Power in Reading

 Brother Shields gave me a job a while back.  He needed to make a file on the family.  He asked his classes to go through the Ensigns for the past 5 years and find all the articles that had to do with the family and put a sticky note on the page.  Then I would go through and make copies of all of them and put them together for him.  He said I might find things the students missed.  What a fun job when the day is slow.
I made a few copies of things for me too.  I found one quote that I brought home and told Keith, “I found something you’re going to write in the back of your scriptures today.”  Sometimes I think it annoys him that I know him as well as I do, but I was right.  He took the page and carefully copied it into the little bit of space he has left back there.

Here it is:  “However diligent we may be in other areas, certain blessings are to be found only in the scriptures, only in coming to the word of the Lord and holding fast to it as we make our way through the mists of darkness to the tree of life.”



Isn’t that a great quote?  It doesn’t hurt that it’s a quote from Keith’s personal favorite prophet ever—Ezra Taft Benson.

I think probably I read my scriptures half the days.  That’s a good honest estimate.  I finish the Book of Mormon at least once almost every year.  It’s hard to gauge.  I finished the Doctrine and Covenants last year—before we were studying it.  Yeah, I’m stubborn that way.  It doesn’t count as ‘personal study’ to me if it’s for Sunday School—that’s ‘required reading.’    That’s pretty quirky isn’t it? 

I’m pretty attached to my scriptures.  They are worn out.  Pages move up and down on the little strings.  The lettering on the spine is worn off and there’s a few food stains on the pages.  That all makes me happy.  That means I’ve used them.  If Heavenly Father asked to see them, I would be proud to show Him how much I’ve used them.  In fact the zipper broke on my case—the case I bought in the MTC and I couldn’t find another one anything like it so I took it to the dry cleaner up the street and paid enough for a whole new case for them to replace the zipper.  (It’s on backwards, by the way.)  I’m attached.  I hope I’m attached to the meaning and not just the familiarness of the covers and colors of the markings.

Whenever there’s a lesson about personal inspiration I always say that my prayers are answered in the scriptures.  Maybe that’s because I’m not warm and fuzzy and Heavenly Father knows He has to ‘spell things out"’ for me.  Whatever the reason, that’s how I get inspiration—even more reason I should be devoting time to reading.

On the page in the Ensign with the Benson quote there is a scripture verse in big bold type.  It’s Jeremiah 33:3.  It’s actually one that I’m not terribly familiar with and it’s a great one—I should be.

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and might things, which thou knowest not.”

There’s a lot I don’t know.  And the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.  It’s Saturday morning.  I think I’ll go back to bed and read my scriptures!