Many years ago, while serving as a missionary, I developed a deep love for the scriptures and learned the value of starting my day by reading the scriptures every day. It was pretty easy to read every day because it was part of our daily routine as missionaries. When I came home from my mission I found that it was harder to read every day when my day was full of other non-missionary experiences. I'm afraid I was pretty sporadic in my reading and my resolve to read every day for the rest of my life seemed to be falling by the wayside. I'd been home about a month when I rode to General Conference with my Dad. It was the Conference when Harold B. Lee was sustained as the President of the Church. I was sitting in the tabernacle when President Lee said something that had a great influence on me. He shared some things that he was taught by the Spirit early one morning when he was studying the scriptures and pondering. I remember the way the Spirit touched me and told me that I was hearing the answer to my dilemma. So when I got home I resolutely set my alarm a half an hour earlier than I had ever gotten up so I could study the scriptures every day. I'd do some situps and take a shower to wake up then carefully read the Book of Mormon and made notes of what I learned, following some counsel my mission president had given us about studying the scriptures.
That was a long time ago and the Lord has blessed me greatly when I have lived up to this resolve to study the scriptures every day. Recently I have felt more strongly the truth of the axiom that Elder Robert D. Hales shared in a recent Conference address. He said that when we want to talk to Heavenly Father we should pray and when we wanted Him to talk to us we should read the scriptures. Recently I have felt again as I have read the scriptures that Heavenly Father was talking to me personally. What a blessing to have our Father, the great Almighty, speak directly with us as we read His words and to have the Spirit help us to see how they apply in our lives and to strengthen us by reading them.
I talked to all of the temple holders in our ward recently when we issued new temple recommends to them. Because this was simply a re-issuing of a recommend they already held I didn't need to ask all of the Temple Recommend questions so I simply asked if they were still worthy to have this recommend. All of them said they were. During this time a woman asked if she could meet with me privately after our brief interview. She said she felt concerned after our interview that maybe she had not been completely truthful with me. She said she yelled a lot in their home and was not as loving of a wife and mother as she felt she should be. I asked her about her daily prayers and if she read the scriptures daily. She said her prayers weren't as consistant as they could be and that she never read the scriptures. I asked her if she was willing to take counsel and if she would do what I was going to ask her to do. She said she would follow my counsel. I challenged her to pray every day, to read the scriptures every day, and to start a scripture journal where she would write down what the Spirit taught her as she read. She said she would do it. I asked her to come back in a month and to bring her scriptures and her scripture journal and to share with me what she had been taught. A month passed and we met again. She was amazed at what had happened to her. In addition she had found a paper her seminary teacher had given to them when she challenged them to read the scriptures the rest of her life. This woman wondered why she had ever stopped and was very grateful that I had helped her start once again. Oh things weren't perfect at home but she acknowledged that a great change had taken place in herself because she was reading from the scriptures every day.
I hope all of us can have this blessing in our lives. I know this doesn't mean a half an hour early for everyone. When I was so busy when I went to WSU the best I could do was to read a verse or two just before I went to bed each night. I think all of us could read at least a verse of scripture every day.
Love Dad
That was a long time ago and the Lord has blessed me greatly when I have lived up to this resolve to study the scriptures every day. Recently I have felt more strongly the truth of the axiom that Elder Robert D. Hales shared in a recent Conference address. He said that when we want to talk to Heavenly Father we should pray and when we wanted Him to talk to us we should read the scriptures. Recently I have felt again as I have read the scriptures that Heavenly Father was talking to me personally. What a blessing to have our Father, the great Almighty, speak directly with us as we read His words and to have the Spirit help us to see how they apply in our lives and to strengthen us by reading them.
I talked to all of the temple holders in our ward recently when we issued new temple recommends to them. Because this was simply a re-issuing of a recommend they already held I didn't need to ask all of the Temple Recommend questions so I simply asked if they were still worthy to have this recommend. All of them said they were. During this time a woman asked if she could meet with me privately after our brief interview. She said she felt concerned after our interview that maybe she had not been completely truthful with me. She said she yelled a lot in their home and was not as loving of a wife and mother as she felt she should be. I asked her about her daily prayers and if she read the scriptures daily. She said her prayers weren't as consistant as they could be and that she never read the scriptures. I asked her if she was willing to take counsel and if she would do what I was going to ask her to do. She said she would follow my counsel. I challenged her to pray every day, to read the scriptures every day, and to start a scripture journal where she would write down what the Spirit taught her as she read. She said she would do it. I asked her to come back in a month and to bring her scriptures and her scripture journal and to share with me what she had been taught. A month passed and we met again. She was amazed at what had happened to her. In addition she had found a paper her seminary teacher had given to them when she challenged them to read the scriptures the rest of her life. This woman wondered why she had ever stopped and was very grateful that I had helped her start once again. Oh things weren't perfect at home but she acknowledged that a great change had taken place in herself because she was reading from the scriptures every day.
I hope all of us can have this blessing in our lives. I know this doesn't mean a half an hour early for everyone. When I was so busy when I went to WSU the best I could do was to read a verse or two just before I went to bed each night. I think all of us could read at least a verse of scripture every day.
Love Dad
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