Unlike scripture study, I have always struggled with prayer.
It just doesn’t feel natural. I have a hard time feeling like God is really there and listening.
It has led to some really sad, pathetic prayers on my part.
Then one day I heard a suggestion from the lovely Brooke Snow to try praying in a different position than the typical kneeling with arms folded.
It seemed like heresy!
Doesn’t God only listen if your arms are folded and you’re kneeling humbly?
But my prayers had been so lame lately that I decided to give it a try.
I sat on my bed, crossed my legs, straightened my back, let my hands rest open on my legs, and turned my head up with eyes closed.
I then proceeded to say the most connected-to-God prayer of my whole life.
And in that moment I realized something: how it looks isn’t nearly as important as how it feels.
Thus began a quest to discover how I could make my family scripture study “feel” better even if it “looked” different than expected.
How Does Your Family Scripture Study Feel?
If you had to describe your family scripture study in one word, what would it be?
The words I hear most frequently from moms are:
- sporadic
- frustrating
- boring
- confusing
- divisive
And man, can I relate! It used to feel like family scripture study time was the kids version of WWE!!
Kids were fighting, I was holding back my temper, and my husband would fall asleep waiting for the rest of us to get our act together . . . it was a nightmare!
Until we started focusing on how it feels.
Don't Worry So Much About It Looks
I stopped worrying so much about having scripture study around the table, everyone reading in their own copy of the scriptures.
I started letting us do scripture study in the car while listening to a podcast and then discussing it, as a single verse that we dive into using the Sword Method, or even just practicing memorizing a scripture together while figuring out how we can live that scripture better in our lives.
And what has it felt like?
- Less fighting
- More gospel discussions
- Less frustration
- More fulfillment
When we focus on how it feels, it feels like we’re coming closer to Christ. And really that’s what this life is about.
“. . . the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.”
So here is a 1% better goal for you to work on today: try to do family scripture study that FEELS awesome even if it LOOKS totally different.
I bet you’ll love the difference you feel!
