GCR - Filling Our Homes with Light and Truth

So it's Sunday evening and I'm looking at my upcoming RS lesson and wanted to share some thoughts I had as I was preparing it.


My thoughts are based on the talk "Filling Our Homes with Light and Truth" given by Sister Cheryl A. Esplin of the Primary General Presidency in the April 2015 Women’s Session of General Conference.

I still remember Sister Esplin’s talk because it was the first of the night and right off the start she had Monkey’s and my attention with her visual of the empty and full soda cans. How full was my can? If I was honest with myself, more often than not I felt like the can that was being crushed into uselessness. It made me stop and think about what I was doing to help fill my home with light and truth and why it was so important.

To first understand what I wanted and how I could improve I wanted to better understand the ideas of light and truth and how these would apply to myself and my home.

I’m still a Florida girl at heart – I love sunshine, it brightens my day and feels like a great heavenly hug. It makes things grow and allows life on our planet to exist. I may be a little prejudiced but in my opinion light is the source of a beautiful and happy life. In the scriptures sometimes Christ is referred to as “the light” we also have the idea of the “light of Christ” according to the Bible Dictionary the light of Christ is enlightenment, knowledge, and an uplifting, ennobling, persevering influence that comes upon mankind because of Jesus Christ.

So now to truth - one of the things that sets apart the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that we believe that we have been blessed with the fullness of Gospel Truth. I love the scripture from John 8:32 - “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” To me this means that through the Gift of the Holy Ghost and the blessings of the restored gospel we are given the truths we need to remain free and unhindered by the bondage of sin.

So how does this apply to ourselves, our homes, and our families? After thinking about them and studying them it seemed to me a given that these would be essential elements in finding and living a life of happiness. Some of the specific blessings of light and truth that Sister Esplin talked about are that we will be able to have the inner strength to resist outside forces and pressures, we will more fully have the blessings of the Holy Ghost with us, our spiritual knowledge will increase, we will know that our prayers are answered, and we will have stronger testimonies that help us and can have a lasting impact for good on our family members and those we meet. Sounds pretty ideal to me!

She also warned of some of the consequences of neglecting to fill our lives and homes with light and truth. She said that we will be weakened as Satan puts pressure on us to compromise and conform to things that are not in keeping with Christ’s teachings and we may find ourselves collapsing. If are not actively seeking to fill ourselves with light and truth Satan will try and fill us with isolation, loneliness, confusion, doubt, and fear. Ultimately we may find ourselves without testimonies sufficient to sustain ourselves or the following generations that would look to us for support and guidance as they seek out their testimonies.

So I knew what I wanted and why I wanted it but now I needed to figure out how to make it happen. What were some of the things I could do to improve? Thankfully Sister Esplin shared some ideas of how we can ensure that we are strengthened and full. She counseled us to seek out inspiring music, pray, study the scriptures, study the words of the living prophets, learn from our family members, fulfill our responsibilities as part of our family, take time to privately renew ourselves, continually seek after truth, live the truth we know, share and defend truth, and probably most of all be patient but persistent as we remember that it takes time and effort.

I think as women, we have been blessed with a great power in our families to help create a home that is full of light and truth that can bless ourselves and our families and untold numbers of others. It begins with us though, we have been blessed with the truth and light of the Gospel, we have been blessed with families, homes, friends, and neighbors. With all those blessings comes the responsibility to do what we can to help serve and love each other as Christ would do. We cannot allow ourselves to become empty and depleted and weakened. We must focus on the things that matter most and move forward with faith. For me it's still very much a work in progress but it's comforting to know that this is something Heavenly Father wants for each of us and I'm not alone in my efforts. Also, since this was a talk given to all the women of the church I'm guessing it's not just me that's still trying to figure it all out. That's pretty comforting too. Hopefully we can all work together as women and sisters and support each other and help to fill each other up when we do start to feel weak and empty! 

General Conference Review: Stay by the Tree

I’m so excited to be finally getting around to doing some reviews of the April 2015 LDS General Conference Talks. As always there’s just so much good stuff so I’m going to start right in.

The first talk I’m going to be sharing some of my thoughts on is “Stay by the Tree” given by Elder Kevin W. Pearson.

