The Fifth Day: The Book of Mormon

"On the fifth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me
five golden rings."

I don’t often bear testimony of the Book of Mormon because we members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often bear testimony of little else. But I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon. There is no end to the stories I could tell about how the words and meanings in that book have supported me.

I love the Bible, and the Doctrine and Covenants. But there is something about the Book of Mormon and the stories of the people that lived then which calls to me. They seem more personal, somehow. Often, the Bible seems to moralize, every story has a purpose. Even the D&C often has a specific point to each revelation. But the Book of Mormon is about life, about the principles of the gospel in the rough and stark lives of the people.

There have been a few times while reading certain scriptures, such as Nephi’s Psalm or Moroni’s stark explanation of his circumstances, when I have been filled with an indescribable certainty that I know these people. Personally.

The Book of Mormon is often lonely and almost invariably harsh. But it is filled with hope in Christ, with looking forward to greater things, with allowing testimony and faith to overcome the mortal obstacles to happiness. There is that in my life which echoes the things the Book of Mormon prophets have lived.

And that gift is priceless.