Category: Spiritual Thoughts

With all the craziness of traveling and being sick this month I once again missed the chance to go see my visiting teachers.  Oops.  Luckily, the end of the month isn’t until tomorrow so I have one last shot to get in touch with my sisters before it’s July.  So, since this coincides with a plethora of brown bananas in my freezer I’ve made those bananas into banana chocolate chip bread (seriously, that’s the best recipe I’ve found for banana bread, you should try it) which is currently in the oven and now I’m working on putting together my thoughts for my sisters right now.  I figured as long as I was doing it I might as well make a blog post out of it so that I can have it later too.

This month’s message is about the sacrament.  I love this topic because it’s something we do every single week, but sometimes we might miss the importance of what we’re doing.  The most pointed part of the message to me was the scripture in 3 Nephi 18:10, the beginning of the chapter talks about the institution of the sacrament among the Nephites.  After they’ve taken the sacrament for the first time Jesus explains to them what they’ve done –

And when the Disciples had done this, Jesus said unto them: Blessed are ye for this thing which ye have done, for this is fulfilling my commandments, and this doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you. (emphasis added)

I really liked that it says that by taking the sacrament we show that we are willing to keep the commandments.  It doesn’t mean that we will perfectly keep them 100% of the time; in fact that’s the whole point of taking the sacrament every single week.  We won’t be perfect from week to week, but each week we have the chance to sit down and say “I know I’m not perfect, but I want to be and I’m going to work my hardest and try my best to be like Christ in all that I do and say.”  By partaking of the sacrament and accepting the Atonement our shortcomings are made up for.  What a great blessing!

I’ve heard a lot of people talk about the sacrament as being for things that have already passed.  Like in the Catholic Church where they talk about requiring their “last sacrament” to wipe away any sins that they might have committed since the last time they’d been in church.  I don’t think that’s the way God works.  I can’t imagine that if you were to die suddenly on a Saturday night you’re so much worse off than if you’d died on Sunday right after church – that doesn’t seem like the loving and just Heavenly Father that we have.  Instead I like to think of the sacrament as being a forward facing event.  Repentance and the atonement makes up for our past transgressions, the sacrament is for us to recommit ourselves to doing better in the time we have ahead of us.

I look at the time while the sacrament is being passed as a chance to re-commit myself to doing everything in my power to be serving the Lord.  My favorite thing to do is to think through the week ahead and find ways that I can be doing the best things.  Whether it’s being more diligent in my scripture study or attending the temple, I try to look through my calendar and task list and find specific ways I can make improvements. Perhaps I should just be sitting and pondering the Atonement, but for me I’ve found it most effective if I can actually find concrete ways to make myself a better person.

I am so grateful for the Atonement in my life and the way that it makes up for all of my many shortcomings.  I’m grateful for the sacrament and the opportunity it gives me each week to improve myself and to put the Atonement into effect in my life.  I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true.

There is a young woman in my home stake who asked me for some help with her personal progress. Specifically she wanted help with the project in Divine Nature #2 –

As a young woman you are blessed with divine feminine qualities. Increase your understanding of and appreciation for womanhood. Read Proverbs 31:10–31 and two talks on womanhood from a conference issue of the Church magazines. Review what “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” (see page 101) says about being a wife and a mother. Then ask your mother or another mother you admire what she thinks are important attributes for being a mother. List the attributes in your journal. Then choose one of those attributes and strive to develop it. After two weeks report your success to a parent or leader.

So I’ve been pondering for a few weeks about attributes of a good mother. As I thought about it, you can’t be a good mother without being a good wife first, so I’ve somewhat expanded my advice to be things that are both attributes of a good wife and good mother, and some of these things might not fit as “attributes” but more as “things you ought to do”, but I’ll try to get them to fit into attribute categories if I can.

