I only had a few days to prepare this Sacrament talk on the Power of Scriptures.
However, the message came pretty strongly- that the Lord wanted me to share that He loves us for any effort we make to draw His power in to our lives. I know regardless of our limitations and situations He will reach back in so much mercy and with so much encouragement, to connect with us. I had a few people ask if I had my talk to share, so even though I haven't touched this blog in a while, I decide to put it up here. I hope it can help encourage someone to just try. I know if we do, the Lord will surprise us with His merciful responses.
Power
of the Scriptures Sacrament Talk
Chelsea
Bowen Bretzke
Do you know where you were Saturday Morning
April 5th, 2014?
I do. I was 10 days away from having my 4th
child. Hadley Pearl, our first girl, that I never thought we’d have after 3
boys (it’s still so strange that we’ll be almost even after this third girl
arrives in December). I was probably wearing my red zip up house coat, that I
tend to wear way too often when I’m pregnant (I wore it while I typed this talk!)
Ben’s work still required a lot of travel
at that time. Aaron was almost 8, and I was busy balancing home and school
therapies for him, McKye was in kindergarten (with those awesome half day pickups)
and Levi was a crazy little 3 year old.
And I was stressed.
It was conference weekend. We most likely had lego out, sometimes I’d
have conference coloring sheets, but they usually only lasted a few minutes
with my active boys.
I often tell people 3 kids was my hardest. Ironically,
I now have twice that many, 3 littles at home and 3 in school, and it’s still
crazy, but I’ve grown more into it, but at that stage I was completely
overwhelmed.
I was trying to listen to the talks,
sitting as comfortably as any 9-month pregnant woman can. Sister Linda K. Reeves was speaking, and she
started a story that got my attention.
“Some of you have heard me tell how
overwhelmed my husband, Mel, and I felt as the parents of four young children.”
Four kids? Overwhelmed? She might as well of
been sitting beside me on the couch talking only to me.
“As we faced the challenges of parenting”
she said “nd keeping up with the demands of life, we were desperate for help.”
I was desperate for help!
“We prayed and pleaded to know what to do.”
I had approached this very conference
hoping for answers.
“The answer“she said, “that came was clear:”
I grabbed my notebook, ready:
“It is OK if the house is a mess and the
children are still in their pajamas and some responsibilities are left undone.
The only things that really need to be accomplished in the home are daily
scripture study and prayer and weekly family home evening.”
I was bawling as the Spirit confirmed this
was our answer too.
She continued: “We were trying to do these things, but they were
not always the priority and, amidst the chaos, were sometimes neglected. We
changed our focus and tried not to worry about the less-important things. Our
focus became to talk, rejoice, preach, and testify of Christ by striving to
daily pray and study the scriptures and have weekly family home evening.” ( https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2014/04/protection-from-pornography-a-christ-focused-home?lang=eng
)
This became my mantra for years. The thing
I held to when I was tempted to get after myself for the many things I felt
were getting left undone. It’s okay, I’m doing the only things that really
matter.
Today
I’ve been asked to speak on the power we gain from scripture study.
I love
the scriptures. I have had times in my life, as perhaps you have, when I
devoted a lot of time to study. Before
and during my mission for sure. I sat at a desk. I had reference books, and
scripture markers, and wrote quotes on sticky notes and filled the margins with
ideas, and cross references.
And I
learned a lot.
I have
also had times when it seemed all I could do, is lay in my bed and press play,
and let the words of the scriptures wash over me, hoping their light could
dispel a bit of the darkness that seemed to envelope me.
And I
learned a lot then too.
In
both cases, I learned that the scriptures have power. And that it is a power the Lord WANTS us to access. They are the words of Christ and His Power
makes His words powerful.
Pres Benson described this power,
specifically speaking of the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon “There is a
power in the book,” he said” which will begin to flow into your lives the
moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to
resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find
the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called 'the
words of life' (see D&C 84:85),… When you begin to hunger and thirst after
those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance." (Ezra
Taft Benson, Ensign, Nov. 1986, p. 7)
Those years when we decided the most important
thing was those spiritual priorities, the other areas of our lives were so
blessed.
And times when we have let those
priorities slip I can feel myself becoming frustrated, desperate again, seeking
but never finding satisfactory answers or guidance.
