Have
you ever noticed that with any activity we do repeatedly, it can be
easy to fall into a routine, and even a rut? This is true even for
valuable activities like scripture study.
What's
the solution? Maybe we just need to shake things up a little —
to find creative ways to approach our scripture study to keep
it interesting and fresh. If you’re looking for ways to enliven
your scripture study time, here are some ideas to try.
Read
Out Loud. My sister Barb loves
Isaiah, but one morning she found herself reading the same verse over
and over without getting much out of it. When her sleepy young
daughter came into the room wanting to be held, Barb picked her up
and asked, “Would you like me to read out loud to you?”
When her daughter answered “Yes,” Barb said, “I
started reading Isaiah out loud, and suddenly it all flowed and made
so much more sense. Just stopping and reading out loud changed my
entire study that day.”
Make
a Sketch.
While reading the allegory of the olive trees in Jacob 5,
I found myself getting lost among the branches, grafts and nethermost
parts of the vineyard. So
I decided to draw the parable out as I read it. I was surprised at
how helpful it was to have a picture of what was going on.
(Just in case you think you need to be an artist to do this, you
don’t — I’m not one. The goal isn’t artwork
but understanding.)
Do
a Word Search.
We’re blessed today to have amazing electronic tools for
scripture study. For example, in less than a second you can search
the online standard works
for every occurrence of a word or phrase. Then it’s fascinating
to look for patterns.
Once
I did a search on the phrase “Lamb of God,” expecting to
find it fairly evenly distributed throughout the scriptures. Instead,
I discovered that it's concentrated in two places: the writings of
Nephi and the Apostle John — which makes perfect sense, given 1
Nephi 14:20-27.
Another
exercise that yields fascinating insights is to search for a word or
phrase and then categorize the results. For instance, you could
search for charity, then read each verse in the results and
categorize it according to what is being taught: what charity is, how
to obtain it, the blessings of charity, and so on.
Reading
familiar verses in a different translation can spark insights and
even a sense of delight. I love the NIV
translation of John 1:5,
which reads, “The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness has not overcome it.” (Compare
with the King James version.)
Create
Word Art.
Finally, here’s an intriguing way to visualize words and
concepts in a favorite chapter: use a free online site like Text
is Beautiful
to create a word cloud or other visual representation. I tried it
with Mosiah
14,
which is Abinadi’s quotation of the poignant servant song in
Isaiah
53.
The result was a beautiful graphic with the greatest emphasis on the
word Lord,
and key words from the chapter comprising the rest of the cloud. It
was thought-provoking to look at the different words, recall their
context, and see new relationships and connections.(1)
So
if your scripture study could use a little variety, try one of the
ideas above or use one of your own. Using a new approach is a great
way to make scripture study more enjoyable and meaningful.
(1)Text is Beautiful
requires a minimum of 5,000 words to generate its word art. Mosiah 14
isn’t 5,000 words, so I just pasted the chapter text into their
text box repeatedly until I passed 5,000 words.
Kathryn Grant is a user assistance professional with a passion
for usability and process
improvement. She also loves family history and enjoys the challenge and
reward of building her family tree.
As a child, she lived outside the United States for four years because of her father's job. This experience fueled her natural love of words and language, and also taught her to appreciate other cultures.
Kathryn values gratitude, teaching, learning, differences, and unity. She loves looking at star-filled skies, reading mind-stretching books, listening to contemporary Christian music, attending the temple, and eating fresh raspberries.
Kathryn teaches Sunday family history classes at the BYU Family History Library, and presents frequently at family history events. For more information, visit her Family History Learning Resources page