Anyways, I thought before I sent this on to this young woman that I should post the things here and see if I could get some good feedback on other items I should add or modify before sending it on. After all, one of my best parenting secrets so far has been to ask for help when I need it! I’ve gotten so much good advice from Facebook friends and blog commenters that I’m sure has influenced what I’m posting here, and I’m hoping I might even get a few more good ideas for myself 🙂

So, without further ado –

• Put the Lord first – Some people will say that your marriage goes before all else, and this is true for everything except the Lord. As you draw closer to the Lord you will grow closer to your husband and children. Heavenly Father knows better than we do how we should be parenting our children. Find a man who is willing to do the same. Look for a man who is willing to be faithful to the Lord above all else and you know that he will also be faithful to you.I believe this is one of the reasons the church requires all young men to serve missions. It shows their dedication to the Lord and they gain such an incredible amount of experience that helps them in their marriages. They learn to deal with companions, even if they annoy them. They learn how to work hard (and trust me, marriage is hard work!).  They learn how to seek the guidance of the Spirit and follow it. Most importantly, I believe they are blessed in ways you can’t see in their marriages for their faithfulness.  Be willing to make this kind of sacrifice to the Lord, and expect the same in any man who wants to marry you.
• Obedient – Your children will pick up on things you don’t even realize. Even at one year old I’m FLOORED by the things that Sam picks up on and mimics. If you want your kids to be obedient to you the best thing to show them is how you are obedient to the leaders you say you sustain. If you hear them give you counsel, just do it! Even if it doesn’t make sense to you have faith that the Lord wouldn’t be giving it to us if it wasn’t for our benefit. If you are willing to obey church leaders you will find the blessings of obedience in abundance in your life, and usually you will best understand why they give the counsel they do when you live it. It is such a strong example to your children and it will ALWAYS bless your life.
• Constructive – Never criticize your spouse or children in mean ways.  Even if it is in joking, don’t call people names or belittle them. This is something I’ve had to work on.  I am sarcastic by nature, but whenever you say something in sarcasm, generally you mean some part of it, and people know that and it hurts.However, this isn’t to say that you need to always be sunshine and rainbows towards others.  One of the things that I learned in institute was the meaning of the word “betimes”.  It means often and immediately.  So when you read in D&C 121:43 – “Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; ” it means that we need to correct people quickly, immediately, and clearly.  You don’t do someone any favors by allowing them to continue doing things that hurt others. But it also points out that afterwards you need to show increased love.  Be sure that whenever you point out someone’s shortcomings you do it in the spirit of love because you want to help them, not because you want to tear them down.Also, if you have criticisms of someone tell it to them and not to someone else.  Gossiping doesn’t help anyone.  The person at fault doesn’t know your feelings so they can’t do anything about it and it just makes you feel worse.  However, if you’re going to give praise to someone I believe you should do it where others can hear.  It will build their self-confidence and make them want to be even better. Praise publicly, criticize confidentially
• Prayerful – Pray to the Lord for your family. In April General Conference just before I married Eric I came into conference with the question of what I needed to do to be a good wife. I listened intently to the speakers for things that I should be doing as a wife and didn’t really come up with anything. Then in the very last talk by President Hinckley he gave this advice – “May there be peace and harmony in your homes. Husbands, love and treasure your wives. They are your most precious possessions. Wives, encourage and pray for your husbands. They need all the help they can get. Parents, treat your children with great kindness. They are the coming generation who will bring honor to your name.” (full text here). It was the most powerful advice I’ve heard. Pray for your husband in everything he does. Whether it’s big things or small things. The Lord is so mindful of our families and children and want the best for them. Pray for guidance with your children. You will need it every single step of the way. Children are such an incredible adventure and most of the time there’s no way you could know what you ought to be doing without the guidance of the Lord. Remember that He loves them more than you do (although as a mother, it’s hard to fathom how that’s even possible) and He is willing and wanting to help you guide them through this life. You absolutely cannot raise your children without His guidance, so seek it out constantly.
