Finding Motivation

Day fifty-nine

I woke up tired today.  I am feeling a little bit overworked and stretched too thin; so much to do and only so much time to do it in!  How am I supposed to balance everything?  I feel like some area of my life is not getting all the attention it needs. So you can guess what I prayed for:  I am grateful for all the opportunities, but I need some help staying afloat and making sure that I don't drop the ball on something or someone.  It is time to ask for some help from above!

I was supposed to start reading in the Old Testament today.  I just wasn't feeling it today, so I decided to search why I should study the Old Testament and what I should expect to get out of it.  I went to the Church website and found a talk by Elder Henry B. Eyring called Studying and Teaching the Old Testament.

I found what I was looking for:  

Four Suggestions for Studying and Teaching the Old Testament

"First, I would be more eager to be taught. I would listen to others, as if I believed the Spirit could teach me through their words. I would go to every class I could, expecting to learn from whoever was called to teach me. I would read and ponder the materials I was given. I would read the scriptures. I would plead in prayer to be taught from on high. Now there are practical limits to the time I could spend, but no limits on how determined to be taught I could be.

Second, I would think more often and more carefully about the Savior and His mission. So much of the Old Testament can be taught as dramatic stories, fascinating customs, and beautiful literary forms. But I will sense a greater happiness, a deeper appreciation when I study or teach of times when prophets spoke of Jehovah and when the people received the words and turned toward Him. I would sense sorrow when the people turned away from the promised Savior of mankind and toward misery. I can make you a promise if you do that: the Spirit will come and you will sense less of the sordid wickedness of the people, of their abominations, and more of the love of their God, who warned them against iniquity and idolatry, who begged them to come to Him, and who, even in their wickedness and misery, kept reaching after them.

Third, I would put more effort into coming to know prophets as personally as I could. I would read in the book of Abraham and the book of Moses not only for doctrines but to know their hearts. I would try to feel what Job felt and what Jeremiah felt. I would work and pray to know the character and the trials of the prophets. I can make you a promise because I have tried it.

And last, I would more carefully invite the Holy Ghost as my companion. Others wouldn’t see much of what I do, since so much would be in private, but they would sense the change in me as the Spirit softened my nature. They would notice it in my being a little more patient, a little more interested in them, a little less likely to argue or belittle, a little more likely to smile. And they would notice not only that I seemed more happy but that they are more happy when they are around me. The Holy Ghost will teach us all things we should do to please God and thus take happiness with us."

Sometimes I just need to hear words of encouragement from someone else.  Today those words came from Elder Eyring's talk.  It was just what I needed to help me refocus my efforts on my scripture study. Now to get back to studying!