This week's lesson was taught by Sis. Julie Schiess from the Ensign. The talk given by Elder Donald Hallstrom entitled "Turn to the Lord." It proved to be a rather emotional talk for all of us! First off, let me just say how nicely it tied in with the Sunday School lesson today about Elijah. Having already been in the frame of mind and spirit of thinking about trials and turning to the Lord, it increased that sensitivity in me and helped me feel the Spirit even more.
So basically the lesson is about how we handle hardships that we feel are because of other people...that we blame on other people or when we feel we have been wronged by someone. How we get angry with the Lord when things don't work out and we blame Him for all the bad things and turn away from Him. When in reality he has invited us to "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). We can always seek and find peace from the "Prince of Peace."
Many personal experiences were shared by Sis. Schiess that I will not share here. But most, if not all, of us have experienced those trying times when we are saying to ourselves and to our Father "Why me? Why us? Why this horrible terrible thing?" It is very difficult to "Turn TO the Lord" when anger and frustration instinctively tells us to "turn AWAY from the Lord." Usually it is when we just can't take one more minute of this life and are at our very lowest that we finally turn to Him and say, "Take it away from me." When we truly are submissive and willing to let Him take on our burdens is when we pray and turn the other way. The last paragraph or so states, "His most exemplary act, the Atonement, required Jesus to descend "below all things" (D&C 88:6) and suffer "the pains of all men" (2 Nephi 9:21). Thus we understand the Atonement has broader purpose than providing a means to overcome sin. This greatest of all earthly accomplishments gives the Savior the power to fulfill this promise: "If ye will TURN TO THE LORD with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence..., if ye do this, he will...deliver you out of #######" (Mosiah 7:33 emphasis added)."
The Lord is always willing and waiting for us to cast our burdens upon Him and help guide us through this life. But just as a stubborn toddler wants to get dressed himself or tie his own shoe, we are not always willing to do this because we want to "do it myself." When we are really frustrated and angry that it's not going the way we want, then we ask for help. One statement that was made from the article was this "...deal with the matter directly and with all the strength you have." If you feel you have been wronged, pray about the strategy you need to use to deal with the matter directly and then move forward with faith. The Lord will help you when you are ready to let Him help you.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
The Priesthood #2
So, last week we talked about the priesthood and the blessings we receive. This week was a little more about what it is and the organization of it. Sis. Joyce Bond gave the lesson this week. We discussed why the priesthood is in two different forms "the lesser and higher" named after certain prophets...Aaron and Melchesidek(sp?). We talked about the different quorums and she shared some new information I didn't know such as how many there can be in each quorum. Also, another thing I didn't know was that the Stake President and his counselors are the head of the High Priest Quorum. Jason (my husband) told me that this is the reason why it's called the "High Priest Group Leader" and not the President like it is for the Elders. Interesting....
We talked about some of the different uses of the priesthood (healing, baptism, marriage, father's blessing, sacrament, etc) and some of the sisters shared some of their own experiences. We also talked about the keys of the Priesthood and why they are necessary in the church. There are so many duties and responsibilities that priesthood holders have and we went through some of them. But think about it in your own mind (and read the lesson :) )and then think about what your responsibilities are at home and as a mother (or just as a woman.) There are some women who argue the fact that we should be entitled to have the priesthood as well and get offended by the thought that they can't have it. To these women I say ARE YOU CRAZY? I don't want the added pressure and responsibilities thank you very much. I can barely handle the responsibilities that the Lord has already entrusted me with. Think about that the next time you think "hey, why can't I have the priesthood?"
We talked about some of the different uses of the priesthood (healing, baptism, marriage, father's blessing, sacrament, etc) and some of the sisters shared some of their own experiences. We also talked about the keys of the Priesthood and why they are necessary in the church. There are so many duties and responsibilities that priesthood holders have and we went through some of them. But think about it in your own mind (and read the lesson :) )and then think about what your responsibilities are at home and as a mother (or just as a woman.) There are some women who argue the fact that we should be entitled to have the priesthood as well and get offended by the thought that they can't have it. To these women I say ARE YOU CRAZY? I don't want the added pressure and responsibilities thank you very much. I can barely handle the responsibilities that the Lord has already entrusted me with. Think about that the next time you think "hey, why can't I have the priesthood?"