Since most of his talk centers around a story from the Book of Mormon known as Lehi’s Dream of the Tree of Life I thought I would start there. Lehi was the first prophet of the Book of Mormon, he and his family were asked to leave Jerusalem and travel through the wilderness and across the sea until they reached what we know as the American Continents. Along his journey Lehi dreamed of a tree with fruit that represented the love of Jesus Christ and was needed to obtain true happiness. Included with this he saw mists of darkness that made the journey to the tree difficult (basically the cares and tribulations of mortal life without God), a rod of iron that could lead people to the tree safely (the words of God), a great gulf where many became lost (sin), and a great and spacious building (pride) where people would jeer and taunt those who were at the tree. For a more detailed account you can read it here and here.

I’ve always been interested in how the different artists depict this story. It’s so detailed but yet with art everyone adds their own touch to it. Maybe someday I’ll be able to work on my artistic skills enough to come up with my own version of it.

image via www.lds.org

Some more of my favorites are here (have to scroll down to the bottom of the page), here, here, and here.

Like I said, I love the imagery and symbolism of it all. At it's core though, Lehi's dream is about what it means to find joy through enduring our challenges and continually partaking of the blessings of the Atonement of Christ. Elder Pearson said, "Enduring to the end is a hallmark of true discipleship and is essential to eternal life. But when trials and challenges come our way, we are often told to simply 'hang in there.' Let me be clear: to 'hang in there' is not a principle of the gospel. Enduring to the end means constantly coming unto Christ and being perfected in Him." It made me think of something my mother said often - there is no end, just endure.

A few seasons back we happened to get into the television show American Ninja Warrior. Elder Pearson's idea of not just hanging in there made me think of the challenges that the contestants face there. Basically to do well on the show you have to complete ever more challenging courses that contain a variety of obstacles. There are some who make the courses look easy - they flow through the moves with agility, strength, and perfect timing. Then there are those who struggle and show just how hard it is to make it through without falling or running out of time. Facing the challenges of life I don't want to be the one who's desperately grasping for missed handholds or stuck hanging on to a dangling rope going nowhere. I certainly don't want to find myself in the water with my course only half completed.

As I mentioned before, Lehi talks about five different groups of people he saw in his vision. 

1. the people that were in the great and spacious building that were jeering anyone who partook of the fruit.

2. the people who never realized there was a tree with fruit worth searching for and only looked for how they might get to the great and spacious building.

3. the people who knew about the tree and tried to press forward and find it but soon became lost in the mists of darkness.

4. the people who pressed forward searching for the tree, caught hold of the rod of iron, continued through the mists of darkness until they came and partook of the fruit but then felt ashamed by the mocking of the people from the great and spacious building and fell away and became lost.

5. the people who pressed forward searching for the tree, caught hold of the rod of iron, pressed forward holding fast to the rod until they reached the tree, fell down and partook of the fruit, stayed safe by the tree and did what they could to to help others reach the tree. 

I don't know about you but 1-4 are not the kind of future I want for myself. More than anything I want to be by that tree, continually partaking of the fruit and helping others come to the tree. This is what it means to me to endure to the end.

Elder Pearson shared 6 lessons from this vision that can help us endure to the end with strength and confidence.

1. Don't forget to Pray. "pray for strength to endure to the end. Ask Heavenly Father 'What more would you have me do?'" Prayer is so vital to being able to staying on the path that leads to eternal life. Prayer is how we communicate with our Heavenly Father and we need His help if we're going to make it through life's challenges. Elder Pearson's comments also suggest that if we are to endure to the end we must never become complacent in our devotions and service - we have to be continually taking the next step forward and seeing what more we need to do.

2. Come unto Christ and Be Perfected in Him. Everything in Lehi's dream points to the Tree of Life and partaking the of the Fruit. If we are going to endure to the end we need to have it firm in our minds that the only thing that can bring true joy and peace is the love of Christ and the blessings of His Atonement. Elder Pearson says, "We can fill our lives with accomplishment and well-doing, but in the end, if we do not enter into sacred covenants to follow Christ and faithfully keep them, we will have utterly and completely missed the mark."

