My thoughts on Elder Wirthlin’s talk “Concern for the One”
“Some are lost….” This was a different talk for me. I’m not sure what it was, but there was something different about it as it was one that spoke to the heart without words just feelings and I can’t put those feeling into words. I know that makes sense to someone out there.
Elder Writhlin points out that Jesus was always concerned about the one. He spoke to multitudes and blessed multitudes but his concer was always for the one. The lost sheep, the prodigal son, the leaper, the blind, the dead, the little child and on and one. I think the greatest example if in the Book of Mormon when Christ visit the Americas. “And he took their children and blessed them one by one.” If ever there was a time and place I would want to go back in time to this would be the place. When I was a child I desperately wanted to go back then and now that I’m an adult I would still love to go back to that day if only to observe how he treated the children.
Some are lost because they are different. I know what “different” Elder Writhlin is talking about, but I too am different. I’m a stay at home mom who homeschools her children. In my ward the stay at home isn’t too different, but the homeschool is. Because of that the sisters who are my peers and I don’t share too much in common. It is hard to strike up conversations with them. In fact when people bring up the socialization issue with homeschooling, I think they have the wrong humans in mind. It isn’t the children who are sheltered, it is us moms!
Some are lost because they are weary. I think this is me. I’m so very weary. I feel very overwhelmed right now. There are days that my plate is so full that I’m scared to even sit down to look at it. I’ve been known to just call it a veg day and “give up.” I know it is wrong to do that, but there are some days I can’t face that long to-do list. Nothing will get marked off, but the projects and obligations on it are just too much. I truly need to lessen my plate, but when I go to the Lord and ask what to remove, he never lets me remove the hard stuff and reminds me of all the time wasters that I put on that plate making it harder to do the important ones. Thankfully I don’t feel very lost—just sometimes forgotten.
Some are lost because they have strayed. “Except for the Lord, we have all made mistakes. The question is not whether we will trip and fall but, rather, how will we respond?” I hope I’m never in this category. I hope that my testimony is always strong enough to withstand the onslaught of Satan telling me I’m not worthy because I’m not perfect. “To those who have strayed because of doctrinal concerns, we cannot apologize for the truth. We cannot deny doctrine given to us by the lord Himself. On this principle we cannot compromise.” I think we need to internalize this so that when we make mistakes we understand that the standard of conduct and testimony are set and they are not moving. The kids and I just had a discussion about the standards of the church. One of my kids said that I had it easier in my day because the standards were so low. I told them that the commandments have not changed! They are truly the same. The bar may seem higher but only because the world has dug the dirt out from under it and sunk to new levels. We couldn’t commit sexual sins when I was a kid. We couldn’t murder. We couldn’t lie, steal, or cheat. We paid 10% tithing. We paid a generous fast offering. We had to read our scriptures (family and personal), hold family home evening, attend our meetings, say our prayers (family and personal), attend seminary, be good citizens, etc. etc. The only place the bar was raised was in qualifying for a mission. The same bar is there for a temple recommend. The Lord’s doctrine hasn’t changed, see Article of Faith #4 and then 3 Nephi 22:32-35 “And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; … And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; … for he will bisit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.” Hebrew 6:1-2 “Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, … Of the doctrine of baptism, and of laying on of hands, …” and I could go on (do your own search). Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end is what will save us and the Church will never apologize for this doctrine for it truly is the doctrine of Christ.
I know that the Lord is always concerned for the one and I have to remember that I am that ONE!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Special Experiences
My thoughts on Elder Rasband’s talk “Special Experiences”
I read this talk right after Elder Holland addressed our stake in the adult session of our conference and it was profound. I do not know how to adequately express my thoughts on this topic, but I will try. My heart is very heavy as I’m dealing with a lot of emotions during this season in my life. There is much that I want to change and most of that is not in my control. I can only pray that the bumpy will get smoother, or that I won’t notice so much, because the bumps tend to make my eyes water ~smile~.
“Some experiences will come as serious challenges and heavy trials that test our ability to cope with them.”
