Family Scripture Study
bringing "Evolution of Family Scripture Study" up-to-date
It took a few years, but eventually meeting together every night as a family to read scriptures before family prayer became a habit. I've lost track of how many times we've read the Book of Mormon, but after reading it a few times in English, we decided to read it in Spanish.
David was on a Spanish-speaking mission at the time and we thought it would be a good way to stay close to him while he was away. In addition, Brad and Jeff were taking Spanish at the high school, and I think even Steven was in beginning Spanish. Since Wayne was already fluent, that left just me and Michelle to struggle along. Michelle was given the option to follow along in English and just read in Spanish when it was her turn. However, having TWO books on her lap was too much work! We discovered that we really understood quite a bit anyway, and by the end our Spanish vocabulary had greatly increased. At some point in the last few years, we added singing a hymn to our nightly routine. The patriarch of our home decided that this was the perfect way to follow the prophet's counsel found in the preface of the hymnbook:
"Music has boundless powers for moving families toward greater spirituality and devotion to the gospel. Latter-day Saints should fill their homes with the sound of worthy music. . . The hymns can bring families a spirit of beauty and peace and can inspire love and unity among family members. Teach your children to love the hymns. Sing them on the Sabbath, in home evening, during scripture study, at prayer time."
After completing the Book of Mormon the last time, we started with Genesis again. We realized that the last time we did it all the way through, our youngest were not born and missed out. Hopefully we'll make it all the way through to the Articles of Faith by the time Steven graduates from high school in a couple of years. But if not, we know he'll be able to finish on his own.
There's always room for improvement. Now that this is a habit for Sunday through Thursday evenings - whoever's home reads, sings, and prays - we're working on remembering to make time for scripture reading on Friday and Saturdays. The tendency is to stay up too late and just say a quick family prayer before bed. We're making progress, but even then, some nights are just like this:
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