For the Profit of My Children

Most nights recently as I have put my five-year-old daughter to bed and prayed with her, she has insisted that I read some scriptures to her. How do you say no to that?! I have enjoyed being able to read a few verses from the Book of Mormon with her as she falls asleep, and I hope that she continues to feel that desire to always read or hear or ponder the scriptures before she goes to bed. I realize that one of my important roles as a father is to help my children come to love the scriptures and develop a habit of reading them. This week as we have read the Come, Follow Me chapters about the plagues the Lord sent on Egypt, it has been a little easier to get them to engage in what we are reading. They have been quite excited to learn about how “all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt” and how the Lord sent “swarms of flies” on the people. Reading this verse certainly got their imagination going: “The river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs” (Exodus 8:3, 17, 21). They were quick to help their mother cringe thinking about frogs crawling in her bed and in the kitchen! At any rate, I told my wife if only every chapter of scripture was about insects and reptiles we’d have no problem getting participation from our children in scripture study! We don’t always have the participation we want from our children when we try to read the scriptures as a family, but I hope that our children will always remember that reading the word of God was of highest importance to our family.

                In Nephi’s writings he highlighted the importance he placed on the scriptures for his own children. When they obtained the brass plates he wrote this, “And we had obtained the records which the Lord had commanded us, and searched them and found that they were desirable; yea, even of great worth unto us, insomuch that we could preserve the commandments of the Lord unto our children” (1 Nephi 5:21). The great value in having the holy scriptures—for risking his life to get them from Laban—was for their children and future posterity. Later he also wrote this as he recorded his own account, “And upon these I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children” (2 Nephi 4:15). He copied words from the plates of brass onto his own record—especially the words of Isaiah—for the benefit of his children. He further described his efforts in this regard this way: “And now I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah, for my soul delighteth in his words. For I will liken his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him” (2 Nephi 11:2). He wanted his children to come to know the Redeemer, and he knew that a powerful way to do that was to help them ponder the sacred words of the Lord’s prophets. He later emphasized again, “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). He did labor diligently to write the scriptures—both his own sacred experiences and the words of ancient prophets—for the benefit of his children so they would believe in Christ.  

                Perhaps this verse best describes how we should share the words of the scriptures with our children: “And thou shalt teach [the scriptures] diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates” (Deuteronomy 6:7-9). As parents we must diligently teach the scriptures to our children, talking about them in the house and by the way, reading them in the morning and when lying down to sleep, displaying the words for them to see and ponder continually. I hope that whatever else my children learn as they grow up, they come to know for certainty that their parents loved the scriptures.