BOMT: Conserving Space 1 Nephi 6

1 Nephi 6 is what inspired the name for this blog, Feasting on Small Plates. It's yet another lesson on the basics—what's most important, how to declutter our lives. (A perfect reminder as we helped Josh pack his things for college, and did some packing and unpacking ourselves.)

Nephi instructs us:
"I desire the room that I may write the things of God."

As bloggers, we know how precious time and space are, and have seen thousands clogging the airwaves with meaningless drivel. I love Nephi's bold declaration, and blanket desire, to write "the things of God."

In making choices regarding physical space, we can employ the same philosophy: "I desire the room...for the things of God." Where travel is concerned, I have a tiny military Book of Mormon which I keep in the pocket of the suitcase I always use. Even in day-to-day goings, I'm so glad I have the scriptures and the hymns on my iPhone. I, too, desire the space for the things of God. (You can imagine the heartache when I saw that Josh was taking three Gameboys, yet choosing to leave his scriptures home.)

Nephi tells us his top priority is to "persuade men to come unto God...and be saved." That is certainly my top priority as a mother as well—although it's so easily eclipsed by cooking and cleaning and carpools, it becomes difficult to keep in mind as my primary focus. Today I'm choosing to remember that my top priority is to persuade my children to turn to God...over and over and over again...with the ultimate hope that we'll all be saved.

Nephi tells us he chooses for his small space not the things that please the world, but "the things that are pleasing to God." While he is speaking about writing, we can easily apply this to the "things" in our homes, on our to-do-lists, in our lives. My friend K says "We don't own our things; our things own us." And there is something so liberating about paring down to the things that matter most.

Lastly, Nephi instructs all who occupy space on his plates not to include anything that's not of worth. I have a similar goal in my writing: Meaningful Content. With a nod to the previous verse, I'm not writing to please the bloggers of the world. I'm drawing a different sort of readership, as I focus primarily on the things of God in my stories: faith, testimony, motherhood, trials, more faith, and answered prayers. Even miracles. My pace on Divergent Pathways is sporadic at best. I have never felt any sort of pressure to write every day; only when I feel like I have something significant to say. Lately, I literally write only when I'm prompted to write. Most of my recent posts there have been given to me. My fingers become merely an instrument of recording what my spirit receives.