Spiritual Breakfast

1 Nephi 22:31

"Wherefore, ye need not suppose that I and my father are the only ones that have testified, and also taught them.  Wherefore, if ye shall be obedient to the commandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day.  And thus it is.  Amen."

I've been pondering a lot lately on the importance of nourishment.  The body needs nourishment (both in food and in drink) in order to operate and function correctly.  Some people even devote their lives to the physical training and refining of the body, maximizing its lifespan and its ability to keep functioning at a high level for as long as possible.

Is it so different for our spirit?  Why is it that it is so easy to recognize the needs of our body (breakfast, lunch, dinner, exercise, cleanliness, etc) but not to recognize the needs of our spirit?  Is it simply because we see our body all the time?  Is it because others see our body and comment on it?  Or might it be that we simply don't recognize the fact that our spirits need just as much if not more attention and nourishment as our bodies do?

As mentioned in the first post of this blog, I have made a daily commitment to feed my spirit breakfast, whether my body has received its breakfast or not.  The first thing I do when I wake up is to spiritually feed myself by reading 1 chapter out of the Book of Mormon.  That way I make sure that I have paid my spirit its due attention, and it gives me something to ponder on throughout the day.  After my spiritual breakfast, I then pay attention to the yearnings of my body for food and drink - I can't think of a better way to start a day.  If doing my reading means that my body has to go without (due to time restraints), well then I think I have chosen the more important part of my soul to feed.  

The same really should be true for lunch and dinner (more scripture study), heck, even snacking (listening to uplifting music in the car?).  Also should be so for excercise (scriptural research?) and cleanliness (repentance?) as well.  Things that could easily be added to a daily feast of the scriptures could be church-related magazines, memorizing a hymn, playing a spiritual song on a musical instrument if you happen to be musically inclined, and many more things.  Hopefully I'll start adding a few more of these things to my list of daily activities.  Not that doing them only every once in a while is a bad thing, but think of how wonderful you feel when you do these things on occasion, and then think how much more wonderful you would feel if they were daily activities!

And the other thing that I have noticed about my daily scripture study is that it gets you thinking about the scriptures more often than you otherwise would.  And I think the biggest side-benefit (if you will) is that it gets you re-prioritizing your schedule (and ultimately your life) so that you make sure you are making time for the Lord, making time to feed your spirit.  For we are indeed commanded to FEAST on the word, not to merely read it.  Reading something is better than nothing, but just think of the imagery that the word feast brings to light.  When you feast, you devour something, you take in as much as you possibly can.  And you never think of something that tastes bad when you think of feasting.  No, you think of the best food imaginable.  For that truly is what the scriptures are for your spirit: The best food imaginable!