What we are reading this week in the #ComeFollow Me program is about the midpoint in the entire story, or history at least, of the Book of Mormon. It’s weird to think that when Mosiah took over with the plates, 470 or so years had passed since Lehi and his family came across the water. That’s like us today, looking back at the 1600s or so. That's a long time.

Reading this book was not just a journey into note-taking techniques for me. It led me, and a surprising number of other readers I found on the internet, into a transformative practice that challenges the conventional wisdom of how we compile, process, and generate knowledge. If you love note-taking and knowledge management, enjoy writing (or would like to), or are involved in researching anything, I highly recommend you take a spin through this book.

In reading the Book of Mormon, so many of us get to the Book of Mosiah and look forward to King Benjamin’s speech; it goes on for multiple chapters, is filled with gospel truth, and is quoted so often by so many that it just feels comfortable. So, this time around, I want to learn from something outside of the most famous speech in the Book Of Mormon.

Generally, I wouldn't say I like business books. When I say “generally,” I mean I hate them all the time. I try to be open-minded. Maybe there are a few out there that I would enjoy, but I haven’t run into them yet. I’m also not a huge fan of self-improvement books either. Business books are like the worst of the self-improvement ideas written with big corporate words to make them sound impressive. I now only want to read book abstracts to help me through this process. If an abstract hits a chord with me, I might download the book. I’m not holding my breath for that, but who knows??

We have been given the gift to kneel down and speak to our Maker. Have you ever thought about that directly? The King of the Universe, the infinitely powerful and infinitely loving God, has given us the gift of prayer. Even more, He pleads with us to speak with him.

The Lord has already won victory over death. He gives that freely to all. I sometimes think about, and am in awe of, how personal the rest of His gifts He gives us through the Atonement.

“This is the Way” . . .

On step at a time, over and over again. One sacrament at a time. Repenting over and over again. Praying to the Father and learning to be more like Jesus day after day. Returning to the temple to serve and learn over and over again. Enduring is not waiting, it is growing, learning, and serving.

The most common way to think about "feasting on the words of Christ" is to think about the scriptures. There is good reason for that, they are obviously the readiest source of the words to read about Christ, but in an of themselves are they sufficient?

A bit of an extended version of a talk, or sermon, that I shared today with some added sections that I did not use due to time limitations. I share many thoughts on prayer and end with a personal story about my mother’s best day and some Grosbeak birds as well.

There is a line in the Hymn, "Thy Will, O Lord, Be Done," that is beautiful and tells me much about the atonement of Christ and the nature of Christ.

I have found it helpful to see how Nephi laid out his themes into chapters. I find more nuance and more meaning by thinking about the "how" as well as the "what" Nephi is telling his descendants (and us of course) on these plates.

I find it very rewarding to not only imagine the life of the people in scriptures, but to try the best I can to understand their life, their culture, their history, and how they lived. This gives me much greater insight into what they are writing, what their prophecies may mean, what message they are sharing, and what I could gain from that message. It also opens my heart to the spirit of the Lord where I can gain my own personal insight.

On Christmas Day this year, I was struck by how important remembering is. Christmas is a time when families and individuals repeat long used traditions. It is a time when we remember the times we were young, or when our children were young. We remember good Christmases and bad ones. There may be pain and sadness as well has joy and laughter in those memories. Remembering is such an important part of the holiday.

We should all learn to give greater attention and work harder to remember and to implement all the good things that we learn in this life. From good books, great art, from our teachers, parents or friends, or any other source of wholesome and righteous materials we gain great insight and ideas.

In my professional life, I have spent the last decade or so asking and teaching my co-workers to "fall in love with the problem." At times it feels like I'm preaching to them. I have worked hard to try to be better at this myself as well, as it is always a struggle. This process was recently shaken for me. Combining a faith approach to this took some thinking.

I have found myself stuck in prayer many times, not knowing what to say or how to approach my thoughts. In the moment I can lose any connection to God or to my own thoughts. Here are some tips I’ve picked up to help.

“God uses the weak and the plain to bring about His purposes. This truth stands as a testimony that it is God’s power, not man’s, that accomplishes His work on the earth.”

While I was taking a walk today and thinking about this, the thought came to my mind that small deviations from what we should do today have a large effect on what we want to be in the future. That effect will only grow larger in the next generation.

We need to see our homes more as the training grounds, the place to learn of Christ. Churches are there to support those efforts. The home is where it becomes real.

Computers can perform what is known as context switching very quickly. All humans do this very poorly and I'm no exception.