Matthew 1 - Thoughts

Today during General Conference I realized we need to be better about family scripture study. My husband and I read the scriptures together almost every night, but we never read with Little Bug. I realized that so many people fall away from the gospel in their teens and I don’t want Little Bug or any future kids to be like that and that if we want her to gain a testimony then we have to do more than just read the lessons on Sunday when she is hardly even paying attention.

So tonight while she ate cereal before bed I read Matthew 1 from the New Testament. We’ve been reading the Book of Mormon all year for sunday school lessons so I wanted to read the New Testament because I love how powerful that book is and how it is all about Jesus and His time on Earth setting up His church and teaching people the right way.

Matthew 1 - My first impression is that the scriptures are so much more powerful when I actually have a paper copy of the book to read. For some reason, reading it on my phone just doesn’t give me the same spiritual fulfillment as reading from a book. Having the scriptures on your phone is nice because you can pull them up anytime, but when there is time to bring out the paper copy or if you just need a bit more help in your reading journey, pick up your hard copy scriptures and start reading.

I wonder what the significance of the number 14 is. 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to captivity in Babylon, and 14 from Babylon to Christ. There must be some significance to it.

Marry a good man. Joseph wasn’t quick to anger or anything when he easily could’ve been. He also heeded the words of an angel and was in a spiritual manner to be in tune with the Spirit and with spiritual beings.

It’s amazing to think of Mary carrying the Son of God in her womb. I remember being pregnant with Little Bug and loving her perfect little self as she kicked around in there. I loved seeing ultrasounds where her hands always seemed to be up near her face, cuddled close to her cheeks, loved looking at the ultrasound of her cute petite nose from the side view that we got at the 20 week visit. I loved feeling her kick and turn and squirm in there and I remember thinking that I would willingly give her anything she needed (because baby’s take all the nutrients they need from mom, even if mom doesn’t have much for herself left over) because she was our little girl. I try to imagine what Mary must have felt like, knowing that her perfect little baby would always remain perfect, and He would save her and her family, and everyone in the world from everlasting death. And it would be hard to know some of the things He would have to go through, even as He sits in your womb.

And we have similar things I guess. Our children will face trials, not to the extent that Jesus did, but they will be challenged in ways that will be hard for them just as His trials were for Him. And the best way we have to prepare our children for these trials is by teaching them of Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father, the Holy Ghost, the Gospel of Christ, and every other good strong thing they can lean on when they need courage.

Anyway, those are my impressions from Matthew 1. Hopefully we’ll continue our scripture reading and I’ll have time to journal about it every day.