I'm going to be lazy and do three months in one post.
For March: Gardening.
Well, I'm still renting and don't have a place to garden but someday I do plan to have a garden! Mostly a flower garden. I love flowers and they seem a little less intimidating than food. I have no idea what food I would grow. I think it'd be fun to have a couple fruit trees though! But definitely a colorful flower garden. :)
For April: Strengthening Personal Testimony
This one's hard, I think. I'm like Cathryn. It's really hard for me to make habits. I was really good at reading my scriptures and saying prayers every day and then it kind of broke when I got to college. I felt weird doing it in front of roommates and that carried into my marriage where I felt weird doing it in front Colin. I don't know where this self consciousness came from. Maybe I have a deep fear that I'd look self-righteous or that I would be doing it "wrong?" No clue.
Through many talks with Colin we decided that I pray daily better when he reminds me and we do it at the same time, so I've been getting a lot better at my own daily, personal prayers. Scripture study is trickier. I feel like it's also so much more important considering I'm in nursery and the only spiritual upliftment (it's a word now) is what I can get out of sacrament between dealing with my two girls. It's not exactly like I don't have the time to do it. Somehow I found the time to read 15 books in the last six weeks. It's just a matter of thinking to do it and then in that moment of thought actually doing it. I haven't gotten there yet. But I'm grateful to read your girls' words as a cross-country encouragement! I look up to you girls and it honestly helps to hear that I'm not alone in struggling to do it. I'll let you know how I do! I'm putting it out there so you can hold me to it. :)
For May--Good Food on a Budget
This is another category where I'm lame and useless. Being the poor med student family that we are we have been on food stamps for a couple years now and I don't remember how to be on a budget as we never spend the whole monthly allotment the government gives us. It's massive. We're actually going to use it to build a food storage soon! So, I'd love to hear what you girls have to say so I can file it away for two years from now when we no longer qualify for food stamps but still don't have a lot of money as we need to pay off loans. haha
Showing posts with label Scripture Study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scripture Study. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Experiences Can Make Scriptures More Personal- And More Powerful
So, to be honest, I feel kind of nervous writing this because I'm about to share with you something that is quite personal to me and I have with only a select few people. When Cathryn wrote her "ramble" on scripture study, she mentioned looking at the people in the scriptures as real people. I try to do that, but it can be so hard sometimes. I will get back to the scripture people in a second.
I've been trying to have a baby for quite a while now. I know, how long could I really be trying, I have a baby. Well, when you want lots of kids and have verified that the potential of A, B, C, D, etc. are much greater than normal since they are hereditary and in your family, you don't do much waiting.
Waiting and waiting month after month gets so frustrating and tiring and fills you with emotions you didn't know existed before. At least, that's what I found. It's hard.
Then I was finally pregnant! I was so excited and in so much disbelief and things fell together so well and it was so easy to see God's hand in the timing.
Then it ended. It didn't make any sense. It was so confusing. It's still confusing. I knew it was ending before it ended and I was still so sick and that made me all the more frustrated. I was baffled at my need to mourn a person that didn't exist. Mourn a loss that was not mine to have right now anyway.
At first all I could do was cry, at everything. All I could do was feel like my body was failing to be fully female. That I was so inadequate. Doubt if God really trusted me to be a mother, giving me Miss Perfect and just that. It took me a long time to come to my senses and even longer to process the facts. I want children. I can have children (obviously, I have one). I had a miscarriage. One miscarriage isn't considered anything. (It's past that and consecutively that it's a concern.)
Now that all being said, I didn't tell you that so that you would feel sad for me. I'm really doing better than I expected with the whole situation. I told you that story so that I can share this next one with you.
