Study, Pray, and Write

 

Art by @happykunstore

For several weeks, I knew I needed to improve my prayers. Most days, my prayers were short and kind of meaningless, and I skipped them frequently. I downloaded a couple of books about prayer for some motivation.

Then I went to Education Week at BYU. The class that has the most impact on me was about personal revelation. The speaker said he gets up at 3:30 am to study, pray, and write his thoughts because he receives more revelation when he writes. Getting up early provides three benefits that can improve personal revelation: darkness, natural noises, and solitude. I immediately felt a strong impression that I needed this daily practice to improve my prayers and ability to "hear Him." Right then, I changed my alarm to 30 minutes sooner than normal.

Previously, I've had experiences writing my thoughts when I have received personal revelation. This has been especially noticeable when I'm studying the scriptures, when I have tried a prayer journal in the past, and when I have written down spiritual experiences that I didn't want to forget. But I never scheduled enough time for myself to continue the practice regularly, so it didn't happen often.

For four weeks now, I've been getting up early to ponder, and I already feel this is life changing for me. I crave my time with the Lord. I start by studying. I've been reading the books about prayer and revelation that I downloaded. Then I start praying and I write. Sometimes I stop in the middle of prayer to write my thoughts and go back and forth between praying, writing, and sometimes more studying.

As I write, my mind becomes more focused and more clear. My mind fills with more thoughts than I would have without writing them down, some from myself and some from God. I feel energized and motivated to learn and act on the Lord's will for my life.

I'm currently reading a book called Receiving Personal Revelation by Larry Tippetts. It aligns perfectly with my new practice of writing to enhance personal revelation. I want others to benefit from the inspiration this book is providing me, so I want to share with others who would like to read it.

I'm impressed with the range of topics I have been guided to write about so far:

• Insights from Education Week
• Struggles with parenting, including times I have to rely on God
• Overcoming bad habits
• Benefits of memorizing scriptures
• Praising God
• Recognizing the Spirit and receiving personal revelation
• Roles of the Holy Ghost
• Gratitude to God for helping me
• The Book of Mormon
• Insights from books I've read
• Spiritual experiences I've had
• Insights from church
• How I have relied on God in the past
• Answers to prayer

I've also been studying scriptures that talk about pondering and writing.

Scriptures and Quotes

• Moroni 10:3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
• 2 Nephi 4:15 And upon these I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children.
• 3 Nephi 17:3 Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again.
• 3 Nephi 23:4 Write the things which I have told you.
• D&C 76:19 And while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about.
• D&C 88:62 And again, verily I say unto you, my friends, I leave these sayings with you to ponder in your hearts, with this commandment which I give unto you, that ye shall call upon me while I am near
• Moses 6:5 And a book of remembrance was kept . . . for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration.
• “The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life.” —Julie B. Beck
• “Every person should keep a journal and every person can keep a journal. . . . If there is anyone here who isn’t doing so, will you repent today and change—change your life?” —President Spencer W. Kimball
• “Inspiration carefully recorded shows God that His communications are sacred to us. Recording will also enhance our ability to recall revelation.” —Richard G. Scott
• “Those who keep a personal journal are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives.” —Spencer W. Kimball
• “Pondering a passage of scripture can be a key to unlocking revelation and the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Ghost.” —Elder Richard G. Scott
• “Sometimes the direction comes so clearly and so unmistakably that it can be written down word for word, like spiritual dictation.” —Richard G. Scott
• “The prompting that goes un-responded to may not be repeated. Writing down what we have been prompted with is vital.” —Neal A. Maxwell

Related words in a search for the word ponder in the Gospel Library app:

• Meditate
• Thoughts
• Study
• Reason
• Sayings
• Perceive
• Heart
• Warn
• Divine guidance
• Sat
• Kept
• Way
• Write
• Voice

Muscle Memory

This quote from Sister Bonnie H. Cordon’s most recent general conference really stood out to me. 

As a pianist, muscle memory is so important. When learn a song, I usually learn the top hand really well because it’s easier for me. When I have practiced it enough, I barely even need to think about that hand because muscle memory takes over. My fingers know what to do without my brain needing to direct them. Then my concentration can be on the bottom hand and other details. To master a song, I want muscle memory on both hands.

