Feasting on the Scriptures

Nate and I took the kids to the Phoenix area for a few days to visit his family. We attended Sacrament meeting on Sunday with Nate's brother Kent and his family. One of the speakers that morning was a sister who had recently returned from a mission in Russia. The area in which she served received mail using the pouch system which as I understand it, significantly increases the time it takes to receive mail. Not only that, but the area she was in was so remote, even after the mail came to the mission home, she didn't receive it for another six weeks. They would bring all of the mail to the missionaries at zone conferences and following the conference, the mail would get passed out. She talked about how on those mail days, they didn't even want to eat dinner. They just devoured their mail and read all night long these "treasures" from home. And to them, the mail was a treasure.

She likened the letters to the scriptures. She said it would have made her family very sad if she never read their letters. How sad would it make Heavenly Father if we never opened up his letters (the scriptures); if we didn't consider them to be treasures? We should view our scriptures as te treasures they truly are and remember that they really do come from a loving Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ because he said "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same". (Docterine & Convenants 1:38)

I'm afraid she probably told this a lot better than I just did, but it made me think about the scriptures in way I had ever considered before. I hope this analogy will be helpful for the next time I teach a lesson on the scriptures.

Can't We Ever Be Friends Again?

I ran across this short story while preparing for my lesson this coming Sunday. I plan to use the story and thought I would pass it on . The author is Stephen E. Robinson.

I want to share a story about my son Michael, who did something wrong when he was six or seven years old. He's my only son, and I'm hard on him. I want him to be better than his dad was, even as a boy, and so I lean on him and expect a great deal. Well, he had done something I thought was incredibly vile, and I let him know how terrible it was. I sent him to his room with the instructions, "Don't you dare come out until I come and get you."
And then I forgot. It was some hours later, as I was watching television, that I heard his door open and heard the tentative footsteps coming down the hall. I said, "Oh, my gosh," and ran to my end of the hall to see him standing with swollen eyes and tears on his cheeks at the other end. He looked up at me--he wasn't quite sure he should have come out--and said, "Dad, can't we ever be friends again?" Well, I melted, ran to him, and hugged him. He's my boy, and I love him.
Like Michael, we all do things that disappoint our Father, that separate us from his presence and spirit. There are times when we get sent to our rooms spiritually. There are sins that maim; there are sins that wound our spirits. Some of you know what it is like to do something that makes you feel as if you just drank raw sewage. You can wash, but you can never get clean. When that happens, sometimes we ask the Lord as we lift up our eyes, "O Father, can't we ever be friends again?"
The answer that can be found in all the scriptures is a resounding "Yes, through the Atonement of Christ."

Isaiah 1:18

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

Finding Joy in the Journey

President Thomas S. Monson, Sunday Morning Session, October 5, 2008

President Monson talked about change. He reminded us that life is short and counseled us to "find joy in the journey now". He asked the question, "What's important and what is not?" I feel like this time of year is a good time to reflect on this question and decide for myself. It's worth thinking about.

At lunch with friends yesterday, we began to talk about the difficulties of raising young children and the seemingly limited freedoms we have when we are responsible for them. Our friend commented that he's trying to be more positive and find the good things about every period of his life. I think that's wise council and it goes along well with what President Monson spoke about.

He counseled us to appreciate childhood, to make the most of today and to make memories for tomorrow. He said we will miss the messes, laundry and fingerprints. I remember hearing him say that and getting a little choked up about it. Time seems to pass by more quickly every day. It is difficult to keep up with my kids but I know what he says is true; I will miss it. In fact ever since I heard this talk I always smile a little when I wipe messy hand prints off my walls and furniture and I try to remember at that moment to appreciate my today's while my kids are still young and huggable and so innocent and sweet, and truly my own.

In the same remarks he counseled us to be grateful for what we have. He asked "Which garden will you tend? The garden of abundance or the garden of what we lack?" Nate and I have set ourselves a goal regarding our finances for the next six months which will require a different mindset and probably a lot of scrimping by and a lot less spending. I look forward to the challenge because I think it will make me more aware of the abundance of blessings I already have instead of always looking for more, more, more.

I haven't written in a while on this blog and since conference was now almost three months ago, I was beginning to think there wasn't any point to continuing to review the talks. But as I have been in Sunday School or just going about my everyday life, things from the conference messages have come to my remembrance that I know would not have had I not gone back and reviewed them again. I will try to continue through the remainder of conference and review at least the talks that made the biggest impact on me. Maybe by the time next conference rolls around, I will be caught up! :)