In Relief Society this last Sunday, we had a lesson on the Gathering of Scattered Israel (that's a name of a talk, I think, but the teacher gathered lots of talks). We talked about the obvious, temple work, genealogy, missionary work, etc.. It was a pretty good lesson. In part of it we talked about the Abrahamic covenant. About Abraham and Sarah, about Jacob and Leah and Rachel. Sarah was barren. Leah's husband loved her sister. Rachel's "womb was closed" because Jacob loved Rachel. Now I'm not in any situation quite like any of these women. My husband loves me and I'm not barren. But my recent experiences have given me an entirely different view...on the world as a whole really. When we started talking about these women, I was surprised to find that my heart broke for them. Understanding more than I had before about the desire to have children. About doing things right and wishing for righteous blessings and being denied, for whatever reason. I understood a little better about them. About their lives. About what it was they really had to deal with. I'm quite positive that when the scriptures say that "Sarah laughed", that she also cried and with probably so much joy in her heart. And knowing that "God remembered Rachel" helps me remember that God will remember me too. That he lets me go through hard things and for good reasons (that I often don't understand). All I can hope is that God remembered Leah too. It's really not her fault, I don't think, that she married Jacob. I'm sure she would have preferred to marry someone who really loved her...on purpose. I don't know that any number of children could make up for such a situation. And I'll take my lot in life over any of these women.
I've been trying to have a baby for quite a while now. I know, how long could I really be trying, I have a baby. Well, when you want lots of kids and have verified that the potential of A, B, C, D, etc. are much greater than normal since they are hereditary and in your family, you don't do much waiting.
Waiting and waiting month after month gets so frustrating and tiring and fills you with emotions you didn't know existed before. At least, that's what I found. It's hard.
Then I was finally pregnant! I was so excited and in so much disbelief and things fell together so well and it was so easy to see God's hand in the timing.
Then it ended. It didn't make any sense. It was so confusing. It's still confusing. I knew it was ending before it ended and I was still so sick and that made me all the more frustrated. I was baffled at my need to mourn a person that didn't exist. Mourn a loss that was not mine to have right now anyway.
At first all I could do was cry, at everything. All I could do was feel like my body was failing to be fully female. That I was so inadequate. Doubt if God really trusted me to be a mother, giving me Miss Perfect and just that. It took me a long time to come to my senses and even longer to process the facts. I want children. I can have children (obviously, I have one). I had a miscarriage. One miscarriage isn't considered anything. (It's past that and consecutively that it's a concern.)
Now that all being said, I didn't tell you that so that you would feel sad for me. I'm really doing better than I expected with the whole situation. I told you that story so that I can share this next one with you.
In Relief Society this last Sunday, we had a lesson on the Gathering of Scattered Israel (that's a name of a talk, I think, but the teacher gathered lots of talks). We talked about the obvious, temple work, genealogy, missionary work, etc.. It was a pretty good lesson. In part of it we talked about the Abrahamic covenant. About Abraham and Sarah, about Jacob and Leah and Rachel. Sarah was barren. Leah's husband loved her sister. Rachel's "womb was closed" because Jacob loved Rachel. Now I'm not in any situation quite like any of these women. My husband loves me and I'm not barren. But my recent experiences have given me an entirely different view...on the world as a whole really. When we started talking about these women, I was surprised to find that my heart broke for them. Understanding more than I had before about the desire to have children. About doing things right and wishing for righteous blessings and being denied, for whatever reason. I understood a little better about them. About their lives. About what it was they really had to deal with. I'm quite positive that when the scriptures say that "Sarah laughed", that she also cried and with probably so much joy in her heart. And knowing that "God remembered Rachel" helps me remember that God will remember me too. That he lets me go through hard things and for good reasons (that I often don't understand). All I can hope is that God remembered Leah too. It's really not her fault, I don't think, that she married Jacob. I'm sure she would have preferred to marry someone who really loved her...on purpose. I don't know that any number of children could make up for such a situation. And I'll take my lot in life over any of these women.
On Creating Habits
For Cathryn, first of all, these are my thoughts on habits, any habit really, and this is what I do to continue habits (note it's not 100% successful at everything, but I find that it works for me better than anything else).