3. Press Forward in Faith. I'm just going to go with what Elder Pearson said about this one too, "There is a path that leads to the tree of life, to Christ. It is strait and narrow, strict and exact. God’s commandments are strict but not restrictive. They protect us from spiritual and physical danger and prevent us from getting lost.

Obedience builds faith in Christ. Faith is a principle of action and power. Consistently following the Savior’s example produces spiritual power and capacity. Without the strengthening and enabling power of the Atonement, it’s impossible to stay on the path and endure."

4. The Book of Mormon is Key to Spiritual Survival. Elder Pearson said, "When adversity comes, don't let something you don't fully understand unravel everything you do know. Be patient, cling to truth; understanding will come...Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It's the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it we are spiritually lost." I can personally testify to this one. As I was beginning to build my own testimony as a teenager it was based a lot on my love for and testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon. I loved the people from the Book of Mormon, I loved reading about them and learning from them and wondering about all the parts of their lives that we don't know. As I became a little older I realized that my struggles went hand in hand with lack of scripture study. I could see the difference in myself and how as I was "too busy" to spend time in the Book of Mormon it was 100% of the time because I was spending my time in activities that were taking me away from the Spirit. As I would try and re-dedicate myself to scripture study I would feel better about things and become stronger in my ability to make right choices.

5. Don't Be Distracted and Deceived. This goes a lot with #4 but with so much going on around us we have to be diligent and focused on the things that are most important. When we lose focus and get distracted or allow ourselves to be deceived we will find ourselves struggling in that gulf of misery that Lehi spoke about and at least for me that's exactly what sin feels like - a murky, muddy whirlpool where I feel stuck or barely able to tread water. When we aren't carefully choosing the path that leads to the tree, we will find ourselves wandering toward that great and spacious building full of empty promises. As Elder Pearson describes, "[it is] filled with well dressed people who seem to have everything. But they mock the Savoir and those who follow Him. They are 'ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.' They may be politically correct but they are spiritually lost."

6. Stay by the Tree. Before studying this talk I had never thought about why in Lehi's dream the atonement as symbolized as a fruit. In looking at it now I wonder if it's because we crave continual nourishment from it - it is necessary not only for our happiness but our survival to partake of it continually. To continually nourish ourselves we must stay by the tree.  Elder Pearson testifies that there are blessings that come from staying by the tree and continually partaking of the fruit. As we continually partake of the fruit and yield our hearts to God, the Holy Ghost changes our very natures, we become more deeply converted to the Lord, and we no longer seek the spacious building.

Some of the other thoughts I really liked from Elder Pearson's talk:

"Once we enter into covenants with God, there is no going back. Giving in, giving up, and giving out are not options. In the kingdom of God, there is a standard of excellence for exaltation. It requires valiant discipleship! There is no room for average or complacent disciples. Average is the enemy of excellence, and average commitment will prevent you from enduring to the end." This is some pretty strong stuff, it's hard sometimes to be valiant. I think that we need to remember though that we have to look at things from an eternal perspective and God loves us and knows how hard it is and as long as we're doing our very best, no matter how far from perfection we feel we are still valiant in His sight and if we let Him be our coach and guide we will be able to make it safely through the course.

"If you are struggling, confused, or spiritually lost, I urge you to do the one thing I know will get you back on track. Begin again to prayerfully study the Book of Mormon and live its teachings every day, every day, every day! I testify of the profound power in the Book of Mormon that will change your life and strengthen your resolve to follow Christ. The Holy Ghost will change your heart and help you see 'things as they really are.'" I love when we get these promises during General Conference because I know that they are blessings from the Lord to help us in our lives. So I'd like to say that I know what Elder Pearson says is true and offer up the challenge that no matter where we are in our scripture reading or study of the Book of Mormon we make a goal to improve our daily reading of it in someway. It could be committing to a daily study of a verse or moving a verse to a chapter or
committing to two minutes or moving it to 10, it could be trying to read through 2nd Nephi all the way :-), it could be searching out topics that you want to know more about, there are so many things that we can all do to do just a little more and feel more of God's love and blessings.

