So about a week ago I got the following text from an unnamed sister, "OK. Thirty bucks to the first person to write my next talk on Keeping covenants and attending meetings will bring strength and peace. Seriously a check will be in the mail today if you help me." So, I am not all about the bribe (but I am not above that either :) But it got me thinking, and I think I would like to share with the Anonymous sister!
Peace, sing it with me...."Where can I turn for peace, where is my solace, when other sources cease to make me whole. When with a wounded heart, anger or malice, I draw myself apart, searching my soul." Now fast-forward a bit to where the song answers its own question (where can I turn for peace?)..."HE answers privately, reaches my reaching. In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend."
Through a bit of trial, and a lot of ERROR, I am here to concur with the song...The only thing that brings me peace is the Savior. I have come to find that a state of PEACE is not something that you can WILL to happen, there will never be enough yoga exercises to clear your mind of troubles, sins, and self doubtings. Peace is a gift from God that comes after A LOT of Hard work and even more OBEDIENCE. It is the atmosphere that surrounds us and we walk the Straight and Narrow path.
John Taylor said, "Peace is the gift of God. Do you want peace? Go to God. Do you want peace in your families? Go to God. Do you want peace to brood over your families? If you do, live your religion, and the very peace of God will dwell and abide with you, for that is where peace comes from, and it [does not] dwell anywhere else"
What happens to us when we aren't living our religion?.....When we desperately need something to ease our mind and bring us "peace"? We search madly in all the wrong places. We seek to please and gain acceptance from people that cannot give us peace. We spend money on things that only give us more grief. We find anything that is strong enough to hide our sorrow and the reality of what lies within us. Remember, Peace is a gift from God, the atmosphere that surrounds us and we walk the Straight and Narrow path.
The Savior, desperately wanting to grant us the gift of peace, has provided numerous blessings to keep us on that Straight and Narrow path. Covenants and Meetings being at the top of the list. When we covenant with God, we tell Him that we will be obedient to HIM first, before anything else. When we put God first, all things fall into their proper order (PEACE!). When we don't.....our own insanity reigns supreme. But covenants are made at age 8, or 19, or once in a lifetime, right? No, covenants are renewed each Sunday as we partake of the Sacrament.
There is something that I am just barely realizing about the Sacrament. Before you partake of the Sacrament, it requires a certain degree of worthiness.....When you take it, you promise to be a little more worthy next time. When we pay attention to what we are really doing, we will realize that it is a gradual refiners fire. And what will keep us wanting to be a little bit better from one week to the next? It all starts in Sunday School my friends...It starts with the scriptures.
I believe that is why Elder Cook said that the single most important thing to him was to see his children praying and studying their scriptures EVERY DAY. I testify that those two things will keep our desires to be good intact, our sanity visible and the peace ABOUNDING.......
A little disjointed, but worth $30 right????
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Mission WHERE?
Yesterday when we were eating dinner the topic turned to, "I wonder where I will go on my mission..." The kids were giggling and talking and Jared said, "Okay, I will tell you where I want all of you to go on a mission." Then pointing to Sam, Gary, Joseph, and Daniel he said, "China, India, Bangladesh, and Kuwait." At which Ally sheepishly said, "Dad, if I go, where do you want me to go?" Without missing a beat, Jared said, "NORTH CAROLINA!"
Listen, I am all about women's rights, but I was in TOTAL agreement with the entire conversation :)
Listen, I am all about women's rights, but I was in TOTAL agreement with the entire conversation :)
Sunday, July 10, 2011
I Want TO BE
Imagine my most dramatic voice when I tell you that...."I have just recently found the 3 components to a satisfied life." They are, in no particular order, my NEW COOKBOOK, my NEW FABULOUS HAIR STYLIST, and my ROKU player. I would love to expound on 1 and 2 if given (or taken) the chance. However, today it is all about the ROKU.
A while ago I decided that I had had enough of paying a lot of money to watch 2 channels of TV and putting up with pornographic commercials. The bad finally overcame the good and in disgust I called and cancelled my subscription. In turn, we quickly subscribed to Netflix and purchased a ROKU to play it instantly on our TV. The Netflix has been good but the real prize from this entire transaction was the $60 ROKU player. Not only does it play Netflix, but a host of other FREE channels. Such as Pandora (where I listen free to my favorite commercial free music all day), or KBYU (Yep!, the same KBYU that you are paying for) and the Mormon Channel. I LOVE THE MORMON CHANNEL. We can now watch the church videos on Sunday, the MORMON MESSAGES for Family Home Evening, and I can listen to random things as I iron (as was the case yesterday) all at my fingertips, on my tv, for free.
So back to yesterday. I was ironing and listening to a "Conversation" between Sherri L. Dew and Elder Jeffrey R. and Pat Holland. FABULOUS! Jeffrey R. Holland is an Apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Speaking of this, he said, "It is a bold thing to declare that there are apostles on the earth again, but we have a bold message to declare." (surely you know by now that when I quote things, I quote how I remember them in my mind, this memory is pretty accurate :) I would like to add my testimony to this as well. As surely as I know that the sun will rise, I also know that these men are apostles and prophets of the Lord! I treasure every word that I hear them speak!
