General Conference Book Club - Week 19
President Thomas S. Monson
"Stand in Holy Places"
I read this talk because it was on the schedule for the Relief Society lesson in our ward. I don't know what the focus was on, because in Primary we talked about how we chose to follow Jesus before we were born, but I know what I got out of it.
From the title, I was expecting the talk to be about the importance of temples, yet it really wasn't at all. Instead it was on the importance of personal prayer and inspiration. We live in a very wicked world, and it's not getting any better as a whole. However, it is totally possible to feel peace and righteousness. I loved President Monson's stories that he used as examples of how that works. I appreciated his challenge to learn how to communicate with our Heavenly Father. I'm grateful for a prophet who lives what he preaches.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"Although the world has changed, the laws of God remain constant. They have not changed; they will not change. The Ten Commandments are just that - commandments. They are not suggestions."
"As a means of being in the world but not being of the world, it is necessary that we communicate with our Heavenly Father through prayer. He wants us to do so; He'll answer our prayers."
"Not a day has gone by that I have not communicated with my Father in Heaven through prayer. It is a relationship I cherish - one I would literally be lost without. If you do not now have such a relationship with your Father in Heaven, I urge you to work toward that goal. As you do so, you will be entitled to His inspiration and guidance in your life - necessities for each of us if we are to survive spiritually during our sojourn here on earth. Such inspiration and guidance are gifts He freely gives if we but seek them. What treasures they are!"
"There is nothing which can bring more joy into our lives or more peace to our souls than the Spirit which can come to us as we follow the Savior and keep the commandments."
That last quote reminded me of one of my favorite scriptures - Isaiah 32:17 - "And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever." What a beautiful promise!
Finally, one of the lessons that I do remember (at least the preparing part if not the giving part) from teaching seminary was the one on D&C 87, where we're taught of the importance of standing in holy places. President Harold B. Lee wrote a whole book on the subject, but it was summarized in this statement "A holy place is any place where a man enjoys the Spirit." (You can find it here, all the way at the bottom.) I remember the responsibility I felt to help the teenagers understand that even while walking down the hallways of the high school they could "stand in holy places," as long as they were worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Even several years later, I try to remember that concept on a daily basis myself.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
GCBC - Elder Ballard
General Conference Book Club - Week 18
Elder M. Russell Ballard
"The Importance of a Name"
Would you believe I didn't take any notes at all while listening to this talk originally? However, that doesn't mean it wasn't a good one, and I definitely took some notes while reading it again. Elder Ballard's main point was that we need to use the full, proper name of the church. After all, it was given to us by the Savior himself. As was quoted, "The use of the revealed name is increasingly important in our responsibility to proclaim the name of the Savior throughout all the world." I'm still amazed that people have a hard time believing we're Christians. I guess that means we need to do a better job at following Elder Ballard's counsel.
Note: This isn't a new phenomenon. President George Albert Smith had the following to say nearly 100 years ago, in 1924: "I have found many in the world who have not known that we believe in the divine mission of our Lord, and I have been led to say upon more than one occasion that there are no people in the world who so well understand the divine mission of Jesus Christ, who so thoroughly believe him to have been the Son of God, who are so sanguine [confident] that at the present time he is enthroned in glory at the right hand of his Father, as the Latter-day Saints."
I also appreciated his comments that nicknames are okay. After all, many of us don't use the name on our birth certificate all of the time. It's a sign of love and friendship to be given a nickname, even if it starts as teasing. (The story of how Wayne's grandpa went from Wetzel to Judge is a great example.) It's okay to be known as Mormons. Mormon was a wonderful prophet and a great example to all of us. However, I also appreciated Elder Ballard's counsel that the church is not the "Mormon Church" because it's not Mormon's church, it's Christ's church. I think there's a great distinction we need to make there.
The full name may be 9 words long, but that's okay, and I liked that he pointed that out. Primary children love singing "I Belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" and we should love saying the whole thing as well.
Finally, this was my favorite sentence of the talk - "Saint simply refers to those who seek to make their lives holy by covenanting to follow Christ." I need to remember to become a better saint by striving to be more holy each and every day, and that happens as I keep my covenants.
