O that I could have lived in the days of my fathers.

Nephi the son of Helaman had been away on a mission to the land northward for many years now. They didn’t have the internet, or radios or newspapers in those days so it is somewhat of a culture shock for him to come home and find that the Lamanites are more righteous that the Nephites. But oh how it grieved his soul.

Nephi goes out into his garden and climbs up on his tower which is by the wall by the highway and pours out his soul to God.  In my mind I think that he would normally go up on the tower and look over his garden and the land around about. He could probably see the result of his neighbors righteous living, or in this case unrighteous living.  I think his prayers would normally be of thanksgiving for the blessing God had given to him and his neighbors. But in this case his heart is grieved by what he sees. 

I don’t know what that would look like in his day, but I knda think he would be used to seeing humble dwellings of hard working, kind people. Instead I think he might have seen a division of very richly ornate dwellings and very ill kept trashy dwellings. He begins to talk to God about how he feels about what has happened to his people. One of the things he says is, “O, that I could have had my days when my father Nephi came out of the land of Jerusalem.” (Helaman 7:7)

Things were not smooth sailing in that day either. In fact, things were so bad that the first Nephi and his brother Laman went their separate ways and their followers became the Nephites and the Lamanites. 

Yet, I understand this and sometimes I long for that little log, two room cabin, on the banks of Cedar Creek that my grandpa built. I would go back to a two hole out hose with an old sears catalog. Water for drinking and washing from an open well that caught water that ran off from the roof of the house. We heated the house in the winter with wood we cut with our own hands. Our food was grown, and prepared by our own hands. Clothes were made from feed sacks and washed  on a scrub board.  

Things happened that were scandalous, but how innocent and pure were those days compared to what goes on today.