Grateful For...

Sometimes on Thanksgiving, the thing I am most thankful for is the first Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry, Merry Christmas.

-Elin
Who can't imagine what it would be like to have a baby in a stable...

Thanksgiving: The Five Fs

We will be going to my in-laws for Thanksgiving, and typically before we start the Thanksgiving Dinner we go around the table three times and each say one thing we're grateful for on each pass. Mine vary, of course, but on that particular day sometimes I think of the Fs in my life: Faith, Family, Friends, Football, and Food. (I think F has too much of a negative connotation, by the way. It's a very valuable letter.) I could go into detail about each one of these things and how they improve my life, but I won't; I will confine it to the first two, Faith and Family.

One definition of faith is "a system of religious belief." By this definition, I feel like the system of religious belief to which I ascribe is firmly fixed on Jesus Christ. My own personal system of religious belief is not as firmly fixed. I try my best to center my system of religious belief on Jesus Christ, and I am not perfect at it. Or even very good at it. But I try, and when I learn that I am off base, I make an effort to correct myself so that I am more centered on Jesus Christ. I can safely say that I know that all good things in my life have come because of Jesus Christ and my belief in Him as my Savior and Redeemer. And that all future good things will come from that same source.

One of the good things in my life, if not the best, is my family. Quick story: once when I was in middle school I was complaining to a teacher about something not being "fair." She responded that life isn't fair, to which I responded "I know, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?" (I was quoting a classic work, Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes.) She then said something very profound: "It was unfair in your favor when you were born into the family that you were." She was right. My family is my biggest blessing, and one that it's easiest to be grateful for, because of my frequent interactions with them. When the preceding conversation took place, my family was my parents and siblings. Now it includes my in-laws (see previous post for how I feel about them); and my wife, Elin (see her post about gratitude and thanksgiving); and little girl Evelyn. Soon there will be another in that group. These people are perhaps the greatest evidence of God's love for me, individually. They inspire me to be better and help me to be more centered on Christ. Which, in turn, leads to more good things in my life.

 

 

 

Forrest

--Who is in actuality grateful for friends, football, and food, too. They just would have made the post overlong.

 



"More Holiness Give Me" and Relationships...

Today during our church service, an 85-year old man (who still has a spectacular voice) sang a hymn called "More Holiness Give Me." (You can listen to a beautiful rendition of it here.--although I wish you could have heard the 85-year old man sing it...) The words of the song struck me to my core because I have felt especially flat these last couple weeks. I want to feel that "more" that the song describes. I want to feel that urgency.

I have realized more and more this last year that I am not investing enough in my relationship with God-- and that my faith in and relationship with Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, is directly related to what I am willing to invest in the relationship. I don't know why this hasn't occurred to me before now. As is true in other relationships, we have to open ourselves up and talk to the other person, we have to be willing to be quiet and listen to the other person, we have to be willing to help, we have to prove ourselves trustworthy, we have to admit when we are wrong and say we are sorry and be willing to make amends for the relationship to be strong and rewarding and mutually beneficial. And then time and experiences with those people is what then links me to them even more.

Those are the kinds of things I try to do in my family and with my friends (and don't always do very successfully...) because it is obvious that the people that I care most about and who care most about me are people who have put time and effort and care into knowing me--and they are people who have been in my life, doing these things for an extended period of time.

Sometimes I forget that. I forget that these are the things that it takes to build a relationship. And for some reason, sometimes I think that I don't have to do those kinds of things to have a relationship with God. It is like I assume He will just take care of things for me and He loves me and understands me perfectly, and that is enough. I convince myself that I love and understand Him "enough" and don't put much work into my side of the relationship. But how does that make sense?

In what is referred to as the Intercessory prayer (John 17:3), the Savior, Jesus Christ, prays to the Father in our behalf--all of us. One of the things He says is:

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." 

He doesn't say that eternal life (which we believe is life with God- life after death where we get to be with our families and keep progressing and becoming more and more like Him) is God knowing and loving us (which He always does)--eternal life is us coming to know God and His Son, Jesus Christ. And coming to know anything or anyone requires effort, work, and time.