Elder M. Russell Ballard
"The Importance of a Name"
Would you believe I didn't take any notes at all while listening to this talk originally? However, that doesn't mean it wasn't a good one, and I definitely took some notes while reading it again. Elder Ballard's main point was that we need to use the full, proper name of the church. After all, it was given to us by the Savior himself. As was quoted, "The use of the revealed name is increasingly important in our responsibility to proclaim the name of the Savior throughout all the world." I'm still amazed that people have a hard time believing we're Christians. I guess that means we need to do a better job at following Elder Ballard's counsel.
Note: This isn't a new phenomenon. President George Albert Smith had the following to say nearly 100 years ago, in 1924: "I have found many in the world who have not known that we believe in the divine mission of our Lord, and I have been led to say upon more than one occasion that there are no people in the world who so well understand the divine mission of Jesus Christ, who so thoroughly believe him to have been the Son of God, who are so sanguine [confident] that at the present time he is enthroned in glory at the right hand of his Father, as the Latter-day Saints."
I also appreciated his comments that nicknames are okay. After all, many of us don't use the name on our birth certificate all of the time. It's a sign of love and friendship to be given a nickname, even if it starts as teasing. (The story of how Wayne's grandpa went from Wetzel to Judge is a great example.) It's okay to be known as Mormons. Mormon was a wonderful prophet and a great example to all of us. However, I also appreciated Elder Ballard's counsel that the church is not the "Mormon Church" because it's not Mormon's church, it's Christ's church. I think there's a great distinction we need to make there.
The full name may be 9 words long, but that's okay, and I liked that he pointed that out. Primary children love singing "I Belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" and we should love saying the whole thing as well.
Finally, this was my favorite sentence of the talk - "Saint simply refers to those who seek to make their lives holy by covenanting to follow Christ." I need to remember to become a better saint by striving to be more holy each and every day, and that happens as I keep my covenants.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
The Oak Tree
Elder Ballard shared this poem in our stake conference broadcast this morning. We miss the "mighty oaks" from our yard in Brandon, but at least we can always remember them, especially when we're reminded of the lessons that we can learn.
THE OAK TREE
A mighty wind blew night and day
It stole the oak tree’s leaves away
Then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark
Until the oak was tired and stark.
But still the oak tree held its ground
While other trees fell all around
The weary wind gave up and spoke.
How can you still be standing Oak?
The oak tree said, I know that you
Can break each branch of mine in two
Carry every leaf away
Shake my limbs, and make me sway.
But I have roots stretched in the earth
Growing stronger since my birth
You’ll never touch them, for you see
They are the deepest part of me.
Until today, I wasn’t sure
Of just how much I could endure
But now I’ve found, with thanks to you
I’m stronger than I ever knew.
By Johnny Ray Ryder Jr.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
GCBC - Sister Dalton
General Conference Book Club - Week 17
Sister Elaine Dalton
"Love Her Mother"
This was my absolute favorite talk from conference this time. I had so many thoughts running through my head while it was given.
First, I was grateful for my own father. He's absolutely the best. I never felt unwanted or unloved or unbeautiful (I know that's not a real word), and because I knew without a doubt that my earthly father loved me, it was easy to know that my Heavenly Father did too. That's really the greatest gift I've ever received and I'll cherish it forever.
Second, I was grateful for the father of my children. He's absolutely the best too! He's a great father of sons, and it's been a challenge to father a daughter, a challenge that has pushed him out of his comfort zone. There really is a difference between boys and girls. However, he's following all of Sister Dalton's advice, so I hope listening to this talk helped him feel better about that role.
Third, I was grateful for my son who is a new father of a daughter. I remember how touched I was with the picture he sent of him meeting her for the very first time. I'm grateful that he's been taught how to be a great father, and I'm looking forward to seeing the future unfold. He's already doing a terrific job!!
Last, I kept thinking about the next grandchild that will be joining our family shortly. In October we didn't know if it would be a boy or a girl, but my intuition felt it might be a girl. And since I needed a project to work on during conference, and I knew someone expecting a baby girl that could use it if my intuition was wrong (it wasn't), I went with a pink baby afghan. As I stitched I thought of these sweet little girls that are just about to begin their journey on earth. They are so blessed to have parents who already love them, love the gospel, and are anxious to help them return to Heavenly Father. And I'm grateful for living prophets and leaders who are there to help us too.