I’ve heard all the saying again and again. “He won’t test you more than you can bear.” And my favorite comes from Mother Teresa, my hero, “I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.” But when you are in the middle of it all, it sure gives little comfort, well at least to me.
“As experiences accumulate in our live, they add strength and support to each other. Just as the building blocks of our homes support the rest of the structure, so too do our personal life experiences become building blocks for our testimonies and add to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
But this statement is only true if we recognize it. Otherwise we will see the trials and experiences as a wrecking ball and we will sit back and watch the wrecking ball ruin our testimony. The only thing is we didn’t see who was controlling that ball—ourselves!
I’m glad Elder Rasband added this line, “…think of the special experiences you have been blessed with in your life that have given you conviction and joy in your heart.” After reading the tradition talk by Sister Lant (I read them in reverse order) most of these experiences have happened while participating in a family or ward tradition.
He later says, “…a new building block has been added to my house of faith.” How many times do we look backwards and say that very thing, but while we are in the midst of the experience can’t see that building going on.”
As I’m struggling dealing with life right now, I must have faith that right now the Master Builder and Architect and I are building an amazing house of faith because it sure feels lonely walking through the refiners fire as the building is being built.
I read this talk right after Elder Holland addressed our stake in the adult session of our conference and it was profound. I do not know how to adequately express my thoughts on this topic, but I will try. My heart is very heavy as I’m dealing with a lot of emotions during this season in my life. There is much that I want to change and most of that is not in my control. I can only pray that the bumpy will get smoother, or that I won’t notice so much, because the bumps tend to make my eyes water ~smile~.
“Some experiences will come as serious challenges and heavy trials that test our ability to cope with them.”
I’ve heard all the saying again and again. “He won’t test you more than you can bear.” And my favorite comes from Mother Teresa, my hero, “I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.” But when you are in the middle of it all, it sure gives little comfort, well at least to me.
“As experiences accumulate in our live, they add strength and support to each other. Just as the building blocks of our homes support the rest of the structure, so too do our personal life experiences become building blocks for our testimonies and add to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
But this statement is only true if we recognize it. Otherwise we will see the trials and experiences as a wrecking ball and we will sit back and watch the wrecking ball ruin our testimony. The only thing is we didn’t see who was controlling that ball—ourselves!
I’m glad Elder Rasband added this line, “…think of the special experiences you have been blessed with in your life that have given you conviction and joy in your heart.” After reading the tradition talk by Sister Lant (I read them in reverse order) most of these experiences have happened while participating in a family or ward tradition.
He later says, “…a new building block has been added to my house of faith.” How many times do we look backwards and say that very thing, but while we are in the midst of the experience can’t see that building going on.”
As I’m struggling dealing with life right now, I must have faith that right now the Master Builder and Architect and I are building an amazing house of faith because it sure feels lonely walking through the refiners fire as the building is being built.
Righteous Traditions
My thoughts on Sister Lant’s talk “Righteous Traditions”
Sister Lant asks some very thought provoking questions, “What kinds of traditions do we have?” and “Are we consciously creating righteous traditions, or is life just happening to us?”
I know the rest of the talk is important, but want to discuss traditions we have, both good and bad.
Fortunately or not, I not only brought my traditions but those of my husband to my family. I brought some good ones and some bad ones and he did too. Some even clashed and we had to work out a compromise.
I think of all the huge holiday traditions we have. I was so poor we only celebrated the big ones and most of the time the traditions were dictated by the amount of money we didn’t have. Christmas was hard, but we celebrated even if we had a small Christmas. Somehow the Lord provided for us. Steve, on the other hand, wasn’t so poor (at least when he can remember) so they had a bounteous Christmas. I didn’t have stocking; he did and now we do. He always got a book from his mother; I didn’t and that was one tradition I continued. I always got underwear for Christmas; he didn’t and now my children get a pack of underwear for Christmas. My family always got a puzzle or game for Christmas; his family was hit and miss, now we get a puzzle or game every year. I always put up my Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving just like my mom; but we have two trees—mine and the family. We always acted out the Nativity; so did he and we still do it (thankfully I finally had a girl to take over the part of Mary). We always read the story in Luke and so did he and we still do today. But we have started our own traditions. Steve ALWAYS reads “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and we watch a Christmas movie (usually on Christmas Adam—that is the day before Christmas Eve). I always sing in our stake’s Christmas devotional and my children attend. We always go caroling on Christmas Adam.