God has given us the tools to come to know Him. To develop a real relationship with Him. He has spoken throughout the ages and His words have been recorded by prophets in what we now refer to as scriptures. He has spoken truth and love to the hearts of men and women throughout the ages through the Spirit and their words are recorded in inspired literature, journals, and speeches. He speaks now to His prophet, President Monson, and He will speak now to us through the Spirit. He and the Savior have promised this over and over and over again.

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:"  Matthew 7:7, 3 Nephi 27:29

This is the promise--but I have to do my part by investing in the relationship. By asking and seeking and studying and trying to know Him more and more.

One last thought that I found applied specifically to me:

"True, the Lord has said, “Ask, and ye shall receive.” (D&C 4:7.) But He also declared, “Behold, 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.” (D&C 9:7.)

It is evident that He intends that we do our part. But what, specifically, are we to do? No one would expect to receive a result from physical law without obeying it. Spiritual law is the same. As much as we want help, we must expect to follow the spiritual law that controls that help. Spiritual law is not mysterious. It is something that we can understand. The scriptures define it in significant detail." Elder Richard G. Scott, "Obtaining Help From the Lord" 

This week, my challenge to myself is to put the amount of time and effort into coming to know my Heavenly Father and the Savior that will enable me to feel and understand their strength and help and love--that will enable me to be more holy. 

-Elin
Who is simultaneously still trying to work on being grateful in every circumstance. 

Prayer, Scriptures, and Service

Last night I saw a quote from a talk given by President Henry B. Eyring, a prophet and apostle who is in the First Presidency of the Church. The quote was striking to me because it is something that I have been thinking about lately in regards to my own actions:

We can and must go often and carefully to the word of God. If we become casual in our study of the scriptures, we will become casual in our prayers.

We may not cease to pray, but our prayers will become more repetitive, more mechanical, lacking real intent. Our hearts cannot be drawn out to a God we do not know, and the scriptures and the words of living prophets help us know Him. As we know Him better, we love Him more.

At times I feel like my prayers don't make it past the ceiling of my apartment, like they just bounce back to me. I've wondered why that is, and I think a lot of it has to do with the above quote. And there are other times when I feel like my prayers are not "lacking real intent" but still don't seem effective. What then? Another quote from the same talk:

We must also serve Him to love Him. Joseph Smith did that, finally surrendering life itself in His service. Joseph prayed with the intent to obey. That obedience always includes service to others. Service in God’s work allows us to feel a part of what He feels and come to know Him.

“For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” As our love for Him increases, so will our desire to approach the Father in prayer.

Serving Him can be done in a variety of ways, but a succinct explanation is simply obeying His commandments. So when I find that my prayers are stuck in the same room as me, I know where to look for a solution to that problem: scripture study and service. And this time of year is great for both, as the holidays are here and thoughts are turned more to Christ.

 

Forrest

--Who is so thankful that Thanksgiving is nearly here!

 

 

 

God's Happiness and Creation

"Let me first pose a question: What do you suppose is the greatest kind of happiness possible? For me, the answer to this question is, God’s happiness.

This leads to another question: What is our Heavenly Father’s happiness?

This may be impossible to answer because His ways are not our ways. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are [God’s] ways higher than [our] ways, and [His] thoughts [higher] than [our] thoughts.” ¹

Though we cannot understand “the meaning of all things,” we do “know that [God] loveth his children” ² because He has said, “Behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” ³

Heavenly Father is able to accomplish these two great goals—the immortality and eternal life of man—because He is a God of creation and compassion. Creating and being compassionate are two objectives that contribute to our Heavenly Father’s perfect happiness. Creating and being compassionate are two activities that we as His spirit children can and should emulate."
"Happiness, Your Heritage," President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I spent much of last weekend making Christmas stockings. (One of our daughters went out to her storage closet the other day and discovered that everything they had stored there—including their Christmas decorations--had been ruined by a leak in the apartment above them.) Part of me felt a little guilty for spending so much time on them when there were other “more important” things waiting to be done. At the same time, I loved what I was doing —finding a pattern, matching fabrics, choosing decorative stitches, thinking of ways to make them unique while keeping a unified theme, and, finally, putting them together.