And so I have come to think
as Peter “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the
words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)
Who else are we going to turn to,
google? Netflix? others many and contradictory opinions? Once we have
experiences gaining guidance and strength from True Messengers-- from the
scriptures and words of living prophets-- none of the other counterfeits will
ever be even close to satisfactory- because they lack the power of Christ, the
power of the Holy Ghost, the very powers of Heaven.
As Nephi taught: ”Angels speak by the power of
the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said
unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will
tell you all things what ye should do.” (2 Nephi
32:3)
Sister Reeves was
nothing less than an angel to me that day, she delivered a message from God to
me, and I know angels are ready to help you find the messages and answers you
seek as well.
But it won’t happen
if we do nothing.
Ben’s mission
president and his wife changed the old adage “anything worth doing is worth
doing well” into
“Anything worth
doing is worth doing poorly”
Don’t wait to read
your scriptures in only ideal circumstances.
We need the power
now and any amount of effort is better than nothing.
I bare
witness of the blessings of sometimes the bare minimum.
I know a woman who at the height of her crazy
years with lots of children, would just sit and hold her scriptures. I have
another friend who after her busy toddlers and ripped one too many pages out of
her physical scriptures began reading from her phone, but worried that her kids
would think she was just playing games or something. One day her little boy
picked up her phone and said “Look! I’m mommy. I’m reading my scriptures”
I have
had times when our family scriptures was in the van while we did the morning
drop offs (which is actually awesome because they are strapped in) somedays we
would have great discussions, others, I would
put in those illustrated scripture book, they turned into the little
slide show movies. Do you know how many times, there were little phrases that
answered my prayers from those simple, simple scripture stories, and my rather merger efforts?
One
night I laid down with Hadley, and she pulled out her little New Testament
stories book. I was exhausted, and I coped out, saying, how about you just look
at the pictures and tell me the story. Then to my surprise, she went through
almost the whole book, and with each page, said, “Oh this one! This is the one
where Jesus does this…” Trust that our small and simple efforts are being
magnified by the Lord and that He and his Spirit are working with us to help us
teach our families.
The best
rule I’ve ever heard comes from my favourite sister Julie B Beck. She simply says
that her rule it to spend “Sometime in the scriptures each day”
Isn’t
that so doable?!?
I love
the mercy of our leaders, who knowing how powerful the scriptures are, are
basically begging us to spend even the smallest amounts of the time reading the
Words of Christ.
I was
just down at BYU education week in August and Elder
Stevenson was the devotional speaker. He encouraged us to take some of our “precious screen time” and give it to time in the Book of Mormon. “It really
is simple.” He said and then pulled out his own phone and hit play. He then
asked if we would be willing to spend 10 minutes in the Book of Mormon. (https://news.byu.edu/faith/byu-devotional-the-ongoing-restoration
)
10 minutes. Many of you can look at your
phones right now and pull up a little chart that shows you your daily and weekly
screen time usage.
I’m guessing we all have a lot more than 10
minutes a day.
The brethren are
willing to give us these bare minimum invitations, because I believe they know
if we will start to just do something, feeling the power of the word will make
us want more.
And so
today, as I invite anyone who needs to just start somewhere, to just begin, I
also bear witness, of the blessings of striving to increase our efforts.
Back to Sister
Reeves talk.
“A friend recently cautioned, she said, “When
you ask the sisters to read the scriptures and pray more, it stresses them out.
They already feel like they have too much to do.”
Brothers and sisters, because I know from
my own experiences, and those of my husband, I must testify of the blessings of
daily scripture study and prayer and weekly family home evening. These are the
very practices that help take away stress, give direction to our lives, and add
protection to our homes. Then, [when] challenges do strike our families, we can
petition the Lord for help and expect great guidance from the Spirit, knowing
that we have done what our Father has asked us to do.
Brothers and sisters, if these have not
been practices in our homes, we can all begin now. If our children are older
and refuse to join us, we can start with ourselves. As we do, the influence of
the Spirit will begin to fill our homes and our lives…” End quote.