This is especially important during performances. I get nervous and this always makes me perform less than my best. If I have muscle memory, this is much less of a problem. Even when I feel distracted, I can continue playing.

I recently started learning more about the organ. I’m working on a duet and trying to learn the foot pedals for the first time. It’s actually quite trippy because my brain is so hard wired to pay attention to 2 lines instead of 3. The easiest hymns sound like a train wreck. For this duet, I decided I need to work on getting muscle memory for my hands so my brain can focus on the foot pedals and the stops. I am not a well-trained pianist, so I tend to be lazy with things like fingering. I’m focusing more on using the same fingers each time.

The patterns of my days and weeks shape my discipleship and my relationship with my Savior. Many days, I’m practicing my discipleship with varying degrees of attention to the details that make it meaningful. The better my muscle memory for discipleship, the more I can focus on things like how much I need my Savior, seeing His hand in my life, and all the other important things. I tend to get distracted by things around me and can perform worse because of it. I don’t have to allow these distractions to completely derail me because of muscle memory.

I love Jesus Christ and I need Him every day. I love that I can build my faith and my relationship with Him. I love that I am a better person because of Him

See My Life Through Him

This afternoon, I was studying the conference talk from Tracy Browning called "Seeing More of Jesus Christ in Our Lives". 

Here are two of my favorite phrases:

"The Savior invites us to see our lives through Him in order to see more of Him in our lives."

"Look to and for Jesus Christ in my every thought and deed..."

As I tried to visualize what this looks like in my day-to-day life, I thought of picturing things that matter throughout my day actually through a translucent image of Christ. I printed several pictures that represent my life right now, including my kids, my marriage, my individual kids, my job, and my callings. Then I printed a couple of images of Christ on vellum paper. 

I love that I can trade out the images as I need to focus on various parts of life through the lens of Christ. Making this idea more concrete has been a good activity for me today. I love how Christ lifts me in all areas of my life as I continue to learn to focus on Him. 

Love of Learning

I love to learn. My love for learning has had ebbs and flows throughout my life. When I was in elementary, I loved school. When I was in kindergarten, I came home from school and told my mom that I wanted to be a school teacher -- look at me now! I loved to play school with my sisters. School was generally pretty easy for me. I read a lot and was a naturally good speller. Math usually came pretty easily to me. I had a little harder time with history because it's hard for me to remember names, dates, and details. Now I enjoy history more than I used to, but it's usually through historical fiction, which is an easier format for me to read than traditional historical texts. I have learned more about history in this way as an adult than I ever thought I would. I'm so glad I didn't give up on history just because it wasn't a strength for me.

When I had only been teaching school for 3 years or so, I remember hearing about an optional professional development opportunity after school for reading comprehension. I remember thinking to myself that I didn't really need that, so I wasn't going to go. It was probably more of a problem of time - there are always too many things on my to-do list at school and it's hard to take time out for an optional thing. Either way, that thought stands out in my mind and I feel a little sad about my former self.

Fast forward about 20 years, and I have a different outlook. I still have too many things I want to get done in a school day, but my appreciation for learning things that will make me a better teacher has significantly increased. Last year, I attended a few optional math trainings after school. Since my contract time is done at lunch time, I had to make arrangements for carpool and go back to the school to attend them. I was so glad I did since I learned some simple strategies and received some fabulous math kits for attending. I have found a lot of great ideas and resources just since the beginning of the summer, when I started my Instagram and Facebook page for sharing my teaching ideas.

There are so many things I have learned in the last 7 years since going back to teaching that I wish I knew from day 1. But that's not the way life works. I learn and grow through my experiences, good and bad. I learn from other people. I learn from books and trainings. I learn through research when facing a specific problem. I learn from failures. And as I continue to learn, I feel energized and excited to put my new knowledge into my teaching. I gain more confidence in my skills as a teacher. There's also a counter-intuitive phenomenon that I see. The more I learn, the more I realize I have to learn.

