This week for FHE we read as a family D&C 121, which was revealed during Joseph's imprisonment at Liberty Jail in 1839. This chapter has a few of my favorite scriptures....
Verse 7-8:...thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high....
This is a terrific promise that offers comfort during trying times. In the midts of difficulties the severity may seem to magnify itself and overshadow hope and reason. Keeping it in perspective that it is "but a small moment" and perserverance will be rewarded can be reasuring.
Verse 39: We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.
I feel reminded of this so many times throughout life from the small to the largest of circumstances. From folsk in pominent positions abusing their power to power company taking advantage because they can.
Verse 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....
I find this a terrific piece of parenting advice.
Last weeks FHE was the CES Fireside talk by Jeffrey R. Holland that he gave in September 2008. We watched the actual video from this site. You can read the transcript from this PDF link. I would highly recommend watching the talk first, though. Nothing beats the feeling of compassion and the Spirit when he talks nor hearing from his lips the special blessing he gives "as if my hands were on your head." This is a talk that I will want to always keep on hand and read when I'm going through a difficult time, when I feel alone in my struggles, or when I'm tempted to be vengeful or angry because someone has done me wrong.
Three Lessons From Liberty Jail:
1. Everyone faces trying times.
2. Even the worthy will suffer
3. Remain calm, patient, charitable, and forgiving
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the talk:
[A] spiritual experience, revelatory experience, sacred experience can come to every one of us in all the many and varied stages and circumstances of our lives.
You can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life—in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced… Every one of us, in one way or another, great or small, dramatic or incidental, is going to spend a little time in Liberty Jail—spiritually speaking.
These difficult lessons teach us that man’s extremity is God’s opportunity, and if we will be humble and faithful, if we will be believing and not curse God for our problems, He can turn the unfair and inhumane and debilitating prisons of our lives into temples—or at least into a circumstance that can bring comfort and revelation, divine companionship and peace.
Jesus, in the course of the Atonement, experienced all of the heartache and sorrow, all of the disappointments and injustices that the entire family of man had experienced and would experience from Adam and Eve to the end of the world in order that we would not have to face them so severely or so deeply. However heavy our load might be, it would be a lot heavier if the Savior had not gone that way before us and carried that burden with us and for us.
Last year I found a terrific way to go green for Christmas. Rachael Ray showed us how to use fabric, scarves, handkerchiefs to wrap gifts (see here for instructions). I've been using them all year long for birthdays and other gifts. Although, not all of my Christmas gifts are wrapped this way I still have quite a few that I did wrap with fabric or handkerchiefs. I've never been a fancy gift wrapper. Normally, when using wrapping paper, I take a piece of scrap paper and write on the back who it is for and then tape it to the gift. It's hard to do this with fabric. So, I made these gift tags that are the size of business cards. I used the font "Santa's Sleigh" to add their names. Then, printed them out as if I were printing photos. This would allow me to choose different names per page, instead of my usual Publisher and having all the names be the same on the entire page. I plan to reuse them a few times before they are garbage. Here is the template if you would like to use them, too.
I love this lesson. Every week I enjoy reading, studying and preparing the YW lessons. I am reminded of just how inspired they are and am relieved that through this inspiration our leaders have thought of everything our youth need to be taught. This is one of those lessons I wish I could teach to many adults.
Here is the handout I prepared for this lesson and below is a blank version as a template for future YW handouts.
I really like the Young Women Manual 3 Lesson 43 lesson about Associations With Others. This explains why we were not meant to be hermits or to give into shyness, etc. Here is the handout I created for this lesson.
Recently, I read a question asking if we could spend a lifetime of nothing but learning and reading without anybody else and simply devote our life to reading, and "understanding humanity on a more broader level than what the majority of people know?" I thought that a very bold and naive conclusion that we can only understand people by being away from them. I appreciated the answer one person gave...
"We do spend our life learning.... and living life in it's fullness still allows plenty of time for a lot of reading. It just takes less TV time.
The ONLY way to understand humanity on a more broader level IS to live with people, associate with them, and even better and more especially with your companion or soul mate.
It would be a gullible assumption to think that one can understand better than the majority through isolation and books. It takes a well-rounded education and experiences to obtain that which you have described. A great objective, none-the-less, and one that we should all be striving is to understand more about each other and to immerse ourselves in good books where we can draw from the experiences of other folks to help enhance our own understanding and personal growth."
Tonight for Family Home Evening we read President Boyd K. Packer's November 2008 Conference Talk, The Test. What I really liked about this talk is the reminder to hold a higher standard when dealing with those who mistreat us. The world would try to convince us that the response would be revenge, but Pres. Packer reminds us that "something much stronger than human nature [can] prevail...."
I can think of a few times in my life when someone does me wrong it can be very frustrating and tempting to fight back with equal determination. Then, to remember that this life is a test and I don't want to fail that test.
