Yesterday I saw a friend who is years younger than me; I spoke with him briefly, but felt this morning to send him this e-mail about the fruits of scripture study, particularly when we are in the midst of our busiest time in our lives.

OK, so you asked for a link to my blog.  Here it is:

https://kiponcharacter.wordpress.com/about/

But I wouldn’t spend a lot of time here; there is nothing all that insightful here, particularly if that time is at the expense of your personal scripture study.

To remake the point I was attempting to communicate last night. I started a word document in 2002 for topical scripture study.   I really hadn’t added to it in 8 to 10 years, but at the start of the year it was a 400 page document.  I’ve converted most of it on to the blog, which is still under construction.  It had become a dead document, and I feel some urgency to get it into a new format that might have some value for me and my family for the next 20 years.

As I have done so, I’ve enjoyed remembering what I learned through that period, and also being somewhat impressed that in the midst of probably my busiest time in life, I tried to study the scriptures.  In doing the document conversion I’ve also realized that I only used it for a few years; I then converted to some small notebooks for a few years, that I reviewed yesterday; I then converted to writing myself an e-mail at the end of my scripture study for a couple of years.  I continually find comments in all of those on the need to reinvigorate my scripture study, I suspect every few months.

I’ve also sensed that the efforts I put in have had a much larger impact on my current thinking than I was aware.  For example, when I started the document I was in the midst of spending 1 full year studying the first 6 verses of Moses Chapter 1, every footnote and every TG entry, and many of the TG entries off of every footnoted verse as well.   I’ve known now for a number of years I have some peculiar insights on the nature of God and Christ, and those insights have been very powerful to me in many aspects of my life. This review has made me aware that they came because of that study; it took years for them to be fully formed, but those investments then are bearing some wonderful fruit for me now.

Seeing you yesterday I thought you are the type of man who would like to have a similar experience in 15 to 20 years to what I’ve had the last month and a half.  I think you can do it (and probably a whole lot better!).  Keep up the efforts on your great work in that space.  Your desire for study at this stage of your life will likely exceed your capacities, but continually fighting the good battle will bear a sweet fruit later in your life.

Hope that is helpful to you.