- Think about something (i.e. daily scripture study, or journal writing)
- Decide you want it to be a habit (just decide, it's a very important step though, don't underestimate)
- Decide that you care so much about making this thing a habit that it is worth going to bed 30 seconds later than you were going to, on a bad day. (Makes it a little less enormous of a thing to do.)
- Now do that thing everyday. (Hard part I know.)
- Oh, but I'm so tired and I need to get up early and blah blah blah blah...my suggestion, read one verse, write one sentence, just do it, for the sake of creating a habit.
- Hmmm...it's still pretty early and the thought just occurred to me that I haven't read yet and I should probably do that. (Use willpower and just do. This will make you so happy when you do. When you don't, you find yourself in number 1 situations a lot and that just gets obnoxious.)
- Oh no! I forgot to read yesterday, my precious habit is destroyed!!! (Don't fret, just read today.)
- Make up other situations that I can't think of right now and decide what's appropriate.
So, maybe reading a verse a day isn't the most spiritual thing to do, but when you're starting to make a habit, you could have your 2 to 3 days of reading and 4 to 5 days of just 1 verse. It will change eventually and it gets easier to remember and your stamina can change from read 1 verse to read 1 page to read 1 chapter or read 1 whatever you study. You find that the time commitment of scripture study is actually quite minimal. (It can still be a daily struggle though, it is often for me, especially on routine-free days.)
Other things that can help
- Ryan and I check up on each other's scripture study (and lots of other goals too). We ask each other if we've read. We kind of put that expectation on each other. It works for us. Might not work for you.
- Something else, couldn't think of anything.
Scripture Study--Cathryn
I loved your post, Melissa. I wanted to comment on it, but I figured I'd just start a new post since it's the topic of the month anyway.
You and I should be scripture buddies. I struggle with making the scriptures as big of a part of my life as I should, too, but it's for the exact opposite reason: I am the worst person in the world at sticking to a routine or keeping a schedule or establishing good habits. (Totally gross confession? It wasn't until COLLEGE that I consistently brushed my teeth every night.) Every single Sunday I get the impression that I need to read my scriptures every day, and every week I make it 2 or 3 days. When I pray about problems I'm having or trying to figure out a question, the answer is almost always that I need to read my scriptures every day, but do you think I could do that? Nope. I really do have a powerful testimony about the positive impact that consistent scripture study has on my life. To continue with a gross metaphor, it's seriously like the difference in the way your mouth feels if you don't brush your teeth on the days when I don't read my scriptures. Things seem harder; I have less patience; answers don't come as clearly or as readily. It's one of those principles for me that hinges really strongly on the law of obedience--that the Lord is bound when we do what he says--because even when I don't put much effort into thinking or studying or pondering about what I'm reading, I still get the same blessings of peace and patience in my life the rest of the day. I don't get the same insights and answers when I'm lazy about my reading, but it's like that simple act of opening the book for 5 or 10 minutes is enough to turn the key to unlock my spiritually strong self that day. It's such a simple thing and it makes such a difference for me...why is it that I can't just do it every day? What is so hard about that? All the excuses from previous times in my life (too busy with work or school, etc.) are completely gone now. My days are slow and pretty laid-back. I have more than enough free time on my hands. What is wrong with me that I can't keep this simple habit? Honestly, I feel pretty defeated about it right now. Help!! It's been stressing me out and making me sad for a long time now. You'd think I could figure out how to change. How do you have the willpower to make a good habit, Melissa?
As far as getting more out of scripture study goes...obviously I don't read them often enough to get too burned out, haha. Let's see. Right now for my personal study, I'm reading the Gospels. Elder Bednar came and spoke to our stake and gave this beautiful lesson about Christ's character, and he told us to go home and read the Gospels and 3rd Nephi and look for examples of when Christ "turned outward instead of inward," times when he was selfless instead of putting his own needs or wants first. His talk to us was actually kind of identical to this one, called "The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality:" http://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/04/the-atonement-and-the-journey-of-mortality?lang=eng (That was published in this month's Ensign, but it's based on a speech he gave at BYU-I like 10 years ago or something. I think he's been speaking on this subject for a long time now, haha.) The talk has seriously changed my whole perception of the Savior and it's helping me see the same old scripture stories in a new light.