Sister Elaine Dalton
"Love Her Mother"
This was my absolute favorite talk from conference this time. I had so many thoughts running through my head while it was given.
First, I was grateful for my own father. He's absolutely the best. I never felt unwanted or unloved or unbeautiful (I know that's not a real word), and because I knew without a doubt that my earthly father loved me, it was easy to know that my Heavenly Father did too. That's really the greatest gift I've ever received and I'll cherish it forever.
Second, I was grateful for the father of my children. He's absolutely the best too! He's a great father of sons, and it's been a challenge to father a daughter, a challenge that has pushed him out of his comfort zone. There really is a difference between boys and girls. However, he's following all of Sister Dalton's advice, so I hope listening to this talk helped him feel better about that role.
Last, I kept thinking about the next grandchild that will be joining our family shortly. In October we didn't know if it would be a boy or a girl, but my intuition felt it might be a girl. And since I needed a project to work on during conference, and I knew someone expecting a baby girl that could use it if my intuition was wrong (it wasn't), I went with a pink baby afghan. As I stitched I thought of these sweet little girls that are just about to begin their journey on earth. They are so blessed to have parents who already love them, love the gospel, and are anxious to help them return to Heavenly Father. And I'm grateful for living prophets and leaders who are there to help us too.
I am grateful to be surrounded by men who "are not ordinary men," men who take their responsibility to be "guardians of the home" seriously, men who love women, whether they're little girls or aging grandmothers. What a marvelous blessing!
P.S. Don't forget to read all the other comments on this talk!
Sodom and Gomorrah
Last night for family night Wayne expanded upon the lesson he gave a few weeks ago (the one I missed because I was sick) by sharing a quote he heard on Sunday. Here's what President Packer taught:
"I know of nothing in the history of the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds in wickedness and depravity that which surrounds us now."
We do live in a wicked world. However, we don't have to be wicked ourselves. We have the ability to rise above the filth and stand in holy places. President Packer spoke on this theme again at the seminary commemoration broadcast on Sunday. I loved that talk as well. Remember to pray and repent, and then follow the promptings of the Spirit, and you'll be able stay on the right path.
Note: The source I found for the quote Wayne heard was an address given to seminary teachers in 2004. I attended that meeting and it was great reading the talk again. Here are some of the other quotes that made an impression upon me then, and again today.
"This shield of faith is handmade in a cottage industry. What is most worth doing ideally is done at home. It can be polished in the classroom, but it is fabricated and fitted in the home, handcrafted to each individual."
"Spiritual diseases of epidemic proportion sweep over the world. We are not able to curb them. But we can prevent our youth from being infected by them. Knowledge and a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ are like a vaccine. We can inoculate them. Inoculate: In—'to be within' and oculate means 'eye to see.' We place an eye within them—the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost."
"You are not responsible to cure the world’s environment. You can, with parents and priesthood and auxiliary leaders and teachers, send young Latter-day Saints out as leaven into the world, spiritually nourished, immunized to the influences of evil."
"Our youth can look forward with hope for a happy life. They shall marry and raise families in the Church and teach their little ones what you have taught them. They, in turn, will teach their children and their grandchildren."
"I do not know now any more surely that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father, than I did then as a soldier boy sitting on the cliff on that tiny speck of an island. There is one difference—now I know the Lord. I bear witness of Him and invoke His blessings upon you who teach, as fathers and mothers, as grandfathers and grandmothers, upon your families, upon your classes, upon your work."
"I know of nothing in the history of the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds in wickedness and depravity that which surrounds us now."
We do live in a wicked world. However, we don't have to be wicked ourselves. We have the ability to rise above the filth and stand in holy places. President Packer spoke on this theme again at the seminary commemoration broadcast on Sunday. I loved that talk as well. Remember to pray and repent, and then follow the promptings of the Spirit, and you'll be able stay on the right path.
Note: The source I found for the quote Wayne heard was an address given to seminary teachers in 2004. I attended that meeting and it was great reading the talk again. Here are some of the other quotes that made an impression upon me then, and again today.
"This shield of faith is handmade in a cottage industry. What is most worth doing ideally is done at home. It can be polished in the classroom, but it is fabricated and fitted in the home, handcrafted to each individual."
