Wednesday, August 8, 2012

The Stories We Tell

You can discern a great deal about families and individuals from the stories they tell.  It seems that the perceptions or interpretations we put on the events which occur in our lives really have more influence in determining who we are and will be than the actual events themselves.  Case in point - consider Laman's and Lemuel's versions or accounts of events as opposed to Nephi's in the very beginning of the Book of Mormon.  Together they left Jerusalem, went to get the brass plates, walked across the Rub' al Khali in the Arabian Peninsula, and constructed the ship that eventually brought them to America; but the narratives they told regarding these shared experiences were remarkably dissimilar.  Their stories or personal narratives were the primary influence upon their descendents; shaping how their posterity would perceive life and, in turn, the stories they would tell.

This posting is about the stories told by Lorin and Lucile Goates, and their family.  It is part of the legacy - the birthright that they bequeath to their descendants.  Two of the most repeated and influential stories from Lorin were regarding the Word of Wisdom and the principle of tithing.

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