Every once in a while I get a bit of mothering inspiration. It doesn't happen as often as I would like it to. I have been praying for it to happen more often. I am hoping that by acting quickly on these moments of inspiration they will come more frequently. Or at least as frequently as I am able to act effectively on them. We all must progress line upon line, one step at a time, after all.
Yesterday as we were driving home I was thinking about testimonies. In our church the first Sunday of each month, members of the congregation are invited to stand and bear witness of the things pertaining to the gospel that they know to be true and to tell about how they came to that knowledge or how that belief was strengthened. We call this a "testimony meeting."
During yesterday's testimony meeting I was explaining what a testimony is to Sabrina and asking about her testimony. After our brief conversation I started thinking about how I could help Sabrina have opportunities to feel the Spirit on her own and further develop her own testimony apart from mine.
Now, I work with the teenage girls at church and I know how they can find and develop their testimonies. I firmly believe that these girls must read, study, and ponder the scriptures on their own to get a solid testimony. God so often speaks to us through the scriptures or while we are reading them. The hardest part for the girls is getting in the habit of reading and pondering the scriptures daily. Isn't it really for most of us?
So on my drive home yesterday I had a bit of motherhood inspiration. My girls may be young and often they don't understand all that the scriptures are saying when they read the verses, but they can read them. I felt that little nudge tell me to help them start this habit of daily scripture reading now. Just like I help them get in the habit of saying their prayers.
So today I told them that before they do their regular nightly reading in bed I wanted them to read at least 5 verses of scripture. I told them they could talk about what they read with each other or with me but I wanted them to read the verses on their own first.
Tonight we had such a sweet spirit in their room while they each read their scriptures. I let them pick where they wanted to read. Sabrina read all the Articles of Faith (that is 13 verses of our basic beliefs) and then she read 4 verses about baptism and the covenant we make when we are baptized. She got those verses from a booklet she was given after she was baptized called "Faith in God."
Ann Marie wanted to read the story in the Book of Mormon that she spoke about in her talk. It is the story of Alma the younger and how he saw an angel as he was going about being wicked and was called to repentance by the angel. She read about 12 verses of that story until Alma faints and is carried to his father by his friends.
I spent time helping each of them understand what they were reading. It was a great night and I plan on making this a habit that will stick in our family. Hopefully by the time they are teenagers, reading their scriptures daily will be so second nature that when they face questions or doubts or temptations or trials they will be able to suck deeply from the well of wisdom contained within the scriptures.
Tomorrow I plan to address a question in a comment about where I would turn other than the scriptures when I had a problem. I don't want the commenter to think I am ignoring the comment. I will get there. But this post shows that clearly I think the scriptures are one of the very best places to go for answers. I would always go prayerfully there first. More on other places I turn for answers tomorrow.
