Jesus Says

One of my favorite quotes ever is from the book "To Kill A Mockingbird." Scout has been able to read for as long as she could remember-she can't ever remember learning how, it was just something she did. Every night, her Father and her would read a little bit together before she would go to bed. Eventually, in going to school, her teacher tells her this must stop, as she is too far ahead of the other kids and she needs to be taught in the proper way. Scout is heartbroken. She says, 

"Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

I've since thought about this quote many times. I think that Scout is exactly right. Breathing is not something one thinks about-its something a person is doing constantly. It is simple, and it is basic. You don't need to think about it or appreciate it. Yet, without it, one cannot live. It is one the most basic, but essential things the human body needs and does in order to survive. But when one cannot do it, it seems to be the only thing you can dwell on.

Whenever I hear or think of this quote I am reminded of how I should not take these things for granted. To breath is a gift. Reading is a huge blessing-and the incredible material that we have out there is endless and inspiring. Now that I am not in school, it is something I am able to do again daily. It improves my mind, my heart and even helps in some of my relationships with family and friends. Yet if there is one area I have to improve upon it is in reading the scriptures. 

George Albert Smith said, "All the truth that is necessary for our salvation, is contained in the lids of the books that I have already enumerated. We may not possess a library of 2 or 3 thousand volumes, but we may possess at a small cost a priceless library that has cost the best blood that has ever been in this world." He goes on to say that even if we were forced to throw away every single book ever written that other then the scriptures, that we would still have everything we could possibly need to guide us in this life. Again, I am guilty of not being as diligent as I should in my scriptures reading. But I agree wholeheartedly with what he said. Only in the scriptures do we get to hear things in the voice and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in our Heavenly Father. Think about it. There are parts where it it reads 'And Jesus said.." Jesus said. This is not a quote. This is not a paraphrase. This is as if Jesus Christ, our Brother and the Savior of the world, is sitting across from us talking to our face. As if we could reach out and touch him. Jesus says. To me, the relationship I gain with my Savior from reading the scriptures is the most valuable thing I can hope to attain from any book, anywhere and anytime.  

Anyways, these were just things that were on my mind today as we had our lesson in church. Someday, when Lester and I are old, we have a dream of having a beautiful, gigantic library, much like the one in Beauty & the Beast. But I know that even if it doesn't live up to these expectations of grandeur, our library will always consist of the books that matter. Ones of fantasy, adventure, mystery, dreams, magic, growth, life lessons, science and other things. But most importantly, we have will have books of truth. The ones that tell us what Jesus says, what God hopes and wants for us, and how we can achieve true happiness in this life.