Before I became a mom, I was the best mom. I had all the answers, and I just knew I would have perfect children. I was pretty patient with my students, even when facing difficult behaviors, and I knew I would transfer that trait to my home. Then I became a mom. Again, the more I learned, the more I realized that I had so much more to learn. That patience that I was so proud of disintegrated when these little humans that are so precious to me pressed my buttons. The stakes feel so much higher and I have to get it right. This pressure makes it so much harder. I have learned so much, but even with my current knowledge, if I was to start over, I know I would still struggle. Just like with teaching, as I increase my parenting skills, it is exciting and rewarding -- and then the next hurdle appears and I continue my journey of learning.

A few years ago, I was called to be one of 4 organists for my ward. I had never learned how to play the organ, and I got a 15 minute lesson from a friend with the settings she uses and a couple basic concepts. I learned about the button that allows me to "cheat" with the foot pedals, getting the nice, full bass notes with the keyboard instead of my feet. I felt content with my extremely minimal skills. Then our ward music coordinator arranged an organ training for our stake through a program from BYU. I truly learned about the settings and how to customize and adapt for different styles of hymns. I learned a few tricks for the foot pedals. My learning bug was stoked. I bought a couple of books and went to the church a couple of times to start playing around with my new knowledge. I didn't do much at that time, though.

Then I was scheduled to play the organ in sacrament meeting for the first time in over 3 years today. I practiced the hymns and played with the settings for longer than I expected. Today, I changed settings between songs and even between verses a few times. Even if it wasn't noticeable to others, I had fun. I'm excited to keep practicing and learning because I'm just on the cusp of what I can learn. I didn't ever think I would want to learn more about playing the organ. My dad started learning how to play a few years before he got sick and I found myself wishing I could share my excitement with him today.

This same craving to learn more is evident in my scripture reading. I have tried many strategies since I was a teenager to get more out of my scripture time. Several years ago, I decided to do an in-depth study of Isaiah since Christ commanded us to study his words. I took about a year to read through slowly, reading all of the footnotes and multiple commentaries. I learned a lot, but I also knew I had only scratched the surface.

This week, I started Isaiah again, following the Come Follow Me curriculum. This time around, besides a couple of new commentaries, I added a few podcasts and one of my new favorite strategies - different translations of the Bible to better understand the original meaning of the Hebrew writings. Some of the translations I like have formatted the verses with the couplets/parallelism that Isaiah uses heavily grouped together, instead of the traditional paragraph format. With all of these strategies combined, after the first 12 chapters, I am in awe of Isaiah's brilliance as a writer and poet. I feel a drive to learn more, especially as I go back to the King James version after all my other studies and I feel like I'm getting the main ideas so much better than ever. It's motivating to see progress from my work. I'm so grateful for the efforts of so many people and technology that gives me access to so many wonderful resources. I love learning from the scriptures.

In a commencement address at BYU by Elder David A. Bednar titled "Learning to Love Learning", he shared 3 points:

1. Learning to Love Learning Is Central to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

2. Learning to Love Learning Is Vital to Our Ongoing Spiritual and Personal Development

3. Learning to Love Learning Is an Absolute Necessity in the World in Which We Do Now and Will Yet Live, Serve, and Work

The energy I feel as I learn in these areas of my life and more is a gift from God. I'm so grateful for the ways I can learn and progress in my life and I'm eager to continue on my path of learning. 

Studying Psalms

Several years ago when I was teaching the weekly scripture class for our RS, I decided my favorite book in the Old Testament is Psalms. I especially loved reading all of the verses praising the Lord. I even had the thought that maybe someday I could write a song praising Him based on some of the Psalms.

For the next 3 weeks with the Come Follow Me curriculum, we are studying Psalms and I'm so excited! In "Don't Miss This" for this week, David Butler and Emily Freeman split up the first third into suggested daily readings for people wanting to read the entire book instead of just the assigned chapters. Yes, please!

This week: 1-11, 12-19, 20-27, 28-34, 35-40, 41-46, catch up.

They also showed a pyramid showing the most common themes in Psalms. Bottom to top: Praise & Thanksgiving, Lament, Wisdom, Messianic, Trust, and Hope. I started a document to list as many favorite lines for each of these topics as I can. Just today in 11 short chapters, I typed 36 lines I love. If I ever try writing a song, this will be a great resource.

Artist @dan.wilson.art