The other day we walked upstairs to gather our children up for the evening and our daughter was in the hallway reenacting prayers with her dolly's. It was so sweet and precious. I wondered what she and her dolly's were praying for. This past weekend I too said a big prayer in my heart that I would hear what the Lord wanted me to hear, that I would be receptive like an open well to the messages prepared. There is always a message in general conference that I feel has been prepared just for me, this time was no exception. As I have spiritually digested all the things I heard over the weekend I have felt much peace flow over my somewhat restless spirit. Then I just happened to run across this quote which was too coincidental about pondering and meditating...
“We all do a lot of studying, but most of us don’t do much meditation. We don’t take time to think. …There’s a great word that’s used, ‘ponder.’ “’Ponder.’ What do we mean by ‘ponder’? Well, I think it simply means kind of quietly thinking things through. Ponder what you have read. Ponder your life. Are you worthy, are you living the commandments…?” (Gordon B. Hinckley Church News, 01/06/96)
There were certainly more than several talks given that were most profound to me, one of them was from Elder Oaks during Saturdays session. He said something definitely worth pondering.
"Desires dictate our priorities; priorities shape our choices; and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming." - Dallin H. Oaks
Really fantastic thoughts and inspired words of God. I am so very grateful to have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. I am grateful for the encouragement to ponder and thoroughly contemplate all that I have to learn from that spiritual feast.
“Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”? (
D&C 4:7.)
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Another quote on pondering the scriptures I thought was great!
“We might ask why the scriptures have to be pondered to be understood and appreciated. After all, we don’t need to ponder newspapers or magazines. We understand them at a first reading. What makes the scriptures different? An analogy might help. The scriptures are like a symphony. The problem with a symphony, if it can be called a problem, is that there is so much going on at the same time that an inexperienced listener feels bewildered, not knowing what to listen for, or how to make sense of everything. But the music lover knows what to do. He picks out a theme carried by the string section, compares it to a variation on that theme by the oboes, and hears the composer being playful or reflective or joyful. Unlike the novice, he hears and feels the effects of the details that give the symphony, in all its complexity, its power and impact.” (Dennis and Sandra Packard, “Pondering the Word,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, p. 51)
