The Truest Sacrifice

I’m going to begin with a reboot of the story of the Rich Young Ruler.

The not-at-all rich, not at all young, Mom prayed to ask the Lord, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He answered, “Thou knowest the commandments. Love God, love thy neighbor, No killing, no stealing, no adultery, be honest…”

The mother interrupted and said, “Lord, I do all of that stuff (remembers the "be honest" thing)—or at least, I’m trying my hardest. What else do I need to do? What’s the secret?”

The Lord said, “Maybe thou shouldst go read what Joseph Smith said about sacrifice.”

Among many things about sacrifice that the Prophet Joseph Smith said, here are a few (from Lectures on Faith 6):

“An actual knowledge to any person, that the course of life which he pursues is according to the will of God, is essentially necessary to enable him to have that confidence in God without which no person can obtain eternal life … and unless they have an actual knowledge that the course they are pursuing is according to the will of God they will grow weary in their minds and faint … and it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. …“It was in offering sacrifices that Abel, the first martyr, obtained knowledge that he was accepted of God. And from the days of righteous Abel to the present time, the knowledge that men have that they are accepted in the sight of God is obtained by offering sacrifice.“But those who have not made this sacrifice to God do not know that the course which they pursue is well pleasing in his sight; for whatever may be their belief or their opinion, it is a matter of doubt and uncertainty in their mind; and where doubt and uncertainty are there faith is not, nor can it be. For doubt and faith do not exist in the same person at the same time; so that persons whose minds are under doubts and fears cannot have unshaken confidence; and where unshaken confidence is not there faith is weak; and where faith is weak the persons will not be able to contend against all opposition, tribulations, and afflictions which they will have to encounter in order to be heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus; and they will grow weary in their minds, and the adversary will have power over them and destroy them.”

That’s a lot. It's deep stuff. The gist is that we can’t know that what we are doing in our lives is exactly what the Lord wants us to do, unless we offer up to Him everything that we have, and are. And if we aren’t utterly confident that our course in life is pleasing to God, we can’t have absolute faith. If we don’t have that faith, we will falter and risk being overcome and losing our way.

What are we willing to sacrifice? What do we hold back from the altar? 

I know that there are times I am terrified that Heavenly Father will ask me to let a child go.

When Simon was a newborn, I would sit in the chair and feed him or rock him, and I sat there sobbing, holding a perfect little baby, so grateful to have him, yet so afraid that it was only until Heavenly Father figured out that he was missing: 

(imaginary Heavenly Father conversation:)

Hey! Where'd Simon go? (muffled angel answers)

What? Who sent him down there?  I miss him! Bring him back, NOW!

Yes. I was truly convinced that any moment, I would have to give him back. And it still scares me to think of losing any one of my children, or my husband. I'm pretty sure I'm holding them back from the altar, or at least using my biggest puppy dog eyes and looking up at Heavenly Father begging him to not have that be something asked of me. So I am well aware that I may be lacking in the "willing to sacrifice" department. 

Some sacrifices are harder to make than others. 

I like the story of King Lamoni’s father. When he was taught the Gospel, he cried out in mighty prayer, begging to be saved, and promised to “give up all his sins” to know God. 

Are we willing to sacrifice, to give up, our favorite sins? This is what Moroni calls “denying yourselves of all ungodliness.”

Doctrine and Covenants 121: says:

“Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth”

Speaking of how our righteousness impacts our confidence, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland told this story. He says:

The conference concluded with a testimony meeting in which a handsome, young returned missionary stood up to bear his testimony. He looked good, clean, and confident—just like a returned missionary should look.

