Beginning the Book of Mormon

 It is a new year, and with that comes a new course of study in Come Follow Me.  This year we are studying the Book of Mormon. 

I have mixed feelings about studying the Book of Mormon again. On the one hand, it is a wonderful book of scripture full of great stories with layers of deep meaning and symbolism.  On the other hand, I have read the book literally dozens of times before, and I am not sure what I can do this year to make it fresh and meaningful. I very much enjoyed approaching the Old and New Testaments in their original languages the last two years, but, unless someone has figured out reformed Egyptian and has a copy of the writing on the Golden Plates, that option is not open to me.  I have read it in Spanish before, and that was enlightening, but I am not sure doing it again would add new insight. 

I have been thinking and praying about it and have decided to use two study approaches that are often recommended by church leaders, but that I have never done before.  First, I plan to study the Book of Mormon this year with a focus on what it says about Christ. This has been suggested most recently by President Nelson, but I have never buckled down to do it. Second, I plan to make notes in my scriptures when I find those references. You may think, What? you don't make notes in your scriptures?  This is true.  I have not in the past made notes in my scriptures because I have not wanted past impressions t

o interfere with my current reading of the text. I didn't want to make "wheel ruts" in the road of my study that I would naturally fall back into when I read the book the next time. Plus, I am a librarian and the thought of writing in any book makes my skin crawl. 

Now, however, I read scriptures almost exclusively online.  With the LDS tools app, I can add notes that I don't have to see the next time I read the book unless I actually click on them. Somehow that feels better than writing in a book, and will still allow me to read the text unbiased by previous readings if I want. So I tell myself.  It is still hard to change a long standing practice, but I am committed.

So, here we go.