7 And it came to pass that he said unto Nephi: Bring forth the record which ye have kept.
8 And when Nephi had brought forth the records, and laid them before him, he cast his eyes upon them and said:
9 Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should arise from the dead, and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said unto them: Was it not so?
10 And his disciples answered him and said: Yea, Lord, Samuel did prophesy according to thy words, and they were all fulfilled.
11 And Jesus said unto them: How be it that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them?
12 And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written.
13 And it came to pass that Jesus commanded that it should be written; therefore it was written according as he commanded.
Shortly after Wilford Woodruff joined the Church at the age of 26, he began keeping a journal. He wrote faithfully until his death at the age of 91, writing his final entry just two days before his death. In one of his entries, he wrote about his motivation for writing: “I seldom ever heard Brother Joseph or the Twelve preach or teach any principle but what I felt as uneasy as a fish out of water until I had written it. Then I felt right” (Teachings of Wilford Woodruff, Chapter 13: “
Journals: ‘Of Far More Worth than Gold“).
Henry B. Eyring received the following message from the Holy Ghost one day as he reflected on a blessing he had received: “I’m not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down” (“
O Remember, Remember,” General Conference, October 2007).
I can think of several reasons why the Lord expects us to keep a record of our lives:
- Our memory will fade over time, and we will forget important details if we don’t record them while they’re fresh on our minds.
- Our children and grandchildren can benefit from our experiences if we share them.
- In the process of writing our experiences, we clarify for ourselves what those experiences mean.
My current schedule is to write in my journal once a week, on Sundays. As I’ve pondered the passage above, it has occurred to me that the schedule is not the most important issue. The issue that matters most is the content. Am I writing everything I need to write? Are there experiences in my life that need to be recorded but have not been? Could I imagine the Savior asking me, “How be it that ye have not written this thing?” as He asked Nephi in the passage above?
This weekend, as I write in my journal, I will take that responsibility seriously. I will consider the experiences I have had recently, and I will carefully record the events that are of the greatest importance.
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