Thankful Thursday

It's been a while since I've had a Thankful Thursday. I've been slacking, it's time to get back on track! Here's a clue as far as what I'm thankful for today. Any guesses?

Okay, for those of you not in the LDS world here's another clue:

Yup, you got it. Today I'm thankful for the scriptures. Particularly the Book of Mormon. In the past two months I've grown to appreciate the scriptures more than ever. All the studying that I did through seminary, all the teachings over my 26.5 years of growing up in the church and I've never known the scriptures like I do now. They have never been as much of a comfort in my life as they are now. They have never provided the insight like they do now. They have never been as meaningful as they are now. I have never turned to them as I do now. I had never read them daily as I do now. I have never loved them like I do now. I've always been a reader. I love to read in the bathtub. Usually the murder mystery, suspense, romance or a combination of all. I've found that the paperback I have sitting by my tub has been staying there. Part of me misses it. The bigger part of me keeps on picking up my Book of Mormon and reading that, in the bathtub, which in turn carries over to my bed snuggled up in my blanket. Where are the kids while I"m doing this you ask, running amok of course. No really, I usually try to get them to bed for my quiet time, I'm not always successful but I try....sometimes.

I've been reading sections of the Book of Mormon that I've read a hundred times and now they have meaning, in my everyday life, right now, today! It's amazing! I had heard about it happening but I had never experienced it. I have found myself pondering, re-reading, and crying too. I have been moved, touched, and comforted. I have realized that I was holding on to things that I should have been letting go, and it made it easier to do that. I have been calling my husband and reading him snippets that are so profound to me that I had surely skipped over so many times in the past.

At church we are taught that if we just read the scriptures, study the scriptures daily that we will be blessed. I can tell you that is so true! It has changed me, in a good way of course. I didn't take my scriptures with me to San Diego, and I missed them. I can tell you I never would have imagined the day that would happen but it did. I can tell you have developed a true love and desire for the scriptures, I turn to them every day and look forward to that time!

I had a Home Teacher prepare the following lesson once and share it with my family, I was about 16 but I have never forgotten it. (feel free to snag it and claim it for your own in your teaching endeavors)

He brought over some pieces of metal siding and some nails, enough for the four members of my family. He had us try to scratch in to the siding with the nails the most read scripture of the BoM. 1ts Nephi Ch1 Verse 1: "And I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents......" He had us substitute our own names for Nephi's. I tried really hard, barely made a dent in the piece of metal I had. Then he pointed out, if I went and buried that in my backyard, how long would it last before it started rusting away? How long would it be legible, probably not even a year...He then pointed out that the scriptures have been around for centuries, preserved for each and every one of us individually. If it had been that hard just scratching in that tiny bit, how hard must it have been for all of those prophets to put down verse after verse, and in most cases chapter after chapter? And then to keep them protected and in good shape? All of the effort put into the plates that held our church' s history, the teachings of Christ, the lessons to be learned. While the scriptures didn't always mean to me what they do know, I never forgot that lesson. It had a profound impact on me.

Okay enough preachy for one day, I'll let you all of the hook. And for those of you still with me after all that I have one more thing to be thankful for today:

Soccer. Get ready ladies, I'm ready to Run!