What about the other holidays? We truly don’t have many traditions around holidays but we did start one of our own and this one comes from when my husband was courting me. We were dating at BYU and I had a night volleyball class the night of Valentine’s Day in 1989. During that class a glass trophy case fell on my head and shattered. Because I was in class I had to go to the ER to be checked out. That put me clear across campus and without transportation home. My cousin always walked me to my scooter after class, but he wasn’t able to come to the ER with me—he had to finish the class. Needless to say I was a bit upset that all my warm clothes were back at the PE building and so my by scooter. I only had my PE uniform on and it was February in Provo! I knew one of my roommates had a car, but the likelihood of her being home was slim to none, but I didn’t know who else to call. My best friend, who had a car was in the hospital and so I was between a rock and a hard place. Then the ER guy told me that because I was hit on the head, I couldn’t walk home but had to have someone come get me. I decided to call my apartment and see if someone could go find a car to come get me. It so happened that Steve was at my apartment and he came to get me. I didn’t know who was coming for me as my roommate just said that they would find someone. He got me and took me to the PE building where I changed clothes. He then told me to leave the scooter and that he would help me the next day get it. He took me home and then wouldn’t leave but insisted on coming in with me. “I need to make sure you make it up the three flights of stairs.” (YEAH RIGHT!) When I got in the apartment I told Steve that I needed to take a shower to get all the glass out of my hair. He still just stood there! I truly didn’t want to see anyone that day because it was a HORRIBLE day. The library didn’t have any of the books I needed for a report, the trophy case fell on my head, I have lost a ton of homework time by sitting in the health center and now this guy wouldn’t leave my apartment!
Well, I walked back to my room and taped on my door there was a construction paper heart. I opened my door and over my bed was hanging probably 75 construction paper hearts!!! On a few of them were words and I had to put them in order. Steve had spent the better part of the afternoon cutting and taping hearts all over my bedroom asking me out the next day. The next day’s date was truly the first of many that won my heart.
To this day, we spend February 13th cutting out hearts only to tape them to the bedroom door (our first apartment had popcorn ceiling and then our second had vaulted ceilings). We call it a Heart Attack. When the kids came along the Valentine Fairy started showing up and leaving a helium balloon with a deck of cards or something small holding it down. To this day we continue that tradition! It is now trickling down to my children. Sometimes I find my door heart attacked when I’ve had a bad day. Sometimes I will find something yummy outside my bedroom door with a note that has creative spelling!
We also have the tradition of going camping. This comes from my house. We were so poor that is about all we could afford. Of course my husband would rather rough it in a Hotel 6, but he is kind and lets me continue this tradition. I love to camp! I’m just hoping that this year we can afford to go camping and can find the weekend to do it in.
Other traditions our family has:
Family council
Family Home Evening
Family Scriptures
Family Prayer
Yard work together
Saturday clean up!
July 4th (we all wear red, white and blue)
I’m not sure many of these are “righteous” traditions but my hope and prayer is that they will build wonderful memories and that some will even be used in their future homes. And I fervently pray that the bad traditions will be tossed by the way side.
Sister Lant asks some very thought provoking questions, “What kinds of traditions do we have?” and “Are we consciously creating righteous traditions, or is life just happening to us?”
I know the rest of the talk is important, but want to discuss traditions we have, both good and bad.
Fortunately or not, I not only brought my traditions but those of my husband to my family. I brought some good ones and some bad ones and he did too. Some even clashed and we had to work out a compromise.
