When Lehi saw a stream emptied into the Red Sea, he said to Laman, "O that thou mightiest be like unto this river, continually running into the fountain of all righteousness." He also spoke unto Lemuel, "O that thou mightiest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord." This is a beautiful little couplet. You have two sons; you have the walls of this valley, firm and steadfast, with the stream coming through. Hugh Nibley spent a lot of time talking about how ancient travelers in the desert would break out into poems like this, relating the circumstances around them to the moral situation in which they found themselves. Lehi’s spontaneous lyric builds on Isaiah 48:18 (which will be quoted in 1 Nephi 20), "O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments—then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea."
Traveling in the Middle East, you will hear it said over and over again, "Water is life." Indeed, nothing can live in the desert without water. Lehi may have been trying to teach Laman here to see himself as a river of life, always giving to others, nothing done in selfishness. We too might benefit from seeing ourselves like the river, always giving to the world around us.
And consider Lehi’s teaching to Lemuel about becoming firm, steadfast and immovable. Why those three words? This seems redundant. Firm speaks to inner strength, firmness. Steadfast speaks to one’s position, standing steadily fastened. Immoveable speaks to not being swayed or moved by outside influences. I love how Lehi says, immovable "like unto this valley." When we think of a valley in our western culture, "firm and immovable" are not words we normally use to describe a valley. That seems more Middle Eastern. In western culture, I think we tend to think, and even sing, of mountains as being firm.
Lehi gave them words and imagery that could stay with them and their posterity forever. Indeed, the words "steadfast and immovable" were reused used by Benjamin in his closing words in Mosiah 5:15 and also by Alma in Alma 1:25. And Mormon used Lehi’s wording in 3 Nephi 6:14, speaking of the Lamanites (descendants of Laman and Lemuel) who remained converted unto the true faith and would not depart from it, "for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord." Even though Laman and Lemuel did not respond to Lehi, we see that these blessings were nonetheless extended to some of their faithful descendants and these examples were noted specifically by Mormon.
Lehi could have said to them, "Laman and Lemuel, why don’t you guys just get with the program?" But instead he eloquently spoke to them, hoping the poetry would touch their hearts. He did not want to command them in all things. He let them think, and work out for themselves what this could mean for them. Perhaps, as we provide instruction and encouragement to our loved ones, we will do it, like Lehi, in a way that allows a person more of their own agency. Teaching principles with images allows those taught to riddle things out for themselves, to see in these images something new. When left to peel back the layers of metaphor in imagery, like Lehi’s use of the river and valley, each person can decide for themselves, over and over again, new, worthy goals to accomplish.