I love the scriptures. I use them every Sunday when we teach our primary class and I feel good as the words leave my mouth and I know what I am saying is true and adding to the spirit of the lesson. I believe that they are priceless and a precious gift from a loving Heavenly Father. I know they will bless my life. I know they have blessed my life. I know they contain timeless wisdom and answers to the most burning questions.
I don't make time for them.
I was running down the beach a couple of mornings ago when it dawned on me:
I deny myself happiness and blessings EVERY DAY when I don't read my scriptures.
I also don't allow the Lord to speak to me. I deny myself the chance to be knowledgable and strong so I can lead and teach my children, in a world of chaos and voices that can be louder than my own, when I don't take the time to put on the armor of God by partaking in even a few minutes of scripture reading.
I won't further embarrass myself by admitting how many years(ssssss!!!!) it has been since I have done regular scripture study (if ever really).
Suffice to say, it's past time and I'm starting.
If you are like me and want to start somewhere and include your kids we have been reading a story or two a night with the boys from here:
and don't worry, if we forget, Ambrose definitely reminds us and LOVES his scripture stories. I point to each picture box as I read so he can follow along and ask him questions or point out things I know he'll like when his 3-year-old attention span waivers and we both get a lot out of it. Plus, I don't mean to get all blasphemous, but aren't Zeniff's sandals totally 2010 fashionable?
Ok, sorry these pictures are probably too small to tell, but I'd wear them.
Anyway, this is good for me since I am not a scripture scholar (Yet. Yet I tell you!) and so I am re-learning the facts, and names, and chronology right along with him. My parents read to me out of the same book as a child, but we all need reminders don't we?
I start 1 Nephi tomorrow.
Line upon line.
I love this gospel.
14 comments:
That's a great way to start- now that we have older ones, we use the "Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families"- it's awesome. Has discussion questions, definitions and other helps for all of us. Keep it up, thanks for the inspiration and reminder!
stephanie! i know your cousin jessica filmore! she lives not far from me and we have mutual friends. holy small world!!
I too have been realizing the same thing in my life. Since Ezra was about 2 we have read with him almost every night. But doing them on my own, that is another story. I have a system in place that is working for me. It is an amazing peace and power in my life. You will find what works for you!
PS. If you go on to BYU TV's website they have this show called the Round table discussions where BYU religion professors go into more depth about the scriptures. I download those to my MP3 player and they have been really fun to listen to.
we had the same books when i was little. i really like them.
on sunday i was teaching the mia maids about living the law of the land, and i got all into talking about how much i love the political intrigue during "the war chapters" and i think they all thought i was insane. someday they'll understand how awesome it is. (maybe...)
Thanks for the confession. After your last post, I was feeling like a slacker after reading about all you do - running, sewing, cooking, teaching 2 classes. Of course, I am not in a good habit of reading my scriptures regularly either, so...
shame on you! and me!
i also confess i am not a scripture-reader. i try to change that. i have, several times. but i know that if we make time for them, the day seems to go a lot smoother. much like a prayer can help.
and we had those picture books growing uo and we'd read them in sacrament.
Tis the season, perhaps, as I just began at the very beginning too... the testimony of the witnesses and so forth (and I recommend you start there.. it was actually very powerful to read in a study setting and I I've always just skipped past it before). And I literally just started on Monday so we will be reading together!
We just started memorizing the articles of faith during family scripture time, as I got really tired of reading out of those otherwise lovely comic/scripture books. It's actually really fun to work on the a's of f too so when you get bored you might try it!
Jesse and I just had a FHE lesson about the Book of Mormon, and we made it a goal to recommit to reading our scriptures (we've been terrible in this camp too). We will be doing something very mature and making a sticker chart to track our progress.
I recommend it.
I read two chapters this morning y'all! It felt so good.
Me too! I a jumping on this train with you...thanks for your example my friend.
Love,
Matild
awesome post- the whole thing- loved it, identify with it and thank you for it! (I love Zeniff's sandals! :)
Haha! We read this every night with our kids! One word for you- PICTURES! That's why they are so into it! They get to see sweet pictures! =) It totally counts...
such a good place to start. i love that book.
You are so funny my friend! What an honest blogger!:) Its funny when those up the ankle stripy sandals first came out a few years back, I called them nephite sandals! :) Zenifs sandals are really cute too! :)
I have recently made it a goal to not miss a day, and I tell you what, when you make time for the scriptures magically there is enough time for everything else, plus it all goes so much more smoothly. I love reading the scriptures, I learn so much each time.
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