Sunday, April 2, 2017

Preparing for conference- Having our tent doors open towards the prophet


Friday night for scripture study we had one of those nights.

Jared was sick and went to bed early and it was just me and the boys. Instead of pulling out the scriptures I decided to do a "scripture story" which means I talk about either a scripture I read in my own studies that stuck out to me our we talk about an actual story.

We do this once or twice a week. This may sound like a slacker way of doing things but these discussions actually turn out to be rich in discussion and longer than many of our actual reading sessions. I have found these to be very useful and spirit driven.

Tent door open towards the prophet
On Friday night in preparation for Saturday conference the story of the people of King Benjamin came to mind. The scripture is: Mosiah 2:6

"And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them;"

Every family had their door towards the temple which means it was towards the prophet.

I told them to liken it to us in our day. I tried to make it a little silly and asked them to listen carefully.

"Tell me if I am saying this right." I asked "If we had a tent and the prophet was speaking to us we would pitch our tent with the door facing away from him."

They all being the smart boys that they are jumped up and immediately caught my flaw and said "No mom you need to face it towards the prophet"

"We don't have tents that we pitch today" I told them "but we do have hearts that we get ready for conference so how do we get our hearts ready so they are facing open towards the prophet just like our tents should be."

I thought that I would have them stumped but not a chance they immediately answered "Scripture study and prayer."

One child even thoughtfully replied "Mom I always see you writing in a journal during conference. Is that something you do to keep your heart open?" Wow. I hadn't thought of it that way but yes. That is exactly why I do it.

During conference I continually get little thoughts about what I should be doing in my life so  not only do I take notes of the talks but I write down impressions that I have.

***I make three little stars like this by impressions that come to me. When I review my notes I review those impressions and try to act upon them.

Last April conference I had a distinct impression to serve a sister in my ward in a special way. Little did I or anyone else know that she would die within a week of conference. My heart breaks thinking about her loss.

Conference Question Challenge
I ended our "scripture story" session with a challenge for them. I asked them to think of a question that they had for Heavenly Father it could be anything that they felt right about asking him. I challenged them to pray about it and then listen for the answer in conference.

Asking a question at conference is one of the best ways to open our hearts towards the prophet and might I add the apostles.

They are taking that challenge this conference. We will see how it turns out!

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