Unweary

Twice in Helaman Chapter 10 the Lord commends the prophet Nephi for his "unwearyingness." There are two different usages of the prefix "un-". The first is used to denote the absence or the opposite of the word it is attached to. So, unhappy is either the absence of happiness or the opposite of happy. The second usage denotes the reversal of a verb. So unwind is to do the reversal of winding or to undo the winding. Nephi was praised by the Lord because he so often chose to let go or to have an absence of weariness. Instead of focusing on all the ways in which life was unfair or his limits were tested, he chose to be unweary in well-doing. Life gives us many reasons to be weary. Our good deeds often seem to go unnoticed and unrewarded. We seem to struggle with things that others do effortlessly. We take on more than we deserve, more than is fair or just or right. Our weariness is well earned and justified and understandable. But we can with the enabling power of the Atonement choose to be patient instead of inpatient, accepting instead of unaccepting, understanding instead of misunderstanding, unweary instead of weary. But more than this, rather than merely stopping at the absence of weariness in ourselves, we can choose to unwind and unravel and undo as much weariness in the world as we can. This is where that second definition of "un-" comes in. The world is unfair; evil and misery and tragedy abound. Most of us recognize that someone ought to do something about it. Too few of us recognize that that someone should be us. The key to becoming unweary or having an absence of weariness in ourselves is to be committed to unwearying or reversing the weariness present in the world. When we take upon ourselves the responsibility to right some of the wrongs we see in the world around us, little by little we will see the world change for the better and there will be less things in it that weary us and try our patience.