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Book Club
This Wednesday, July 14th, is book club. It will be at Norma Mecham's house at 8pm. We will be discussing the book Cheaper By the Dozen and I tell you it is hilarious!! If you've seen the movie come and join us. If you haven't read the book come and join us. We always have a good time. The book for August will be "The Secret Garden." So get an early start!
The Priesthood
This week's lesson was given by Sis. Jana Starr from our manual. The Priesthood is such an important of our Father's plan but can get some of the women stirred up so she was very nervous about giving this lesson. I think she did a wonderful job and nobody voice their "women's rights" opinion.
The Priesthood is essential to have here on the earth because without it we wouldn't be able to perform vital ordinances such as baptism, temple marriage and sealings, healing of the sick, blessing the sacrament and so on. When I got married I was comforted knowing that not only was I marrying a worthy priesthood holder but also in the fact that I was being married by a worthy priesthood holder. Can you imagine being married by someone who received and printed his license off the internet?!?
Sis. Starr asked us to share our experiences with the priesthood. While many shared their stories I will share mine because I am the one writing the blog and I don't have time to call the others who shared and ask their permission to share personal stories. So, I share about the time that I was blessed. It was around 13 years ago when I was in what should have been a fatal car accident. My head was split open and I needed over 500 stitches...oh and one in my ear. When I got home from the hospital that night my father and hometeacher gave me a blessing. I don't remember anything that was said. I do remember feeling at peace however. After my parents went to bed I said a little prayer myself and told the Lord that I know I just received a priesthood blessing to be healed but I was only worried about that night. I was sleeping in a room near my parents and I didn't want them to worry about me. I prayed that for just this one night I would be free from the pain and be able to sleep well so that my parent could also. I didn't feel any pain and I literally felt the hands of my Savior on my head and everything was calm. I only had to get up to go the loo...three times...if you had three bags of I.V. you would need to as well! Most people can hardly see the scar that is left. I see it every time I look in the mirror and every time I see it it reminds me of the experience and how important the priesthood is in my life. Other stories were shared about similar healing experiences and how the priesthood brought them comfort and peace. One sister shared how she witnessed a father giving his brand new little baby permission to return to his Father in Heaven and that of course brought tears to everyone's eyes.
Sis. Starr shared the differences between her two grandfathers. Both very worthy priesthood holders, but one felt that he wasn't worthy enough to wield such an awesome power and so shyed away from using it. The other using it every chance that came along. At the end she asked us how we can support our Priesthood holders. Giving them opportunities to use the priesthood, encouraging them to do their hometeaching, teaching your children about the priesthood and the respect the priesthood and its holders deserve. A few sisters shared the experiences they remember from their father's giving them blessings. I remember my grandfather. He got dressed up in a suit and tie everytime he was asked to give a blessing. Even for the ones he gave to his children for the upcoming school year. He had tremendous respect for the priesthood. I didn't share this in the meeting because of time restraints, but it's such a cute story that I'll share it here...and again, I'm the one that writes the blog :)
When Maddie was just two year old she started having gran mal seizures. She became violent from the medications...one of those side effects they neglect to tell you about and say it happens rarerly...One night we were driving home from grandma's house and Maddie kept telling us she wanted to watch a "woovie." We kept telling her it was late and time for bed and she could watch a movie in the morning. She wasn't having a tantrum at this time but hadn't had a very good week. Jason had already planned to give her a blessing before she went to bed to help her have a better day in the morning. He said that while he was sitting in church he felt impressed to give her one. In our house we call them "special blessings" from Heavenly Father. We told her that daddy was going to give her a special blessing and that Heavenly Father had a special message to tell her and so she needed to listen very carefully. When he was finished he asked her what the special message was and she said in this very tiny, deep voice "Maddie wants to watch a woovie." It was so cute and we just busted up laughing. We still didn't give in though.
I have a strong testimony of the Priesthood and I'm grateful for this lesson as it helps remind me and you sisters about the importance of the Priesthood. Sis. Starr also asked how we can access the Priesthood if you don't have it in your home. Hometeachers, Bishops, and I would add to that Prayer. Ask the One who gave it to help you if you don't have any other way. We know that as women we do have access to it even if we don't hold it. I've had to ask it from the Lord when I was a single mom and I will never forget that experience nor forget my Heavenly Father's love for me. Honor the Priesthood and support those who have it.
