When You Read Quickly

My parents ward has a challenge going on for this summer. The challenge is to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover between June 1st and September 1st. I actually finished it the very beginning of August. I haven't read the Book of Mormon in that short of a time for quite a while.

Reading it that fast definitely gives a different perspective than other ways of studying it. You can see more of the common threads and overarching themes that run through the entire book rather than getting bogged down in the details of the individual chapters and stories.

Some of the things that stood out to me were:

1. You have to serve the Lord in order to truly be happy.

2. God will try everything He can to get nations and individuals to repent and return to Him.

3. God will never force people to repent - but if they don't, they end up losing everything.

4. God loves us - collectively and individually - He knows who we are and cares for each of us.

5. Jesus Christ provides the only way for us to be truly happy and inherit eternal life.

6. Jesus Christ truly is the Savior of the world.

I already knew all of these things, but it was good to have them reinforced once again in such a powerful way. I'm grateful that I took that challenge. Spending so much time in the Book of Mormon has brought an added measure of the Spirit into my life. The Book of Mormon truly is "Another Testament of Jesus Christ."