I don't know why, but this afternoon I started thinking about an experience I had back in college. One of my roommates one summer had a family reunion at Bear Lake. The entire family (including great uncles, etc.) rented a cabin or something up at Bear Lake and had boats and other water activities. She went up for a day, and took the two of us roommates.
I remember that the day was beautiful. It was warm, but not hot, and the beach was very inviting. We walked down to the beach to meet up with her family and go out on the boat with some of her relatives. (Side note, this was where I first met an apostle. My roommate was Kristine Perry. She had a great uncle she didn't mention. As we walked down the beach, she said, "Hey, there's Uncle Tom." Uncle Tom turned out be L. Tom Perry, an apostle. This was a fun experience, as he was also in beach attire. He was a fun guy. :D)
We went out on a boat with some of Kristine's family. I don't remember my thinking. I wish I could... But in any case, I refused sun screen. For those of you who know me, I know you are shaking your heads. I burn VERY easily (or used to). As a kid, all I had to do was walk down the street for two minutes and I'd come back with blisters. (I don't think I'm exaggerating much, either.) So refusing sunscreen, while stupid for everyone, was completely idiotic for me. I think I was hoping to get some color, but I honestly don't remember the thinking (or lack thereof).
In any case, after an hour or two on the boat, Kristine's older male relative (I can't remember who he was) started commenting how he could already kinda see a sun burn showing up on me and that I'd better get some sunscreen on. I finally did, but I had already spent at least an hour or two on the boat in a swimsuit without it.
I was burned to a crisp. You know how red a ripe tomato is? Well, I was redder than that every single inch of me that wasn't covered by my suit. It was SO painful. It had already started showing up by the time we got in the car to go home. I had to call in sick to work the next day.
The next evening, my roommates went next door to grab one of our good guy friends to give me a blessing to help with the sunstroke I had inflicted on myself. The story we were telling everyone was that this burn was WITH sunscreen on. Which was technically true, though very deceiving, as I'd had a couple hours without it FIRST...
Keep in mind that the friend who gave me the blessing of comfort thought I had put sunscreen on at the beginning from the way we were telling people about the burn. But when he gave me the blessing, I knew that it didn't matter what HE knew. The blessing came from God. I don't remember the exact language of the blessing, but it said something about being made whole in spite of foolishness or that I was loved even when I was being foolish- something along those general lines. I remember it mentioned my foolishness.
Our Heavenly Father knows all, and it doesn't matter what we tell others. He still knows the truth. This experience reminded me we can't lie to Him. It also taught me that priesthood blessings do not come from the men who give them but from God.
This brings to my mind another experience with priesthood blessings. When Anna was about 10 months old or so the world experienced the big Swine Flu scare. People were dying of it and they had not yet figured out a vaccine for it. The medicine to fight it, Tamiflu, was in short supply due to the major outbreaks everywhere.
Scott came down with swine flu one weekend. We took him to instacare and got it diagnosed, but he wasn't given any medicine for it. (We never did like the instacare doctor....) I couldn't go to work because I was infected with it. Anna couldn't go to daycare because she was infected with it. We were shut into the house under quarantine (so it felt, even if it wasn't an official lock-down). Scott was SO miserable. The flu was horrible- he was so extremely sick.
We called some men from our ward to come give him a blessing. I don't remember most of the blessing, but I do remember that he was blessed that his caretakers would not get sick, but would be able to care for him. That was Sunday. On Monday, Anna came down with it. I took her to the doctor and got her medicine. As I took care of my sick family members, I remember clinging to the knowledge that I would NOT get sick. We had been promised that in Scott's blessing.
And you know what, I didn't. I think I was meant to, though. Around Tuesday, I developed a minor case of pink eye. Pink eye is caused by various infections that go to the eye rather than the rest of the body. I think I did get the virus, but in honor of the blessing, all it developed was pink eye rather than the swine flu. (And we even still had medicine for it. Anna had come home from daycare with it a month or so before and we had all caught it. We hadn't used all the eye drops. I needed only one or two doses of the eye drops and it cleared up completely.)
I came into contact with swine flu many times that flu season, due to my job of teaching. But I never did come down with it. This was a direct fulfillment of that priesthood blessing Scott was given (though just not getting it while my family was sick would have been a fulfillment).
