"Spiritual

OATS" was the topic of a talk given in our Stake Conference a while back.  I didn't remember it, but then our Relief Society President gave a lesson on it and challenged us all to eat our oats for breakfast and have our spiritual OATS every day.

I've been doing it for the last two days, and I like it.  It gives me direction and purpose in reading. I often have a hard time reading the scriptures, because there is not a beginning and an end to it's purpose.  (You know, that never-ending problem I have of wanting to check off a list and have a feeling that everything is done.)  But completeness is impossible in reading the scriptures and in life, because there is always more to learn and more experiences to work though.

Anyway, this is what it stands for:

O -- obedience
A -- atonement
T --  testimony
S -- service

So I just started in the topical guide with the first scripture references given, and each day I'm progressing through them and writing my thoughts about what they say.   For instance, the first reference for obedience refers to Noah and his obedience in building the ark.  My written comments are that I'm not faced with showing that kind of  faith and obedience.   I'm just faced with making choices as to how I handle situations in my life.

It's nothing profound, but it is something.  I have keep myself focused, though.  My mind tends to wander off on thoughts of making cute little bookmarks with ribbons attached for marking my place.  And then I start thinking about getting color coded pencils for marking passages that relate to each letter, like red for "obedience, blue for "atonement," etc.

But so far I have stayed focused on the content and purpose.  I'm not sure how long it will last, because that color coding and bookmarking sounds pretty fun.  And, it would help me stay more organized don't you think?