Summer Scripture Study

Summer brings its own issues with getting your family scripture study done. It is hard to keep up the schedule when summer life is so different from the regular calendar of school days. 

Here's some points to keep in mind:

1) It is really easy to get to the end of the day and send the kids to bed, then realize scripture study was never done. Try scheduling the study time into your day. Look at the day and find when your family can study together. It could change daily. Put it on your calendar.

2) Be creative. Sometimes I'll read to the kids while they are in bed. Sometimes they read to me while I finish up the dishes. Make it work. 


3) Use the flexibility and fun of summer to do something different with your study time. Act out the story, read at the park, or hang up a long sheet of paper and let the kids draw a mural (or how about decorate your sidewalk with scripture stories) while you read.


4) Don't forget to bring your scriptures along on vacation.

 Pack them, and don't forget to read them. 

Perfectionism isn't Perfect

Have you ever considered how your perfectionist tendencies affect your life? According to Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Seventy, "Perfectionism can cause sleeplessness, anxiety, procrastination, discouragement, self-justification, and depression. These feelings can crowd out the peace, joy, and assurance our Savior wants us to have."

For some reason, our society has developed such a high level of competition that there is no room for mistakes. "Black-and-white thinking says everything is either absolutely perfect or hopelessly flawed." Yet, we understand through the gospel, that we learn "line upon line and precept upon precept" (D&C 98:12).

We must understand, and teach our children to understand, that "it is sometimes perfectly fine to do all (you) can and that it is not always possible to be the very best."

Apply this teaching to your family scripture study. Yes, the goal is perfection, but we are not perfect. Do your best, and do better next time. You will find that "His grace is 'sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ'"(Moroni 10:32) (italics added).

Take this perfectionist quiz and consider using it with your children for a Family Home Evening lesson. You may be surprised at some of the concerns they are hiding.

True or False

1) I get frustrated when I don’t learn something quickly enough.

2) I often wish I was as good at things as other people.

3) I sometimes have a hard time sleeping because I worry about not getting things done.

4) I often put things off (procrastinate) because I’m afraid I might not do it well enough.

5) I get upset when I do what I should, but it doesn’t seem to work.

6) I feel like I want to be perfect, but I know it can never happen.

7) I am sometimes afraid that no one will love me because I am not good enough.

8) I get frustrated at others because they are not trying hard enough.

9) I often feel like I will be happy when I can finally learn or do (fill in the blank).

10) When I do something, I am worried about winning more than enjoying and learning.

Add up all your T’s. The more T’s you have the more you may lean towards perfectionism. Let’s learn about being Perfected in Christ.

See Elder Gong's article in July 2014 Ensign/Liahona

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2014/07/young-adults/becoming-perfect-in-christ?lang=eng&query=perfectionism

Who's On First?

I keep six honest serving men 
(They taught me all I knew); 
Their names are What and Why and When 
And How and Where and Who. 
[The Just-So Stories (1902)]

I have just finished volume one of my Book of Mormon Studies for kids. This will get you through the first half of the Book of Mormon. As I finished, I realized the second volume will need to move to another level of learning. The first volume is based on the teaching method of "ask a question and allow the child to find the answer in the scriptures." This method works great to get the kids into the story and to begin understanding the language of the scriptures. But I discovered that about half way through, the kids are ready to move to another level of learning. They are ready to begin leading the search instead of following it. 

They are ready to ask the questions. Here are five reasons asking questions can be better than answering them.

1) Questions enhance knowledge and enlarge faith. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began when Joseph Smith asked a question in prayer. "One need only peruse the Doctrine and Covenants and recognize that, in fact, virtually all of these revelations—both to individuals and to the Church generally—came in response to carefully reasoned and faith-laden supplications to our Father in Heaven."

2) Thoughtful questions allow us to progress. Without questions, we just keep doing things the way we always have. Questions lead to discoveries.

3) Questions help us to admit we don't know everything. It is freeing to our kids and to ourselves when we admit there is more to learn. Think of how great it will be to discover the answers to unknown questions together with your children.

4)  "Asking questions seems to drive creativity. It cultivates an open mind." 

5) It is fun. How fun is it to ask questions and not feel the need to find every answer? "Not every question needs a meaningful answer. Part of the mystery of life is that answers are so slippery, so frequently absent. If answers were straightforward, life would hold little interest."

I can't wait to begin volume two of Book of Mormon Studies. What questions will the kids create? How will they learn to find their own answers?

"Questions are ships that sail us into unfamiliar territory. It’s the strangeness of the question that compels us forward, not necessarily the answers we find."

Sources:
"The Importance of Asking Questions," by Cecil O Samuelson
http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=248


"Asking questions is more important than finding answers--why?" by Tom Johnson
http://idratherbewriting.com/2012/04/27/asking-questions-is-more-important-than-finding-answers-why/