My church teaches a lot about having a Christ centered home. It occurred to me that as the mother in my home, a Christ centered home starts with me. While I go to church every week, we read scriptures and pray as a family every night, and do our best to do weekly family home evening lessons, my personal spiritual time is lacking quite a bit. Having three young children doesn't leave much time for me. I have to fight for a few minutes to myself during the day and by night I just want to sit and relax. I haven't been doing what we commonly call in my church "the standard Mormon answers," which are going to read the scriptures, pray, go to church (okay, I have been doing the last one).
Recently, I made a change. Instead of wasting time during my approximately one hour long break, in which the baby naps and the older kids are supposed to play in their room, I would dedicate that time to study scriptures and other lesson and church material. This is my journey with that, to document things that I learn or experiences I have. Maybe someone out there will benefit from this. Maybe this will touch someone and the Spirit of the Lord will work in them to help them become better as well. If nothing else, it might help me dig deep and really ponder what I'm reading.
I want to have a better relationship with my Savior. I want to be a better wife and mother. I want to be a better person. What better starting point than reading about the prophecies and life of Jesus Christ? One of my church leaders, President Russell M. Nelson, recently extended a challenge to the young adults in my church, and indirectly all church members, to read every scripture that references Jesus in the standard works of my church, which includes the Old Testament, the New Testament, The Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. I took that challenge to heart. I have read my way through all the Old Testament and Book of Mormon scriptures pre-Jesus, and am about to start reading my way through the New Testament and the post-Jesus scriptures in the Book of Mormon.
Slowly, I've also started catching up on the third hour adult class lessons. This year we are studying the teachings of the Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley. He was a great man and leader, and I have loved being reminded of his teachings this year. After I noticed I started having more time after reading his teachings, I decided to add in past General Conference talks. When I get the printed copy of the talks in the mail, I like to go through and make a list of all of them in the order that I feel like I need to read them. My goal is always to read them all at least one before the next Conference. I have yet to meet this goal. Sometimes, I also have time to read an article in the church magazine, the Ensign.
Something that I find interesting is that when I first started spending my time reading scriptures, I could barely get any scriptures read. The kids would keep bugging me so much, that I'd only be able to make it through a few scriptures. As I stuck with reading every day, I began having more time to read other materials. I feel like the Lord is blessing me for my efforts to read His words.
While I'm no where near being the person or parent I would like to be yet, the days are a little easier to get through. I am a little more patient, a little more relaxed. I don't feel so depressed, most of the time. I feel more peace and hope in my life.
I know that Jesus is real. I know Heavenly Father is truly the Father of my spirit. I know that as I draw closer to Him, He is blessing my life. I absolutely believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church. I don't really know what my goal of this blog is, but I feel like this is something I should do. I hope that where ever this journey takes me, someone will be able to take something from this and be strengthened by it. I hope to become a more Christ centered me.
