This morning while Rachel was getting ready, I watched some church videos with Gracie. One of them was about the Book of Mormon. It showed a clip of President Ezra Taft Benson in which he said the following: 

“If we would avoid adopting the evils of the world, we must pursue a course which will daily feed our minds with and call them back to the things of the Spirit. I know of no better way to do this than by reading the Book of Mormon.”

And then he concluded: “And so, I counsel you, my beloved brothers and sisters and friends everywhere, to make reading in the Book of Mormon a few minutes each day a lifelong practice. “I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to that counsel. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness.” (Marion G. Romney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1960, pp. 110–13.)

That made me think. Recently it seems we’ve had an abundance of contention as our kids don’t seem to care what we say. They just ignore us. We do our best to read in the Book of Mormon each night. Just before church as we were all ready to go, but still had 20 minutes before it was time to leave, the kids were bing especially rowdy and not listening to us. Finally, Rachel left the house to get in the car for peace and quiet. I told the kids to get in the car. Once I got in and was ready to drive to church, Rachel mentioned that we were still quite early. I remembered the quote above and suggested that we read in the Book of Mormon. We finished off the chapter we were currently in. After that, I think the whole day went a lot smoother. I can’t really remember a point of contention we had the rest of the day after that! I put the Lord’s prophets’ words to the Lord, and He fulfilled His promises.