Monday, September 9, 2013

New to Scripture Marking

Two weeks ago the YSA started a new institute course on The Book of Mormon. Institute has become so ingrained in my weekly routine over the past 4 years that I didn't even realize I'm no longer required to attend since I graduated two semesters ago. Our current missionary couple, the Petersens, didn't seem to mind the attendance of a married couple, so we showed up anyway.
I looked at this fresh start as an opportunity to find a good method for marking my scriptures since I've been wanting to purchase a new set but don't want to randomly start coloring all over it. I spent some time reading other peoples' own methods and didn't quite agree with any. Many used as many as 10 or 15 colors to mark very detailed subjects, and it almost felt like I would be doing a word search across an entire book.
The last thing I wanted was something like "how many times can you find a mention of Jesus Christ" because then my attention would be just on that and not on properly reading the scriptures. After some thought I started to make my own little chart and this is what I came up with:



  • Patriarchal Blessing: Blue. Anything that relates to promises given in my patriarchal blessing or that remind me of something mentioned in there would be outlined in blue. 
  • Personal Revelation: Green. Many times I receive thoughts that have absolutely nothing to do with the lesson at hand, but on how to deal with current issues or problems that need solving. When this happens, I mark the scripture in green and write my "message" on a green post it and leave it on the page. It's a great method for me because I never remember anything unless I write it down. 
  • One-Verse Wonders: Orange. There seemed to be a need for this particular reference because some scriptures just hit home right away, and they don't always fall into any other category besides snapping me to attention. 
  • Scripture Mastery: Red. This choice was made for me about 8 years ago when I started seminary. The bright red color on a page always meant there was a scripture mastery on there, and it was so ingrained into me that Red = To Memorize that it's now impossible to change it. This is a good opportunity to go back and re-learned whatever I might have forgotten. 
  • Golden Promises: Yellow. Nothing motivates me more into action than the promise of a prize... this applies to life in general. I thought it would be a good idea to point out these scriptures and actually get me going. 
  • Did You Know?: Purple. This one is not actually listed in my chart because I didn't know I'd be using a 6th color until about 15 minutes into my first institute lesson. It quickly became apparent that it had to be put to good use and mark facts that I had previously been ignorant to. 
  • Questions: Pencil. My thought process: once the question has been answered I can go back and erase. 
  • Cross References - Pen. My thought process: Cross-references will remain the same forever, so might as well mark the ones I find and make life easier. 

So far I am quite pleased with my method because it makes scripture marking a lot more personal. If several people would apply it, everyone's scriptures would look completely different. I'm working hard to finish the entire Book of Mormon with this system, and when I do I'll treat myself to a new scripture set and start all over again! 

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