I think of all the huge holiday traditions we have. I was so poor we only celebrated the big ones and most of the time the traditions were dictated by the amount of money we didn’t have. Christmas was hard, but we celebrated even if we had a small Christmas. Somehow the Lord provided for us. Steve, on the other hand, wasn’t so poor (at least when he can remember) so they had a bounteous Christmas. I didn’t have stocking; he did and now we do. He always got a book from his mother; I didn’t and that was one tradition I continued. I always got underwear for Christmas; he didn’t and now my children get a pack of underwear for Christmas. My family always got a puzzle or game for Christmas; his family was hit and miss, now we get a puzzle or game every year. I always put up my Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving just like my mom; but we have two trees—mine and the family. We always acted out the Nativity; so did he and we still do it (thankfully I finally had a girl to take over the part of Mary). We always read the story in Luke and so did he and we still do today. But we have started our own traditions. Steve ALWAYS reads “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and we watch a Christmas movie (usually on Christmas Adam—that is the day before Christmas Eve). I always sing in our stake’s Christmas devotional and my children attend. We always go caroling on Christmas Adam.
What about the other holidays? We truly don’t have many traditions around holidays but we did start one of our own and this one comes from when my husband was courting me. We were dating at BYU and I had a night volleyball class the night of Valentine’s Day in 1989. During that class a glass trophy case fell on my head and shattered. Because I was in class I had to go to the ER to be checked out. That put me clear across campus and without transportation home. My cousin always walked me to my scooter after class, but he wasn’t able to come to the ER with me—he had to finish the class. Needless to say I was a bit upset that all my warm clothes were back at the PE building and so my by scooter. I only had my PE uniform on and it was February in Provo! I knew one of my roommates had a car, but the likelihood of her being home was slim to none, but I didn’t know who else to call. My best friend, who had a car was in the hospital and so I was between a rock and a hard place. Then the ER guy told me that because I was hit on the head, I couldn’t walk home but had to have someone come get me. I decided to call my apartment and see if someone could go find a car to come get me. It so happened that Steve was at my apartment and he came to get me. I didn’t know who was coming for me as my roommate just said that they would find someone. He got me and took me to the PE building where I changed clothes. He then told me to leave the scooter and that he would help me the next day get it. He took me home and then wouldn’t leave but insisted on coming in with me. “I need to make sure you make it up the three flights of stairs.” (YEAH RIGHT!) When I got in the apartment I told Steve that I needed to take a shower to get all the glass out of my hair. He still just stood there! I truly didn’t want to see anyone that day because it was a HORRIBLE day. The library didn’t have any of the books I needed for a report, the trophy case fell on my head, I have lost a ton of homework time by sitting in the health center and now this guy wouldn’t leave my apartment!
Well, I walked back to my room and taped on my door there was a construction paper heart. I opened my door and over my bed was hanging probably 75 construction paper hearts!!! On a few of them were words and I had to put them in order. Steve had spent the better part of the afternoon cutting and taping hearts all over my bedroom asking me out the next day. The next day’s date was truly the first of many that won my heart.
To this day, we spend February 13th cutting out hearts only to tape them to the bedroom door (our first apartment had popcorn ceiling and then our second had vaulted ceilings). We call it a Heart Attack. When the kids came along the Valentine Fairy started showing up and leaving a helium balloon with a deck of cards or something small holding it down. To this day we continue that tradition! It is now trickling down to my children. Sometimes I find my door heart attacked when I’ve had a bad day. Sometimes I will find something yummy outside my bedroom door with a note that has creative spelling!
We also have the tradition of going camping. This comes from my house. We were so poor that is about all we could afford. Of course my husband would rather rough it in a Hotel 6, but he is kind and lets me continue this tradition. I love to camp! I’m just hoping that this year we can afford to go camping and can find the weekend to do it in.
Other traditions our family has:
Family council
Family Home Evening
Family Scriptures
Family Prayer
Yard work together
Saturday clean up!
July 4th (we all wear red, white and blue)
I’m not sure many of these are “righteous” traditions but my hope and prayer is that they will build wonderful memories and that some will even be used in their future homes. And I fervently pray that the bad traditions will be tossed by the way side.
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