Myths vs. Reality

Where am I in my life??

This week Ken and I have been reading about Moroni. I have always been amazed at him being made captain of their armies (and not only being made captain, but doing such a dang good job of it) at age 25. Last night we read the scripture Alma 48:17 "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men." This got me thinking, so Ken and I figured out that Moroni was 27 when this was written. Now, I am 27 years old. I look at my life and think about what someone might substitute there for me. Have I lived a good life thus far? Do the very powers of hell shake because I am a good person doing what I should? It continues on to say that the sons of Mosiah are just as good because of the great missionary work they did. Am I doing my best with that same missionary work? It made me really think about what I have made priorities in my life and maybe some things I can change to do better.
"If all women had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Kim behold peopld would save some money on groceries and get good deals, especially at CVS." (that is joke, by the way...hopefully not too sacreligous)

(More) Tender Mercies

It seems like every time I feel like I am at the end of my rope, Heavenly Father lifts me up by helping me be aware of my blessings. I had a pretty rough week, and just when I felt like I was going to lose it, my husband plans a wonderful, relaxing weekend for me. I was bracing myself for re-entrance to real life, when this morning I came across a scripture that gave me strength and motivation to not shirk my responsibilities and recommit myself to trying a little harder.

Alma 36:3
"...Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."

No matter what our trials, toubles, or afflictions may be, if we put the Lord's will first and trust in His love for us we can find the strength and happiness we need to keep going.

Had you ever noticed?

We were reading in Ether last night (yes, we are STILL in Ether). I had never really put it together before, but I noticed something cool. Have you ever wondered where Mosiah got the ide about the judges or where his sons found the strength to give up the kingdom? I always wondered how such a radical idea came to be. Anyway, in Ether 6 Jared and his brother ask the people what they want and they desire a king. This goes against the brothers' better judgement, but they allow them to choose from their sons. And all the sons (except the last) refuse the kingship. It occured to me that this record was found by Limhi's people and translated by King Mosiah. Could this be where the idea was planted into the minds of his sons? No matter where it came from, I have always been impressed by the strength it took to abdicate the throne, give up power and allow democracy a chance. Both in the scriptures and in our own country's time. Thank you Mosiah's sons, thank you Jared and his brother's sons, thank you George Washington.

Polygamy

This might be a wierd post, but I am curious. I had a neighbor ask me yesterday about Mormon's stand on polygamy. With the recent news frenzy over the cult in Texas, her husband told her to ask me. She said she told him that from what she'd seen and heard in the news, those people lived nothing like I lived or believed nothing like I'd told her I'd believed, but that she would ask me. I then tried the basic, "We don't practice polygamy in our religion". So, she asked me why her husband had that association....so I had to try and explain. From my understanding, when polygamy was practiced in our church, it was more out of necessity than anything else. Women and children were being left fatherless and needed someone to take care of them. It is also practiced anciently (think Abraham). Anyway, does anyone have any ideas on how to address this issue with people who ask?

FHE - Planting a Seed

I was sitting in a meeting a while ago when my mind started to wander and I found myself thinking about Family Home Evening. I firmly believe that Family Home Evening is an inspired program of the Church, however it is something that I have been struggling with. With our schedules it seems that it is always late when we get started so we rush through it, or we have so much to do that we count our errands like running to Walmart or Target. I always told myself at least we are doing it right? But it always seems that as soon as we start our Family Night, the kids start to fight, or get rowdy, or I lose my patience, or someone calls, or something goes wrong so that when the night is over I regret even trying. I almost always think, boy those are just "blessings I could do without." I felt bad though because I firmly believe that there are blessings in store for families that do FHE. So as I sat in my meeting pondering on this topic the spirit whispered a thought to me, and it was simply "FHE is like a seed."

As I thought about this concept I could visualize myself planting a seed. I am not a natural green thumb, so most of the time my plants die, even my kids "faith is like a seed" seeds never sprout. But I have seen some beautiful gardens, so I know it can be done. I started thinking that people with beautiful gardens take a lot of time to prepare them. They know which plants will grow during each season, how much water to give them, how much sun etc. I on the other hand know nothing, have not done research and spent very little time cultivating my plants. Now, If I put a seed in a pot and cover it with dirt and set it outside, it might grow. Just like with FHE. If you just do it, you will receive blessings as promised. However, I think that if I did a little more preparation, a little more research and plan my FHE better, a more beautiful flower will grow, and more blessings will present themselves. I hope that in the future, I can truly set the time apart to have a real FHE, with a sit down lesson, instead of yelling back a quick story to whomever can hear me in the car.

Does anyone have any good ideas along this line, have you tried taking more prep time for your FHE's? Does it work? Is it really possible to have FHE without the fighting and bickering? I would love to know what you think.

Conference with a Kid

This was my first year to have conference with a kid around. It made things much different. On Saturday Abe soundly slept....through the 2 hours in between sessions, of course. On Sunday he slept through the first session so I was able to really pay attention as President Monson gave his first talk as prophet. I thought that was really cool. I agree with the later apostles who said you could witness him take upon himself the mantle of prophet. I also enjoyed the talk on mothers and on family. Since conference I've tried to renew my efforts to read my scriptures on my own. Ken and I read each night before bed, but I want to study from the institute manuals on my own during one of Abe's naps each day. I haven't been perfect, but I have been able to read through a few chapters so far. I'm starting with the Book of Mormon. I know there are many things we can each do to improve our lives, so I'm excited Barlow started this blog and I'm excited to share the joy of the Gospel with everyone!!!