The Priesthood is essential to have here on the earth because without it we wouldn't be able to perform vital ordinances such as baptism, temple marriage and sealings, healing of the sick, blessing the sacrament and so on. When I got married I was comforted knowing that not only was I marrying a worthy priesthood holder but also in the fact that I was being married by a worthy priesthood holder. Can you imagine being married by someone who received and printed his license off the internet?!?
Sis. Starr asked us to share our experiences with the priesthood. While many shared their stories I will share mine because I am the one writing the blog and I don't have time to call the others who shared and ask their permission to share personal stories. So, I share about the time that I was blessed. It was around 13 years ago when I was in what should have been a fatal car accident. My head was split open and I needed over 500 stitches...oh and one in my ear. When I got home from the hospital that night my father and hometeacher gave me a blessing. I don't remember anything that was said. I do remember feeling at peace however. After my parents went to bed I said a little prayer myself and told the Lord that I know I just received a priesthood blessing to be healed but I was only worried about that night. I was sleeping in a room near my parents and I didn't want them to worry about me. I prayed that for just this one night I would be free from the pain and be able to sleep well so that my parent could also. I didn't feel any pain and I literally felt the hands of my Savior on my head and everything was calm. I only had to get up to go the loo...three times...if you had three bags of I.V. you would need to as well! Most people can hardly see the scar that is left. I see it every time I look in the mirror and every time I see it it reminds me of the experience and how important the priesthood is in my life. Other stories were shared about similar healing experiences and how the priesthood brought them comfort and peace. One sister shared how she witnessed a father giving his brand new little baby permission to return to his Father in Heaven and that of course brought tears to everyone's eyes.
Sis. Starr shared the differences between her two grandfathers. Both very worthy priesthood holders, but one felt that he wasn't worthy enough to wield such an awesome power and so shyed away from using it. The other using it every chance that came along. At the end she asked us how we can support our Priesthood holders. Giving them opportunities to use the priesthood, encouraging them to do their hometeaching, teaching your children about the priesthood and the respect the priesthood and its holders deserve. A few sisters shared the experiences they remember from their father's giving them blessings. I remember my grandfather. He got dressed up in a suit and tie everytime he was asked to give a blessing. Even for the ones he gave to his children for the upcoming school year. He had tremendous respect for the priesthood. I didn't share this in the meeting because of time restraints, but it's such a cute story that I'll share it here...and again, I'm the one that writes the blog :)
When Maddie was just two year old she started having gran mal seizures. She became violent from the medications...one of those side effects they neglect to tell you about and say it happens rarerly...One night we were driving home from grandma's house and Maddie kept telling us she wanted to watch a "woovie." We kept telling her it was late and time for bed and she could watch a movie in the morning. She wasn't having a tantrum at this time but hadn't had a very good week. Jason had already planned to give her a blessing before she went to bed to help her have a better day in the morning. He said that while he was sitting in church he felt impressed to give her one. In our house we call them "special blessings" from Heavenly Father. We told her that daddy was going to give her a special blessing and that Heavenly Father had a special message to tell her and so she needed to listen very carefully. When he was finished he asked her what the special message was and she said in this very tiny, deep voice "Maddie wants to watch a woovie." It was so cute and we just busted up laughing. We still didn't give in though.
I have a strong testimony of the Priesthood and I'm grateful for this lesson as it helps remind me and you sisters about the importance of the Priesthood. Sis. Starr also asked how we can access the Priesthood if you don't have it in your home. Hometeachers, Bishops, and I would add to that Prayer. Ask the One who gave it to help you if you don't have any other way. We know that as women we do have access to it even if we don't hold it. I've had to ask it from the Lord when I was a single mom and I will never forget that experience nor forget my Heavenly Father's love for me. Honor the Priesthood and support those who have it.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Fancy Nancy Tea Party!
On July 9th while the boys are out doing their Father's and Sons activity, we are going to do a Mother-Daughter Tea party. Even if you do not have a daughter you should still come!!!! Bring your mother, daughter, sister, niece, grandmother, sons or even just yourself, but COME!
