28 June 2022
21 June 2022
Wisdom
You need not worry that I do not understand some matters of doctrine. I think I understand them thoroughly, and it is unfortunate that the reporting may not make this clear. I hope you will never look to the public press as the authority on the doctrines of the Church.
It is not in the proper spirit for us to decide where we will serve or where we will not. We serve where we are called. It does not matter what the calling may be.
There's been only one time I did not accept a calling. We had just moved to a new ward, from Washington state to Virginia. We had three little children, ages 5, 3 and 1. We had just begun to homeschool our oldest. One evening my husband said that a counselor from the bishopric was coming over to issue a calling to me. I asked, with trepidation, "What it the calling?" It was to work in Primary. I spontaneously burst into tears. My husband worked long hours and I was with children 24/7. I just couldn't face being with them on Sunday. I really needed to be with adults for a few hours. So my husband explained the situation to the counselor and Brother Brown said that if they'd known our circumstances they wouldn't have decided on that calling. Several months later when our stake was reorganized and boundaries changed, I was called into the Stake Relief Society presidency as a counselor. That calling fit our circumstances much better and I enjoyed building friendships throughout the stake. I even had two more babies while serving in that calling.
While we do not ask to be released from a calling, if our circumstances change it is quite in order for us to counsel with those who have issued the call and then let them decision rest with them. Nor should we feel rejected when we are released by the same authority and with the same inspiration by which we were called.
We cannot cope with the confusions and the challenges of this world unless we use a clear and consistent moral compass that will unerringly take us through our own personal trials and the tugs and pulls of our own temptations--a compass that will chart our way to peace of mind, self-worth, and joy.
We have watched humble, devoted priesthood and auxiliary leaders strive to build the kingdom and to bless the lives of the Saints, but without having the advantages of telephones or personal vehicles.
My desire is to plead with our sisters to stop worrying about a phone call or a quarterly or monthly visit, and whether that will do, and concentrate instead on nurturing tender souls.
While the body may reach the peak of its maturation in a few years, the development of the spirit may never reach the limit of its capacity, because there is no end to progression.
15 June 2022
I Concur
07 June 2022
". . . life was very different . . ."
31 May 2022
Pioneer Journeys
We are all bound together--19th- and 20th-century pioneers and more--in our great journey to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and to allow His atoning sacrifice to work its miracle in our lives. While we all can appreciate the footsteps of faith walked by Joseph Smith and his followers from Palmyra to Carthage Jail and across the Great Plains, we should ever stand in reverential awe as we contemplate the path trod by the Master. His faithful footsteps to Gethsemane and to Calvary rescued all of us and opened the way for us to return to our heavenly home.
17 May 2022
Take Your Pick
10 May 2022
Getting Members to the Temple
Our challenges are more subtle but equally hard. Maintaining our spiritual strength is also a daily challenge. The greatest source of that spiritual strength come, as it did in their time, from our temples.
I urge all who have not yet received these greatest of all blessings within the walls of the temple to do whatever may be necessary to qualify to receive them. To those who have received these blessings, I invite you to savor again the experience of being within the sacred premises of the holy temples of God and have the visions of life eternal open again to your hearts, minds, and souls.
03 May 2022
The Divinity Which is Within You
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Four years ago Noble was awarded an AS degree. This week she's just finished her second year of a Masters. |
Your God-given appreciation for the spiritual, the lovely, and the beautiful is part of the divinity which is within you. You make life so much more pleasant and worthwhile for all of us.
As my dear Ruth faithfully attended Relief Society over the years, our home and family was blessed with more of spirituality and peace. Things seemed to go smoother because of the spiritual enrichment she received.
For the daughters of God, doing the Savior's work . . . include[s] building faith by testimony and example. It includes teaching the doctrines of salvation. It includes following the Savior's example of love for all mankind. It includes ministering to others. . .