As he began to speak, tears came to his eyes. He said he was grateful to stand in the midst of such a terrific group of young Latter-day Saints and to feel good about the life he was trying to lead. But that feeling had only been possible, he said, because of an experience he had had a few years earlier, an experience that had shaped his life forever.He then told of coming home from a date shortly after he had been ordained an elder at age 18. Something had happened on this date of which he was not proud. To this day I do not know the nature of the incident, but it was significant enough to him to have affected his spirit and his self-esteem.As he sat in his car for a while in the driveway of his own home, thinking things through and feeling genuine sorrow for whatever had happened, his nonmember mother came running frantically from the house straight to his car. In an instant she conveyed that this boy’s younger brother had just fallen in the home, had hit his head sharply and was having some kind of seizure or convulsion. The nonmember father had immediately called for an ambulance, but it would take some time at best for help to come.“Come and do something,” she cried. “Isn’t there something you do in your Church at times like this? You have their priesthood. Come and do something.”His mother didn’t know a lot about the Church at that point, but she knew something of priesthood blessings. Nevertheless, on this night when someone he loved dearly needed his faith and his strength, this young man could not respond. Given the feelings he had just been wrestling with and the compromise he felt he had just made—whatever that was—he could not bring himself to go before the Lord and ask for the blessing that was needed.He bolted from the car and ran down the street to the home of a worthy older man who had befriended him in the ward ever since the boy’s conversion two or three years earlier. An explanation was given, and the two were back at the house still well before the paramedics arrived. The happy ending of this story as told in that testimony meeting was that this older man instantly gave a sweet, powerful priesthood blessing, leaving the injured child stable and resting by the time medical help arrived. A quick trip to the hospital and a thorough exam there revealed no permanent damage had been done. A very fearful moment for this family had passed.Then the returned missionary of whom I speak said this: “No one who has not faced what I faced that night will ever know the shame I felt and the sorrow I bore for not feeling worthy to use the priesthood I held. It is an even more painful memory for me because it was my own little brother who needed me and my beloved nonmember parents who were so fearful and who had a right to expect more of me. But as I stand before you today, I can promise you this,” he said. “I am not perfect, but from that night onward I have never done anything that would keep me from going before the Lord with confidence and asking for His help when it is needed. Personal worthiness is a battle in this world in which we live,” he acknowledged, “but it is a battle I am winning. I have felt the finger of condemnation pointing at me once in my life, and I don’t intend to feel it ever again if I can do anything about it. And, of course,” he concluded, “I can do everything about it.”

Are we willing to sacrifice our favorite sins in order to have confidence in front of our Heavenly Father? 

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
 that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Elder Neal A Maxwell said, “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we ‘give’ … are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us.”  

The Savior taught the Nephites after his resurrection:

“Ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away. … And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 9:19-20).

To have a broken heart and a contrite spirit is to be humble and receptive to the will of God and to the counsel of those He has called to lead His Church. It also means to feel deep sorrow for sin and a sincere desire to repent.

The prophet Lehi emphasized the importance of offering this sacrifice: “Behold, [Christ] offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered” (2 Nephi 2:7).

Those who show their willingness to sacrifice as the Lord has commanded will be accepted by Him. He taught in Doctrine and Covenant 97:8: “All … who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me” (D&C 97:8).

Elder Russell M. Nelson has taught: 

“We are still commanded to sacrifice, but not by shedding blood of animals. Our highest sense of sacrifice is achieved as we make ourselves more sacred or holy. This we do by our obedience to the commandments of God. Thus, the laws of obedience and sacrifice are indelibly intertwined. … As we comply with these and other commandments, something wonderful happens to us. … We become more sacred and holy—[more] like our Lord!” (“Lessons from Eve,” Ensign, Nov. 1987, 88).

I love what Elder Neal A. Maxwell said:

“Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!” 

It is my hope and prayer that each of us, and especially myself, can place the parts of ourselves, the natural man, the animal, upon the altar and let go of our sins. I know that the Savior has already paid the price to have our sins be consumed and to purify us so that we can be clean. I know that as we sacrifice whatever it is that the Lord asks of us, --even our favorite sins-- that we will be strengthened and perfected. 

Discouragement and Enlightenment: Teaching a Lesson I Needed More Than Most

By Jewel Leann Williams

I teach Relief Society. It is possibly one of the most treasured callings I have ever held as a member of the Church. Even years ago, when I was the counselor over the teachers, I assigned myself to be the substitute teacher whenever anyone was out for the day. I just LOVE teaching Relief Society. I think the reason why is because it not only “forces” me to delve into the topic and matter at hand, but I also have an extra measure of the Spirit to guide me and so I learn that much more. I read the lesson weeks in advance and ponder it for the month. Usually something happens in my life or in the world to give me perspectives on how best to teach the topic for the sisters I am privileged to teach.

Well, not this last lesson. I’d read it—and felt extremely guilty and terrible about myself.

I pondered it all month, as I tried desperately to live some of the principles taught.

I was a complete and utter failure at that, as well.

I read it again, and felt like the weight of the world was pressing down on my shoulders.