General Conference Review: Choose Wisely

I know it’s been a really long while since I was working on the blog. I’m still not certain what direction it will take but being away from it for a while has really helped me re-focus some of my ideas and hopefully make it better!

One of the things that I’m going to be doing is starting again with reviews of the General Conference talks. I love listening to General Conference. I love re-reading through everything. The kids and I have started trying to watch a talk every day while they take a break from work and have their morning snacks. Tiger still doesn’t like sitting and paying attention too much although I can tell every so often that he’s picking stuff up. Monkey has really benefited I think. She loves the stories and when the General Authorities get personal about themselves and their families and the amazing people they know and things that they’ve experienced.

Last Easter weekend was another beautiful General Conference weekend. It was nice to be able to spend so much family time all together listening to the General Authorities. Before I start in on their talks though I want to go back to one from October 2014 Conference.  I teach the 4^th Sunday in Relief Society and my lesson before this conference was based on a talk given in the Priesthood Session by Elder Quentin L. Cook titled “Choose Wisely”. I actually hadn’t really gone through the Priesthood Talks from that Conference so it was a new talk to me and I really enjoyed studying it and teaching from it.

To start off please take a minute and ponder the question “What choices have I made today?

Every day we make trillions of choices. Some are consciously made and some are unconsciously made but each minute we are continually choosing. I think sometimes we forget just how powerful those choices are. One of the greatest gifts we’ve been given on this Earth is our ability to choose.

Elder Cook reminded us of President Monson’s teaching that our decisions determine our destiny. Elder Cook said, “In that spirit my counsel tonight is to rise above any rationalizations that prevent us from making righteous decisions, especially with respect to serving Jesus Christ.”

The idea that decisions determine destiny made me think about each choice being like a fork in the road. Every unhappy destination likely began with a bad choice. That may seem kind of discouraging because we all make bad choices. The flip side and blessing is that every joyful and happy destination begins with a good choice. At any point in time we can choose a different path than the one that we are on. If we don’t like where we are heading all we have to do is make a new choice.

One of the sisters shared a story about how much power is in simple daily choices for good. She said that when her daughters were in Seminary they had a teacher who challenged them to read a chapter of scripture a day. The challenge was taken on by the girls and through her influence they were able to develop a pattern of daily scripture study that has been a blessing to them throughout their lives.

Elder Cook told the story of a young man he had met that had some very worthy goals such as going on a mission, obtaining an education, marrying in the temple, and having a faithful happy family. Elder Cook noted however that most of the young man’s choices were not leading towards those goals.

In many ways that made me think of myself. I don’t know about anyone else but I think I’m obsessive over goals. Since I know that having good goals is important, it seems as though I’m always trying to come up with new ones. The problem for me is that I spend more time thinking about the goals and trying to figure out how I can reach them then I do actually doing those things that will get me there.  It often holds me back and I spend a lot of time frustrated because even though my goals are good I never seem to be able to reach them.

There are a few things Elder Cook talked about that keep us from reaching our goals. In my case one of my goal killers is getting overwhelmed by the enormity of the goal and procrastinating because it’s easier than dealing with it. Please someone else tell me it’s not just me!

One problem Elder Cook spoke of was rationalizations. Elder Cook said, “When we rationalize wrong choices, big or small, which are inconsistent with the restored gospel, we lose the blessings and protections we need and often become ensnared in sin or simply lose our way.” Elder Cook reminded of Elder Oaks council to seek out the very best.

The last problem in making good choices that Elder Cook spoke of was distractions. Elder Cook said, “Sometimes it feels like we are drowning in frivolous foolishness, nonsensical noise, and continuous contention. When we turn down the volume and examine the substance, there is very little that will assist us in our eternal quest toward righteous goals. One father wisely responds to his children with their numerous requests to participate in these distractions. He simply asks them, ‘Will this make you a better person?’”

In the church we tend to talk a lot about choices and agency. I’m not sure if it’s the same for everyone but I think it’s a great blessing that we really need to take more time to ponder. One of our sisters grew up in Finland. She remembers a time and a people that had very few personal choices they were allowed to make.