The bearing of testimony benefits both the one testifying as well as the one listening. Regular temple attendance will help us meet all our challenges. Accepting calls from priesthood leaders as well as visiting teaching assignments from the Relief Society president will be a great strengthening experience. In rendering compassionate service individually and as a group, you lose sight of your own problems and do the work the Savior did.
26 April 2022
"Peaceable Things"
This past Sunday I spoke in Sacrament Meeting about prophets and the importance of listening to and following their instructions. In this session of conference Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said:
A general conference of this church is a remarkable occasion indeed--it is an institutional declaration that the heavens are open, that divine guidance is as real today as it was for the ancient house of Israel, that God our Heavenly Father loves us and speaks His will through a living prophet.
He talked about how "peace and good tidings . . . are among the ultimate blessings that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings a troubled world."
Closely related to our own obligation to repent is the generosity of letting others do the same--we are to forgive even as we are forgiven. . . We don't want God to remember our sins, so there is something fundamentally wrong in our relentlessly trying to remember those of others.
The better angels of our nature. That is what much of what the Church and general conference and the gospel of Jesus Christ are about. The appeal today and tomorrow and forever to be better, to be cleaner, to be kinder, to be holier; to seek peace and always be believing.
19 April 2022
Timeless Counsel and Encouragement
This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday morning session of the October 1996 conference.
Elder Faust's talk, "Woman, Why Weepest Thou?" was perfect for the Easter season. His faith and kindness comes through when he says, "I believe the kind and merciful God, whose children we are, will judge us as lightly as He can for the wrongs that we have done and give us the maximum blessing for the good that we do." Then Elder Faust goes on to say, "To remain true and faithful through this mortal vale of tears, we must love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves." And adds, "As we go though travail and difficulty, we may feel sorry for ourselves and despair, but with the love of Hod and the Saints, unitedly bearing each other's burdens, we can be happy and overcome evil." What more could we ask for as encouragement to keep pressing forward along the covenant path!
Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke on the Holy Ghost, explaining the differences between "(1) the Light of Christ, (2) a manifestation of the Holy Ghost, and (3) the gift of the Holy Ghost." When he explained what a manifestation of the Holy Ghost is he said they are given "to lead sincere seekers to gospel truths that will persuade them to repentance and baptism."
This was echoed in the next address by Bishop Richard C. Edgley (2nd C) when speaking of missionaries he said, "They testify of a restoration that is so marvelous that only the hand of God could be its author--so miraculous that is can only be believed if one understands the powers of God and His love for all mankind--a story so divine that the truth of it can only be truly accepted through the personal manifestation of the Holy Ghost, which the Savior promised as His way of testifying of the truth to those who prayerfully seek it."
I love seeing patterns and second witnesses in both the scriptures and conference talks. That these occurred in successive talks in one session is a testimony that they are inspired!
Elder Hales spoke of the eternal family. His address could have been given at the last conference. He said, "The fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ brings great comfort in stressful times in mortality. It brings light where there is darkness and a calming influence where there is turmoil. It gives eternal hope where there is mortal despair. It is more than just beautiful doctrine. It is a reality in our lives that if we can be obedient and obtain the eternal rewards that God grants us, if we will draw nigh unto Him and embrace the eternal doctrine, we will be blessed." Oh how we need these reassurances today!
President Hinckley spoke to the women of the church reminding us that "The greatest job that an mother will ever do will be nurturing, teaching, lifting, encouraging, and rearing her children in righteousness and truth." I needed to hear that at the time as I had just had our fourth child and was in the throes of family life, with a fifth to come not quite two years later. I remember a particularly harrowing day when I said to my children, "You're interrupting my work!" The Spirit spoke immediately to my mind saying, "These children are your work!" Oh, right, I forgot.
It never ceases to amaze and delight me to read past conferences and remember anew how timeless the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are, and how prophetic and pertinent the counsel is from the past.
Marilyn over at Light in Leaves has more General Conference Odyssey.