The topic:  The Sacred Callings of Fathers and Mothers (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson)

I cried when I read it. Every time. It felt like I was being slapped in the face. Every time. It is really a beautiful lesson, but it wasn’t that kind of crying. It was the kind of crying that comes along with this (partial) text message I sent to my husband:       

           

     “I am ashamed of us.”

That’s what it boils down to. The lesson talks about all these wonderful things mothers and fathers are to their children. I looked at it and saw everything I was doing wrong. I won’t get into all the specifics, and CPS doesn’t need to be called, don’t worry, but I was just flooded with the thought:

           

     “You are not good enough.”

So, Sunday rolled around, and before I even got up, my heart was pounding in my throat and I was fighting back tears. I played a recording of “Love is Spoken Here,” and I couldn’t stop crying long enough to speak. The first sentence out of my mouth, in that squeaky croaky voice of someone trying not to cry, was something like, “I am having a very hard time teaching this lesson, because I am an absolute failure at just about everything this lesson teaches.”   Within the first 5 minutes I used my whole stash of Kleenex and moved on to a baby wipe from Abby’s diaper kit.

There were a lot of really good comments made and we had small group discussions about some points—I mean, my husband is the Sunday School president and taught me the cool “new” way to teach, so it wasn’t that I wasn’t confident in that part of the lesson. I just felt like a big, fat hypocrite.

The last comment of the lesson was given by the mother of my son’s best friend. She is “that” mom. The one whose house ALL of my boys want to go to all the time. They would never come home if I didn’t make them. Her kids are awesome, and she always has it together. Really. When we talk, she tells me how she doesn’t have it together, but when I compare us, she is doing all the things right that I’m doing wrong.

Her comment went something like this, and I’m totally paraphrasing:

            

    “The first thing you said in this lesson was how you are a failure as mother. You need to stop, because this is the devil telling you how you are not good enough. Heavenly Father does not want you to feel like that. All of us feel like we are not doing enough, like we’re not good enough, and that’s wrong. We need to build each other up and not let Satan tear us down by making us feel like we’re not enough. One of the things I love about you is how amazing of a mom you are. Of course there are things we can work on, but I’m here to tell you that you are good enough, and you are an amazing mother.”

Well, I had regained my composure before that (several times, as a matter of fact), but I lost it, again. Luckily it was the end, and I had someone read just one final thought from President Benson and then mercifully got to sit down.

I was drained. I get a little choke-y just thinking about it.

I learned something—it’s something I know, but I needed to relearn it, and learn it with respect to my own flaws and foibles.

It was that statement—“You need to stop, because it is the devil telling you that you’re not good enough.” 

Our Heavenly Father never tells us that we are not good enough. He may, through the Spirit, tell us that we are not doing enough, but He will never make statements about who we are unless it’s to tell us that we ARE His children, that we ARE divine, that we ARE the subjects of His work and His glory.

• The devil will tell us that we are failures. He wants us to stop trying, so he will overwhelm us with all the things we aren’t doing, and use it as evidence to prove to us that we have already failed. That discouragement, that heavy weight that he piles on top of us, keeps us from moving towards God. 

          That is how we know it is not from God—if it is not encouraging us to do good, it is not from  him, but from the devil.

• The devil will try to pull you AWAY from our Heavenly Father and the Atonement. Heavenly Father and our Savior will always draw you nearer.
• The devil is going to tell you “NOTHING” you do is right. The Holy Spirit will prick your heart to work on something. Then, when you’ve mastered that, there will be something else. Always onward and upward.
• The devil will point out how you have ruined everything. The Spirit whispers “I give unto men weakness… I will make weak things become strong unto them.”

I still see so, sooooooo much I need to do to be a better mother. The difference is, that I know I can do it. Every time I stumble, I get up, I repent, and I try again. This week was better because of it. I wasn’t perfect, but I continue to try, because I know I can improve.

For anyone out there who is feeling worthless, as a mother or otherwise, I offer this scripture, along with the echo of what my friend said to me in that Relief Society class. “You need to stop.” Here’s why:

 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me,then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Our Heavenly Father and Savior love you, and they will not abandon you. Satan is big fat stupid liar, and he will do everything he can to drag you away and make you build up a wall around yourself so the Savior can’t reach His hand in to pull you out. Kick Satan in the figurative teeth, and remember.

