Checking for Messages

I use my phone as my alarm clock. When it's time to wake up, my phone plays Field Trip from the Finding Nemo soundtrack until I pick up my phone and dismiss the alarm. At that point, I already have my phone in my hand, and the unlock screen even shows me whether or not I have any notifications, including notifications of any emails and/or text messages I may have gotten during the night. From there, it's almost automatic to check my messages, if only to see whom they're from and whether or not any of them are urgent. And so it is that I check my emails and text messages first thing in the morning almost every day.

If only I was that consistent in checking the scriptures for important and/or urgent messages.

The scriptures contain messages that are at least as important as any email could ever be, yet I read the scriptures only about half as often as I look at my emails. I suppose part of my problem is that the scriptures don't send me notifications reminding me to read them, and they don't always come in bite-sized pieces like text messages do. However, that is entirely my problem (not the fault of the scriptures themselves) because, if I was clever, I could find a way to have my phone notify my at regular times, reminding me to read the scriptures, and the scriptures are split into very reasonably-sized verses. So long as I decide that reading a verse or two frequently and regularly is better than reading a chapter rarely and sporadically, I can always manage to squeeze in a moment or two for scriptures, just as I always manage to squeeze in a moment to read my texts.

Perhaps I don't even need to make any specific changes or set any new alarms. Maybe I could make scripture reading part of my morning routine, especially since I already have an alarm for it. My phone wakes me up, I check my notifications, and then I read some scriptures. The Gospel Library app is already on my phone, and even if it wasn't, I could find the scriptures on the church's website. It wouldn't be that hard to make sure I could access the scriptures with only a few swipes and taps and waiting a few seconds while they load. And it all else fails, I can grab a physical copy. In fact, I might try the physical copy first, since it could be considered even more convenient (since I wouldn't have to wrestle with software or wait for anything to load).

Checking my phone for messages is already part of my daily morning routine. It's time I also made it part of my routine to check the scriptures for messages as well.