Sabbathought : Imagine eating without swallowing

Edmund Burke said, "Reading without reflecting is like eating without swallowing."

Thus we see that merely reading the scriptures is not enough. But nowhere in the almost 2500 pages of scripture we have in the restored Church do we find the Savior commanding us to "read" the scriptures. Always it is feast, or search, or study, or treasure and ponder.

A quality of reflecting, of pondering, of pausing to think about what we just read, of slowing down is necessary, coupled with frequent pleading prayer: "Father in Heaven, please help me to understand what I am focusing on here. . . . Please, Father."

Most of us think there is virtue in getting to the end of the chapter, that the Lord will bless us for merely having read, for having covered the material. It doesn't work like that. It is not possible to get the Holy Ghost to help us and give the revelation we seek and need in such an approach.

Time spent on just one or two verses in depth is better than the false sense of achievement of having hurriedly finished a chapter.

Elder Boyd K. Packer taught, "Some have made a casual, an insincere effort to search the scriptures and have come away with little or nothing, which is precisely what they deserved."

Henry Ford was right when he observed, "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason so few engage in it," for after all, "It is easier to entertain the mind than to discipline the mind" (Elder Charles A. Didier).

Surely it is a measure of our love for our Father in Heaven that we take the time to earnestly and seriously pay sustained attention to the letters He has caused to be written to guide us home to Him. Is not this a big part of "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, and strength"?

Shallow sips of the living water do not satisfy or do the job, and the wonders of His works and plan and Godly activities go unexplored and undiscovered. He deserves better than that. We need more than that. Our children deserve better.

We must, of course, "seek learning, even by study and also by faith" (D&C 88:118). The Prophet Joseph taught, "When a man works by faith he works by mental exertion instead of physical force" (Lectures on Faith 7:3).

"We study the gospel because of the sanctifying effects it has on our lives: by gospel study we learn the ways of God and can discern whether or not our lives conform to his laws. From such study comes faith" (Mark L. McConkie).

This goes way beyond "I've read a chapter of scripture and said my prayers."

Let's discipline ourselves to feast, not nibble, . . . to drink deeply, not sip, . . . and then to swallow in careful reflection, that our souls may be nourished thereby. Would you think I exaggerate or overstate the case if I maintain that our salvation depends on what we learn and gain through such a process?

Please let me have your thoughts so I can see if we are on the same page. Thanks.

Steve