BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.
In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.
In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.)
Let us know if you’d like to receive your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon, and/or if these messages encourage and assist you spiritually as well.
I Will Be Obedient
A personal thought
“And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word of the Lord, wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him” – 1 Nephi 2:3
Lehi is commanded by the Lord to leave his house in Jerusalem and take his family into the wilderness. It’s hard to imagine what it would be like if my father told me that the Lord commanded that we were to leave everything behind and live in the wilderness. And if we didn’t obey, someone would try to take my father’s life.
When the Lord commands us to do something usually it’s not as extreme as this story. I’ve learned, however, that when we are obedient and keep the commandments of the Lord, he will guide us and protect us. Sometimes it’s not always easy to keep the standards of the church, modesty specifically can be difficult when you are one of the only LDS girls in a high school where short shorts and tank tops not only the latest fashion trend but they seem to be the only thing that stores sell. I never see girls in a one piece at the lake; they are all in bikinis. And don’t even get me started on prom dresses. In Minnesota, we have the Mall of America. I’ve been told that you can find anything there. However I have yet to find a dress that has sleeves and covers to the knee (unless if you count the mustard yellow floral grandma dress at Sears but I wouldn’t be caught dead in that). Some would say that you could sew a dress, but with my skills that is clearly not an option. Nevertheless I had to make the decision between wearing a tacky jacket over a beautiful dress or choose the easier and more stylish option and be slightly immodest. For some LDS girls in this situation the answer is obvious to them: strapless and style. This can make choosing to be modest even harder when I see other girls dressed immodestly. I often think to myself “they’re Mormon and immodest so it must be okay this one time to wear a strapless dress”.
In Laurels I was always taught that we are expected to dress modestly so that we can help the young men maintain clean thoughts and actions, so that they may be worthy to hold the priesthood. This was never a good enough reason for me. I always thought that it wasn’t fair to me or any other girl that we were the ones who had to sacrifice mini-skits because these boys couldn’t control themselves. After reading this scripture I began to gain a new perspective. I dress modestly because the Lord commands it.
I began to think of all the Savior has done for me. If the Savior sacrificed and died for me, the very least I can do is be obedient and follow his commandments. I chose to make my prom dress modest, and by doing so I was able to be an example to the other young women in my ward.
Because I chose to be obedient the Lord has blessed me. I have learned that we are modest not only to help the young men out, but we build our own confidence, we show respect for our bodies, we avoid unwanted attention from guys, we defend virtue, and we practice obedience unto the Lord. I know that we need to be obedient and do what the Lord commands of us, no matter how inconvenient it may be. Like Lehi, I will obey whatever the Lord commands of me.
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