Superheroes without super powers

After the death of President Hinckley, there was a surge of emails in my inbox about how we could honor his life. One of the best ones that I got was from my friend, Montay. It was to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days {signifying his 97 years of life}. Well, I didn't get started right off the bat. I'm a slacker. But, our goal is to get it read before our new temple is dedicated. Landon is excited to be able to walk through it during the Open House. So, we started last week on our reading. Landon is such a good reader now that he likes to read it out loud for all of us to listen. It's worked out pretty good, and besides some of the funny "Bible speak" he does a great job.



But that's not what this post is about. We were reading about Nephi and his brothers going back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates. He was really concerned about the whole thing.






Me: Do you understand what that just said Landon?



Landon: He just cut off that guys head!



Me: Right. But why did he do it?



Landon: Because the Spirit told him to.



M: Right. So, if you've prayed and the Spirit speaks to you....{I didn't get to finish my thought}



L: Then I can kill someone.



M: What? No! No, no...this happened 600 years before Jesus was even born. It was a totally different time and different laws and rules. The Spirit isn't going to tell you to kill anybody. That's what laws and the police are for. To take care of the bad guys for you. I meant if you've prayed, the Spirit will help you to accomplish your goals if that's what Heavenly Father wants.



L: Oh. Ok. Cause I didn't think we were supposed to kill anyone.


Whew. Got that one over with. So, we finish the chapter and I'm sending him off to bed and I said:



M: You didn't know there was such cool stories in the scriptures did you?



L: Nuh-uh! He's like a superhero getting the bad guys!

I got a giggle out of that one. But then it made me think about what he said for a minute.

This is what our kids look up to. These are their heroes. Flying men, Dark men in masks....men and women with SUPER powers. Make believe and fantasy. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Landon loves Spiderman and has for 3 years. Fantasy is fun. It gets kids to use their imaginations, and I love that. But the people they should look up to and revere as HEROES, should probably be more realistic. Don't you think? Nephi rocked. He was a good kid that listened to his parents. He respected his father and was obedient. He had horribly mean brothers that beat him up on several occasions. He never fought back. {that I can remember anyway} He was brave, strong, courageous...and a real guy. A "superhero that got the bad guys". Landon is getting a poster of Nephi for his room. He is enthralled with this man. What a good example for my kid.

I'm not saying that Nephi has to be everyone's hero. This is just what has happened in our house. But there are numerous people in the scriptures that did "super" things that maybe our kids don't even realize. Moses is a great example of a man who did great and awesome things. I talked to Landon about him as well and he was in shock that water would move like that. He told me he wouldn't ever want to walk between water like that because it would be too scary. :0)

It's just something I thought about this last week. Warm fuzzies. My kid wants to be like Nephi. Who am I to stop him from trying?