• Consistent – If you say you’ll do it – do it. This was something I was shown is in the scriptures as the way the Lord deals with us (and what better example could we have as parents than our Heavenly Father?). In the book of Mosiah we read about the story of Alma and Abinadi. When Abinadi comes to the people he tells them – if you don’t repent now you will be put into bondage. No one listens to him and he is finally burned at the stake. However, after Abinadi is burned Alma realizes that the words Abinadi spoke were true and is converted. He then goes about preaching the gospel and baptizing and converting others. They get a whole bunch of people together that are now followers of the gospel and they leave. And what happens to them? They’re put in bondage, just like Abinadi said they would be. (see Mosiah 11 – 18, 23-24 for full account)When you read this at first it doesn’t seem fair. I mean, these are the good guys! They’ve repented and got baptized, why are they now put in bondage?!? It’s because they didn’t obey the commandments when they were told to and now they have to suffer the consequences. This is very important to realize when raising kids as well. If you give them instructions and affix a punishment with their failure to comply, if they fail to comply then you need to follow through with that punishment. This is HARD to do. You may have said that they would be grounded for a week, but then they’re really good during that week and there’s a big party that they want to go to that weekend – you need to stand firm. If your kids don’t expect that you will follow through on what you say then they can’t trust you. The other thing to realize with this is to be careful with what you say. Don’t dole out punishments in anger that you don’t really want to follow through on.
• Peacemaking – Contention can destroy your home. Don’t raise your voice or say unkind things. Don’t fight in front of your kids. Show a united front with your husband, even if you have to wait to answer a child’s question until you have discussed the solution and come to an agreement on a course of action.
• Treat kids according to their needs – Every child comes in their own way and you can’t expect each of them to have the same needs. When I was in high school I was shy and a bit of a homebody. I was MORE than happy to stay at home on Friday nights with my family and play games and just be with them. So my mom had to encourage me to do the things that were hard for me and encourage me to go out to football games and to parties. On the other hand, my sister Taylor is a self-proclaimed (and rightly so) party in a box. She is outgoing and fun and naturally wanted to be out with friends all the time. My mom had to limit her amount of going out so that she would have time at home with the family. This can apply to everyone, each person you meet will have different needs so be sure to treat them according to those needs.
• Assume best intentions – Before you get married make sure your spouse isn’t someone that would say mean things or do mean things towards you. So, if you are hurt by something he does or says assume that he doesn’t intend to hurt you and approach him that way. Don’t attack him for missteps he might take, but approach him with kindness and explain why his actions hurt you so that you can work together to fix the problems. I’ve found this to be a good way to approach most situations. Generally, people aren’t going out of their way to do mean things towards you. So if they do something that hurts you approach it calmly and peacefully – attacking the other person only makes things worse.
• Read scriptures and pray daily – All of the answers that you will need as a parent, spouse and person are in the scriptures and available as we have the Holy Ghost with us. Be sure you are always in a position to feel His promptings and obey them.
• Bear testimony often – Find ways to teach your children through everything you do. Make sure they see you supporting church leaders, paying your tithing, saying your prayers, going to church, reading the scriptures, attending the temple etc. It will be a vital part of their own testimony. Teach them the principles of the gospel as you come across any situation that presents itself.
• Humble – Realize that you don’t know everything. There are so many people around us who want to help you be successful. Listen to their guidance and try to act on it.
• Remember and keep covenants – Don’t settle for less than a temple marriage, it’s not worth it. Children have a right to be born into a family that has been sealed together forever. The covenants that you will make in the temple will strengthen you against all the evils in the world and help you become the best you can be. I can’t imagine trying to be a mother without the protection and guidance I have received through my temple covenants.  Marriage and parenthood is hard enough even with these blessings, you deserve nothing less than marriage in the temple to a young man who is worthy to take you there.
• Forgiving – Be willing to apologize and forgive quickly, especially with your kids. If you realize you are in the wrong don’t just try to hide it, apologize and let them know it. You will gain their respect and trust as you show them how to apologize and forgive.
• Patient – Motherhood requires immense patience. Your kids will undo all of your housekeeping the moment you do it. Everything you will want to do will take twice as long just by taking your kids along. You will even need patience just to keep from decking the lady at church who states that she “can’t understand parents who can’t get their kids to sleep through the night, just put them to bed and let them sleep!” when your own 14-month old *still* won’t sleep through the night… or anything like unto through the night (not that this happened to me… last week… at church :P).

