Repentance Nelson Destruction

 I had a bit of an a-ha moment this week. It's a little bit embarrassing because I should have understood this better sooner. The scriptures often speak of prophets coming to cry repentance. It happens in several places in these chapters in Ether. For example, Ether 7:23: "And there came prophets among the people, who were sent from the Lord, prophesying that the wickedness and idolatry of the people was bringing a curse upon the land, and they should be destroyed if they did not repent." I'm not sure if it was from some old Bible movies or some of the paintings we have of scriptural events or what, but in these old times I picture the prophets as old, long-haired men shouting angrily at the people to repent or else! And I guess I always had a bit of a disconnect between my impression of ancient prophets and my love and respect for modern prophets though I have learned so many lessons from these ancient prophets and love them also. (And I don't know that I had ever really even recognized that this was the image in my mind or that there was a disparity between the two images.) So as this image of this old long haired man waving his fist in the air and shouting "repent or else" appeared in my mind, I suddenly wondered with all the wickedness of the world why President Nelson doesn't angrily tell us to repent or else. And it felt a bit ridiculous...but also I immediately recognized that he definitely DOES tell us to repent and explains the joy and blessings that come from repentance. And suddenly my image shifted. I don't know what these prophets looked like...maybe they were long-haired and wearing robes. BUT I expect that they taught in manners similar to President Nelson and President Monson and President Hinckley. I bet many of them had a twinkle in their eye and a huge smile and a chuckle. And they weren't threatening people so much as lovingly inviting and encouraging and pleading with them to make choices that would invite joy and peace and prosperity and protection in their lives. And while it is clear that at times the Lord sends storms or other challenges to humble us and teach us, most of the destruction that comes upon us when we refuse to repent comes because we destroy each other through murder and greed. I have found myself weeping as I read the Book of Mormon this year. There's so much heartache and death and destruction...and the vast majority of it was caused by people killing and destroying one another. And there is so much heartache and death and destruction today...and far too much of it is caused by people hurting and even killing one another. I know this is mostly not directly related to this challenge....but I feel certain that one of the covenant blessings of Israel is having prophets to guide, warn, love and teach. And I'm so thankful!!