As I began this painting I thought that I was going to be creating a painting of Moroni sitting on the side of the Hill Cumorah looking, or rather seeing a vision of our day. However; as I began to put my thoughts to paper I felt as if I was compelled to go in a different direction.
As I tried to develop the groundwork everything just did not seem to work out. Something was wrong and I knew it, but I did not know what it was. So I went back to further studying the topic of Moroni "seeing our day". I read and re-read the verses again and again. For another month. This is the process that I usually go through when creating a painting. I had already gone through the process but I had missed something because it was not right, and I did not know what. So after studying Moroni for another month or so I one day caught a glimpse of Moroni's face.
I was really focused on his face, as I did so I could see that he was not happy. My first thought was "well yeah, he is by himself, life is hard, would you be happy?". But as I pondered what I could see of his face in greater detail in my minds eye, I could see that his face seemed to be one more of disappointment.
I wondered why such disappointment. What was he disappointed about? Then I saw the plates, his sword drawn as he tried to do all that he could, the things that he had to suffer in protecting them. There he was. On the side of the hill, all alone, having seen in revelation our day "he had seen our day and knew of our doings" (Mormon 8:34-35) and contemplating our day, you and I.
He could see from the hill in what is now New York, all the way across the plains of the midwest, clear to the Rocky Mountains in the west. All of America, and everyone there in was in his minds view. As well as the reference of a setting sun on the horizon provided the time line of the last days in which we live.
Moroni was not alone in seeing vision's of America in the last days, but he was the last one to write of them. He as well as his father had access to tens of thousands of pages of records, he had seen in vision and was able to anticipate through revelation the challenges that awaited our nation. Moroni along with his father before him carefully selected and compiled that which they felt “would be of great worth to us”. With great sacrifice they inscribed these insights on plates of gold, and then Moroni later buried them in the hillside for future retrieval.
This set of records were eventually brought forth when Moroni delivered the plates to the young Joseph Smith. Joseph, in turn, translated and published them as the Book of Mormon.
As I continued to gaze on Moroni's face I could see his face appeared to be one of concern. A concern which stemmed from his awareness of the crucial information we would need in our era, the information that he labored so hard to deliver to us, and yet, the little amount of attention that we seem to give to it's contents seemed insufficient to him.
The choice is now ours; yours and mine. Will you choose to spend the time in studying the Book Of Mormon. Will you spend the real amount of time that is required so that Moroni's efforts will not be in vain, at least for you in your life?
Created from the Artist's Digital File