"Spiritual diseases of epidemic proportion sweep over the world. We are not able to curb them. But we can prevent our youth from being infected by them. Knowledge and a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ are like a vaccine. We can inoculate them. Inoculate: In—'to be within' and oculate means 'eye to see.' We place an eye within them—the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost."
"You are not responsible to cure the world’s environment. You can, with parents and priesthood and auxiliary leaders and teachers, send young Latter-day Saints out as leaven into the world, spiritually nourished, immunized to the influences of evil."
"Our youth can look forward with hope for a happy life. They shall marry and raise families in the Church and teach their little ones what you have taught them. They, in turn, will teach their children and their grandchildren."
"I do not know now any more surely that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father, than I did then as a soldier boy sitting on the cliff on that tiny speck of an island. There is one difference—now I know the Lord. I bear witness of Him and invoke His blessings upon you who teach, as fathers and mothers, as grandfathers and grandmothers, upon your families, upon your classes, upon your work."
Thursday, January 19, 2012
GCBC - Elder Callister
General Conference Book Club: Week 16
Elder Tad R. Callister
"The Book of Mormon - a Book from God"
Although I'm teaching a CTR class in Primary, I am aware that the adults are studying the Book of Mormon in Sunday School this year. And so I'm trying to stay caught up a bit with that as well. It was nice to review this talk and be reminded of the importance of the Book of Mormon. He's so right that it's either from God or the devil; there is no middle ground. And I'm grateful for my testimony that it's from God.
I also absolutely loved his visual for why we need this second witness to the Bible - a line with one dot or two. (You can go here to read it, because I'm not explaining it very well.) If the dot represents the scriptures and the line represents our interpretations, we can see that with just the Bible there are a myriad of interpretations, but if the interpretation has to agree with both sets of scriptures, there is only one. That's the beauty of the Book of Mormon - it enlightens our understanding of the gospel and leads us to Christ.
Elder Tad R. Callister
"The Book of Mormon - a Book from God"
Although I'm teaching a CTR class in Primary, I am aware that the adults are studying the Book of Mormon in Sunday School this year. And so I'm trying to stay caught up a bit with that as well. It was nice to review this talk and be reminded of the importance of the Book of Mormon. He's so right that it's either from God or the devil; there is no middle ground. And I'm grateful for my testimony that it's from God.
I also absolutely loved his visual for why we need this second witness to the Bible - a line with one dot or two. (You can go here to read it, because I'm not explaining it very well.) If the dot represents the scriptures and the line represents our interpretations, we can see that with just the Bible there are a myriad of interpretations, but if the interpretation has to agree with both sets of scriptures, there is only one. That's the beauty of the Book of Mormon - it enlightens our understanding of the gospel and leads us to Christ.
GCBC - Elder Hales
General Conference Book Club
Elder Robert D. Hales
"Waiting upon the Lord"
I read this talk last week (here it is) and have been thinking a bit about trials and adversity. In fact, that was the topic of our FHE lesson this week. No matter how well we may be doing at keeping the commandments (and there's always room for improvement in that area), we will have challenges. That's one of the purposes of life. So, I appreciated Elder Hales reminder that we are fully capable of coping with adversity. Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need, and he is always there to help us endure. And the better we get at aligning our will with His, the easier it gets.
For some reason, I also really like the word "wait" instead of "be patient." And I loved all his examples of what that means:
Like Elder Hales, I am grateful for adversity, mainly because of the blessings that come as we faithfully endure our trials. And I pray that I will always remember to "wait upon the Lord" no matter what happens.
Elder Robert D. Hales
"Waiting upon the Lord"
I read this talk last week (here it is) and have been thinking a bit about trials and adversity. In fact, that was the topic of our FHE lesson this week. No matter how well we may be doing at keeping the commandments (and there's always room for improvement in that area), we will have challenges. That's one of the purposes of life. So, I appreciated Elder Hales reminder that we are fully capable of coping with adversity. Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need, and he is always there to help us endure. And the better we get at aligning our will with His, the easier it gets.
For some reason, I also really like the word "wait" instead of "be patient." And I loved all his examples of what that means:
- hope
- anticipation
- trust
- faith
- diligence
- confidence
Like Elder Hales, I am grateful for adversity, mainly because of the blessings that come as we faithfully endure our trials. And I pray that I will always remember to "wait upon the Lord" no matter what happens.
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