My study today was from 2 Nephi 32 again. 

Sometimes I get frustrated because I want to speed through the scriptures like a car on a remote Utah freeway (80 mph). I like the sense of storyline it gives me, but more and more I feel like Heavenly Father throws in speed-bumps to tell me to slow down and pay attention. 

In my wiser moments, I appreciate that, but other times (like tonight – for a minute) part of me shrieks, “Are you kidding me? One verse? I only get one verse? How will I get anywhere at this rate?” 

And then the Holy Ghost kicks in and smacks my brain and says, “Do you really want to ignore a heads-up from God?” 

Oh. Yeah. That’s right. 

So here’s what hit me today:

9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/32?verse=9&lang=eng#p16 

In plain English:

Pray always. Don’t do anything as a service to God without praying about it first. Because when you do it this way, God will make your service a blessing and benefit to your soul. 

Huh? I always thought giving service was about giving benefit to someone else, because, hello, it’s not about you, right? But here I’m seeing that if we try to give service without praying, we might mess it up. Also, we are being told that when we are trying to serve God (usually by serving others), that He wants us to check in with Him first, because that way our service can edify us as well as those we seek to serve. 

I guess it’s like the candle analogy – you set a lit candle on a candlestick so that it will give light to everyone in the house, including the person who brought the candle.