Open a Correspondence

After describing the conversion of the Lamanites at the time of the mission of the sons of Mosiah, Mormon wrote, “They began to be a very industrious people; yea, and they were friendly with the Nephites; therefore, they did open a correspondence with them, and the curse of God did no more follow them” (Alma 23:18).  In the next chapter when Lamoni’s brother, renamed Anti-Nephi-Lehi, spoke about the conversion of his people he said, “And behold, I thank my great God that he has given us a portion of his Spirit to soften our hearts, that we have opened a correspondence with these brethren, the Nephites. And behold, I also thank my God, that by opening this correspondence we have been convinced of our sins, and of the many murders which we have committed” (Alma 24:8-9).  Here again he used this same language about opening a correspondence with the Nephites.  The Lamanites, after 500 years of shutting off the Nephites and refusing to accept their traditions or hear their missionaries, finally opened up communication with them and were able to receive the message of the gospel from their brethren.  The Nephites had sent missionaries to their brethren through those years—for example, Enos wrote, “the people of Nephi did seek diligently to restore the Lamanites unto the true faith in God”—but the Lamanites had always remained closed to all the Nephite correspondence (Enos 1:20).  But finally in the days of the sons of Mosiah they opened up their hearts and received the message that had been there available to them all along. 

             Perhaps there is for a symbolic meaning in the phrase to “open a correspondence.”  Ultimately for each of us we have to learn to open lines of communication with our Father in Heaven.  The Lord is always there willing to communicate with us, but we often must work to open that connection in ourselves.  And when we can open up our hearts to the Lord, like those Lamanites we will be “convinced of our sins” and learn how the Lord desires us to improve ourselves.  We could also consider this phrase in the context of our study of the scriptures.  The word correspondence can mean physical letters that are sent from one person to another, and I believe that we can consider the scriptures as letters from God to us.  They are the correspondence that He has sent to us to bless our lives and bring us to repentance.  But we must do with the scriptures as the Lamanites did with their correspondence: open them!  We “open a correspondence” with the Lord as we physically open our scriptures and study His word for us.  Each day we can open up some correspondence from the Lord, whether it is a single verse, a chapter or a whole book, and in those words we can find how we can change and how “the great God has had mercy on us” (Alma 24:14).  Through praying and studying the scriptures and seeking after the Lord we can indeed open up our lines of communication from Him and more readily hear His voice to direct us in our lives.