So this time through, I'm trying to see the names in the scriptures as real people, not just characters in a worn-out old story, you know? Like, it's completely amazing to me that Peter and his brother just stood up and left their nets in the middle of what they were doing when Christ summoned them. Would I just stand up from my teaching desk and walk out on my students and my job if some man I'd never seen before told me he was the Savior and asked me to? Would I recognize him? And I keep thinking about Matthew (the one that wrote the Book of Matthew). He was one of the original apostles. I wonder what it was like to be an apostle back then. I feel like sometimes we forget that our apostles now were (are!) real people with real lives and careers and families and weaknesses and strengths and stories, too. I like reading the Wikipedia articles about the apostles because it helps make them seem more real and human to me. Like, did you know that Elder Hales was the president of the company that makes Pond's face cream (the kind I use!) before he was called as a general authority? Or that Elder Perry threw the first pitch at a Red Sox game once? (Scott and I actually saw him at the grocery store in Salt Lake one time. He is SO tall. He's like 6' 5" or something--taller than Scott, and that's even when he hunches over from being so old!) Or that Elder Scott has a PhD in nuclear engineering and was on the team that designed the Navy's first nuclear-powered submarine and the first commercial nuclear power plant? It really helps me feel like the messages the apostles give are more meaningful somehow when I feel like they're human and likeable people. Like how we all love Elder Uchtdorf so much, right? He's so real. He talked about Harry Potter and Back to the Future at stake conference, for Pete's sake.
Anyway, so I'm trying to find details as I read about the people in the scriptures that make them seem more real to me. So like Matthew was a tax collector, which meant he was one of the wealthy class of Roman government contractors, but also that he was an outcast from Jewish congregations because he was only paid if he took enough money from them to meet his contract. How did he get along with the other apostles? What was it like to hear him preach? It's only one verse long, but I've been thinking a lot about the story where Matthew gets called to be an apostle. (It's in Matthew 9:9.) It sounds like Christ was basically just walking down the street with his incomplete quorum of the twelve, past the tax office in the capital city of the region (Capernaum), and he stopped, went in, and asked Matthew to follow him. And he did. He just walked out of his cushy, wealthy job and life and left to travel with the Savior. How did his family feel? What compelled him to go? The book of Matthew is basically his journal of how he remembers the couple of years where Christ was traveling and preaching. What would it have been like to be there? I bet they basically camped or slept in members' houses a lot. It must have been really hard, but also really amazing, of course.
The scriptures (especially the Gospels, I feel like) are often so many stories jammed together and told in just a bare-bones way that it's easy for me to brush past them and forget about how these are real people's lives. I feel like I get so much more out of them when I slow down my reading and just try to think of where each story starts and stops, and then think about what the details would have filled in like. And I think about what the story would be like if it happened today, or about what concept Christ is trying to teach. The more I read, the more I really think that the scriptures are written on so many levels. I'm trying to find that second level--that principle that stays true whether it's now or 200 years from now or 2000 years ago--that each story or sermon is trying to say, and then think about how I would take it if I heard it in conference or saw it happen in church on Sunday or something. I don't always find that principle, but probably more days than not, I can feel the spirit help me find an application of what I'm reading for my life that day.
So like on good days (when I remember!) I like to pray before I read and ask that the spirit will help me see something in my reading to help me know what to do today, or help me understand something that I need to know about people in my life, like how I could help someone else, or just to help me change whatever attitudes or perspectives I have in my life that aren't in line with God's. Or sometimes I'll ask in my heart while I read about things that people disagree about in the world--politics, parenting, whatever--and wonder what Christ's response would be if someone asked him about that. I spend a lot of time searching for examples of parenting advice in the scriptures, actually. It's hard if you're looking for specific things like "do you let a baby cry it out or not?" But just looking for how Christ teaches people who have a hard time understanding, or how he responds when someone does something wrong...sometimes I can find examples of ways I can teach and help Luke better.
