In a recent conversation with my mom, I shared this quote by Robert Frost: "Poetry is a way of remembering that which it would impoverish us to forget." Without missing a beat she responded, "Yes, but the scriptures would be a better word to insert in that quote. The scriptures are the way of remembering that which it would impoverish us to forget."
I love poetry. I marvel at the poet's genius for capturing simple human experiences in poignant, concise, and beautiful ways. I am impressed by a poet's command of language and their thoughtfulness and observance that is expressed so completely in only a few lines. It is a form of literary communication that befuddles me, which makes me admire a good poet all the more. Poetry can distill complex emotions to a single moment in time that is vivid and tangible and memorable.
All that being said, I love the scriptures more. And I love that my mom bore a spontaneous testimony in an ordinary moment of the value of the word of God (sounds like Elder Bednar counsel from General Conference!) Scripture enlarges the memory of the people, (as D. Todd Christofferson taught earlier this month), but with saving power. Power to carry us "beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise..." teaching us the source and means of our redemption in Christ. Poetry is a collection of pretty words. Scripture is the iron rod leading to the tree of life and every good thing giving us that surety of hope in difficult times.