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go visit one of the sisters I visit teach this month because she got strep 🙁  But I promised her that I would at least email her the lesson and some thoughts if I couldn’t get to visit her this month.  I figured so long as I was doing it I might as well post it as a blog post too.  So here it is…

The lesson for April is on personal revelation.  I was really excited about it because it’s something that has been on my mind recently.  I’ve had a couple of interesting experiences in the past month that I wanted to share in conjunction with this topic.  I’ve found a few different ways that the Lord answers our prayers through these experiences.

Last week I had sent Sam over to my sister’s house for a few hours while I worked on some urgent projects for work.  When I had completed my work I had a little bit of extra time so I decided to take advantage of it by listening to some of the talks from the most recent General Conference while I did some cleaning.  I was listening to Elder Eyring’s talk I had the thought pop into my head that I needed to email my little brother’s friend, Ashley, and see if she needed help with her personal progress. Ashley isn’t a member of the church because her parents won’t allow her to get baptized until she is 18. She’s been investigating the church for about two years now and it’s been really neat to see her testimony growing. I’d been noticing on facebook as she’s been posting about trying to complete her personal progress. That’s a pretty big project to take on and it took me all 6 years in Young Women’s to complete it all, so for her to try to take it on in the past little while was pretty impressive to me.

However, I don’t know Ashley that well. I’ve met her a couple times when I’ve gone home for holidays, and we’re facebook friends, but that’s about the extent of it. I felt kinda weird asking out of the blue if she wanted help with her personal progress. But I remembered something that Amanda England told us once about her attitude towards inspiration. She says whenever she’s trying to decide if something is inspiration or just her own thought she asks herself, “is it a good thing to do?” If the answer to that question is yes then she’s decided that it doesn’t matter if it’s inspiration or herself, and she does it. I liked that, so since I decided that offering to help a young woman with personal progress was a good thing to do, I acted on it and sent that email. I’m SO glad that I did. That night I got an email back from Ashley saying that she’d been looking for someone to help her with her personal progress and praying that someone would step forward. She doesn’t come from a great family environment and needed someone who could help her with the goals that require you to talk to a woman about characteristics that are valuable in a wife and mother. What a blessing! I felt so good to be needed and that I decided to act rather than wait.

I had another experience with a completely different matter. Eric and I have been making some serious considerations as to our plans for the future. As we’ve been doing so it’s obviously been a subject in our prayers and we definitely are seeking the will of the Lord in our actions. A couple weeks ago I was working on our laundry while Sam was at my sister’s (again, hmm, there seems to be a pattern here!). While I was doing so I was thinking about these decisions and trying to study them out in my mind. The thought came to me that while the house was quiet and I had some time to myself that I needed to kneel down and pray and pour out my soul to the Lord on the things we’ve been considering. So, I did. Not five minutes later I received an IM from Eric about a situation that had come up (probably in the time that I was kneeling and praying) that directly related to what we had been considering. I don’t know if that situation would have come up the same way, or if we would have dealt with it in the same way if I hadn’t just been praying before it happened. The experience didn’t directly answer our prayers but it helped us decide what path we ought to pursue and I was so grateful for that guidance.

So far I’ve just shared a couple of experiences but what I really want to share is what I learned from them.

1. Apparently Sam is a detriment to my ability to receive revelation. Just kidding! Although, the fact is that both of these experiences happened when I didn’t have him around. I think the real message for me was that I need to seek out quiet time to ponder on things if I want to receive revelation. It’s much easier to hear the still small voice if we’re taking the time to be still and listen.
2. When you receive revelation – act on it! Don’t worry too much about whether it’s really from the Lord or from yourself. My mom was at a fireside with Elder Bednar last week and someone asked him how to know when she was receiving answers to prayers. His answer was to stop asking and start doing. He told the girl asking the question that if she was asking the Lord sincerely for guidance and trying to follow the guidance she got, the He would not let her go astray. Once we’ve finished praying our job is to get on our feet and start moving in a direction, and if it’s the wrong direction, we’ll be stopped and guided in the right direction. I know I’ve found this so many times in my life that I don’t receive answers to my prayers as thoughts or feelings while I’m praying, but that I’m directed in my actions as I get up and go to work.
3. The Lord loves us and is mindful of the things that are important to us.  I think this is what impressed me most of all is however big or small our problems are the Lord finds ways to help us through them.  Because Ashley prayed I was able to receive revelation to help her with her personal progress.  Because I prayed, the situation with Eric became a little guide to us in our decision making process, rather than a frustration.

I loved the quotes in this month’s message so I wanted to share a couple of them.

“We prepare to receive personal revelation as the prophets do, by studying the scriptures, fasting, praying, and building faith. Faith is the key. Remember Joseph’s preparation for the First Vision:
“‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. …
“‘But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.’”
Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

I liked how Elder Hales points out that the way we gain personal revelation is the same process that the prophets do.  We have access to the same powers and guidance that President Monson has, if we are willing to put the work in on our end to study and ask and then listen and do.