And, okay, a lot of the scripture stories in Matthew talk about how people react to Christ's invitation to join the church. Living in a place where so few people are members has really made me think about that invitation--would I be Mormon if I weren't raised that way? How would it feel to be approached by the missionaries? Would I recognize the spirit and the message? How can we talk to people about the church in ways that brings them closer to Christ, instead of making them feel weirded out or something? Would I be brave enough to say what I should say if someone asked? How can I touch people's hearts and not just declare truth? Both are scary to me! In Matthew, a lot of Christ's followers were mocked or kicked out of their communities for joining with him, and a lot of times the same thing happened in the Book of Mormon. It seems like in the scriptures the church is always the minority and always looked at as being kind of weird, which feels very appropriate to me right now with Romney and the election and all the weird media coverage like Broadway musicals and all the Mormon.org stuff and living in "the mission field" and being in a branch and far away from family and everything everything everything. You know? It's a cool time to be a Mormon but also a crazy one.
Anyway, I'm super rambling now. Sorry. I guess I just feel like I get the most out of the scriptures when I spend just as much time (more time, really) thinking and wondering and just being still and listening as I do reading. And I feel like the (VERY) few times when I write those thoughts down in a journal, it's a lot easier for me to feel answers the next time I study. (Obviously I only try to read when Tornado Luke is sleeping, haha.) Elder Scott's last two conference talks, I think, were both awesome ones about receiving revelation--they're seriously so great & worth rereading. He talks a lot about how to record inspiration in a way that helps you receive more. Anyway. I just really need to put my words & feelings into action and actually COMMIT to making it a habit! Seriously, how do you do that??
You and I should be scripture buddies. I struggle with making the scriptures as big of a part of my life as I should, too, but it's for the exact opposite reason: I am the worst person in the world at sticking to a routine or keeping a schedule or establishing good habits. (Totally gross confession? It wasn't until COLLEGE that I consistently brushed my teeth every night.) Every single Sunday I get the impression that I need to read my scriptures every day, and every week I make it 2 or 3 days. When I pray about problems I'm having or trying to figure out a question, the answer is almost always that I need to read my scriptures every day, but do you think I could do that? Nope. I really do have a powerful testimony about the positive impact that consistent scripture study has on my life. To continue with a gross metaphor, it's seriously like the difference in the way your mouth feels if you don't brush your teeth on the days when I don't read my scriptures. Things seem harder; I have less patience; answers don't come as clearly or as readily. It's one of those principles for me that hinges really strongly on the law of obedience--that the Lord is bound when we do what he says--because even when I don't put much effort into thinking or studying or pondering about what I'm reading, I still get the same blessings of peace and patience in my life the rest of the day. I don't get the same insights and answers when I'm lazy about my reading, but it's like that simple act of opening the book for 5 or 10 minutes is enough to turn the key to unlock my spiritually strong self that day. It's such a simple thing and it makes such a difference for me...why is it that I can't just do it every day? What is so hard about that? All the excuses from previous times in my life (too busy with work or school, etc.) are completely gone now. My days are slow and pretty laid-back. I have more than enough free time on my hands. What is wrong with me that I can't keep this simple habit? Honestly, I feel pretty defeated about it right now. Help!! It's been stressing me out and making me sad for a long time now. You'd think I could figure out how to change. How do you have the willpower to make a good habit, Melissa?
As far as getting more out of scripture study goes...obviously I don't read them often enough to get too burned out, haha. Let's see. Right now for my personal study, I'm reading the Gospels. Elder Bednar came and spoke to our stake and gave this beautiful lesson about Christ's character, and he told us to go home and read the Gospels and 3rd Nephi and look for examples of when Christ "turned outward instead of inward," times when he was selfless instead of putting his own needs or wants first. His talk to us was actually kind of identical to this one, called "The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality:" http://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/04/the-atonement-and-the-journey-of-mortality?lang=eng (That was published in this month's Ensign, but it's based on a speech he gave at BYU-I like 10 years ago or something. I think he's been speaking on this subject for a long time now, haha.) The talk has seriously changed my whole perception of the Savior and it's helping me see the same old scripture stories in a new light.