There is something satisfying, fulfilling, and joyful about the process of creating. I love this beautiful insight into our innate desire to create by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

Marilyn

(who is heading to the kitchen to try a new recipe for pumpkin gnocchi)

Feast!

In a weekly family email, my Mom shared a quote from Elder Orson Pratt, an apostle in the early days of the Church:

We may take up the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Covenants [Doctrine and Covenants], and commit them to memory—at least the subject matter therein, and we may suppose that we understand the doctrine of salvation, and conclude from our diligent study that we have become altogether acquainted with the prophecies and revelations; and yet, after all these things, without the gift of revelation directly to ourselves, or the gift of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven to rest upon us as speakers and hearers, we cannot expect to be materially benefited.

There is a verse in the Book of Mormon that tells us how we should be studying the scriptures:

Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

I think the link between these two statements is in the applicability of the scriptures in my own life. I think I have done pretty well at reading the scriptures (not to the point of having them memorized) and being 'acquainted with the prophecies and revelations,' but I don't think I have always successfully applied the doctrines taught in the scriptures to my own life. And I think that is because I wasn't 'feasting' on the words, and therefore was limiting the ability of the Holy Ghost to testify to the truth of what I was reading. As a result, I wasn't as 'materially benefited' as I could have been, and my spiritual development has been impeded. The principle is applicable to many things we do in life.

Developing a Love for the Scriptures

Forrest

-Who is grateful for the cool, even chilly, weather

Prone to Wander

Is it as difficult for you to do things that you know are good for you as it is for me sometimes? I've been thinking about this a lot lately and trying to figure out what it is in us that makes us resist doing healthy, happy, uplifting things even though we know they will makes us healthier, happier, and just better. I know it differs from person to person. Some people love eating vegetables and are happy to shun fatty, sugary, over-processed foods. Some people love running. Some people hate taking out the trash. Some people hate doing dishes. Some people love learning new things, reading educational books. Some people love practicing the piano. Others don't love these things at all.

Me, well there is a lot that I know I should be doing--that I know is good for me. Some of it I may have been born enjoying. Some of it is easier to do now because I've made a habit of it. Some of it, I still have a hard time making myself do it every day, even though I feel so good after I've done it. It is frustrating.

So a few months ago, I made up a motto for myself and this is it: "Do the things you know are good for you, even when you don't feel like doing them." It may seem silly, but I literally say this to myself out loud sometimes when I am staring at a plateful of vegetables or looking at the floor that needs to be vacuumed (that is a weird word) or when I find myself wanting to pass by someone who needs help carrying their groceries in from their car instead of helping them. And I find myself saying this to myself at night when I feel tired and would rather get in bed than say a prayer--or when I would rather pick up a fluffy book before I have read in the scriptures that day.

And this phrase has helped me. I still hate that I resist things that are good for me though. I came across a scripture in Jeremiah the other day that really hit home with me.

"For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Jeremiah 2:13

I am a visual learner so I really like the image in this verse--the idea that not only do we too often forget and neglect the "fountain of living waters", Jesus Christ, who knows exactly what is difficult for us--who knows exactly how we feel--who knows exactly how to help and strengthen and heal us--

but in place of Him, the only water that really refreshes, cleanses, and fills, we make for ourselves and our lives, broken cisterns (pits or wells that were used to hold water) that won't even hold the water or the sustenance and joy that we thought they would give us. I feel this sometimes at the end of a day, when I have neglected to do the things that would have brought me true satisfaction and joy and replaced them with whatever sounded good in the moment--fluffy books, idleness, a movie or two.  Those days feel empty to me at their end. It reminds me of these verses in the Book of Mormon:

Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?

 Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?

So, yes, those are my ramblings for the day. Let me just say that I have hope yet that I can be better at doing the things that I know are good for me. And things like taking care of our bodies, helping others, studying the life and teachings and gospel of Jesus Christ, developing a relationship with Heavenly Father--these are the things that fill me up and make me happy. But oh how I am "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love."-which are part of the text from the hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." Take a listen....

-Elin
Who is feeling like she needs a taste of Christmas and wishes the rain would magically turn to snow.