Nephi's Heart is Softened

Today I read 1 Nephi 2 and I was struck by something Nephi says.  In verse Nephi states that he prayed to the Lord and the Lord softened his heart so that he did not rebel against his father.  However, why would he need to pray to soften his heart unless he was upset to begin with?  I have never noticed this before but I think Nephi was a little upset with Lehi about having to leave Jerusalem and his possessions.  It would make sense if he was upset by it, at least at first.  I mean he was a teenager.  How many of us when we were 13 – 19 years old would take kindly to our father waking us up at night saying we have to leave now and to take nothing but some clothing?  Not many I am guessing.  However, when faced with unhappy circumstances like this, we can either pray and try and come to terms with it as Nephi did, or just rebel against it and grumble all the way like Laman and Lemuel did.  I still find it interesting though that Nephi had to pray to soften his heart.  It’s not something we often think of about Nephi.

I also wondered why he included that he was large in stature.  What does that matter to us at this point in his history?  I understand why he included that he was very young, but why large in stature?  I understand that he was good at making things with his hands, which we learn in later chapters, but again, it just doesn’t make sense to me.  Maybe however it was just as simple as giving us a description of himself, so we would feel closer to him?  That would make sense.  I’ll just have to ask him some day.  Until tomorrow.