Puttering

This morning I caught up on my KnoWhy's at Book of Mormon Central. I have used a spreadsheet to keep myself on track with the Sunday School lessons and Relief Society lessons. Somebody wonderful created the Book of Mormon Central website, and it has deepened and enriched my understanding this year. I hope there is a corresponding one for next year, when we study the Doctrine and Covenants + church history.

I also added pages to my spreadsheet for 2017, 2018, and 2019. The completed lessons for 2016 are color-coded to match my entries this year on my financial spreadsheets and on the spreadsheet I use for conducting music in sacrament meeting. Yes, I'm a geek. And an artist. And I need to keep both aspects happy. Color-coded spreadsheets serve me well.

In listening to this week's chapters from 3 Nephi while driving to work, I was impressed that I need to follow the Savior's counsel to the Nephites and make time now or very soon to read Isaiah, in addition to everything else I'm reading and doing. There is a new book available from Deseret Book that I may add to the several already on my bookshelf (and maybe get all the way through).

I've noticed that since Beloved's death, my desire to deepen my understanding and discipleship has grown, while my ability to focus on serious matters for any useful length of time is somewhat iffy. Hence the spreadsheets. There are times when even reading light fiction is difficult because Oh Look Shiny. I have been blessed beyond measure for the manner in which the study spreadsheet has kept me more on track than at any time since the early months of my conversation, when as a college student I gradually dropped one class after another and majored in Institute (for at least one semester) while working part time. I was starved for gospel knowledge, and I feasted and drank deeply.

I love my job, and the people with whom I work. I look forward to Monday mornings (especially when I've had a reverent, restful Sabbath). And during a particularly dull segment of a mandatory meeting on Friday, I made notes of all the things I would like to be working on here at home, and how best to accomplish them. Naturally, I got distracted and left that list at work, but it's waiting for me when I get back to the office tomorrow morning.

At church today we had testimonies, and one of the grand old brethren in our ward bore his, specifically about how he had correlated the six segments of General Conference with the six months between sessions. One month to study the addresses from the General Women's Session, another for the Saturday morning session, etc. I could hardly wait to get home and add a column for that to my spreadsheet. (Because we know what is paved with good intentions.) My November issue of the Ensign arrived earlier this week, so I will spend some time with it before bedtime. I had a four hour nap this afternoon, with a vile dream that woke me, so reading Conference talks will be a good preventative for more of the same when I'm finally ready to go back to sleep.