Today I read the book of Enos. I have always enjoyed this book and there are a great many lessons that can be taught from his writings. I remember reading this book as a child in Primary and wondering how anyone could possibly pray all night and all day. I don't wonder anymore.
It wasn't until I was an adult that I came to realize that this was not just one session of 36 hours worth of prayer. This was a true wrestle before the Lord as Enos describes it. This was a true hunger for forgiveness and many, many individual prayer sessions. When I was a missionary in the MTC, there as a particularly hard day that comes to mind. My heart was troubled and I desired to pray. So after the day, before doing anything else, I knelt down to pray, and stayed there for the next hour and 20 minutes.
That is the single longest prayer I have ever had, and I tell you that it felt like 5 minutes to me. So I can understand how someone can pray for an extremely long period of time. But I have also had days where something weighed so heavily on my mind that it was all I thought about, no matter what else I was doing, and I would say another quick prayer every hour or so to guide my thoughts and to help me make the best decision. That is what I believe it means to pray all day and all night.
I was once asked a question, how do you know when someone has become truly converted to the Lord? The answer is they become concerned with the welfare of others. Enos is a perfect example, among many in the Book of Mormon, of what it means to be truly converted. He prayed for the welfare of the souls of his own people and then he did something truly remarkable. Something that would not be taught for another 450 years! He prayed for his enemies.
The Savior taught us to pray for our enemies and to do good to those that hate us, but how many of us really do this? I know I could be much better about it. There are many, many examples of this in the Book of Mormon, the sons of Mosiah and Alma the Younger immediately come to mind. I think Enos is unique in that he recognized that the time had not yet come to truly convert the Lamanites and instead of giving up, he prayed that the records he was keeping might be preserved and used to help convert their descendants. What faith! Those are the actions of someone who is truly converted and has had a change of heart.
Someone once said the true measure of your conversion is your desire to share the gospel. New converts are renowned for their zeal and fervor in sharing the gospel with everyone they know. They have tasted of the sweet Spirit and can't bear to not share it with everyone. Sadly, after a time, that fire dies. We should all of us find a way to keep the zeal we each once had. I know I can be better about it. May we each reclaim that fire in ourselves and not be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ! Until tomorrow.
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