“Prayer is your personal key to heaven. The lock is on your side of the veil.
“But that is not all. To one who thought that revelation would flow without effort, the Lord said:
“‘You have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.
“‘But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.’”2
President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

I liked this quote because it points out very clearly that we need to be the ones to seek revelation.  The Lord can’t help us unless we’re willing to come to Him.  Even though He knows the desires of our heart He has given us free agency to choose to accept His help and guidance or decide to do it on our own.

“In its more familiar forms, revelation or inspiration comes by means of words or thoughts communicated to the mind (see Enos 1:10; D&C 8:2–3), by sudden enlightenment (see D&C 6:14–15), by positive or negative feelings about proposed courses of action, or even by inspiring performances, as in the performing arts. As President Boyd K. Packer, … President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has stated, ‘Inspiration comes more as a feeling than as a sound.’”3
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

I liked how Elder Oaks illustrates some of the different ways we receive revelation.  I know for me it comes in different ways at different times depending on what I have my mind opened to.  At times I have a hard time always trusting my feelings, but later I’ve found that in many cases those feelings were leading me in the right way all along.  I need to learn better to trust those feelings rather than putting too much stock in logical decision making processes.

“The temple is a house of learning. Much of the instruction imparted in the temple is symbolic and learned by the Spirit. This means we are taught from on high. … Our understanding of the meaning of the ordinances and covenants will increase as we return to the temple often with the attitude of learning and contemplating the eternal truths taught. … Let us enjoy the spiritual strength and the revelation we receive as we attend the temple regularly.”4
Silvia H. Allred, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency.

Sister Allred’s quote might have been my favorite.  I think this is something I overlook too often.  We are so blessed to live so close to so many temples.  But somehow it’s still always hard to make the time to go.  You have to block out a chunk of time, find a babysitter, get dressed up and not let anything get in the way.  And something ALWAYS tries to get in the way 😛  But I know that when you go to the temple with a prayer in your heart the Lord will help you find your answers.

Sorry this is so long, apparently I had a lot on my mind on this subject.

In Relief Society we were talking about the Creation on Sunday.  I had a thought that I wanted to share.  At the end of each day God surveys his works and declares them good.  I think that’s a good pattern for how we should live our days.  At the end of the day we should think through the things we’ve done and see if we can declare them “good”.  We don’t have to have done something spectacular like separate the land from the seas or create all the animals, just if the things that we are doing in our sphere can be considered good.  Are you doing the things that would make you the kind of person you would like to become?  Are you proud of the way you treated those you came across?  Are you taking care of the things within your stewardship?  I think it gives us the opportunity to find ways to improve ourselves each day and to realize where we are headed.

So, when you’re going to bed tonight think – what have I done today?  Have I done good?

(and no Taylor, that’s not a grammatical error.  I want to know if you have done good (things), not whether you were well today 😉 )

This was my visiting teaching thought that I shared with my sisters in November 2009.

As I was thinking about the messages from our most recent General Conference I decided to read over Elder Oak’s talk called “Love and Law”.  I found his talk to be really profound during conference and wanted to share a part of it with you.

First, consider the love of God, described so meaningfully this morning by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” the Apostle Paul asked. Not tribulation, not persecution, not peril or the sword (see Romans 8:35). “For I am persuaded,” he concluded, “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, . . . nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God” (verses 38–39).

There is no greater evidence of the infinite power and perfection of God’s love than is declared by the Apostle John: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16). Another Apostle wrote that God “spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). Think how it must have grieved our Heavenly Father to send His Son to endure incomprehensible suffering for our sins. That is the greatest evidence of His love for each of us!

I was really struck when reading this by the incredible love our Heavenly Father has for each one of us.  The power of His love is so great that nothing can separate us from it – not tribulation, persecution, peril, the sword, death, life, angels, principalities, powers or any other creature.  I know I’ve had some times in my life where I felt like the things I was going through put me far from God’s love.  I’ve felt at these times like I’d gotten myself into situations where He could barely reach me anymore.  However at these times it seems His love has found me more powerfully than ever.  It seems at the darkest points in our lives our Father in Heaven is able to reach through to us and lift us from our sufferings and prove to us how great His love for us truly is.