I have always had a really soft place in my heart for Elder Holland. It may be that he is an INCREDIBLE teacher. It may be that he talks as LOUDLY as I do when I get excited about a gospel topic. It may be that I feel like he loves me like a grandfather, although I have never met him. However, I think the credit goes to a simple story that I heard YEARS ago.
The story: Brad Wilcox was serving as a mission president in Chile when Elder Holland was assigned to go there. At the time, Brother Wilcox had a young daughter named Whitney. As she was working on her school work one day she found a math problem that said the following, "Yesterday it took Jeff Holland 1 hour to get to work. This morning Jeff drove to the train station in 20 minutes, waited for the train for 7 minutes, rode the train for 12 minutes, and then walked for 15 minutes to get to work. How long did it take Jeff to get to work this morning." Finding it humorous that it had Elder Holland's name in it, she sent it to Elder Holland with a note asking him to "please help me with homework."
Elder Holland quickly wrote back the following response, "Dear Whitney, I was pleased you discovered my day job. I regularly submit problems for text books and sometimes I just don't know whose name to use I think I will use yours next....(If Whitney Wilcox has 5 boyfriends in Provo and gains 1 a day for 14 days in Chile, how many of them will be baptized, go on missions, and want to marry her?) Thanks for being here. I am immensely proud of you! --Jeff Holland (Read it yourself, it is about 6 minutes into the talk).
During the "Conversation" that I was previously talking about, Sherri Dew asked Sister Holland to tell us about Elder Holland. One of the things that she said was, "He has a Gift to make every person he meets feel important." I think I already knew this about him. It is a quality that I have always wanted. In fact, I am adding it to my "TO BE" list, I just don't know how to phrase it. It is easy to say I want TO BE KIND, but this is a little different. I want TO BE the kind of person that makes you feel that you are always worth their time, effort, and love. I want to be like Elder Holland.
A while ago I decided that I had had enough of paying a lot of money to watch 2 channels of TV and putting up with pornographic commercials. The bad finally overcame the good and in disgust I called and cancelled my subscription. In turn, we quickly subscribed to Netflix and purchased a ROKU to play it instantly on our TV. The Netflix has been good but the real prize from this entire transaction was the $60 ROKU player. Not only does it play Netflix, but a host of other FREE channels. Such as Pandora (where I listen free to my favorite commercial free music all day), or KBYU (Yep!, the same KBYU that you are paying for) and the Mormon Channel. I LOVE THE MORMON CHANNEL. We can now watch the church videos on Sunday, the MORMON MESSAGES for Family Home Evening, and I can listen to random things as I iron (as was the case yesterday) all at my fingertips, on my tv, for free.
So back to yesterday. I was ironing and listening to a "Conversation" between Sherri L. Dew and Elder Jeffrey R. and Pat Holland. FABULOUS! Jeffrey R. Holland is an Apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Speaking of this, he said, "It is a bold thing to declare that there are apostles on the earth again, but we have a bold message to declare." (surely you know by now that when I quote things, I quote how I remember them in my mind, this memory is pretty accurate :) I would like to add my testimony to this as well. As surely as I know that the sun will rise, I also know that these men are apostles and prophets of the Lord! I treasure every word that I hear them speak!
I have always had a really soft place in my heart for Elder Holland. It may be that he is an INCREDIBLE teacher. It may be that he talks as LOUDLY as I do when I get excited about a gospel topic. It may be that I feel like he loves me like a grandfather, although I have never met him. However, I think the credit goes to a simple story that I heard YEARS ago.
The story: Brad Wilcox was serving as a mission president in Chile when Elder Holland was assigned to go there. At the time, Brother Wilcox had a young daughter named Whitney. As she was working on her school work one day she found a math problem that said the following, "Yesterday it took Jeff Holland 1 hour to get to work. This morning Jeff drove to the train station in 20 minutes, waited for the train for 7 minutes, rode the train for 12 minutes, and then walked for 15 minutes to get to work. How long did it take Jeff to get to work this morning." Finding it humorous that it had Elder Holland's name in it, she sent it to Elder Holland with a note asking him to "please help me with homework."
Elder Holland quickly wrote back the following response, "Dear Whitney, I was pleased you discovered my day job. I regularly submit problems for text books and sometimes I just don't know whose name to use I think I will use yours next....(If Whitney Wilcox has 5 boyfriends in Provo and gains 1 a day for 14 days in Chile, how many of them will be baptized, go on missions, and want to marry her?) Thanks for being here. I am immensely proud of you! --Jeff Holland (Read it yourself, it is about 6 minutes into the talk).
During the "Conversation" that I was previously talking about, Sherri Dew asked Sister Holland to tell us about Elder Holland. One of the things that she said was, "He has a Gift to make every person he meets feel important." I think I already knew this about him. It is a quality that I have always wanted. In fact, I am adding it to my "TO BE" list, I just don't know how to phrase it. It is easy to say I want TO BE KIND, but this is a little different. I want TO BE the kind of person that makes you feel that you are always worth their time, effort, and love. I want to be like Elder Holland.
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