These are two experiences that have always stuck in my brain as testimony builders on the power of the priesthood. Just because we get a priesthood blessing doesn't mean things will go away immediately. I know there are stories out there of people getting a blessing and immediately being healed. But I think most of us won't experience that. I think most of us will experience what I have talked about here. We will be promised or told things in blessings that will show us that the Lord really is aware of us. But most of us won't have miraculous healings.
But I bet if we all think really hard about it, we will all see the blessings we have had that have showed us the Lord is aware of US and knows us personally. And that is so much more valuable than getting up out of a sick bed and being completely better right away.
Just some thoughts.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
The Eyes of Children
Yesterday, Anna taught me a big lesson. We've been allowing her to do some things to earn dollars. She is saving up for a big toy. (Some days it's a Tinkerbell doll and other days it's a wagon. We'll see which she decides on in a month or so.) Once each week we fill out a tithing slip so she can pay tithing on the dollars she has earned during that week. As we did this last night, she really shocked me in her approach to the entire situation.
The first thing she taught me was the sheer excitement she had for paying tithing. As we get older and things become more routine, we often lose this excitement. But this really is a big thing. We should all get excited when we fill out tithing envelopes and hand them to the bishop. I think we would if we were handing them directly to the Savior. But what's the difference, really?
The second thing she taught me was a little more complex. She knew that we gave 10% back to Jesus. Last night she asked me WHY. She wasn't upset about doing it- as I said above, she was very excited- but she was curious about the why of tithing. I wasn't sure how to explain it. I was inspired to explain it this way: We give 10% back to Jesus to tell him thank you for the money and all our blessings. She loved that explanation. It helped me understand a little more of the why as well. As we sat down at the kitchen table so she could write her name and the amounts on the little slip, she told me that we should also say a thank you prayer for the money. So before filling out her tithing slip, my little girl folded her arms, bowed her head, and said a short, simple prayer thanking her Savior for the money she had earned.
The last thing she taught me was about giving. She needed to pay thirty cents for tithing, as she earned three dollars this week. (I think this was a record amount for her since we started this activity.) She had a dime and a quarter that she pulled out of her coin bank. I thought about looking for a nickel so she could pay an exact amount. Then I realized that this might be a good time to teach her what fast offerings is. I chose that route.
I explained that we give fast offerings money to the bishop so he can help families in our ward who may not have enough money for medical bills, food, or a house. Then I asked her if she wanted to give the dime and quarter to the bishop, and have five cents go to people who might need food, or if she wanted to find the nickel.
Her answer didn't really surprise me. I figured she'd say she wanted to give some fast offerings, and that was what she wanted. But what surprised me was her enthusiasm. Let's give the bishop lots of money so he can help people buy LOTS of food!
If only we were all as giving as little children. Jesus told his disciples to be like little children. If only it was easy to be childlike instead of childish. I think most of us have an easy time slipping into childish things. But how good are we at being childLIKE instead? It's the love, the giving, the easy-forgiving nature we are to copy. So willing to learn and take instructions, so trusting in our caregivers...
Just a thought.
The first thing she taught me was the sheer excitement she had for paying tithing. As we get older and things become more routine, we often lose this excitement. But this really is a big thing. We should all get excited when we fill out tithing envelopes and hand them to the bishop. I think we would if we were handing them directly to the Savior. But what's the difference, really?
The second thing she taught me was a little more complex. She knew that we gave 10% back to Jesus. Last night she asked me WHY. She wasn't upset about doing it- as I said above, she was very excited- but she was curious about the why of tithing. I wasn't sure how to explain it. I was inspired to explain it this way: We give 10% back to Jesus to tell him thank you for the money and all our blessings. She loved that explanation. It helped me understand a little more of the why as well. As we sat down at the kitchen table so she could write her name and the amounts on the little slip, she told me that we should also say a thank you prayer for the money. So before filling out her tithing slip, my little girl folded her arms, bowed her head, and said a short, simple prayer thanking her Savior for the money she had earned.
The last thing she taught me was about giving. She needed to pay thirty cents for tithing, as she earned three dollars this week. (I think this was a record amount for her since we started this activity.) She had a dime and a quarter that she pulled out of her coin bank. I thought about looking for a nickel so she could pay an exact amount. Then I realized that this might be a good time to teach her what fast offerings is. I chose that route.