The theme is PINK and FANCY- wear your fanciest tea clothes and come enjoy pink "tea" and pink sandwiches and pink dessert. We are asking that you prepare to share something that you like to do with your daughter or something that your mother taught you. For instance, I teach piano and love to play. I am also teaching that to my daughters and so they will play a number for you on the piano. If you love to read (like me and my girls) you could bring a few of your favorite books to share with us or recite a poem. Show us some of the things you've crocheted or your favorite recipe that you like to make together. Stand up and tell us that you like to go on walks together or sit on the porch and watch the sunset. Whatever it is we want to know about it! From 6:30pm-9:00pm on Friday the 9th! Come and don't let the tea get cold!
The theme is PINK and FANCY- wear your fanciest tea clothes and come enjoy pink "tea" and pink sandwiches and pink dessert. We are asking that you prepare to share something that you like to do with your daughter or something that your mother taught you. For instance, I teach piano and love to play. I am also teaching that to my daughters and so they will play a number for you on the piano. If you love to read (like me and my girls) you could bring a few of your favorite books to share with us or recite a poem. Show us some of the things you've crocheted or your favorite recipe that you like to make together. Stand up and tell us that you like to go on walks together or sit on the porch and watch the sunset. Whatever it is we want to know about it! From 6:30pm-9:00pm on Friday the 9th! Come and don't let the tea get cold!
Fire Escape Plan
Well, unfortunately for those of you in attendance this week...I had the lesson. For the first time in my life I couldn't think of what to say! I couldn't think of what to center my lesson on and I was literally grasping at straws and organizing my thoughts during sacrament meeting and even during my lesson. I thought, why not a patriotic lesson since it's the 4th of July, but I just couldn't get it to meld properly. So then I thought, why not do a "treasures of the scriptures" lesson? Couldn't work that out either. Then I read my patriarchal blessing and it talked a lot about kindness and charity so I thought maybe that was my answer...but nope it wasn't. Friday night I had my FHE lesson that I gave awhile ago about a "Spiritual Fire Escape Plan" to give to my children about the dangers of Satan's temptations. The flood gates were opened when I prayed about it and I thought, ok this is my lesson. Then I started thinking about the Conference talks and how most of them were centered around teaching our children in the home and I thought that it went nicely with my fire escape plan. So I combined them.
I'd like to go through the different aspects of a fire escape plan. Keep in mind that I am comparing this to a physical and spiritual plan. About a month ago I was teaching piano and when my student finished playing her song she said, "I smell smoke." I didn't smell it and so I turned my head to look at my children in the front room and happened to pan my large window. Outside were large flames! My neighbor's tree was on fire!! I didn't even smell it and even then when I knew that there was a fire I still couldn't smell it. It wasn't until I went outside and got closer that I could smell the smoke. I panicked a little in mind. What do I do? I have a house full of kids. I see my neighbor from across the street running over with a little fire extinguisher trying to put it out. It doesn't work. I see her run back home for something else. I ask myself, "should I call the fire dept.? Is this serious enough for that?" I decided that YES it was. If the wind blew it could come over to my house, or it could move to the next tree or spit out and catch something else on fire. So I made the call. I noticed my neighbour across the street on her phone as well. Soon the fire dept. came and the crisis was handled and all was well. After my piano lessons were over my children started asking me all kinds of questions and I decided to use this as a teaching moment for them. "Mom, how did this happen?" "Well someone made a wrong choice and we didn't smell the smoke fast enough to take care of it. So we called the firefighters and they helped us." Shortly after the fire was out my neighbour who had lost his tree was outside with a shovel. "Mom, what's he doing?" "He's cleaning up the hot ashes and taking care of them so that they don't start another fire." Finally, all that was left was a very black, very charred tree trunk with little stubs of charred branches sticking out. A reminder of what that one wrong choice had done and the damage that happened as a result of not noticing it in time. A few days later my children noticed that the dead tree was gone. "Mom, where did the tree go?" "Well, it's dead and so he probably threw it away." "What's going to happen now? What's he going to do there?" "Oh, he might put in another new tree or plant something else there. It will take a while for it to grow but now he can start over with something fresh and new." This was the basis of my FHE lesson to my children that following Monday night.