               

God loves you. You ARE His child. You ARE divine. Our Savior will do—no, HAS ALREADY DONE—what is necessary to make it possible for you to be all that you dream to be, and more than you can imagine.

                You are already ENOUGH. 

A Mighty Change of Heart

This is not the blog post I intended to write today.

I've read a few articles talking about people leaving the Church, and people coming back, and I had a lot of deep thoughts to share about it. But, other people have discussed these articles and have done a much better job than I.  

Hopefully what I have to share is more uplifting than what I would've said about that anyway. 

As I was writing about one of the articles, which was the point of view of a woman who had left the Church, and had returned to full activity, I was reminded of my own experiences with being inactive and more importantly, my experience in returning to my faith. That made me think about the lesson I taught in Relief Society this past Sunday, from the teaching of Ezra Taft Benson, titled "Principles of True Repentance." Here's the link:   https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-of-presidents-of-the-church-ezra-taft-benson/chapter-5-principles-of-true-repentance?lang=eng

The lesson affected me, as most lessons do. This one brought back the memory of my own return to my faith. 

The ultra-super-short version of my journey to inactivity goes like this: 
I was a return missionary. I got lazy in my ongoing conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was complacent. I had a boyfriend, I thought we were getting married. We weren't. I think I thought he was my reward for being good, and I got bitter. (It's funny, when we don't feel like doing the work of living the Gospel, we can find the most convincing reasons, which just sound stupid later).  

I worked law enforcement, where many/most of my coworkers medicated with alcohol to relax/de-stress from the traumatic jobs we did. I stopped caring, and started partying. 

I was never "anti-Mormon"... I actually said, "I fully believe in the Gospel, I just don't believe that I am worth the trouble." I had a LOT of fun, but not very much happiness--and they are different.  

Jesus found me and brought me back. That part of the story is interesting only to me, but it involves a vacation to a good friend's house in Utah, an unexpected Saturday morning session of General Conference wherein each and every song and talk was aimed DIRECTLY at my heart, and long discussions with my friend and her husband about my relationship with my Heavenly Father and my Savior and how that relates to my happiness. 

I will be forever grateful to Kristine for those conversations and for the example that she was for me that helped me to return. Somehow her friendship and her ability to speak to me without awakening my rebellious devil inner child, rescued me. 

THOUGHT ONE:  There is no point of no return. No one is too far gone.  Exhibit A: Me. Also, Alma the Younger, Ammon, Aaron, Omner, Himni, Saul/Paul, Zeezrom, King Lamoni and his whole Lamanite kingdom..... 

The Savior WILL find you. He's already paid your price, and He is standing right there outside your metaphorical door, knocking, and He'll keep knocking, with bloody knuckles and tired feet, right up until Judgment Day. 

So, as I was working my way through MIRACLE OF FORGIVENESS by Spencer W. Kimball, referred to hereafter as "The Manual," there was a part about forgiving to be forgiven. I've had my share of hurts perpetuated by others, and I realized that I needed to very conscientiously and deliberately go through a process of forgiving them. In doing so, hurts were healed and I felt my Savior's love bind up places in my heart I didn't know were broken. 

THOUGHT TWO: The Atonement is the thing that makes everything okay. It's not just for repentance, it is also for forgiveness. Accessing the Atonement is HOW we can forgive even those things that are so horrific that we feel we can never be whole again.

As I worked my way through the repentance process, I came back again and again to the idea of the "change of heart," as spoken of in Alma. I felt peace in stages, I felt the Spirit testify that I was on the right path, but "The Manual" teaches that we don't just check things off a list and then we're good with the Lord. President Kimball said that the true feeling that we've been forgiven will come in the Lord's time. I was willing to wait and keep doing the work. I knew it would be a long haul.

So when the moment came upon me suddenly that I felt "forgiven" it was--amazing isn't strong enough of a word. The experience is too sacred to share, but what I can tell you is that I felt the "change of heart" in a literal sense. 

Change of heart--one way to think of it is that your heart is changed.... hard places made soft, little stains and rips and tears mended and cleaned, until your heart is as "as good as new." 

Change of heart--a metaphorical heart transplant. This is what I felt--like the Savior took out my beaten up and abused heart, and placed His own perfect heart in its place. Truly mighty.

THOUGHT THREE: What am I doing with the Savior's heart? 

“I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?” (Alma 5:14.)

 “If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?” (Alma 5:26.)

