If an angel appeared to you, do you think it would be a pretty powerful experience? I think so. It would probably be one of those experiences that is so amazing that it would be burned into your mind forever, right? You would never forget it, right?
Well, this wasn’t the case for two guys named Laman and Lemuel. They saw an angel. It was probably a powerful experience. But they quickly forgot. They also forgot about the great things that the Lord had done for them. They forgot about faith and that God can do anything.
10 How is it that ye have forgotten that ye have seen an angel of the Lord?
11 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten what great things the Lord hath done for us, in delivering us out of the hands of Laban, and also that we should obtain the record?
12 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.
Yes, you could argue that they didn’t “forget” these things – but that they just didn’t see them as important in the first place. Their hearts were hard.
I think that’s true to a certain extent. But I bet at some point in Laman and Lemuel’s lives – maybe when they were younger, they had testimonies and faith in God. But over time, they forgot these feelings.
This is one reason why I am so passionate about record keeping and journaling. Especially in this modern day and age where our minds can easily be overloaded with the information that comes at us all the time. It’s just so easy for our minds to get overloaded. There’s no way that we can keep everything solely in our memory.
I really feel that it’s important to keep a record of our experiences with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s too easy to just forget them if they aren’t recorded.
And this sounds counterintuitive, but my personal feelings are that the more sacred and spiritual an experience is, the easier it is for us to forget it. I think that experiences that are less mundane and “normal” are easier for our minds to doubt. I have personally had a few experiences in the recent past that were some of these small but sacred moments. And the interesting thing is that only a little while after having these experiences, I was already starting to doubt if they actually really happened or if I just made them up in my head. I am really glad that I immediately sat down with my journal after these moments and recorded my thoughts, feelings, and experiences. If I hadn’t written these experiences down, I am sure that overtime I would doubt that they even ever happened.
Here is a thought that I recorded in my journal a few months ago…
January 28, 2017
As I was reading my scriptures this morning, I read Alma 37:8. Alma is talking about the record and how it is important that it is kept and preserved. Then he says “for behold. They have enlarged the memory of this people.” I like that. This is one reason why I believe in record keeping and documenting. Journaling and documenting through photos enlarges the memory. We aren’t able to keep EVERYTHING in our minds at all times. Yes, the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance, but I think that sometimes (or often) in order to do that, He points us to records that will bring those things to our remembrance. Often this is the scriptures, but sometimes this is our own personal records – our own journals and our own photos.
I view my journal as an “external hard drive” of sorts where I can keep precious memories, thoughts, feelings, and experiences, without having to worry about them getting deleted from my mental memory.
3 And he also taught them concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, saying: My sons, I would that ye should remember that were it not for these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God.
4 For it were not possible that our father, Lehi, could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it were for the help of these plates; for he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians therefore he could read these engravings, and teach them to his children, that thereby they could teach them to their children, and so fulfilling the commandments of God, even down to this present time.
5 I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes, that even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief, and we should have been like unto our brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them, because of the traditions of their fathers, which are not correct.
6 O my sons, I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true. And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can know of their surety because we have them before our eyes.