I explained that we give fast offerings money to the bishop so he can help families in our ward who may not have enough money for medical bills, food, or a house. Then I asked her if she wanted to give the dime and quarter to the bishop, and have five cents go to people who might need food, or if she wanted to find the nickel.
Her answer didn't really surprise me. I figured she'd say she wanted to give some fast offerings, and that was what she wanted. But what surprised me was her enthusiasm. Let's give the bishop lots of money so he can help people buy LOTS of food!
If only we were all as giving as little children. Jesus told his disciples to be like little children. If only it was easy to be childlike instead of childish. I think most of us have an easy time slipping into childish things. But how good are we at being childLIKE instead? It's the love, the giving, the easy-forgiving nature we are to copy. So willing to learn and take instructions, so trusting in our caregivers...
Just a thought.
MOMMY!!
I had a couple thoughts recently thanks to Katie. Katie turned two about a month ago, and as a result of her recent bound of development, she is a bundle of personality and excitement. A few days ago, we went to the park. Another little family was there as well. They had a little one who looked to be about three or three and a half. This little child was heads taller than Katie, had an arm span at least twice Katie's, and was a lot more muscular.
Every time Katie saw this little child, she would get excited and yell, "BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!" It cracked me up since of the two, she was MUCH more of a baby than this other little kid. But she was SO excited about the 'baby' there at the park with her.
I kept giggling to myself at Katie calling this other little kid a baby and it made me wonder if we do that spiritually. I wonder if we go about supporting new converts and thinking they are babies in the gospel, when in reality their spiritual maturity is far greater than ours. I wondered if the Lord ever giggled at us like I was giggling at Katie.
This reminded me of a story I heard recently. I don't remember who the story came from- only that it was a General Authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I think the story was pretty old, but the message is the same. This gentleman was assigned to be a home teacher for a couple in the ward that were newer converts. He was excited to be able to help take care of them and make sure they didn't struggle with things since they were so much newer to the gospel. As he and his companion visited them, he kept seeing things they were doing, realizing how important it was to do those things that we've been asked to do, and then feeling a bit ashamed that he and his family were NOT doing them. He had thought he was going to strengthen them, but they strengthened him instead.
Rather than seeing each other in terms of stages or strengths, let's just see each other as children of God. No matter where we are in any stage of life, development, testimony, strength, courage, etc., we are all still children to our Heavenly Father.
Katie gave me another little experience today in church. Scott was home sick, so I had the girls by myself all through church. In Sunday School, the nursery leader brought Katie to me because she needed a new diaper. The room we were in for Sunday School had a big empty area behind where we were sitting. The nursery leader had come through that back door, so Katie saw me through the empty area of the room. She ran in, running towards me as fast as she could in her dress, and yelled, "MOMMY!!!!" I knelt down and opened my arms to her and she threw herself at me in a hug.
This was sweet to me for several reasons. The first is that I have two DADDY'S GIRLS, so that is the reception that is more commonly given to Daddy. (They see Mommy all day, so what's the big deal when she enters a room? :D) The second reason is that I am currently attending the Parenting Sunday School class. (I don't know the official name for it.) We'd just been talking about raising children in love when Katie did this. That made the moment more poignant for me because I was thinking about how much I loved my girls.
The last reason was one that came to me as I walked Katie home to change her diaper. (We don't bring a diaper bag to church. We should, but this is the first time I can remember needing to change a diaper during church hours for a child over three months old.... So I had to take her home to clean her up.) I wondered if that is how sweet the reunion will be with our Heavenly Father and Savior when we see them again. Will we run to their open arms just as Katie did mine?
I think so.
Every time Katie saw this little child, she would get excited and yell, "BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!" It cracked me up since of the two, she was MUCH more of a baby than this other little kid. But she was SO excited about the 'baby' there at the park with her.
I kept giggling to myself at Katie calling this other little kid a baby and it made me wonder if we do that spiritually. I wonder if we go about supporting new converts and thinking they are babies in the gospel, when in reality their spiritual maturity is far greater than ours. I wondered if the Lord ever giggled at us like I was giggling at Katie.