First, let's talk about the smoke. In our spiritual plan this is Satan's temptations. It is the first warning sign of danger. Sometimes we may not even smell the smoke and we may not notice it, but if we don't attend to it soon it becomes an even larger problem. It starts to consume us and suffocate us before it suddenly bursts into flames and becomes to much for us to handle and put out. Things like, skipping your scripture study for a day or two, or procrastination, or poor time management. What about not attending your church meetings two weeks in a row or putting off paying your tithing until next pay check? All of these are those subtle little things that can fester and grow if we don't take care of them right away. Now of course there are the obvious things like smoking, drinking, drugs, ########### and the like that are obvious to some...but not all...and they can still start small and grow bigger. These, however, tend to grow faster than others.
Ok, so what do we do if we let it get out of hand and there's a fire? Well, first we try to put it out ourselves, right the wrong, do better, make better choices. Repent. But as I said before it can get to big for us to handle. When we know that we can't put it out ourselves we try to get out of the house. Take the best escape route and run! Pray and pray. In a physical fire we go to a central meeting place and call for help. Others may have noticed the danger and trouble you are in and will try to help you. Whether or not you accept that help is up to you and can be a hard thing to do. But even then, you need to call the professionals-the firefighters. In the Spiritual sense, you need to call on your Father in Heaven. He knows what to do to help you put out those big flames and will always come through. The damage is still done and there are still things we need to do. Clean up those ashes before the ignite again! Take the necessary steps to get back on the right path. Read your scriptures, pray, go to church, partake of the sacrament...all of the Sunday School answers but the most important ones! And when you've got it all cleaned up-get rid of the dead and start anew. Start over again nice and fresh and keep working at it. Isn't it interesting that it takes a looonnnggg time to make something good and keep it growing, but only a split second for it to be lost and ruined?
As I searched through the most recent issue of the Conference Ensign I thought, "I'll just select the talks that talk about teaching our children." Well, that turned out to be about half of them! I won't share them all here with you but I will just give you a brief run down. One of the things almost all of them talked about was "going back and rescuing" those who have been lost. Now, in a physical fire escape plan we are taught that we go to the meeting place and we wait. If someone is not there we do not go back in for them. The nice thing about a spiritual plan is that we CAN go back for those who didn't make it out. "We never give up!" the articles say. We must teach our children that it is never to late for them. The Atonement will always help us to get out and heal us when we get burned. But we have to ask for His help.
Now, in our homes we have fire alarms. Do they always work? No! Why not? The batteries have not been replaced is the most common reason. What good is a fire alarm to warn us if the batteries don't work? In our spiritual escape plan we have the Holy Ghost as our alarm. But he can't help us if we don't keep our batteries charged by reading our scriptures, praying, going to the temple, etc. He can warn us all he wants, but if we don't listen to him or "hear" him he eventually stops warning us and then it's too late.
The central meeting place is the Temple or the Celestial Kingdom. How sad would you be if a family member didn't make it out of a burning house? Now, how sad would you be if a family member didn't make it to the Celestial Kingdom? Go to the temple and be sealed to your family and keep those sacred covenants that you make. Make sure that you are worthy to be there with your family and help them understand just how important it is to you that they can be with you as well!
One of the things I have a hard time with is "Save yourself." I have a hard time thinking that in the event of an emergency on a plane I would really put my mask on first and THEN help my children. What if they died because I wasn't fast enough? But on the other hand who will help them if I die? Fortunately it's not such a difficult decision in the gospel. Study and pray and get to know your Savior so that you can teach your children about Him. The ensign says "What do your children see when they look at you?...Do they see the Savior's image in your countenance?" This statement made me reflect upon myself and I found myself disappointed in what I saw. All of the talks in the Ensign tell us to be examples to our children. "Do what is right, let the consequence follow," hopefully that consequence will be your children following in your footsteps on the straight and narrow. One of the articles said that most of us are born into the church already on the straight and narrow. It is our jobs as parents to teach our children the gospel and love them and let them know that they always have a place to come home to, just in case they stray off that path. We don't start out in a burning home and some of us will never experience that terrible tragedy. But hopefully we'll know what to do if it ever comes to that. When I teach my children about fire safety I first tell them what to do and then we physically practice it from beginning to end. I even have them in their beds with lights out. We go through different scenarios and run through each thing. Now when a real fire happens I just hope and pray that they will remember and know what to do. The physical plan we practice every 6 months or so just to keep it fresh in their minds and remind them of what we learned and practiced. The same goes for our spiritual plan. We tell our kids to read their scriptures and then we have family scripture study. Then, when they are old enough to go out into the world and make their own decisions we just hope and pray they remember what they were taught and that they'll know what to do. This plan, however, needs to be practiced every day and not just every few months!
