This past Thursday I was at home in West Valley dog sitting a new puppy my family recently acquired. It's a wonderfully behaved puppy but don't let that fool you, he'll still poop on the floor if you don't keep an eye on him. Anyway, I let the dogs out in the backyard so they could take care of business and get some of their energy out. The weather was gorgeous and I noticed there were plenty of raspberries ready to be picked, so I grabbed a bowl and set to the task of filling it to the brim with raspberries as an excuse to enjoy the nice weather.
While I was picking raspberries I came to two conclusions: First, life would be simply beautiful if it required only gardening and reading books. And second, picking raspberries is a lot like studying the scriptures.
Let me explain the second. My younger brothers had breezed over the raspberry bushes a couple days previous and had obviously gone straight to the prominent and easily accessible raspberries. They filled up a bowl, but left plenty of huge ripe raspberries untouched. While I was picking raspberries I realized that I could stand in one spot for quite some time and pick a lot of raspberries. Then I would move down a couple of feet and pick more. When I looked back at the section of bush I thought I had picked clean, I was surprised to see many ripe raspberries still there. From my previous vantage point I had missed some clusters that had been hidden under leaves. All it took was lifting up a branch or getting a little lower to see if there were more berries before I moved on to the next section.
As we approach the scriptures we can quickly read through them and pick out the obvious insights and teachings. There are beautiful doctrines that are there near the surface so even children can understand them.
We can find even more in each passage of scripture as we spend more time and attention focusing on the passage before moving on. (After all, the goal isn't to race from one end of the raspberry bush to the other, it is to fill your bowl with raspberries) Spend time in the scriptures.
There is always more to find in the scriptures especially as life alters the perspective we approach the scriptures with. New insights come as we look for specific answers to questions as they relate to us in our own unique situation. Also, often as we spend time in the scriptures we just need to dig a little deeper. Lift up a branch, look under some leaves. This may require time to ponder and meditate. In fact, not all the berries are ripe at the same time. Some treasures in the scriptures are found after a lot of time has been spent searching, when we are ripe and ready.
Halfway through my quest to fill my bowl with berries I realized that to really get in there and get some of those raspberries I was going to have to get dirty. By the time I was done my hands were stained red and I had some red spots on my T-shirt. Scripture study becomes the most meaningful when we get out there and apply what we've learned. Don't be afraid to get dirty through work and service.
Keep your hands clean by getting them dirty through service.
