Chapter 9

Zeniff was a spy for the Nephites.  The intelligence he had obtained was tempered by his inner desire not to go to war with the Lamanites.  This opinion differed sharply with his superior officer who wanted to take an army against the Lamanites.  A civil war broke out and many lost their lives.  Zeniff was rescued and returned to Zarahemla.  But the story only begins there.  Zeniff was driven within by a desire to go back to the “homeland” of Nephi.  I picture it being mountainous, full of lakes and rivers, beautiful to the eye and heart- warming.  Whatever was driving him, he called it “over-zealousness.”   

I have been pondering whether or not I have been likewise over-zealous about something in my life.  I got that way on my mission, sometimes missing the mark because I wanted to be almost truer than true.  I acted that way when I was a student sometimes putting study above the need to sleep and eat. 

Nevertheless, I think pushing myself zealously toward a goal has often been in my best interest.  And I think Zeniff was not being sinful in his desire to return to his beloved mountains. 

But we must be cautious about overdoing something.  And we must be wise in our priorities.