies.  It was a magnificent production to end an absolutely perfect week.  The weather had cooperated and I don’t believe there were any events that were hampered because of lack of anything.  However, the night of the closing ceremony there was forecast a pretty violent storm to come through that had the potential to ruin this event.  All day long we watched as this storm hovered over the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island (if my memory serves me correctly).  As the ceremonies were about to end, the wind started to whip up.  It stopped nothing, but was being watched carefully because they had balloons scheduled to come into the field that would not be able to handle a stiff wind.  As soon as that part of the show ended, it was obvious serious weather was approaching.  The ceremonies ended with snow falling and the storm hit with a vengeance and people scrambled.   It was not difficult for me to see that the prophet was good on his word and the Lord supported him in it.  That night on the weather report, it was said that this type of weather pattern has never happened before.  This was just one of many weather miracles that happened in those two weeks.  What a testimony builder for me.  I remember it clearly 10 years later. 

So why did the Nephites have such short memories?  I really can’t answer that question.  It would seem to me that once you’ve seen a prophet of the Lord call down the powers of heaven, you would be changed forever. 

My assignment this day?  Remember the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon my family and me.  Be grateful for every little thing, because there really are no accidents.