This week, as we’re getting ready for Thanksgiving, I hope we remember to give thanks for the love of our Heavenly Father.  I know that I am so grateful for the love He has for me.  I am filled with gratitude when I think that His love for us is so profound that He would sacrifice His only begotten Son so that we could be forgiven of our sins and healed from all of our sorrows and afflictions.  I know that our Savior lives and loves us

A couple weeks ago Eric and I were assigned to talk about Obedience in our ward’s sacrament meeting. Since I put a fair amount of work into that talk I decided it would be beneficial to share it with everyone else as well. So, minus the story of how Eric and I met and who we are… here’s that talk!

I’ve decided to base my talk around a story shared by Elder Holland in last October’s General Conference. I apologize that it is such a long story, but it illustrated several aspects of obedience that I wanted to share. The story is of Elder Holland’s friend Clyn D. Barrus. Elder Holland said,

“Referring to his childhood on a large Idaho farm, Brother Barrus spoke of his nightly assignment to round up the cows at milking time. Because the cows pastured in a field bordered by the occasionally treacherous Teton River, the strict rule in the Barrus household was that during the spring flood season the children were never to go after any cows who ventured across the river. They were always to return home and seek mature help.

“I tried to tell him how sorry I was, but only disjointed words came out of my trembling lips—'Thank you . . . darkness . . . afraid . . . river . . . alone.' Later that night I learned that when I had not returned from the pasture, my father had come looking for me. When neither I nor the cows were to be found, he knew I had crossed the river and was in danger. Because it was dark and time was of the essence, he removed his clothes down to his long white thermal underwear, tied his shoes around his neck, and swam a treacherous river to rescue a wayward son.”
Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Ministry of Angels,” Ensign, Nov 2008, 29–31

There are several principles that are taught in this story that I feel are important to this topic

1) Commandments are for our good
It’s very clear from the story that had Clyn been obedient to his parents counsel to not cross the river during the spring season he would have avoided a very dangerous situation. They knew that a young seven year old boy could easily be overtaken by the swift current. Because his parents loved him they had his best interests in mind when giving that rule.

This reminded me of a passage I read a while back in Doctrine and Covenants 59. A verse in that section that referred to the commandments in a way that I hadn’t considered before. Verse 4 in that chapter reads: …They shall also be crowned with blessings from above, yea, and with commandments not a few, and with revelations in their time—they that are faithful and diligent before me.
The phrase that struck me from that verse was that the saints would be “crowned with blessings [and] commandments”. Somehow I’d never thought of commandments as being blessings. They’d always seemed like those things that we had to do, which would help us obtain blessings, but I’d never thought of the commandments themselves as being blessings. However, as I thought about it they certainly are blessings. The commandments we have are given to us by a loving Heavenly Father who has our best interests in mind. Like young Clyn’s parents our loving Heavenly Father is trying to keep us from dangerous situations. Our Father in Heaven knows the outcomes of bad choices and wants to keep us from them. All commandments are for our protection and good. When we obey the commandments in the Word of Wisdom we keep ourselves free from the dangers of drunk driving, or lung cancer from cigarette smoke, or the loss of control that comes from using illicit drugs. You can find the same thing with any commandment we are given, they are for our benefit. What greater blessings could we ask for than guidance to keep us from choices that will cause us suffering?

But sometimes we are like young children who don’t seem to understand that the rules their parents give them are to keep them from danger. Recently we’ve been trying to teach our son Samuel that he is not impervious to gravity as he would like to think. Again and again we try to pull him from the edge of our bed so that he doesn’t climb right off. But each time he tries to climb right back to the edge. I’m sure in his mind he’s saying “But Mom, look, there’s cool stuff at the edge of the bed, I want to go see that stuff so I’m going to go that way”. Of course, I know that if he crawls off the edge of the bed he will fall and be hurt. I think Heavenly Father looks at us the same way. He gives us guidance and counsel, “No, really, you don’t want to break that commandment, it will bring you suffering”. But we turn back to him like a small child, “but look at all the other people who are doing it. They make it look so fun!” Of course, in the end Heavenly Father knows what’s best for us and if we disobey his counsel the suffering he foretold will come to pass, just like if Sam crawled off the bed he would fall and get hurt like I’ve warned him.