The last article that I referred to in my lesson stated that everything happens in the home. Missionary work, activation, family history, etc. it all happens in the home. So, bear with me and just use your imagination on this, I tried to think of how to best tie this all in and this is what I came up with...FHE=Family Home Evening/FHE= Fire Home Escape plan. There are many different ways to do FHE and you don't have to do it only when you have children. You should do it even if you are single, widowed or empty nesters. There are so many resources out there for lessons and activities. There really is no excuse for not doing it. My husband gave a FHE lesson on the small and simple things. We set a goal for our family that month to have family prayer each night for the entire month. We made our goal! And we made it with the help of my not-quite-two-year-old little boy who reminded us every night that we needed to say prayers. "Girls time for prayers" he would say every night to his sisters. Then he would go into their room and kneel by their bed and fold his arms. He reminds me at breakfast that we need to read the scriptures. Set small goals for your family and when you have accomplished that goal move on to the next. D&C 88:119 talks about having a house of order, a house of prayer, of house of fasting, a house of learning, a house of glory and a house of God (paraphrased I'm sure I missed something). I take one of those things at a time and we work on them together as a family.
I'm sorry this was so long. I remember a lot more of the lesson when I'm the one that has to give it :) and as always this lesson was more as a reminder to me of what I need to learn and work on! I hope that it made sense to you and that you will practice your FHE plan daily!
I'd like to go through the different aspects of a fire escape plan. Keep in mind that I am comparing this to a physical and spiritual plan. About a month ago I was teaching piano and when my student finished playing her song she said, "I smell smoke." I didn't smell it and so I turned my head to look at my children in the front room and happened to pan my large window. Outside were large flames! My neighbor's tree was on fire!! I didn't even smell it and even then when I knew that there was a fire I still couldn't smell it. It wasn't until I went outside and got closer that I could smell the smoke. I panicked a little in mind. What do I do? I have a house full of kids. I see my neighbor from across the street running over with a little fire extinguisher trying to put it out. It doesn't work. I see her run back home for something else. I ask myself, "should I call the fire dept.? Is this serious enough for that?" I decided that YES it was. If the wind blew it could come over to my house, or it could move to the next tree or spit out and catch something else on fire. So I made the call. I noticed my neighbour across the street on her phone as well. Soon the fire dept. came and the crisis was handled and all was well. After my piano lessons were over my children started asking me all kinds of questions and I decided to use this as a teaching moment for them. "Mom, how did this happen?" "Well someone made a wrong choice and we didn't smell the smoke fast enough to take care of it. So we called the firefighters and they helped us." Shortly after the fire was out my neighbour who had lost his tree was outside with a shovel. "Mom, what's he doing?" "He's cleaning up the hot ashes and taking care of them so that they don't start another fire." Finally, all that was left was a very black, very charred tree trunk with little stubs of charred branches sticking out. A reminder of what that one wrong choice had done and the damage that happened as a result of not noticing it in time. A few days later my children noticed that the dead tree was gone. "Mom, where did the tree go?" "Well, it's dead and so he probably threw it away." "What's going to happen now? What's he going to do there?" "Oh, he might put in another new tree or plant something else there. It will take a while for it to grow but now he can start over with something fresh and new." This was the basis of my FHE lesson to my children that following Monday night.