If the Savior loved me enough to give me HIS heart, somehow, through that wondrous and infinite Atonement, then shouldn't I love Him enough to keep it as unmarred as I can? 

FINAL THOUGHT:

Something that fell out of my mouth while I was teaching, which means it indubitably did NOT come from me, is this:

Life is messy. Us screwing up IS the plan. We have to make mistakes in order to learn. It's intended. We don't have to beat ourselves up, because it IS the plan. It was already accounted for. Our Savior took care of it, whether we repent or not. It's already covered. All that He asks is that we take the ugly, broken-down fail of a pile of crap that is our smallmediumlargeginormous mistake, APPLY the Atonement, and with His help, turn it into something beautiful and glorious. Here's the proof:

 I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them 

(that's Ether 12:27, by the way)

For those who have strayed just a bit away; for those who have jumped off the train and wonder how to get back; and even for those who have no interest in returning--please know that there's always a way back through the Savior, from however far. There's nowhere too far for Him to reach. 

I love my Savior. The plan is truly THE PLAN OF HAPPINESS. 

(PS I have lots more thoughts but.... this is a blog, not a book.)

That Keynote Address

Photo by Erin Summerill

- a post by Jeanna Mason Stay

(And yes, this post is long, but not as long as the keynote itself.)

If you attended the LDStorymakers conference last weekend, follow the hashtag #Storymakers14, or are just friends with someone from Storymakers, you probably already heard about Orson Scott Card’s keynote address. If not, let’s just call it “controversial.” The variety of reactions to his address was interesting—some people were amused, some massively offended, and some scratching their heads. Me, I was mostly amused and found plenty of food for thought. So let me share some food.

First of all, Card and his writing: His fiction is wonderful. That is not to say that I love all his books (I don’t). But I love the complexity of his stories and his characters. Many of his books are what I consider highly moral (not “clean”—just books that make me want to be better).

In his other writing, he is not someone you could call diplomatic. I often read his Uncle Orson Reviews Everything column. His opinions are . . . strong, shall we say? He tends to offend. With gusto. I don’t know why, and I don’t find it useful to my life to waste time and energy in judging his personality. Plus, I don’t think he’d care. I usually just say, “Hey, that’s his decision. My judgment is irrelevant.”

So, knowing his tendencies, I knew we were in for a ride with his keynote address. I was curious to see how much—or if—he would tone it down for this audience (he didn’t). And I decided to be amused, not to be offended, and to learn whatever he had to share, no matter how impolitely he couched it.

Inspiration

Card is strongly against claiming inspiration from God for your writing. As with most of his views in the address, I both partially agreed and partially disagreed. On the one hand, there have been some occasions when I felt strongly that I needed to try to write a specific thing, and there have been times when I found my mind opened up better than it I could have imagined on my own. On the other hand, I am imperfect, and no matter how inspired I feel, my writing will fall short of perfection. So Card says this: Don’t be the reason someone questions their faith. Don’t give people room to say, “Is that story the best God can do?”

Card stated, and I tend to agree, that when writing is truly inspired, you don’t have to preface it with, “I felt inspired to write this.” It comes through.

Our Relationship to the Church

This is going to sound ridiculous, but it had never really occurred to me until Card talked about it: the reason I didn’t fit in as a youth in the Church was that I was highly intellectual (academic, thought-focused rather than action-focused), quite verbal, and introverted. I always just thought it was because I was shy, spazzy, not girly, and poor (relative to my much richer neighborhood). Somehow I like Card’s description better. :) And essentially he claimed that the Church doesn’t know what to do with people like this. From my personal experience and the experiences of youth I have worked with, I think this might often be true.

This is not a critique of the gospel, by the way (although, admittedly, when Card said it, it felt attacking—but so did everything else; get over it). I do not doubt that God has a place (in heaven) for the introverts of the world, the terrible leaders, those who hate making phone calls and struggle with visiting teaching. But I do think that place is much harder to find (on earth) in a sea of tasks that really fit the extroverts. That is why he said to come set up chairs, take them down, do the jobs that no one wants—because even though they’re not glamorous, they’re important too (plus, you don’t have to talk as much!). That way, you have a place.

While many of the night’s tweets complained that Card was being a snob in this portion of the address, considering himself above the nonintellectual folk of the Church, I think they really missed the point. (Sorry, ladies and gents.) He wasn’t saying that the “intellectual” members are better than the physical folk, the extroverts, the less educated—simply that they are different. I think he honestly meant it when he said to treasure your friendships with them. It’s important not to isolate yourself in a world (i.e., your head) that doesn’t look like the rest of humanity.

