Nobody Knows What They're Doing

In 1 Nephi 4:6 we read one of my favorite passages: 

"And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." 

​Being functional in Japanese, I always like to compare the English and Japanese translations, that I might gain any new meaning from the linguistic differences. In Japanese, the verse reads:

わたし​は、前もって​自分​の​なす​べき​こと​を​​知らない​まま、御霊​に​​導びかれて​行った。

For the most part, the meaning is virtually identical. However, there is a key change in syntax that shifts the emphasis of the sentence. Literally, the Japanese reads:

"I, while not knowing the things which I should do, went forth, being led by the Spirit."

While subtle, this translation places greater emphasis on Nephi and his state of being unsure of what he was meant to be doing at the time. The word  まま [mama] is a noun that is used in a sentence to express that an already give situation or condition remains unaltered. This is an important distinction of language because it tells us that Nephi did not know he was being led by the Spirit at the time because his state of not knowing what he should do remained unaltered even as he was led. 

Furthermore, while the English sentence implies that Nephi played a more passive role in this instance, saying simply that he "was led by the Spirit," the Japanese emphasizes that this was not the case with the word 行った [itta, "went"] which in conjunction with the modification 御霊​に​​導びかれて​ [seirei ni michibikarete, "being led by the Spirit"] implies grammatically that "being led by the Spirit" is the method of transportation, as it is written in the same exact way that you might say Nephi took a bus or a train to get where he was going. 

From this we learn that in our own lives, most of the time we are led by the Spirit without even knowing it's happening. However, when we actively go about our lives trying to do good things and trying to listen to the Lord and be His servants, we are able to go and do by the Spirit, and we can be led to where we need to be in the moments we need to be there, and upon reflection we realize that the Spirit has been guiding us the whole time.