First, let's talk about the smoke. In our spiritual plan this is Satan's temptations. It is the first warning sign of danger. Sometimes we may not even smell the smoke and we may not notice it, but if we don't attend to it soon it becomes an even larger problem. It starts to consume us and suffocate us before it suddenly bursts into flames and becomes to much for us to handle and put out. Things like, skipping your scripture study for a day or two, or procrastination, or poor time management. What about not attending your church meetings two weeks in a row or putting off paying your tithing until next pay check? All of these are those subtle little things that can fester and grow if we don't take care of them right away. Now of course there are the obvious things like smoking, drinking, drugs, ########### and the like that are obvious to some...but not all...and they can still start small and grow bigger. These, however, tend to grow faster than others.
Ok, so what do we do if we let it get out of hand and there's a fire? Well, first we try to put it out ourselves, right the wrong, do better, make better choices. Repent. But as I said before it can get to big for us to handle. When we know that we can't put it out ourselves we try to get out of the house. Take the best escape route and run! Pray and pray. In a physical fire we go to a central meeting place and call for help. Others may have noticed the danger and trouble you are in and will try to help you. Whether or not you accept that help is up to you and can be a hard thing to do. But even then, you need to call the professionals-the firefighters. In the Spiritual sense, you need to call on your Father in Heaven. He knows what to do to help you put out those big flames and will always come through. The damage is still done and there are still things we need to do. Clean up those ashes before the ignite again! Take the necessary steps to get back on the right path. Read your scriptures, pray, go to church, partake of the sacrament...all of the Sunday School answers but the most important ones! And when you've got it all cleaned up-get rid of the dead and start anew. Start over again nice and fresh and keep working at it. Isn't it interesting that it takes a looonnnggg time to make something good and keep it growing, but only a split second for it to be lost and ruined?
As I searched through the most recent issue of the Conference Ensign I thought, "I'll just select the talks that talk about teaching our children." Well, that turned out to be about half of them! I won't share them all here with you but I will just give you a brief run down. One of the things almost all of them talked about was "going back and rescuing" those who have been lost. Now, in a physical fire escape plan we are taught that we go to the meeting place and we wait. If someone is not there we do not go back in for them. The nice thing about a spiritual plan is that we CAN go back for those who didn't make it out. "We never give up!" the articles say. We must teach our children that it is never to late for them. The Atonement will always help us to get out and heal us when we get burned. But we have to ask for His help.
Now, in our homes we have fire alarms. Do they always work? No! Why not? The batteries have not been replaced is the most common reason. What good is a fire alarm to warn us if the batteries don't work? In our spiritual escape plan we have the Holy Ghost as our alarm. But he can't help us if we don't keep our batteries charged by reading our scriptures, praying, going to the temple, etc. He can warn us all he wants, but if we don't listen to him or "hear" him he eventually stops warning us and then it's too late.
The central meeting place is the Temple or the Celestial Kingdom. How sad would you be if a family member didn't make it out of a burning house? Now, how sad would you be if a family member didn't make it to the Celestial Kingdom? Go to the temple and be sealed to your family and keep those sacred covenants that you make. Make sure that you are worthy to be there with your family and help them understand just how important it is to you that they can be with you as well!
One of the things I have a hard time with is "Save yourself." I have a hard time thinking that in the event of an emergency on a plane I would really put my mask on first and THEN help my children. What if they died because I wasn't fast enough? But on the other hand who will help them if I die? Fortunately it's not such a difficult decision in the gospel. Study and pray and get to know your Savior so that you can teach your children about Him. The ensign says "What do your children see when they look at you?...Do they see the Savior's image in your countenance?" This statement made me reflect upon myself and I found myself disappointed in what I saw. All of the talks in the Ensign tell us to be examples to our children. "Do what is right, let the consequence follow," hopefully that consequence will be your children following in your footsteps on the straight and narrow. One of the articles said that most of us are born into the church already on the straight and narrow. It is our jobs as parents to teach our children the gospel and love them and let them know that they always have a place to come home to, just in case they stray off that path. We don't start out in a burning home and some of us will never experience that terrible tragedy. But hopefully we'll know what to do if it ever comes to that. When I teach my children about fire safety I first tell them what to do and then we physically practice it from beginning to end. I even have them in their beds with lights out. We go through different scenarios and run through each thing. Now when a real fire happens I just hope and pray that they will remember and know what to do. The physical plan we practice every 6 months or so just to keep it fresh in their minds and remind them of what we learned and practiced. The same goes for our spiritual plan. We tell our kids to read their scriptures and then we have family scripture study. Then, when they are old enough to go out into the world and make their own decisions we just hope and pray they remember what they were taught and that they'll know what to do. This plan, however, needs to be practiced every day and not just every few months!
