We've got a new topic to cover this month here on Primarily Scripture. Today is part one in my series called The Power of the Pencil. Now just to be clear, this includes other marking tools as well, but I just love a good alliteration. So grab your pencil or your colored pencils or your other scripture marking tools of choice, and let's get marking. When I was eight years old, I got baptized and I opened up a gift of my very own set of scriptures and a red colored pencil. As I opened this gift, one adult told me how very much they loved to underline and mark verses that were important to them. And then another person chimed in and said that they preferred to not mark their scriptures, because every verse is important and what stands out one day might be different from what stands out the next. So they chose to not mark their scriptures at all, so that their own markings didn't get in the way of receiving new revelation and insights. Now this is a totally valid point, and if you don't want to mark your scriptures directly, that is completely up to you. But I do have some things for you to consider as you decide if you'll mark your scriptures or not, and how you want to mark your own scriptures. Because I can't tell you the best way to mark your scriptures. In fact, Elder Bednar once said that he wouldn't even tell you how to mark your scriptures. What works for you is gonna be different from person to person. So first of all, let's talk about why we would want to mark our scriptures. The easiest way to say it is that marking your scriptures is a way to turn reading into learning, or studying. Does that make sense? If you just read through and you don't ever interact with the scriptures, you're less likely to remember and retain what you've learned. In fact, in my experience, when I mark the scriptures, I learn so much more because I'm interacting with them. Today we're going to talk about some of the easiest ways to start marking, and this is something that even a kid can do. First of all, get out colored pencils. That one red pencil that I was given when I was baptized was a good start, but I suggest that you go ahead and use multiple colors. Personally, I use as many colors as I can. Some people choose only a couple. How do you choose which color to use when you find something that you want to mark? Well, it's up to you. Some people like to color code. For example, I use yellow for Jesus Christ. Anytime that I'm learning about Him, then I use yellow. I also like to use red for warnings, and green for things to do. But for me personally, the problem here is that I don't remember all the rest of my colors and what they're assigned to. You could assign one to miracles or one to prophecies. And if you're really interested in color coding your scriptures, I would recommend that you do a quick internet search, and look for some of the different ideas that other people have out there. There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of different ways that you can color code your scriptures that are suggested online. But even if you're not going to color code your scriptures, using different colors has been helpful to me because on each page or in each chapter or each place where I'm reading, I will switch between colors when I come across a different idea. So I might mark something in red in one verse, and then in the next verse I find a new idea and I mark it in green or in blue, and then a few verses later, I see the same topic and idea that I had marked in red, so I can go back to red and mark it in the same color. And sometimes I'll very lightly draw a line across my scriptures, marking one verse to the next. And having it color coded that way is really helpful. So I definitely recommend using colors, and it's up to you how you want to do that. Now you can underline or you can highlight entirely. You can circle, you can make little stars or arrows or question marks. One thing I definitely recommend is not highlighting the entire verse unless you have a really good reason for it. You'll be able to hone in on certain principles if you only underline or highlight or circle a word or a phrase. What about that verse stood out to you? Sure, the entire verse is great. But why? What one thing today is important? And I will have times when I read my scriptures and I come across a verse that has one word highlighted or underlined, and then as I read it, I find another thought from that same verse, and I can use a different color to mark that different thought within the same verse. It's okay to have different things underlined in the same verse because what stands out this time might be different than what stands out next time. But also, when you come back to it in the future, you will see that there are many different things to learn from that same verse. Another thing that I really love to do is to use symbols. I love putting hearts in my scriptures, and the hearts represent the love of God. I'll put in an asterisk or a star next to verses that I think would be good to memorize. If I have a question about a verse, I will go ahead and put a question mark there because I don't understand everything that I read in the scriptures the first time. And so I'll put a question mark there, and then I can take time to ponder it. And in the future I can even come back to it and look again. And I will have a new perspective because it's a new day or a new month or a new year. And I will learn over time and I can see my gospel understanding improve because question marks get crossed out and I'll write in a note explaining what I've learned, and it's a really great way to kind of track your gospel learning. So no matter what way you choose to mark your scriptures with underlining and highlighting and circles and arrows and stars and hearts- you can even come up with other little symbols if you want to- it's totally up to you. Just be sure you do SOMETHING. When I was a young teenager, I saw somebody whose scriptures were totally filled up with markings. And I thought, oh my goodness, they have spent so much time in their scriptures. I want to love my scriptures as much as they do. I started out by reading my scriptures and I thought, how do they find so many things to mark? I only found one or two things. But I stuck to the one or two things and kept going, and the more I marked, the more I found to mark. The more I interacted with the scriptures, the more they spoke to my heart, and I would find more and more and more that I wanted to circle and wanted to highlight and wanted to remember. And remembering is one of the most important reasons that you should mark your scriptures! Because when you mark it, you're much more likely to remember it in the future, and even if you don't remember it all by yourself, when you open up the scriptures and see that marking, the Spirit will be able to bring to your memory what was important about that. In Alma chapter 37, it even talks about how the scriptures have enlarged the memory of the people. It helps them to remember things better because it's written down. Well, you're not writing new scripture, but you are keeping track of your interactions with the scripture. And so if you document your interactions with the scripture by marking what stands out, marking what's important, marking what touches your heart, and how the Spirit is speaking to you that day... without writing down words it's a journal of your scripture study journey. As you mark words, you'll take time to ponder them a little bit more. It will make it more personal. And in the future when you want to find something, if you open up your scriptures and thumb through, you'll be able to find the marking so much faster than just the words of the scripture. Does that make sense? Because sometimes what you remember from the scriptures is the feeling that you had or the way you interacted with it. There have been times when I've looked for a verse and I couldn't remember exactly what it said, but I remembered that I marked it in blue and I remembered that it was on the left side of the page near the top. And then as I thumb through my scriptures, I can find a spot that matches that visual memory, and that's been so helpful for me personally. There's no wrong way to mark your scriptures, really. Although highlighting every single verse might be less productive. In fact, when I was eight years old, I was so excited to highlight that I ended up highlighting an entire page in red, and I don't know why I did that. I didn't have a plan of how I was going to mark them yet. Now, one word of caution. I don't want you to feel like if you've been marking your scriptures one way, that you can't change to a new way. You can change how you mark your scriptures at any point, and I would recommend that you do evolve your scripture marking techniques over time. So feel free to adjust your scripture marking techniques as you go. Some people love to mark their scriptures to make them beautiful, and that's valid and something that you can do if you want, but be sure that you're not missing out on the opportunity to mark those things that bring the Spirit, or teach the doctrine, help you learn about the Savior. That's way more important than making sure it's beautiful. In fact, some of the pages in my scriptures are an absolute mess because there's just so much going on on the page and I try to cram everything in. But intentional marking of your scriptures can really make a difference and help it be more meaningful, more personal. And go back and review your markings and it'll help you remember what the spirit spoke to your heart and the things that you have learned. Thanks so much for being here with me. I'm Cindy Young. Come back next week for even more tips on how using your pencil... or pen, or highlighters... can help to improve your scripture study. See you next time guys. Thanks for tuning into primarily Scripture with Cindy Young. Don't forget you can subscribe to the newsletter and download free worksheets on the website, primarily scripture.com. And if you like the channel, be sure to subscribe, like, share, and leave a review. See you next time.