Bethany, my
best friend since third grade, spent many faithful years of our youth sitting beside me during young women's, seminary, Sunday school, firesides, girl's camp, etc. And as long as I can remember,
I have always asked her to help me find books in the bible. The conversation would always go something like this,
Teacher: "Please turn with me to Amos 4:12"
Me: "Bethany, where's Amos...?"
Bethany: "It's between Joel and Obadiah in the Old Testament."
Me: "Huh? Where?"
Bethany: "Page 1141."
Me: "Thanks! I wonder if he's the same Amos that created Famous Amos cookies..."
Well, in my ongoing quest to perfect myself
(it is proving to be quite a daunting task!), I am adding to my
scriptural arsenal of knowledge by reading the Bible all the way through. Chronologically. Daily. Lance and I are doing this together, and after completing the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price,
we know we can do it! It's interesting to critically read all these bible stories I grew up hearing about in the context the Bible has them in. Who knew Lot fathered his own grandchildren!?
We've been reading the different books of scripture together almost every night since last October (ish?), and after going to
stake enrichment classes last week, I knew it was time to step our scripture study up to the next notch! There was a class on using the
Preach My Gospel Manual to enrich your personal scripture study as well as the studies of your family. Download the online version
here. I left that class completely
inspired. So, I called Lance, and together we came up with a plan to implement all the things we should be studying from weekly but
"don't have time" to.
I was struck by the
missionary schedule (found at the beginning of Preach my Gospel) because they start every morning out with
two hours of enriching scripture study. One hour is spent studying alone, and the second hour is spent with their companion. Using this as our inspiration, we decided
the best time for us to study the word of the Lord is
in the mornings, before his classes start,
to give us a leg up for the day. Half an hour of personal study begins at 7:45 and half an hour of "companion" study at 8:15. So,
as of the beginning of this week, this is our regiment:
Monday- Preach My Gospel Manual
Tuesday- The current Ensign
Wednesday- Missionary standard works (Our Heritage, Jesus the Christ, etc.)
Thursday- The upcoming week's Sunday school lesson
Friday- The upcoming week's Relief Society/Priesthood lesson
Saturday- Topical study from the scriptures
Sunday- Talks/previous ensign articles on LDS.org
So far,
we are loving it. I can definitely tell a difference in my day when I start it with such an
uplifting hour! It sort of takes me back to
high school seminary... but I'm learning where all the
obscure books of the Bible are this time around
:)