The last article that I referred to in my lesson stated that everything happens in the home. Missionary work, activation, family history, etc. it all happens in the home. So, bear with me and just use your imagination on this, I tried to think of how to best tie this all in and this is what I came up with...FHE=Family Home Evening/FHE= Fire Home Escape plan. There are many different ways to do FHE and you don't have to do it only when you have children. You should do it even if you are single, widowed or empty nesters. There are so many resources out there for lessons and activities. There really is no excuse for not doing it. My husband gave a FHE lesson on the small and simple things. We set a goal for our family that month to have family prayer each night for the entire month. We made our goal! And we made it with the help of my not-quite-two-year-old little boy who reminded us every night that we needed to say prayers. "Girls time for prayers" he would say every night to his sisters. Then he would go into their room and kneel by their bed and fold his arms. He reminds me at breakfast that we need to read the scriptures. Set small goals for your family and when you have accomplished that goal move on to the next. D&C 88:119 talks about having a house of order, a house of prayer, of house of fasting, a house of learning, a house of glory and a house of God (paraphrased I'm sure I missed something). I take one of those things at a time and we work on them together as a family.
I'm sorry this was so long. I remember a lot more of the lesson when I'm the one that has to give it :) and as always this lesson was more as a reminder to me of what I need to learn and work on! I hope that it made sense to you and that you will practice your FHE plan daily!
Let Virtue Garnish Thy Thoughts
This is from last week's lesson. I sat down and typed up the blog and had it all ready to go...and then my computer froze and I had to shut 'er down without being able to post all of my hard work!! So I apologize that this is two weeks behind. I'll try to do my best in recounting the lesson that long ago...
Sis. Schiess opened up the lesson by talking about the "ity" virtues like charITY, purITY, humilITY. Sis. Peterson shared that she typed up a list of these virtues and stuck them on her bathroom mirror where the whole family could see it with a daily challenge that said "Choose your 'ity' for the day." I thought that this was such a good idea that I have started doing the same thing in my family. My children are a little too young to understand what it means but it sure has helped me have a more meaningful day when I am focusing on a virtue to improve myself, rather than every little thing I have to do that day. Try it, you might like it!
Sis. Debbie Evenson later shared a wonderful quote that had us all oooing and aaahhing about it. She said "the only people you need to get "even" with are the ones who have helped you." What a great motto to live by! I think I'll put that in vinyl and stick it on my wall to remind me to really focus on the positive.
Improving ourselves and focusing on the good things in life make us a lot happier and more pleasant to be around. I left that lesson wanting to become a better person not only for myself but for my family as well. I hope that you all read this talk and feel the Spirit touch her heart the way he did mine!
(sorry for the short synopsis...the one I wrote earlier was much better...but too much time has passed and I am like a goldfish-I only remember what happened 30 seconds ago!)
Sis. Schiess opened up the lesson by talking about the "ity" virtues like charITY, purITY, humilITY. Sis. Peterson shared that she typed up a list of these virtues and stuck them on her bathroom mirror where the whole family could see it with a daily challenge that said "Choose your 'ity' for the day." I thought that this was such a good idea that I have started doing the same thing in my family. My children are a little too young to understand what it means but it sure has helped me have a more meaningful day when I am focusing on a virtue to improve myself, rather than every little thing I have to do that day. Try it, you might like it!
Sis. Debbie Evenson later shared a wonderful quote that had us all oooing and aaahhing about it. She said "the only people you need to get "even" with are the ones who have helped you." What a great motto to live by! I think I'll put that in vinyl and stick it on my wall to remind me to really focus on the positive.
Improving ourselves and focusing on the good things in life make us a lot happier and more pleasant to be around. I left that lesson wanting to become a better person not only for myself but for my family as well. I hope that you all read this talk and feel the Spirit touch her heart the way he did mine!
(sorry for the short synopsis...the one I wrote earlier was much better...but too much time has passed and I am like a goldfish-I only remember what happened 30 seconds ago!)
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