A Few More Things

As Moroni finished the record of his father, there were multiple times when he thought he was done writing. One of those was after he finished the record of the Jaredites. He wrote this after the book of Ether was completed: “Now I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared, I had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished;… Wherefore, I write a few more things, contrary to that which I had supposed; for I had supposed not to have written any more; but I write a few more things, that perhaps they may be of worth unto my brethren, the Lamanites, in some future day, according to the will of the Lord” (Moroni 1:1, 4). Alone and threatened constantly by the Lamanites, he could have easily justified being done with the laborious task of engraving words upon the plates. I have to wonder if, as he considered whether or not to write anything else, he reread these words of his father and was inspired to add more: “And if it so be that they perish, we know that many of our brethren have deserted over unto the Lamanites, and many more will also desert over unto them; wherefore, write somewhat a few things, if thou art spared and I shall perish and not see thee; but I trust that I may see thee soon; for I have sacred records that I would deliver up unto thee” (Moroni 9:24). Moroni was spared, his father had perished, and he chose to indeed write “somewhat a few things,” using similar language himself as he introduced his final words (“a few more things”). And he even included that very letter. Perhaps remembering how hard his father had worked to abridge the entire Book of Mormon, and knowing that he had some inspired words of his father that he didn’t want to disappear, Moroni was motivated to do just a little more to complete his portion of the Book of Mormon. And how grateful we are that he did! His choice to add just a few more things gave us some of the most powerful and inspiring words of the whole book.

                Among the important words that Moroni left us in the book of Moroni are the words of the sacrament prayers; information about priesthood ordinances among the Nephites; details about bringing new members into the church; an incredible discourse on faith, hope, and charity from Mormon; a letter explaining what is doctrinally wrong with infant baptism; another letter from Mormon with encouragement to those who are striving to be righteous in the face of great wickedness; and a final powerful chapter from Moroni himself that gives a promise to the world on how they can know that the Book of Mormon is true. That promise, nearly excluded from the text, has been repeated by missionaries to tens of millions of people across the world over the past two centuries and has changed the lives of countless individuals who have come to know that the book is indeed the word of God. Perhaps the lesson in this is that sometimes the right thing is indeed to “do a little more” when we are on the Lord’s errand trying to fulfill the mission he has for us. That could be a missionary trying to talk to one more person before entering for the night or a teacher spending a few more minutes preparing a lesson even when they think they have “enough” material to get through it. Or it could mean reading a few more verses of scripture than we normally do or spending a few more minutes in prayer after we think we have said everything we need to.

                President Holland told an interesting story that highlights this principle. He was in graduate school and had an important midterm paper coming up. His parents surprised him and said they were coming to visit. He recounted, “Well, as fate would have it, my parents arrived on a Friday, and my paper was due the next Monday. I had had the good sense to go to work on it reasonably early, so it wasn’t as though I had to do it all over one weekend…. So I had the paper virtually complete, except for one thing. I didn’t like it. It wasn’t right. I had to work more on it.” He told how he debated whether they should go sightseeing all day on Saturday or whether he should work on his paper. He recounted, “For all intents and purposes, I could have caved in on the course, and no one would have cared. But that somehow did not seem right to me. I was plagued, if you will, with ‘missionary feelings.’ So I made a deal with my parents. If they would do all that I had outlined for Saturday with my wife, Pat, and our son, Matt, who was then two, but minus me, I would have my paper completely finished for the rest of their stay.” He continued, “Well, they were disappointed, and so was I, but it seemed the best thing to do. So they played and I worked. I wrote and rewrote and shouted and tore up papers and punched the typewriter and rewrote. It didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped, but it went. I finally got it into what seemed reasonably acceptable shape.” He had chosen, like Moroni, to do a “few more things” to accomplish what had been required of him. And it turned out to make a big difference in his life. He related, “Now that isn’t much of a story except that it has made a great deal of difference in my life. When I got that paper back from a teacher I didn’t like much in a course I didn’t particularly enjoy, the professor had written just five words. I think it was all he had said to me during the entire term. ‘Publishable paper. See me sometime.’ Well, the aftermath doesn’t really matter either except to say that this professor turned out to be, by sheer coincidence I suppose, a very close friend of a faculty member in my intended department at Yale. And then one thing led to another, and he wrote a note, saying, in effect, ‘You may want to consider this chap even if you haven’t heard of St. George, Utah.’ There were other contacts along the way and other blessings that came, but my point is, again, sort of a missionary point. With that paper that summer in a remote setting—remote at least in terms of my ultimate plans—it made all the difference in the world for me to tract just one more door before calling it a day. To have done otherwise certainly would have been understandable and certainly would have been more enjoyable. But it has made a wonderful difference in my life to have demanded just a bit more of myself on that occasion.” The example of both Moroni and President Holland invite us to stretch ourselves and do just a little more in whatever work of good we are trying to do, and miracles indeed may happen.