2) If we are not quickly obedient it wastes our time
In this story young Clyn decided to be disobedient because he wanted to bring the cows home fast so that he could enjoy a night at the movies. However, I’m guessing that in the end his disobedience cost him that night out.

It reminded me of the story of Lehi’s family. In 1 Nephi 17 verse 4 we find out that they spent 8 years wandering in the wilderness before getting to the promised land. I wondered if that time would have been considerably shorter if Laman and Lemuel had spent their time working towards getting to the promised land and obeying the commandments rather than murmuring about it the whole time. Likewise the Children of Israel could have probably saved a lot of their 40 years of wandering around in the wilderness by just quickly obeying the Lord’s commandments rather than stopping to build golden calves.

In a well loved primary song we are taught “when my mother calls me quickly I’ll obey”. It reminded me of a lesson on obedience that a home teacher gave my family many years ago. In his lesson he introduced to us what he called the obey sign. His proposed sign was this simple hand gesture. He told us that if our mom or dad ever gave us the obey sign that we had to remember his lesson and immediately obey. I know, it sounds really hokey, right? The strange thing is, it worked. For the next several years when one of us kids would complain about a chore inevitably one of the other kids would call out “Mom! Give them the obey sign!” As soon as my mom whipped it out it was like a hex, and the complaining child felt like they had to do whatever they’d been assigned to do.

What changed by introducing the obey sign? Nothing really. It wasn’t truly a hex that caused instant obedience. We were simply reminded of a commitment we’d made previously as well as the futility of complaining about the task at hand. Perhaps we should implement our own obey sign to remind us not to complain about the commandments we’ve been given. Life is better if we will “quickly obey” rather than making ourselves miserable complaining.

3) Our actions of disobedience don’t just hurt ourselves but also harm others around us

In Brother Barrus’ story not only was he put in danger, but his father then was put in danger as well. His father had to swim across the nearly flooded river to rescue his son. Also, if indeed his disobedience cost him his night at the movies, his siblings and parents likewise would have been kept from that treat. In the story of Lehi’s family Laman and Lemuel’s disobedience kept Nephi and Sam and all those who were being righteous from getting to the promised land as quickly as they could have. Furthermore, I’m sure that the righteous among the Children of Israel weren’t too happy that they had to wander for 40 years while the rest of their people got their acts together.

I have seen an example of this recently. A dear friend of mine has made some really bad choices in the past year. I’m sure that in the world most people would look at the things he did and say that he was only hurting himself and that he should have done whatever he wanted. However, I’ve seen how the choices he made deeply affected his family and friends. His personal bad decisions have since cost his parents a great deal of money, not to mention many many hours of hurt, frustration and betrayal spent by every member of his family and many of his friends. Although at the time he could have easily justified his actions by saying that it’s his own life and that he can do what he wants and just face the consequences later, he was not the only one who had to face the consequences. None of us live in a vacuum. Every decision you make effects those around you, whether you realize it at the time or not. Don’t ever let Satan catch you with the lie that your actions won’t hurt anyone else, it’s simply not true.

So far I feel like my talk has been on more of a negative note, but in Clyn’s story there is ultimately a happy ending.

4) Even when we go astray Heavenly Father loves us

When Clyn realizes his mistake he prays for forgiveness and in answer to his prayer his father comes, and takes him in his arms and tells him how glad he is that he’s safe. In a moment where young Clyn was probably in deep despair his father’s love and help erases the problems he is having.

We have the blessing of the Atonement in our lives which works much the same way. In the third article of faith we read:
We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. When we realize that we’ve done wrong we can turn to the Lord and he will take us in his arms. We can repent and Jesus Christ will erase the mistakes we have made. I would like to finish with a final quote from Elder Holland’s talk –

“I am testifying that God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face. “[N]or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man [or woman or child] upon the face thereof to be saved.” On occasions, global or personal, we may feel we are distanced from God, shut out from heaven, lost, alone in dark and dreary places. Often enough that distress can be of our own making, but even then the Father of us all is watching and assisting.”

As we prepare for General Conference this week I hope we can all take the challenge to listen to the counsel that we are given by those who we sustain as prophets, seers and revelators. And when we get that counsel let’s remember to obey it quickly.

I know that as we are quickly obedient to the commandments given us we will be blessed.