For me this idea of the power of personal choice is just starting to really develop. I have what I like to think of as a fairly obedient spirit. Growing up I never really questioned, I just followed instructions. There have been a lot of blessings that have come from that obedience. Especially lately though I’ve seen a whole new light to this idea of choice – God doesn’t just tell us to choose and then punish us when it isn’t what He wants. Many times God gives us two or more very good choices and waits patiently while we choose for ourselves which one we desire.

One way that I have felt this in my life was when I was serving as Primary President. I was always so nervous about finding people for callings. I worried so much about getting exactly who the Lord intended for the position that it was agonizing and tearful. After a few years I finally came to the realization that God didn’t need me to pray for specific revelation about each and every person on the ward roster. He wanted me to use my own wisdom and judgement and decide for myself who I thought would be well fitted and then take that to Him. Doctrine & Covenants tells us that Heavenly Father doesn’t want us to be commanded in all things but to do good of our own free will.

I really can’t explain enough how much this new perspective on choice has changed me. Yes, our decisions are important, we know that many of our decisions – even the little daily ones – can impact us and our family, and countless others throughout eternity. That’s huge and pretty intimidating. But God still loves us and wants us to be us and that will be a little different for each of us. The Spirit isn’t there to tell us exactly every moment of every day what to do and who to be – it’s to help us find our very best selves with God’s help. That isn’t to say we can choose whatever we want. I don’t believe that’s the case by a long shot. I think that if the answer is no or not now and we’re in touch with the Holy Spirit then we’ll feel that and we should respond accordingly.

Elder Cook ended with these thoughts, “I encourage everyone, young and old, to review goals and objectives and strive to exercise greater discipline. Our daily conduct and choices should be consistent with our goals. We need to rise above rationalizations and distractions. It is especially important to make choices consistent with our covenants to serve Jesus Christ in righteousness… In all things we should remember that being ‘valiant in the testimony of Jesus’ is the great dividing test between the celestial and terrestrial kingdoms. We want to be found on the celestial side of that divide.”

I know that as we make choices that are consistent with our knowledge of the gospel and in keeping with the Spirit that Heavenly Father will bless us with great joy and happiness and we’ll be able to reach all those worthy goals.

General Conference Review: Prepared in a Manner That Had Never Been Known

If you’ve been following my blog or just know me very well you might know that not only do I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but I absolutely love our General Conferences. General Conference is a chance for church members and pretty much anyone else to hear the words of living prophets. They testify of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and share with us His words to help us lead better lives full of happiness and peace and love. It just doesn’t get much better! Over the next while I want to share some of my thoughts from General Conference, mostly as a review for myself but also for anyone who might be interested. So today we begin!

The first talk I’m going to review comes from the Women’s Conference Session that took place on September 27, 2014. The talk was given by the Relief Society General President, Linda K. Burton titled “Prepared in a Manner That Had Never BeenKnown”

There are so many wonderful things that come to my mind as I read through this message. Like I said, mostly I’m just reviewing and recording my thoughts and ideas so I’m just going to bring up points and ideas here and there from the things that Sister Burton said.

First she brings up the idea of a young woman being prepared to enter the temple and make sacred covenants on her wedding day. To know my thoughts on this one I should share a bit about myself. My EC and I were married when I was just 20. We’d only really been dating for 6 months and had planned our wedding in 3. In the 6 months prior to this I’d moved twice across country and didn’t really have roots anywhere. We never got to go through a temple prep class or pre-marriage counseling. I didn’t even know the Bishop or Stake President who did my interviews. I can look back now and thankfully things have worked out. Honestly, I don’t know how it could have worked any other way with how things were at the time but I really wish we would have had those opportunities to prepare together before beginning our life together. I am thankful that I had been prepared in other ways. Since I was a child I had learned the importance of temples and prayer and scriptures so I wasn’t totally a fish out of water. Still I was so nervous and uncertain I’m sure I didn’t hear half of what was going on. Thankfully we can go back often and as we do we can learn and re-learn.

The next thing that Sister Burton talked about was the parable given by the Savior in Matthew 25 of the 10 Virgins. She says, “I don’t think there is anyone, especially among those with tender hearts, who doesn’t feel sad for the foolish young women. And some of us just want to say to the others, ‘Can’t you just share so everyone can be happy?’ But think about it. This is a story the Savior told, and He is the one who calls five of them ‘wise’ and five of them ‘foolish.’” She goes on to compare it to personal preparation for the temple.

