RECORD KEEPING

One of those phrases we often hear and which is often accompanied by knowing nods from all who are listening at the time, is ‘life is full of surprises.’

One of those surprises which has probably been more of a shock to me and a few of those with whom I have had a long and intimate relationship, is that I have been faithfully keeping a journal of my daily activities for more than 50 years.

In an attempt to give an honest and full account of my journal keeping, I was very faithful during the time I served as a missionary in Mexico, but that record is no longer in existence or maybe it would be better said, I have no idea where it is. It was mostly a record of how many centavos I had spent during the day and the number of contacts my companion and I had made, so mankind will probably survive its loss.

Likewise, while I was completing my formal education I did not keep a personal record, which might be a loss since this was probably the busiest period of my life when involved time awake each day far exceeded the traditional 2/3 of every day.

It wasn't until President Darrell Foote challenged the members of the Reno Stake High Council to keep a daily record of their activities in September of 1977 that I became a faithful journal keeper.

On September 22, 1977 I made the following entry in the first of many journals.

I had been told.
I had been challenged.
I had been admonished.
I had even been taught the principle many times.
It was not until this night when Kathy put pen in my hand and commanded – WRITE!!! – did it actually happen.

Even though I spent the major part of the day proofing the final copy of my dissertation, teaching my first class at 8:00 am, my final class at 6:30 pm, discussing various gospel concepts with my colleagues at the Institute, etc. etc. etc.

BUT!!!

If this writing really becomes a true part of my life, I suppose this could be one of the major days of my life.

BECAUSE!!!

All the many times I have covenanted to write, I have continued to store my memories. I hope to record and save them at last.

I HOPE IT TAKES!?!

This then is one of life’s surprises, from that day until today which now has the 40 year mark with but a few days missed while I was having a knee replaced and when I had three lamina trimmed off of the lower part of my spine, I have written in my journal.

One of my most satisfying moments which relates to my journal keeping came when the Church History Department called and asked if I had kept a journal or record during the time Kathleen and I served as Mission President in Colombia. It was a joyful day for me when they collected the three boxes of journals I had kept during our mission and took them to Salt Lake City to digitize them and a joyful day for Kathleen when they return the journals to us.

While I have been stammering along with my personal experiences with journal keeping I hopefully have also been laying the ground work for the importance of record keeping and how our lives would be so much less if ancestors had not been journal keepers and how much fuller they would be if more had heeded the call.

We scarcely get into Nephi’s record of the account of his days before we are brought to the reality of keeping and having a record. In the third chapter of First Nephi we read that father Lehi had had a dream wherein his was commanded to send his sons back to Jerusalem, to obtain the record which a kinsman Laban had in his possession. The importance of obtaining this record is amplified when before the records are in their possession it will cost them all of the family’s wealth and the life of Laban, with a few visitations of angels thrown in before they are able to return the record to their father.

In the sixth chapter of First Nephi, Nephi identifies the following as important items which he feels should be included in our record keeping.

A record of our genealogy

The things of God

Things which will persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Things which are pleasing unto God

Just a few minutes glancing through the journals I have amassed makes it pretty obvious I have filled them with many more notations of centavos spent than I have with those items with which Nephi admonished us to fill our golden pages. Nevertheless, I have been faithful and quickly justify myself by remembering the many admonitions we find in the Book of Mormon concerning the readers’ responsibility to be a searcher of the writings of their forefathers.

I am also pretty comfortable with the idea that if someone were to pay the price Mormon and Moroni did when they abridged the 1000 years of written history of the Nephites, a drastically condensed version of my personal journals might yield a nugget or two.


THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY

EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY