One of the useful things about 1 Nephi 16-18 is they give us
an illustration of the times when complaining and murmuring can arise and they
show us that it is not a good way of reacting.
1.
Complaining about misfortune when Nephi breaks
his bow. We see that complaining
doesn’t change anything.
2.
Complaining about afflictions when they are
hungry. Complaining doesn’t feed
people or change anything. It’s a
waste of energy.
3.
Complaining about the loss of a loved one when
the daughters of Ishmael lose their father to death. Grief is perfectly understandable, but complaining doesn’t
bring Ishmael back from the grave.
4.
Complaining about a big job that has to be done
as Laman and Lemuel resist helping to build a boat. Complaining doesn’t do anything to help build, nor does it
get them any closer to their goal, but rather it psychologically alienates them
from the goal.
5.
Complaining about leaders and parents as Laman
and Lemuel oppose Lehi. Complaining
doesn’t help them follow any better.
It doesn’t give them someone else better to follow. It doesn’t help them understand Lehi
and he’s doing.
We benefit from the reminder that complaining and murmuring
are not going to help us. We see
how Laman and Lemuel’s complaining would have cut them off from every bit of
meaningful progress the Lord wanted for them and that Nephi’s faith and
diligence allowed him to make it through discouraging circumstances and hard
tasks (and even deal with complainers)!
I think part of the reason this is in here is that the Lord
knows there will be plenty of things for us to complain about as we all do the
heavy lifting of building Zion.
Life is less-than-ideal, people are less-than-perfect, misfortune
happens, afflictions and loss happen in the course of our duty, and it is not fun! And we face big jobs and scary callings from time to time
that make us wonder, “Is this really
necessary? Surely there must be a
better way!”
Every two years we get this reminder in Sunday School, both
from stories of Laman and Lemuel murmuring in the Book of Mormon and from
stories of the children of Israel murmuring in the Old Testament.
Something I noticed is that this stuff is extra valuable
because not complaining is countercultural in America, so we’re pushing back
against a cultural milieu.
Democracy rewards those who complain the loudest and who can gather the
most support. Business customer
service also rewards those who complain (although they definitely appreciate
politeness). We have to know the
difference between complaint and constructive feedback. We also need to recognize when it is
appropriate to give feedback and when we need to just suck it up, give our
full-hearted support, do the job in front of us, make do with what we have,
learn new coping techniques, and roll with the punches.
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