Category: Church

The Lord’s wisdom is greater

I taught my gospel doctrine lesson on Sunday. I think the discussion was good, but I was prepared to discuss more. This calling at church requires me to let go of plans because class members are so eager to contribute ideas that we don’t have time to talk about every principle in the reading. It’s a good problem to have, right?

Here are a couple of concepts that we didn’t have time to discuss.

First, Satan’s tactics:

Cunning: the use of artifice to accomplish a purpose, rather than open, candid, or direct means; fraudulent skill or dexterity.

Flatter: to soothe by praise; to gratify self-love by praise…or by anything that exalts him in his own estimation or confirms his good opinion of himself.

Stir: to agitate, bring to debate; to instigate by inflaming passions.

-Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

And, God’s wisdom:

I really wanted to talk about the ways the Lord’s wisdom has blessed the lives of our class members. For me, His wisdom is most evident in His timing of friendships, knowledge, and experiences. How has the Lord’s wisdom been evident in your life?

Best in Show

The youth activity this week was a baking challenge. Each group was given a mango and told to make something with it, and they raced off to leaders’ homes to bake.

Richard’s group made mango tarts with a baked graham cracker crust, cream cheese filling, and piped cream. I am glad that we just happened to have graham crackers, cream cheese, and heavy whipping cream in our house. We had to adapt the recipe a little for the things we didn’t have, but that was fun, and each kid was invested in the project. The tarts really tasted good, and they looked amazing.

They won Best in Show.

By way of a broken heart

As I studied Joseph Smith’s First Vision this week, I made note of two words. What do you learn from the use of these words?

From President Eyring,

Joseph Smith’s experience is a pattern we can follow to recognize personal messages from God…

There may be many reasons God could speak so powerfully to young Joseph, but a primary reason was that his heart was ready.

A BROKEN HEART IS A PREPARED HEART

Joseph had a broken heart for at least two reasons. He wanted forgiveness of his sins and weaknesses, which he knew could only come through Jesus Christ. And he was desperate to know which of the contending churches was right and which he should join.

-Henry B Eyring, The First Vision: A Pattern for Personal Revelation, February 2020.

I think broken hearts are repentant and teachable, humble and malleable. I want a heart like Joseph.

If Any of You Lack Wisdom by Walter Rane

Connection with Heaven

We went with Tim and Queenie to Temple Square on Saturday. I was excited to see the new First Vision statue. I like the depiction of movement and life in this, and that heaven and earth are reaching for one another.

I think people spend a lot of time decorating and seeking musical and artistic experiences at Christmas time because we are all in search of that feeling of connection with heaven.

Oh, look. I wrote a book.

A mother of very young children asked me in church on Sunday, “So, what do you do all day [now all your kids are gone]?”

Lately, this is a difficult question to answer without some emotion, but I wanted to convey to her that I love my life. I have always been able to do the things that match my temperament, family, and interests. So I chose to say this about my new phase of life, “I am a writer, and solitude is good for that.”

A couple weeks ago, I compiled the talks that I’ve given in sacrament meetings and stake conferences for the last 9 years serving as a church organization president of a Relief Society and then stake Primary. Friends, I have written a book of religious thought without realizing it. 😂

This is the grace of God

I’m pretty sure that the words this Apostle spoke to us won’t live in memory as long as what he did after the meeting.

He invited every person who wanted to shake his hand to come forward. A long line formed as most people in the audience joined the line. He asked their names and showed genuine interest. We watched him do this for about an hour and a half as he stood at the end of our row in the chapel. One by one, he ministered to all.

I am not the type to stand in line to meet important people. It could be shyness or ingrained patterns of trying to be invisible. Heavenly Father knows this about me, and He also knew I needed some encouragement. So, we had front row seats to observe a Special Witness of Christ express love in the pattern that Christ has shown. When the crowd was gone, I didn’t need to do anything but stand up in order to meet Elder Gong because he was right there waiting at the end of our bench. This is the grace of God.

MMSK and Conference

Before Mark was set apart as a missionary, he wanted one last gathering with his Sanchez cousins who are his age, so we invited them to spend part of conference weekend here. MMSK is pronounced “misk,” and it’s an acronym of their names. Mostly, there was a lot of nonsense going on as they “watched conference”, but I think that the time together was important.

Mark and Richard attended a session of General Conference on Sunday. They brought the binoculars, which was a great idea.

Mark’s last traditional general conference tower for a while.

When Mark sent in his mission papers last spring, I assumed he would be on a mission long before now. We’ve had a long preparation period, which was good in many ways and challenging in others.

We had time for more spiritual preparation and temple worship. Mark received mentoring in Preach My Gospel and got some work experience from his Sanchez grandparents. We had time to travel this summer.

The long wait means that the bandaid is being removed very slowly. I am pretty fragile lately.

Now that Mark has had a few days of home MTC, he is excited to go to the Provo MTC next week. Everything is as it should be: the wait, the anticipation, the emotions accompanying a goodbye, the excitement, his assignment. Everything.