Today's Favorite Verse: Haggai 1:7

Today's Favorite Verse: Haggai 1:7
"Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways."

I know Haggai said this when calling the people to repentance for not rebuilding the temple as the Lord asked. However, this wasn't what I chose to ponder on though. It made me think about how individual verses can have meaning in other ways. Today, I saw a post a friend made on social media. Then one of their friends ripped at them for their position and asked them to have a change of heart. It was a rather interesting comment that had a lot of irony given what they had said in their diatribe. Rather a mote and beam moment. I wasn't tempted to comment, but if I was so inclined I would have told them they needed to look at changing their own heart. Now when I read the words of the Lord saying "consider your ways" that would have fit right in. There really is much wisdom in considering our ways when we aim to chastise another person.

Day 4047

Today's Favorite Verse: Haggai 1:4-7

Today's Favorite Verse: Haggai 1:4-7

"Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?

Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. "

The Jews had returned to Jerusalem but failed to rebuild the temple. Haggai warns them to consider their ways. They would not be blessed with prosperity in any endeavor until they heeded the command to rebuild the temple.

"I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."

(Doctrine and Covenants 82:10)

This reminds me of something I learned when my life was out of balance. I had a running list of all these things that I wanted. As I obtain them, new things appeared on my list of wants. I was never satisfied with what I had. I kept looking for more. Then I found my list started to fade away. Then one day I realized it was gone. What changed? I certainly didn't have everything that was once on my list. The difference, I had started feeding my soul and it was now satisfied. You can never fill the soul with material things. Fill the soul and the temporal will be put in its proper place.

Day 3069

Today's Favorite Verse: Mark 6:52

Today's Favorite Verse: Mark 6:52
"For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened."

Considered not = did not understand

What this verse is saying is the apostles consider not about the miracles that were happening. They didn't understand them because their hearts were hardened. It is pondering and considering the scriptures then that softens the heart so we can understand.

So what makes me understand or consider the gospel and the scriptures?  It is to ponder on them. It is an active participation by myself with myself, led by the spirit through a question and answer session. The favorite verse for me each day is the one that made me pause, because the spirit promoted me with a question. Since getting rid of the books about the scriptures, and just reading the scriptures, the spirit has taught me the scriptures by pondering on them. It's not just the scriptures it's any event that the spirit guides me to reflect upon. For the apostles it would have been pondering on the miracle of the loaves and the fishes.

I was just reading 3 Nephi 17:3 and was so struck by the Savior's request that they return home and ponder.

"Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again."

President Marion G. Romney said "As I have read the scriptures, I have been challenged by the word ponder, so frequently used in the Book of Mormon. The dictionary says that ponder means 'to weigh mentally, think deeply about, deliberate, meditate'… pondering is, in my feeling, a form of prayer. It has, at least, been an approach to the Spirit of the Lord on many occasions.

I love this, ponder being a form of prayer. It made me think about taking the sacrament. Where I can intently focus on my Savior, ponder and pray. They all go so hand in hand.

This week in my Pathway's Book of Mormon class my professor Brother A. made an interesting comment on pondering. I've reflected on it a lot since then.

"Several years ago, I had five children at home, small children. Our house was not quiet. It was not a place of "pondering". In fact it was kind a nuts and psychotic sometimes now that I think back on it. Why does he send you home then knowing that that will be the environment for many families? And the answer is, that is exactly what he wants. Pondering isn't just this quiet solitude. Pondering is also the ability to talk and to discuss and to think collectively about something. This is best done in a family unit. Family's that talk about the gospel, visit about it at dinner table and family home evening, and scripture study, and various points during the day, talk about the relevance of doctrine, application of it, and gospel living and things. There is a power and a majesty that comes with that and it's glorious. What it does is helps parents and children be better acquires of spiritual knowledge. I love the principle of the home and family unit connected to learning spiritual things."

That is exactly what I have experienced. One of my favorite times of the day is family scriptures study, we have such awesome discussions. We don't have to know what everything meant in the chapter. We just pick what stood out to us. And it is always from what stood out to someone that leads to a great gospel centered discussion. I love thinking now that the Come, Follow Me - gospel centered learning we are now doing is pondering the scriptures. As Christ invited us to "prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again."

Day 1538

Today's Favorite Verse: Haggai 1:5-7

Today's Favorite Verse: Haggai 1:5-7
"Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways."

I have to share this April 1973 General Conference talk by Elder L. Tom Perry, "Consider Your Ways" that describes what I was thinking as I read this perfectly.

"I have read this great scripture and continue to be impressed with how clearly the Old Testament prophet describes the conditions of today. Almost daily we read of those who invest for little return. We eat food so refined that the nourishment is lacking. We witness the drink that can never satisfy the thirst for those who drink; the dressing for style, rather than warmth, comfort, and modesty; the high wages of the wage earner today which still do not satisfy or supply his needs.

A noted historian several years ago summarized the reasons for the fall of Rome as follows:

1. The breakdown of the family and the rapid increase of divorce.
2. The spiraling rise of taxes and extravagant spending.
3. The mounting craze for pleasure and the brutalization of sports.
4. The decay of religion into myriads of confused forms, leaving the people without a uniform guide.

Our unconquered appetites and consuming drive for material possessions appear to be leading us on a course so often repeated in history. Greed, lust, and desire historically have only led mankind to waste, destruction, and suffering."

What was the answer Haggai prophesied?  To build the temple. I find it so interesting because I found after going to the temple and reading my scriptures daily that one day I noticed the perpetual list of things that I wanted was gone. When my soul was filled I no longer needed to fill it with material things. The blessings of the temple are exactly what people need.

Mount Timpanogos Temple Spring Sunrise by Rory Wallwork

Day 1485