Scripture Reading for Moms - It's Not One Size Fits All

Don’t you love this scripture, “…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). That is such an awesome promise.

I love the scriptures and the words of the prophets! I know that they give me the strength I need, especially as a mother. But… and this is a big BUT, it isn’t always the easiest thing to work into the demands of motherhood. Sometimes I have been pretty good with my scripture study and sometimes… not so much.

All of us need the strength that the scriptures can provide, so how can we make getting in study time work? Here are a few ideas to help. 

1. Try to find a time that you can commit to read daily. Look at your schedule and see if there is a time you can plan on daily reading. It is important to recognize that there is no “one size fits all” approach to fitting scripture study in, especially as a mom of young children. Are you a morning person? Would you like to get up a little before the kids to have some alone time? I liked the idea of this, but it never worked for me. I would set a goal to get up before the kids, but quickly abandon it. If you are like me, maybe nap time would be best? Or maybe you are a night owl so you enjoy reading just before bed.  
2. Consider not even waiting for a quiet time. Even though we want to find a quiet time away from our children to read, there is value in just doing it in the middle of the chaos too. Our children learn from seeing us read.
3. Commit to study everyday. This means we need to be flexible. Even when you find a time that generally works for study, things come up with little ones. There are days we cannot keep the time we set aside. It is more important that we commit to study every day than getting caught up in being rigid about the time/place we study. It is ok if we end up barely sneeking in a little study as we are falling to sleep because we didn’t get to study when we had planned.
4. Consider mixing in non traditional study. We have so many tools at our disposal. I have found one thing I love doing is listening to scriptures and conference talks on the LDS library app. Sometimes I listen while I am getting ready for the day, doing household chores or exercising. The different modality of listening helps me learn in different ways than reading alone.
5. Keep it interesting to you. If you find yourself not enjoying your study or not getting as much out of it as you would like to, find a different way to study.
   • Study by topic. Choose any one and record your thoughts in a simple notebook, or you may like a journal like this one that picks the topics for you.   

• Take notes.
• Go through the hymn book and read the hymn, then the scriptures that are associated with the hymn.
• Try memorizing a few of your favorite scriptures.
• Study all the scriptures listed in one of the general conference talks.
• Have one of your children in mind when you study for the day and think about how all the scriptures could be applied to them personally.
• Try reading in a new place. How would it be to take your study outside one day?

It is true that it isn’t always easy to find the time to read our scriptures as moms. Sometimes we have to be creative to make it work, but the strength, knowledge and peace we gain from doing it is worth the effort. We personally need the study and our families need scripture reading moms. 

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