2 Nephi 32

This is a wonderful chapter.  There are so many verses I could write about, but today I focused on verse 9 as I studied because it had a lesson in it for me.

I have been struggling with my Primary class lately.  I love the kids.  I was so excited to teach the Book of Mormon this year because it is the book of scripture I know best, and there is where my problem began.  I know it well, so I have been failing to sincerely ask my Heavenly Father's help in teaching its concepts to the children.  2 Nephi 32:9 helped me realize that this morning.  It says:

"...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."

Whenever I have to teach a Relief Society lesson, I say many prayers as I prepare.  Why wouldn't I be praying with that vigor just because I am now teaching children?  I have offered up prayers that I might receive guidance with discipline because my main problem is that the kiddos won't stop jabbering.  The answer I received is that the lesson needs to be worthy of their attention.  I need to be well prepared and have something (a game etc.) to allow them to participate and have a little time out of their chairs.  Three hours is a long time to sit.  But I have not been praying to have the Spirit with me as I teach.  How can I expect to teach spiritual things without the Spirit?

Another thing I learned today was why the scripture says "he will consecrate thy performance unto thee."  Don't we usually consecrate things unto the Lord?  I looked up consecrate in the dictionary, but that didn't help much.  I looked up the footnote references which confirmed the consecrating-things-unto-the-Lord theory, but didn't shed much light on my question.  So, I said a prayer that I might understand.  I can see now that it means we need to pray when we are performing a task for the Lord, like teaching a lesson or performing another service, so that we will be able to accomplish the thing in the way the Lord would have it done.  By doing so, it is added to the body of service we have given for the Lord during our time here on earth.  It is consecrated unto us.We learn much from giving service in such a way.  We gain confidence in our relationship with our Father in Heaven, and we add to our faith.  Our performance is then for the welfare of our souls.  Our body of service is definitely something we will take with us when we die.