Do as the Lord Has Done



I like to mark my scriptures as I read them. Some might say I go overboard, marking entire pages of particularly meaningful passages. But if I feel like marking something or jotting down an insight, cross reference or quotation, or even pasting a small note in between pages, I’ll do it.

I know some people have a marking ‘system,’ perhaps highlighting a certain topic in one color, words from the Savior in another color, gluing themed paper tabs to the outside of papers, etc. I don’t have a system, but there is one pattern I’ve unintentionally followed that has proven to be a real blessing in my life—for the almost thirty years that I’ve had this particular set of scriptures.

What is that pattern? I’ve tended to use the same pen and/or pencil in my scripture bag, until I lose it or wear it out. Typically, I’ll use it for a few years before swapping it out for something else. The blessing here is that I can tie marked passages or insights to a time in my life—the purple pencil years, the blue ink-pen-that bleeds-through years, the black-ballpoint-pen era, and so on. (Although, to be fair I think I always have a smudgy red pencil kicking around because that is still the dominant color in my scriptures!)

I received my scriptures from my parents almost thirty years ago. They are a beautiful blue leather set, a richer color than the navy ones typically sold today. The cowhide is also more supple than the samples I now see on store shelves, but of course that may be due to years of carry and use. The edges of the pages are a shiny silver that has all but worn off. The original bookmarks have torn away, and the two-and-a-half blue ribbons that remain to keep my place are ones that I have added over the years.

Altogether, there are a half-dozen distinctive colors that I’ve used at specific, specially remembered times—pages and passages that had particular meaning as I went through a specific chapter in my life. It is enlightening to reminisce and tie a marked insight to the challenges and blessings I experienced at that time.

For example, as I served as a missionary for two years in England, I’d occasionally use a different colored pencil to highlight passages, but I almost always made notes with a fine-tipped black ballpoint pen. Recognizing my handwriting in that ink brings back awesome memories of England!

I broke those new scriptures in while taking a New Testament Institute class. I deeply studied the Book of Mormon the following year as I moved to Utah and attended BYU. I put those scriptures to good use, studying while using a red pencil to highlight verses, and scribbling notes with the aforementioned blue pen that bled through just a little too much. The bad news—those red blotches and bled-through patches are a little, well, blotchy and bled through. But the good news? I can see what stood out to an eighteen-year-old me as I really dug into the scriptures for perhaps the first time.

 This week, I was again studying Christ’s visit to the people of the Americas shortly after His resurrection. 3 Nephi 27 has a handful of navy scribbled stars, a half sheet of paper I glued in during my mission days, and markings in every color. What jumped out at me though, are two notes I scribbled to myself as an eighteen year-old preparing to be a man, and in particular trying to understand the responsibilities of preparing for a mission.

Those two statements are “Do EVERYTHING in Jesus’ name” and “Do as the Lord has done.” Those notes are next to verses 7 and 21. While I don’t remember writing those notes, I perfectly remember the blue pen that made them, the one with the little metal tab broken off from the cap. And I remember reading the Book of Mormon intently as I tried to learn if God really existed, and if He really wanted me to go on a mission. And I remember the deal I made with God and with myself.




As I finished the Book of Mormon that fall, probably just weeks after writing those two statements to myself, I knelt and prayed, preparing to ask God if the Book of Mormon was really true. I knew that if it was, there was no question on whether I would serve a mission. As I knelt in the almost pitch-dark basement bedroom that night, I just couldn’t ask the question. I knew with my whole body and soul that the Book of Mormon was true, that Joseph Smith had translated it through the power of God, and that Christ’s primitive Church was again on the earth.




Some particularly well-marked pages

I felt that asking God if it was true would be like looking into the clear sky on a summer day and asking if the sky was blue, and if the sun was real. It would be absurd to ask—it was all staring me right in the face. The Holy Ghost told me the truth much more clearly than the sunny day would have told me the answers to the other questions. I had a tearful moment of gratitude and humility as I thanked God for His love and His witness. I gratefully, excitedly promised to keep up my end of the deal and serve a mission.

To back up a bit though, I would not have had that experience if I hadn’t spent a year or so re-reading the Book of Mormon, trying to seek the Spirit, asking God to help me understand what I read, pondering those things and applying them. As an 18 year-old, the power of the Book of Mormon inspired me to try to do everything in Jesus’ name and to do as the Lord has done.

Now I am sure as I worked and studied and goofed around that year, I did many things the Lord didn’t do, and were not worthy of His name. But the scriptures motivated me to think about and consider things of the Spirit. I remember being a little more careful about who I spent time with at that age, and I recall being more mindful of the music I listened to and the movies I watched. I wasn’t perfect—I was an 18-year-old punk in a lot of ways—but the power of the word of God helped me try to be more like Christ in small and simple ways.

The scriptures contain the word of God. For an interesting study session, go to LDS.org and search the scriptures for “power of the word,” and see the dozens of scriptures that show all the things that have been done by the power of the word of God. It is impressive and interesting to note that the same power by which the world was made will also help one eighteen-year-old make a small positive change in his life.

One could write volumes on what it means to do everything in Christ’s name and to do as the Lord has done. Here is one way I see that happening. As a young man, I always felt a distinctive difference when I walked into the chapel, no matter what else was going on. If I was playing ball or at a dance or skateboarding off the stage in the gym, if I walked into the chapel to cut across the building to go home, or went through it to make sure doors were locked, I felt like that was Christ’s chapel. There were just some things you didn’t do and some things you’d always do in the chapel. I’d quit dribbling the basketball, I’d lower my voice, I’d quit running and walk quietly through that chapel. I realized later that feeling was the Holy Ghost telling me this place was different—that this is where we worship the Savior.

To me, those statements in verses 7 and 21 are like that chapel personified. There are just some things you don’t do and some things you always do if you have associated yourself with the Savior, if you are doing things as His follower and representative or disciple, if you are striving to do what we know He has done.

I won’t write those volumes—not today anyway. But I will testify that when the Lord inspires me, through the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Ghost to make a change, He gives me power and support and confidence as I try to do as He has done. And though I know I can never be exactly like Him in this life, those experiences keep me progressing and trying and repenting and getting on track again, working towards perfection. Those two scribbled reminders, bleeding through the pages, are more applicable today than ever, helping me stay on the narrow path to the Savior.

How grateful I am for those scriptures, and for the Spirit’s ceaseless teaching!