Scriptures & Prayer

My dear sweet children remind me every night before bed that it's time for "scriptures and prayer." In our house we are reading the Book of Mormon, from beginning to end. We are currently beginning the book of 2 Nephi. Those of you familiar with the Book of Mormon will realize we're not very far. Some nights are more productive than others.
Tonight we read the words of Lehi, a prophet that lived in Jerusalem. He warned the people to change there ways or the city would be destroyed. The people wouldn't listen, so the Lord told Lehi to take his family away to the wilderness... from there they traveled by boat, a boat that Nephi built with direction from the Lord, to the promised land(the Americas). Now Lehi is getting old and knows his days are few, and these are the words he speaks to his children:
"Awake! and arise from the dust, and hear the words of a trembling parent, whose limbs ye must soon lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveler can return; a few more days and I go the way of all the earth.
But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.
And I desire that ye should remember to observe the statutes and the judgments of he Lord; behold, this hath been the anxiety of my soul from the beginning...
Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.
And now that my soul might have joy in you, and that my heart might leave this world with gladness because of you, that I might not be brought down with grief and sorrow to the grave, arise from the dust, my sons , and be men, and be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things..."
My daughter is only 4, however she acts like a 14 year old. We battle back and forth about "obedience." If Mom says it, just do it. Perhaps I have unrealistic expectations, I do recall my own youth and my inability to "just do" what Mom said. Although afterwards I was always blindingly aware that my Mom had been right. At some point I was supposed to "learn" my lesson; I was supposed to finally learn to trust my Mom and "just do" what she said. I don't think that ever happened. I am pretty thick headed because it takes me a LONG time to "learn my lesson." My past would have been a lot different had I listened to my Mother! Not because Mom is always right, but because she was attempting to teach me a greater lesson. She was trying to teach me what Lehi was trying to teach his sons. Obey the Lord and you'll be happy, you'll prosper. Don't live your life realizing, after you've already made the wrong choice that the Lord was right. At some point in our lives we have to learn to trust in the Lord, trust that he knows more than we do, he can see the outcome of our choices, he knows us better than we do and if he says do it, we should just do it. I find myself being compared to my 4 year old daily. The Lord is trying to teach me that I too should listen and obey. When the Lord tells me to do something I should "just do it!" And yet I fail to do it. I expect so much from my daughter and my son, and yet I am unable to accomplish the same thing.
So perhaps my running and never accomplishing anything is my own inability to learn and grow, and my fear that my daughter won't learn what I'm trying to teach her. There is a great responsibility as parents to teach our children what they need to know, so when they are left on their own, they will "arise from the dust...and be determined..." to do what is right. I am not a great Mother, I'm still learning and figuring out what works, but I do know that ultimately the anxiety of my soul is as Lehi said, that they (my children) will remember to follow the Lord, that they will trust Him and "just do" what he says. I know there is happiness in doing what's right. I know that we can trust the Lord and I know that as we do He will bless us with great joy and prosperity. And before I leave this world I pray that my daughter will know it as well, that she will be happier in her own life because she has learned the greater lesson.