Scripture Study

The kids and I had family home evening on Monday. I know, what a shocker! This doesn't happen often. Okay, so our FHE consisted of reading two scriptures about Jesus and love (it being Valentine's Day, and all), a two-minute discussion on the scriptures, and then eating popcorn and watching a movie together. Hey, it's a start, right?

Right before bed, Tobey and I sat down and read from the Book of Mormon together. Now mind you, I am somewhat of a slacker in this department. We started trying to read the BofM last January, and we just Monday finished 1 Nephi. Of course, we started trying to do FHE at the same time, and we haven't done so well on that, ei. Argh, what a bad mom I am! Admittedly, it can be hard sometimes, especially when Joey is in town. It's not that he's a bad dad, rather the opposite, but it's hard to pull him away from the TV and the computer to have a spiritual moment, much less an entire FHE. I guess I should be a stronger woman than I am, but all I can do is work on it a bit at a time.

Regardless, Tobey and I had a great time together. When we read together, we each take turns reading 3 verses, and he is getting to be quite an accomplished reader. The chapter we read was 1 Nephi 22. The reading was mostly without incident, with just a couple of discussions on the meaning of certain of the harder verses. Then we got to verse 25:

"And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture."

Tobey is so smart, sometimes it amazes me. He said that he knew who the sheep were, that they were us and Jesus was the shepherd. It was so cute and he was very proud of himself for knowing that. And then we read verse 26:

"And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years; for he hath no power over the hearts of the people, for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth."

This verse precipitated an amazing discussion with my soon-to-be eight-year-old. Even now, I am reeling from it. Tobey wanted to know how Satan could have power over people. To him, of course, power means strength, and he couldn't understand how Satan could have power over someone who had a body when he himself does not have one. I explained it to him like this:

Satan whispers to us in our hearts. If I whispered to you to go jump off a bridge, would you do it? Of course not. But if I whispered to you over days and months and years that you are a bad person and nobody loves you and you don't deserve to live, would you start to listen to me? Would you maybe go jump off that bridge? Satan whispers to us in much the same way as the Holy Ghost does - with a small voice in our hearts and heads. He gains power over us when we listen to him because he can lead us to believe in our unworthiness. What we have to understand is the difference between Satan's voice and the Holy Ghost. Satan makes us feel bad inside, he gives us feelings worthlessness and despair. The Spirit will never make us feel that way; He makes us feel warm and happy and good inside.

The way to protect yourself from the influence of Satan is to listen to the Holy Ghost and keep those good feelings in your heart all the time. If you walk into a dark room and turn on the light, what happens? The darkness disappears. It can't stay. Light and darkness can't exist in the same place at the same time. Satan is that darkness, and the Holy Ghost is light; and if we listen to the Holy Ghost, and do the things that will invite the Spirit into our lives, Satan has no power over us.

I am amazed at the way Tobey listens to me sometimes. I think when I was his age, I probably didn't hear three-fourths of what my parents said to me. But some days, he is amazingly attentive. We had a wonderful discussion about the Spirit and listening to what is right and knowing when you are feeling the Spirit.

When I was sure he understood, I went back to the scriptures and was about to read the next verse when Tobey said, "Mom, I think I just heard the Holy Ghost right now."

"Oh, really?" I asked him. "What did He say?"

"He said that what we are doing is the right thing," he said.

Well, what else could I add to that? Of course I was feeling the same way, and I told him, and would have started crying had not the seven-year-old-ness kicked in at that moment and brought on a rash of giggles! I had to join in. Here I am with my son, reeling with the Spirit from our conversation, and almost rolling onto the floor because we are giggling so much. We did eventually finish the chapter, but not without many more giggles.

Some days being a mom is so hard and thankless. But some days, these tiny miracles happen and I can't help but praise my Heavenly Father for entrusting such special and amazing kids to my care and for teaching me such beautiful lessons at the most unexpected times.