Ponderize

Once again, I didn’t make it. I have set a personal goal to watch all of the sessions of General Conference during the live broadcast. That goal requires me to watch six two-hour sessions of church talks. This year I made it up until the final session but I lost it during the end of Elder Christofferson’s talk. I’m not sure at what point I nodded off, but I didn’t wake up until the middle of Elder Keetch. As soon as I awoke my first thought was, just like a die hard Cubs fan, “Maybe next year.”

Later I heard about a new craze that might be hitting Mormon communities. People were talking about this made up word that got introduced by Elder Durrant during the one talk that I completely missed during the conference. The word is ponderize. Elder Durrant and his family would choose a verse of scripture each week and spend time during the week pondering its meaning but also memorizing the verse. It apparently made for a beautiful conference address but it came with tremendous backlash when a website that was selling merchandise with the ponderize logo made its debut. The negative reaction resulted in the website being taken down and an apology from Elder Durrant.

Setting the controversy to one side, the idea behind pondering and memorizing verses of scripture seems to be a good one. Anyone who can inspire others to turn to the scriptures and think more deeply about their meaning gives those people a chance to improve their understanding and their lives. Taking it a step further and memorizing those verses can help anybody be prepared to share insights, explain beliefs and recall important lessons in moments when divine words are needed.

Having confessed that I missed the entire talk and have yet to read or watch it online, I might be missing the boat, but the idea of ponderize seems to only get at half of the purpose of scripture. I have found great comfort and achieved personal insights because I have done exactly what Elder Durrant suggested. There is no way that I could even begin to describe in 500 words the ideas that I have considered as I pondered and memorized one very simple verse. “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” 2 Nephi 2:25. Each time I consider those fourteen words I discover new insights into fundamental doctrines from the Fall to Sanctification.

But it doesn’t matter how much I ponder or how well I memorize because those steps are really just a beginning. Pondering and memorization can not be the ends unto themselves. Ponderizing achieves real value when it is followed by action or, like faith without works, it is dead. Now, I didn’t die during conference, I merely fell asleep and missed a talk. I hope that when I ponderize I won’t fall asleep midway through but that I’ll take new insights and turn them into positive actions.