So this time through, I'm trying to see the names in the scriptures as real people, not just characters in a worn-out old story, you know? Like, it's completely amazing to me that Peter and his brother just stood up and left their nets in the middle of what they were doing when Christ summoned them. Would I just stand up from my teaching desk and walk out on my students and my job if some man I'd never seen before told me he was the Savior and asked me to? Would I recognize him? And I keep thinking about Matthew (the one that wrote the Book of Matthew). He was one of the original apostles. I wonder what it was like to be an apostle back then. I feel like sometimes we forget that our apostles now were (are!) real people with real lives and careers and families and weaknesses and strengths and stories, too. I like reading the Wikipedia articles about the apostles because it helps make them seem more real and human to me. Like, did you know that Elder Hales was the president of the company that makes Pond's face cream (the kind I use!) before he was called as a general authority? Or that Elder Perry threw the first pitch at a Red Sox game once? (Scott and I actually saw him at the grocery store in Salt Lake one time. He is SO tall. He's like 6' 5" or something--taller than Scott, and that's even when he hunches over from being so old!) Or that Elder Scott has a PhD in nuclear engineering and was on the team that designed the Navy's first nuclear-powered submarine and the first commercial nuclear power plant? It really helps me feel like the messages the apostles give are more meaningful somehow when I feel like they're human and likeable people. Like how we all love Elder Uchtdorf so much, right? He's so real. He talked about Harry Potter and Back to the Future at stake conference, for Pete's sake.
Anyway, so I'm trying to find details as I read about the people in the scriptures that make them seem more real to me. So like Matthew was a tax collector, which meant he was one of the wealthy class of Roman government contractors, but also that he was an outcast from Jewish congregations because he was only paid if he took enough money from them to meet his contract. How did he get along with the other apostles? What was it like to hear him preach? It's only one verse long, but I've been thinking a lot about the story where Matthew gets called to be an apostle. (It's in Matthew 9:9.) It sounds like Christ was basically just walking down the street with his incomplete quorum of the twelve, past the tax office in the capital city of the region (Capernaum), and he stopped, went in, and asked Matthew to follow him. And he did. He just walked out of his cushy, wealthy job and life and left to travel with the Savior. How did his family feel? What compelled him to go? The book of Matthew is basically his journal of how he remembers the couple of years where Christ was traveling and preaching. What would it have been like to be there? I bet they basically camped or slept in members' houses a lot. It must have been really hard, but also really amazing, of course.
The scriptures (especially the Gospels, I feel like) are often so many stories jammed together and told in just a bare-bones way that it's easy for me to brush past them and forget about how these are real people's lives. I feel like I get so much more out of them when I slow down my reading and just try to think of where each story starts and stops, and then think about what the details would have filled in like. And I think about what the story would be like if it happened today, or about what concept Christ is trying to teach. The more I read, the more I really think that the scriptures are written on so many levels. I'm trying to find that second level--that principle that stays true whether it's now or 200 years from now or 2000 years ago--that each story or sermon is trying to say, and then think about how I would take it if I heard it in conference or saw it happen in church on Sunday or something. I don't always find that principle, but probably more days than not, I can feel the spirit help me find an application of what I'm reading for my life that day.
So like on good days (when I remember!) I like to pray before I read and ask that the spirit will help me see something in my reading to help me know what to do today, or help me understand something that I need to know about people in my life, like how I could help someone else, or just to help me change whatever attitudes or perspectives I have in my life that aren't in line with God's. Or sometimes I'll ask in my heart while I read about things that people disagree about in the world--politics, parenting, whatever--and wonder what Christ's response would be if someone asked him about that. I spend a lot of time searching for examples of parenting advice in the scriptures, actually. It's hard if you're looking for specific things like "do you let a baby cry it out or not?" But just looking for how Christ teaches people who have a hard time understanding, or how he responds when someone does something wrong...sometimes I can find examples of ways I can teach and help Luke better.
