Search, Ponder and Pray

I attended the LDS Women’s Conference on Thursday at BYU, and it was a wonderful day. Unfortunately, my dear friend, Robin, couldn’t make it, due to an unfortunate dishwasher incident, but I hope she’s getting that cleaned up and I missed having her here this weekend. Yes, there was snow on the ground, and yes, it was very cold. But the classes are all indoors and it’s always fun to walk around BYU, even in the cold. Since I went with my friend Candice who gets to park in handicapped parking, we didn’t even have to make the trek from the stadium up to the Marriot Center! Since I couldn’t go both days, I felt like I really had to make the best of my one day of the conference, but it’s so difficult choosing which class to go to. They all sound so good, but sometimes you get in one that you thought was going to be the greatest class just for you, and it’s a little bit of a disappointment. When trying to decide what classes to go to, I even thought of just randomly following the crowd and going into whatever class I came to, but nixed that idea. What if I ended up in a Spanish class or a class on single parenting or something that didn’t apply to me?

One of my classes was on Family Scripture Study. I didn’t take any notes from this class because I was in a service room, and I was busy coloring butterflies the whole time. Seriously–butterflies. They are part of a folder game with matching patterns that will go to orphanages around the world. It was fun to get my coloring on, and I really like to have something to do with my hands while listening.

This was a great class, because instead of making me feel like a horrible mother because we aren’t the best at having family scripture study (I feel horrible enough about that already, for heaven’s sake, I don’t need them to lay on a bunch more guilt, right?), they gave us ideas of how some families have organized their scripture time, and gave suggestions and motivation. One thing thing that I thought was so important was that we need to be flexible. Our families and our situation and our needs change, and we need to be ready to adapt and change our scripture time. She used the example of shopping for jeans for a 12 year old daughter–You know she’s not going to be wearing these jeans at the end of the school year, yet you spend time and money finding the perfect fit for her now. We may need to change our scripture study routine in 6 months because our schedules will change, and that’s ok. We still need to find something that works right now.

One idea for young families was to concentrate on one verse for a whole week. This mother said she spent the first minute marching around and singing “scripture power” with the kids. Even dad would sing and march. The next minute was spent finding the verse of the day and marking it in the scriptures, then they read it out loud together. The next minute was talking about why this verse was important and what it meant, and then they had family prayer. They would do variations of this every day, all on the same scripture. So, they spent 4 or 5 minutes each day, but by the end of the week, the kids would know the scripture reference and some of them had it memorized.

Some families each wrote down a few of their favorite scriptures and put them in a jar. They would then choose one verse each day before dinner and read it and talk about why it was important and a family favorite.

One mother said that the best time for their family seemed to be the few minutes between dinner and dessert. That’s when they did their family scripture reading. We’ve been each reading a verse right before dinner. But we haven’t been real consistent, lately. It’s also very slow going, and I’d like to devote more time than just 3-5 minutes, so I think in the summer, we’re going to get a time set in the morning. I’d like to challenge my oldest kids to read the whole Book of Mormon this summer. I think they could do it.

Kids learn language skills when they are young, and before 10 years old is the best time to introduce new languages. The words of the scriptures are in essence a different language, and if children get used to reading and hearing them when they are young, they will be more proficient at reading as they grow up.

It was even suggested that parents can text their children a scripture or verse during the day that might have something to do with their challenges of the day. If they had a big test, for example, it might be comforting to receive
D&C 38: 30
” I tell you these things because of your prayers; wherefore, treasure up wisdom in your bosoms, lest the wickedness of men reveal these things unto you by their wickedness, in a manner which shall speak in your ears with a voice louder than that which shall shake the earth; but if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.”

Since kids are so computer smart, it was suggested that they have turns looking up scripture references online. With the help if the internet, it gives a whole new meaning to “search the scriptures”. You could give each child a topic, and have them look through the gospel library at LDS.org to come up with 3 or 4 (or more) scriptures on that subject, and share with the family.

I really liked the idea to celebrate your reading accomplishments. If you read every day of a week, have a small celebration at the end of the week! Two weeks? another celebration. I’m all about the celebrations, let me tell you. Then as you are more and more in the habit of reading, you can celebrate less frequently. Or see if you can set a record of how many days your family studies the scriptures without breaking the streak. 100? 200? more?

As you can see, this was a great class with so many suggestions and hints to help us figure out what works for our family. I hope this information helps you and your family, as I know it has been a great encouragement to me.