1 Nephi 1

• 1 Nephi 1:1 -- Having affliction is not evidence of having fallen from favor with God. The opposite in fact is true. The Lord chastens those He loves, and offers us a chance to grow from our trials. It's cliched, but true nonetheless. Also, being a goodly parent consists of teaching a child all you know. And I'd submit that part of that responsibility is the responsibility to learn. Someone once said that children never recover from the ignorance of their mothers. It's also been proven that what a child is taught before their eighth birthday is likely to stay in their minds for the duration of their lives. I take that as a serious and honorable challange to learn all I can that I might be fit to teach my children the doctrines of the kingdom before they are eight years old. Primary will not be a place for learning, but for review.
• 1 Nephi 1:3 -- "according to my knowledge" All we can do is our best. If we are living in accordance to the light we've received we are doing all God requires of us. He will then grant us more light, and more light, until the perfect day (D&C 50).
• 1 Nephi 1:7 -- I appreciate that Sariah had made a home where Lehi could come to feel peace and find rest. Her home served those who lived there as a sanctuary, and I admire that. I hope to do the same.
• 1 Nephi 1:15-16 -- The more we learn of God the more prone we are to praise Him. I love the comfort in knowing that if ever we have distressing feelings or thoughts toward our Father in Heaven we can know with a perfect surety that there is something we don't understand, and that if we did understand our feelings would change. His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts ... Sometimes I think we treat Him as if He were mortal and we hold Him to our own standard of unenlightened understanding.
• 1 Nephi 1:18 -- Conversion leads to charity, which often encourages us to testify. The Lord told Peter that when he was converted he was to strengthen his brethren. I think it might be a built-in mercy that our natural reaction is to share our own conversion with others.
• 1 Nephi 1:20 -- His "tender mercies" are truly manifest in the lives of those who trust Him. Not because He favors the faithful - we know it is against His nature to be a respecter of persons - but because their faith allows Him to do that which He yearns to do: bless them and strengthen them. He is bound by eternal laws that only give Him access to hearts and lives of faith. To them He is a God of miracles.