Honestly I’ve had those exact questions before, why would the women be shut out? Why would the Savior tell us that He would close the door if we weren’t prepared and on time. I thought the Savior was supposed to be accepting of everyone. How does this story fit in with all His pleas to “come” unto Him? I think I’m finally beginning to get some of it though. The Savior acts out of love in every possible circumstance. If He chooses to shut a door before us it’s because we’re not ready for what’s beyond it. What would have happened to those women if they had been let in late to the feast how would it have affected or changed them? These women were likely dreaming of their own wedding ceremonies and feasts no doubt a closed door had a very significant effect on their dreams and how they prepared themselves. Perhaps they would have felt awkward and out of place at the feast and wanted to leave anyways? Perhaps they would have embarrassed themselves? Perhaps the closed door helped them understand the importance of being ready the next time where an exception would have allowed them to continue on in their foolish misunderstanding of the importance of the event. This is especially important in the context of temple blessings. If we enter the temple without being prepared there will be consequences that can last an eternity and not only for us but for generations to come.

Sister Burton next went onto expound on how we can add oil to our spiritual lamps so that we might be prepared for the temple and making and keeping covenants. Some of the things that she lists that we can do include: attending sacrament meetings, fasting, family prayer, home teaching, controlling bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, reading scriptures, acts of dedication to the Lord, acts of obedience, deeds of kindness, paying tithes and offerings, having chaste thoughts and actions, and doing all those small and simple righteous things diligently and continually over time.

She also mentioned the importance of making our homes as much like the temple as possible in its sacredness as part of spiritually preparing our children. As a mother this one of course hit home to me. I’ve seen so much recently with the attitude that a disorganized and messy home means that there is love because the mother spent time with her children while a clean one shows neglected children or a parent who is overly perfectionist and over controlling. Part of me understands that thinking and my own home shows quite a bit of the choices that I’ve felt I’ve had to make. In thinking about it especially with this talk and in connection with other things recently I believe that this idea can be quite damaging actually. Somehow we’ve gotten this idea that we have to choose between a clean house and time with our children. For most of my parenting and even at most moments now that’s certainly what seems to be the obvious way of looking at it. I have come to believe however that a clean home can show just as much if not more love for our children in reality. If we’re looking at things the Lord’s way He wants us to do both and so what happens if we choose to do it together? Recently I started washing the dishes by hand again. Interestingly one night Monkey decided to join me. She and I had such fun working and sharing the job together she didn’t want to stop and she couldn’t wait to do it again. She’s even convinced Tiger to help out now so we are all doing them together and we have fun and learn as we work together (except for Bear, he just wants to empty all the cabinets as we’re putting things away!) It really is so simple and yet so beautiful. It’s just one area that we’ve been able to implement this but I can’t wait to find ways to expand it. I really do think that part of the Lord’s plan is that we teach and share joy as we work together not just play together.

The last thought I had while reading Sister Burton’s talk was about this concept of blessings coming from our preparations. There are many blessings that come as we are prepared to worthily enter the temple some are obvious and some less so. Thinking about those 5 wise virgins I see women who did what they could and were blessed accordingly. One blessing that came to my mind was in connection with the concept of the oil. The 5 had prepared the best they could and then waited patiently. One of their blessings was perhaps the same as that as the widow woman of Zarephath. They were blessed that their oil would not run out. In the case of the widow woman, we can see that it was a blessing not only to her but to her family as well. If we do what we can each day to serve the Lord and follow the guidance of our Prophet our oil will not run out the Lord will bless us for our efforts and with us our families. I really believe that. As we do what we can to prepare ourselves and our families for the blessings that await in the temple our testimonies will be continually refilled and no matter how long we wait in the night or how long the famines last we will have enough to see us through.

Sister Burton ended with this great thought, “May we prepare to worthily receive saving ordinances drop by drop and keep the associated covenants wholeheartedly. As we do so, I know we will qualify to receive the promised blessings of a fullness of the Holy Ghost and the power of the Lord in our homes and individual lives.”