Ponderizing

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I look forward to General Conference. What is General Conference? Well, twice a year--April and October--we are privileged to be spiritually fed by many of our leaders. I always enjoy listening, but this year, for some reason, I feel I was able to feast upon the many words that were spoken!

Many talks stood out to me, but one in particular by Devin Durrant. He talked about "ponderizing." No, you won't be able to find that word in the dictionary, so I will tell you what it means. It is how you can more deeply understand something. He directs this to the scriptures. 

We are taught that we should know our scriptures for many reasons. One is to know our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ better. Another reason; when those bad thoughts come into your mind, or you see or hear something that is not exactly good, you can turn (in your mind) to that scripture. You can also do this by learning hymns. Ponderizing is 80% pondering and 20% memorizing. By ponderizing, a deeper understanding will come. This provides an uplifting place for your mind to go. 

Elder Durrant challenged us to pick a scripture each week, put it in a place where you will see it daily, and ponderize that scripture. What will be the benefits? Well, if you do this as a family, your relationship will grow stronger. Your relationship with your Father in heaven will also grow, and your testimony will strengthen.

"These scriptures will become your friends" as we "feast upon the word." He also challenged us to invite friends and family to join in, and not just from our faith, but of all faiths, and to check up on each other. 

I thought this was a great idea, and hope that many of you will join me by picking a scripture to ponderize each week.

So, what did we choose this week, our first week? Well, I was going through some notes I took during conference, and came upon a scripture I had written down...3 John 1:4. The speaker was Claudio R M Costa, and he spoke of how the Sabbath Day is a holy day. We should read our scriptures, pray, ponder and visualize. We should also teach our children and grandchildren to do the same. When I read over my notes, I am reminded that we are all children of a loving heavenly Father, and that he wants us to know truths. 3 John 1:4 says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." As a mortal parent this is true, but I am sure that as a heavenly parent our Father wants us all to "walk in truth."

So, that is our scripture we chose to ponderize this first week. Will you join me? What scripture will you ponderize this week?