Decorum

Okay, people, how is it not funny that in an address about decorum, Card used the words “defecation” and “urination” repeatedly? Come on, that was funny, admit it. Partially because it was so very indecorous, partially because I sometimes have the sense of humor of a sixth grader, and partially because—honestly—they’re just scientific words for things we all do. Why is that offensive?

But the point was, of course, that just as you don’t have to write those events into your book even though they surely happen, you don’t have to write in the sex and swearing. You choose the level you think you need to write in, and that’s what you do. (Note, of course, that Card’s level of comfort with writing some of these things is different from mine, or from yours, or from anyone else’s.)

Finally: the amusement of Card telling an audience (the bulk of whom are Mormons he has just offended) that no matter what you write or how you write, you will at some point offend a Mormon. Well played, Card. Well played.

Failure and Success

Now we come to the portion of the address that almost everybody was on board with—what it means to be a failure or a success. Your marriage, your kids, your relationship with God—these are more important than being a good writer. Being a good Mormon is more important than being a good writer. He quoted President McKay, “No success can compensate for failure in the home,” saying that failure is not being there, not being part of your family’s lives. It made me look forward to flying home and giving them all a big hug and doing better.

In the end, even if every other word of his address was offensive to someone who was listening (and that would be a shame, because that person would have missed out), this reminder should have overridden it all. Being a good writer is not success. Being a good person is.*

So what do you all think?

*I’m not particularly interested in quibbling over whether Card himself is a good example of this notion. I think he’s a wonderful writer and a complex person. And I think I will choose not to judge him as a person.

The Same Church

We moved our family from Kansas to Texas a few months ago, and as I sat in Sacrament Meeting today I thought about the sameness of our church from one state to the other (from one country to the other for that matter!) In our new ward, the people may be different, but we still have Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School. We still listen to the same Sacrament prayers and sing the same hymns. We still have a bishop and his counselors. My husband still goes to Priesthood and I still go to Relief Society. And thank goodness, there is still a Primary where my son can sing the songs he loves and attend Sharing Time and CTR 4. And he can still feel that same Spirit WHEREVER he is attending church.

This sameness has made my son's transition easier. I mean, he is ALWAYS happy when he leaves Primary--there is a little hop in his step and a big smile on his face. (And I can't resist adding my son told me today in Primary he had tears in his eyes but not for very long because he wiped them away and nobody saw because they were focusing on their jobs.)

I also love that we can band together on the Internet as sisters in Zion and talk about the same Relief Society lessons and the same gospel principles and same General Conference and essentially...the same goals. I participated in the second annual LDS Writers Blogfest last week, and it was fantastic! 23 LDS writers blogged about their favorite conference talk. Here is my the link list if you are interested in checking them out:

Annette Lyon: “Desire”
Annie Cechini: “The Spirit of Revelation”
Ben Spendlove: “The Atonement Covers All Pain”
Chantele Sedgwick: “LDS Women Are Incredible!”
Charity Bradford: “LDS Women Are Incredible!”
Jackee Alston: “The Eternal Blessings of Marriage”
Jenilyn Tolley: “What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?”
Jennifer McFadden: “Establishing a Christ-Centered Home”
Jessie Oliveros: “Establishing a Christ-Centered Home”
Jolene Perry: “It’s Conference Once Again”
Jordan McCollum: “What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?”
Kasey Tross: “Guided by the Holy Spirit”
Kayeleen Hamblin: “Become as a Little Child”
Kelly Bryson: “The Atonement Covers All Pain”
Krista Van Dolzer: “Opportunities to Do Good”
Melanie Stanford: “What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?”
Michelle Merrill: “The Eternal Blessings of Marriage”
Myrna Foster: “Opportunities to Do Good”
Nisa Swineford: “Desire”
Sallee Mathews: “The Eternal Blessings of Marriage”
Sierra Gardner: “The Atonement Covers All Pain”
Tamara Hart Heiner: “Waiting on the Road to Damascus”
The Writing Lair: “Waiting on the Road to Damascus”

We are such a power out there! There were only 23 particapting in this blogfest but there are so many of us. And given that we are all one day going to be published (you know it is true) what a mark we can leave on the world!