1 Nephi 7

My thoughts this morning seemed to go to all the returned missionaries that have fallen away in inactivity.  As Nephi with his and Ishmael's family members traveled to the temporary place of Lehi and Sariah, where -

"...Nephi, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, therefore I spake unto them, saying, yea, even unto Laman and unto Lemuel: Behold ye are mine elder brethren, and how is it that ye are so hard in your hearts, and so blind in your minds, that ye have need that I, your younger brother, should speak unto you, yea, and set an example for you?
9 How is it that ye have not hearkened unto the word of the Lord?
10 How is it that ye have forgotten that ye have seen an angel of the Lord?
11 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten what great things the Lord hath done for us, in delivering us out of the hands of Laban, and also that we should obtain the record?
12 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him?"  (Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 7:8 - 12)

Of course the central theme is "how is that ye have forgotten".  Over and over we are counseled in the scriptures to "remember".  David J. Ridges makes this comment -

"Perhaps one of the lessons we learn from this teaching scene in the Book of Mormon record is that intentional, continued wickedness leads to deeper, unrelenting pride which continues to damage in spite of the obvious."

With "unrelenting pride", we many times choose not to remember.