Elder Richard G Scott has warned:
“Don’t yield to Satan’s lie that you don’t have time to study
the scriptures. Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of God
each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video
games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide
time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/general-conference/2014/10/make-the-exercise-of-faith-your-first-priority?lang=eng
And
finally, from our Prophet:
“My beloved brothers and sisters, I plead with you to
increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation. Let this [Sunday
morning] be a defining moment in your life. Choose to do the spiritual work
required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the
Spirit more frequently and more clearly.” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/general-conference/2018/04/revelation-for-the-church-revelation-for-our-lives?lang=eng
Let me
share with you two stories of people who made the choice, to put in the
spiritual work required. (sorry to my Book of Moron class sisters, who’ve heard
me shar these before)
First is
Sister Beck- who when she was the General Relief Society, she was a spiritual
giant in my eyes, and I assumed she had always been an amazing scriptorian.
Then I read this story she told in a general Young Women’s meeting:
“When I was a new bride, I asked my mother-in-law, who
is a very good cook, if she would teach me how to make her delicious dinner
rolls. With a sparkle in her eye, she replied that it took 25 years to learn to
make a good roll! Then she added, “You had better start making some.” I
followed her advice, and we have enjoyed many good dinner rolls at our house. At
about that same time, I was invited to a lunch for all of the Relief Society
sisters in my ward who had read either the Book of Mormon or a short Church
history book. I had become casual in my scripture reading, so I qualified to
attend the luncheon by reading the short book because it was easier and took
less time. As I was eating my lunch, I had a powerful feeling that though the history
book was a good one, I should have read the Book of Mormon. The Holy Ghost was
prompting me to change my scripture reading habits. That very day I began to
read the Book of Mormon, and I have never stopped reading it.” (“My Soul Delighteth in
the Scriptures,” April 2004 General Conference)
I LOVE THAT… her talk goes on to compare learning to
make rolls with learning to read the scriptures, it took lots of attempts, some
failings, and lots of learning, but what I love is how she decided, I am going
to be a woman who reads her scriptures . Because she wasn’t just magically Sister
Beck, any more than Nephi or Pres. Nelson became Nephi and Pres. Nelson….they
CHOOSE to do the spiritual work required.
My second example, is even closer to my heart
My sister Krista- called me up one day. She said, I think
I should read my scriptures. I never have and I want to. Will you help me?
She said her mornings were crazy but around 10 o clock
she could settle her toddler in front of a show and have a moment, she asked if
I would text her around 11 each day and ask if she’d read and then we’d reward
ourselves if we were consistent for 100 days by going to Calgary, attend the
temple, shop at Ikea and go out for dinner . Now, my sister doesn’t really read-
anything, let alone scriptures. Some learning struggles factor into that, but reading in general is
quite difficult for her. She would not have considered herself, a scriptorian
by any means. Then I watched my sister change. I saw her spirituality increase.
On that trip to Calgary (technically I
didn’t earn, cuz I for sure missed a couple days) we’d be talking about life,
like you do and she’d say, well that’s like so and so in the Book of Mormon! Me
and my sister had never talked about spiritual things before. I saw the power
of daily scripture study transform my sister into a woman of faith, with the
confidence that only the Spirit can bring.
In
closing, Pres. Nelson has asked:
“Does
God really want to speak to you?
And his
answer was “Yes!”
I really
struggle with sleep. For years, I’ve had babies and toddlers waking frequently
though the night. I was at a camp a few summers ago sharing a tent with my
sister and my sweet little niece sleepily asked in the morning, “Auntie
Chelsea, why do you your kids scream all night?” Add in Aaron’s bizarre
rhythms, and the fact that he may always have random nights he stays awake
wandering the house all night long and my own bouts with insomnia, I can’t even
blame on my kids, but sleep is a real issue in my life.
But a
few months ago, as summer began, Eliza was sleeping a bit better, and we were
swimming so much Aaron was having good nights too and I was actually enjoying
some summer time sleep ins.
And then
I started waking up at 6:30- on the dot. Morning after morning. I’d fall back
asleep, until one morning, I felt a small voice say,
“Wouldn’t
you rather spend some time with me?”
I began
pulling out my scriptures instead of going back to sleep.
I know
the Lord loves us so much and He wants to spend time with us, he wants us to
feel His encouragement, His love, His power, His peace.
He wants
us to know what it feels like to live WITH HIM, not just eventually in the next
life, He wants to walk with us right now, today, and I know His scriptures and
the words of Prophets are a powerful way for us to access that power and feel
Him with us day by day.
Please,
if you are someone who hasn’t really read scriptures regularly before, just
start. If you are someone who knows you could be sacrificing more, let’s all “choose
to do the spiritual work required.”
I know
we can all do this. And I know It is beyond worth it.
In the
name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
