The Book of Mormon

A few weeks ago, on a Sunday morning, I was having some health issues and had to stay home while Doug and the babes were off to church. I was happy to use that three hour window of time to complete my reading the Book of Mormon, which I'd begun over a year ago. I can't count the times in my life that I've read the Book of Mormon. I remember reading it the first time, cover to cover, in Seminary when I was a sophomore in High School. I read it again, the year after Doug and I were married and again while expecting Liza. I remember reading it when Liza was in kindergarten. In 1994 , I got a new set of scriptures. I still remember opening the box just to smell the fresh leather, but that smell disappeared quickly my new scriptures were out of the box often! Each time that I read the Book of Mormon, I find different insights and understanding because I am at a different place in life myself, both spiritually and circumstantially. I love that!

Since getting that "new set", I read the book of Mormon several times until I hit the ripe age of 45 and my eyes began to weaken. As the eye doctor told me, "It's a little thing I like to call old age." Old age necessitated the need for me to get not only a dozen pair of "readers", but I found myself needing another new set of scriptures with larger print. However, I fought that need for five years. Since 1997, I'd taken all of the classes possible at the Utah State University LDS Institute of Religion and my scriptures were colorful with markings, pages filled with quotes and thoughts from my own personal revelations and impressions to quotes from the General Authorities of the Church to lectures from great teachers who'd taught me much about the gospel.

I had become so familiar with those pages that I could pick up my scriptures and the pages would fall open to exactly where I needed. I could be sitting in a class in church and immediately recall notes and quotes written near verses that went along with the lesson I was hearing. HOW could I learn to love new scriptures as much as these? However. Seeing those pages and notes became more and more impossible. And so. For Mother's Day 2010, Doug gave me a new burgandy Large Print version of the LDS Standard Works.

I immediately began marking the scriptures with first, the Scripture Mastery verses, taught to the youth in seminary. (I feel every member of the church should be fully familiar with these!) Next, I marked the Joseph Smith Translation notes, which is a must, in my opinion. Next, I went through and marked all of the Hebrew footnotes blue, the OR footnotes for idioms orange and the Greek footnotes in green. It took me until the end of summer to transfer the notes, quotes and thoughts that I've had in my lifetime and then I began again to read the Book of Mormon once more.

This time, I determined that I would not just "read" it, but truly study it. I found reference books and used the church's website, LDS.org, to enhance my studies. This took me over a year. Oh, how I learned and captured, with this new method of study and discovery, all on my own.

As I read the words of the ancient prophets, my heart was touched, my mind was sharpened and my testimony was strengthened. I grew to love the prophets and their messages more than ever before. I became familiar with the patterns of faith and hope, as well as repentance and apostasy, divulged throughout the Book of Mormon. And this time, spending weeks and weeks in 3 Nephi, I grew closer to my Savior than I've ever felt before. As I approached the end of the the book, studying about the Jaredites in Ether, and reading those final words of Mormon and his son, Moroni, my heart ached for their challenges and sufferings.

On that Sunday morning, I was listening to my most favorite Sunday piano music, that of my niece Brooke and of Paul Cardall. I read those last words in Moroni and closed the book to the ironically but perfectly timed last note on that particular playlist of my iPod. This silence was powerful. I knelt down immediately, and with tears, gave thanks for the words that I'd been so invested in for the past year, for the prophets and sacrifices that were made so that I could read and learn from them, for the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today and for my own testimony.

Shortly after my prayer, the family came in from church, ready for Sunday dinner and activities. I was still in tears and gathered them together in the living room. They knew that this was important, whatever it was. I then bore my testimony and gratitude to each member of my family of the importance and truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and expressed my love for it. I also encouraged each of them to gain their own testimonies by studying it themselves. They all commented later that they'd felt the spirit when I'd spoken. Doug thanked me for my testimony again, as we were getting ready for bed that night. For the next few days, I literally missed Moroni and Mormon.

I love the scriptures. I love the Book of Mormon. I played a game recently where the question was asked, "What's something that you want to be remembered for?" I hope that my children and family and friends will always know and remember that I have a deep love and appreciating and testimony of the truthfulness of the scriptures. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and the words are true. Oh how I love the scriptures! Enough said.