Almost a decade ago, in August of 2005, our beloved Prophet and President Gordon B Hinckley, challenged the entire church to read, or reread, The Book of Mormon before the New Year.
I will quote him now: “Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.
This was an amazing experience for me. I was so thankful for this challenge and I felt so close to Heavenly Father and His Spirit while I was completing it.
Now it's 2014 and I have to admit that I am struggling with this practice. For over a year, I've been trying to jumpstart a more consistent personal scripture study.
I have failed miserably.
I tried using church manuals; I tried starting a Facebook group where people could report their reading each day; I tried using a little booklet I got from a ward I visited once, two months ago, who had started a ward challenge; I even tried following President Hinckley's suggestion again. None of it worked.
It's my fault. I know this. Heavenly Father is right there, waiting for me to come to Him. I just need to rededicate myself to Him and to the extremely important practice of daily scripture reading.
On Sunday I had an idea. (I am hoping that this will be the one that I will be disciplined enough to stick with.) I was visiting a ward in Orange County and the sister who taught the Relief Society Lesson reminded me that conference talks are scripture. In fact, they are modern day scripture. I thought this was the perfect answer to my problem. I mean, what could be more relevant to my life right now than modern scripture?
And then there's the fact that my home ward Relief Scoiety challenged everyone to read all of the various conference talks. (I can knock out two challenges with one blog.)
Then there's that fact that I love General Conference. The first weekend of October and April are probably two of my favorite weekends of the year. Most people think of General Conference weekend as pajama church. While I do occasionally watch in my PJ's, most of the time I like to dress up and watch conference at the Stake Center. I almost never miss. If I do, there has to be a good reason. One year I had to watch online while I was sprawled on my back in bed because my back had gone out.
So, here is my plan: every day I will read a different conference talk. After I read it, I will write down a few thoughts about the talk and share them with you. I plan to read these in order, so that means I will start with the talks presented in the General Women's Session on September 27th.
I have to admit, I am a little nervous about hitting the "publish" button for this post. I will be starting something that will require a serious commitment. Please watch over me Heavenly Father. I am going to need your help with this.