And, okay, a lot of the scripture stories in Matthew talk about how people react to Christ's invitation to join the church. Living in a place where so few people are members has really made me think about that invitation--would I be Mormon if I weren't raised that way? How would it feel to be approached by the missionaries? Would I recognize the spirit and the message? How can we talk to people about the church in ways that brings them closer to Christ, instead of making them feel weirded out or something? Would I be brave enough to say what I should say if someone asked? How can I touch people's hearts and not just declare truth? Both are scary to me! In Matthew, a lot of Christ's followers were mocked or kicked out of their communities for joining with him, and a lot of times the same thing happened in the Book of Mormon. It seems like in the scriptures the church is always the minority and always looked at as being kind of weird, which feels very appropriate to me right now with Romney and the election and all the weird media coverage like Broadway musicals and all the Mormon.org stuff and living in "the mission field" and being in a branch and far away from family and everything everything everything. You know? It's a cool time to be a Mormon but also a crazy one.
Anyway, I'm super rambling now. Sorry. I guess I just feel like I get the most out of the scriptures when I spend just as much time (more time, really) thinking and wondering and just being still and listening as I do reading. And I feel like the (VERY) few times when I write those thoughts down in a journal, it's a lot easier for me to feel answers the next time I study. (Obviously I only try to read when Tornado Luke is sleeping, haha.) Elder Scott's last two conference talks, I think, were both awesome ones about receiving revelation--they're seriously so great & worth rereading. He talks a lot about how to record inspiration in a way that helps you receive more. Anyway. I just really need to put my words & feelings into action and actually COMMIT to making it a habit! Seriously, how do you do that??
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Scripture Study
Hey All!
I think scripture study is one of the hardest areas for me, as far as Sunday school answers are concerned. It's not that I don't study/read, usually that's read, my scriptures daily because consistently committing to things is not something I have a problem with. I'm pretty good with consistency, it's more that I struggle to consistently feel like I'm getting a lot out of what I'm reading or sometimes remembering what it is I read from day to day. This is one category that seriously goes in waves for me. I say this all as an intro and so that you hopefully feel welcome to share your ideas of what will work or what you does that does work.
More specifically, since conference just happened, the conference ensign. Last conference I buckled down and read at least a talk a day once the ensign came. I was so proud of myself for sticking 100% to that exact schedule, but when I was done (and that really doesn't take long) I didn't know what to do with the ensign. Obviously I could read it again and again and again and I think that's a good thing, but what else can you do to study conference talks. Anybody ever found anything cool.
Shortened version of this post: Feeling burned out of my current study habits. They work ok, not great. Anything work great for you? Anything you think would work great?
Ok, love you all, bye.
I think scripture study is one of the hardest areas for me, as far as Sunday school answers are concerned. It's not that I don't study/read, usually that's read, my scriptures daily because consistently committing to things is not something I have a problem with. I'm pretty good with consistency, it's more that I struggle to consistently feel like I'm getting a lot out of what I'm reading or sometimes remembering what it is I read from day to day. This is one category that seriously goes in waves for me. I say this all as an intro and so that you hopefully feel welcome to share your ideas of what will work or what you does that does work.
More specifically, since conference just happened, the conference ensign. Last conference I buckled down and read at least a talk a day once the ensign came. I was so proud of myself for sticking 100% to that exact schedule, but when I was done (and that really doesn't take long) I didn't know what to do with the ensign. Obviously I could read it again and again and again and I think that's a good thing, but what else can you do to study conference talks. Anybody ever found anything cool.
Shortened version of this post: Feeling burned out of my current study habits. They work ok, not great. Anything work great for you? Anything you think would work great?
Ok, love you all, bye.
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