Scriptures for Spencer

By Elder Marcus B. Nash

of the Seventy

“I love to read the holy scriptures, And, ev’ry time I do, I feel the Spirit start to grow within my heart” (Children’s Songbook, 109).

When my wife and I were first married, President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) encouraged members of the Church to read the scriptures every day with their families. We wanted to follow the prophet, so we decided we would do that together as a couple and then with our future children.

Years later, our family had grown to five children, including our youngest, Spencer.

Once, when Spencer was six years old, my wife and I went away for just a few days and left the children with a babysitter. When we returned home, I sat down with Spencer and asked him how everything had gone while we were away.

He told me that he’d had a hard time sleeping. When I asked why he didn’t sleep well, he thought about it and said he did not know.

Later that evening our family began our nightly routine of reading the Book of Mormon together.

Suddenly Spencer exclaimed, “That’s it!” I asked what he was talking about. “That’s why I couldn’t sleep very well at night.”

“Why couldn’t you sleep?” I asked.

“We didn’t read the scriptures at night while you were gone, and I like how the scriptures make me feel.”

Spencer had learned that reading the scriptures every day brings us the comfort, peace, and guidance of the Holy Ghost.

We can learn to love the scriptures when we read them daily. When we do, we will be guided by the Holy Ghost and strengthened by our Heavenly Father.