This reminded me of a story I heard recently. I don't remember who the story came from- only that it was a General Authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I think the story was pretty old, but the message is the same. This gentleman was assigned to be a home teacher for a couple in the ward that were newer converts. He was excited to be able to help take care of them and make sure they didn't struggle with things since they were so much newer to the gospel. As he and his companion visited them, he kept seeing things they were doing, realizing how important it was to do those things that we've been asked to do, and then feeling a bit ashamed that he and his family were NOT doing them. He had thought he was going to strengthen them, but they strengthened him instead.
Rather than seeing each other in terms of stages or strengths, let's just see each other as children of God. No matter where we are in any stage of life, development, testimony, strength, courage, etc., we are all still children to our Heavenly Father.
Katie gave me another little experience today in church. Scott was home sick, so I had the girls by myself all through church. In Sunday School, the nursery leader brought Katie to me because she needed a new diaper. The room we were in for Sunday School had a big empty area behind where we were sitting. The nursery leader had come through that back door, so Katie saw me through the empty area of the room. She ran in, running towards me as fast as she could in her dress, and yelled, "MOMMY!!!!" I knelt down and opened my arms to her and she threw herself at me in a hug.
This was sweet to me for several reasons. The first is that I have two DADDY'S GIRLS, so that is the reception that is more commonly given to Daddy. (They see Mommy all day, so what's the big deal when she enters a room? :D) The second reason is that I am currently attending the Parenting Sunday School class. (I don't know the official name for it.) We'd just been talking about raising children in love when Katie did this. That made the moment more poignant for me because I was thinking about how much I loved my girls.
The last reason was one that came to me as I walked Katie home to change her diaper. (We don't bring a diaper bag to church. We should, but this is the first time I can remember needing to change a diaper during church hours for a child over three months old.... So I had to take her home to clean her up.) I wondered if that is how sweet the reunion will be with our Heavenly Father and Savior when we see them again. Will we run to their open arms just as Katie did mine?
I think so.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Weeding the Yard
So today I weeded the area in our front yard by the mail box. (For those of you who know me, I can't answer your question. I don't know who I am or what I did with Kelli....) I usually ignore that area of the yard when I do my infrequent weedings. As a result, it was pretty bad. Some of the weeds have been there the whole time we've been in this house.
Anyway, I learned a few things this morning. 1) When your four-year-old tells you that you really should put on shoes and gloves before doing that, you should listen. 2) Just because weeds look dead doesn't mean they want to come out of the ground. 3) Vines are evil and interconnect everything, making it hard to pull anything up. 4) Just because some weeds are easier to pull, doesn't mean they are the ones that need to come out most.
1) I don't normally wear shoes. I have nothing against them, I just prefer to be sock-footed. Normally when I do yard work in the front yard, I remain sock-footed. But I also haven't ever weeded that area by the mailbox. I discovered something about that area. It is the motherland of thorns. You know the prickly ones that look like misshapen thumbtacks and stick to you from four areas at once? I reached in to what looked like just some normal weeds to discover that thorn patch hiding underneath. I said, "OW!" and pulled a thorn from my hand.
Anna told me that maybe I should go get my mittens. I responded that I didn't know where the gloves were. This is true, however the main reason I didn't go look is that I just don't like gloves. If I'm afraid of getting bit by a spider, I'll wear them. Otherwise, I suck it up without. Instead of getting gloves, I just moved to a different area. I had already gotten the visible weeds in that area with the first pull anyway.
My kids went in and got their shoes on. Anna told me I needed mine on, too. I told her I was just going to walk around the edges where it wouldn't hurt my feet. And that worked for a while, too. You know, until I forgot about the above-mentioned thorn patch and walked through it sock-footed. OUCH! At that point, I had Anna go get my shoes for me.
2) The first bunch of weeds I pulled was dead, making them extremely easy to pull. This gave me false confidence, as I expected all the weeds to come up easily. I soon found that just because the tops were dead, didn't mean that the roots were...
3) I have no clue what the vine was, but it was under the bush and tied EVERYTHING together. That area took me forever, even though there weren't that many weeds needing to come out.
4) Right next to the mail box was a big dead sage brush looking thing. It was HUGE- could have been a small bush. It was also thorny. The stalk going into the ground was really thick, and my first attempt to yank it out was fruitless. So I decided to do all the other weeds and just leave that one. As I kept going, I kept chastising myself for that decision. After all, if I pulled that one huge weed and nothing else it would make the yard look nicer than if I pulled everything BUT the one weed. Finally, I got up the courage to get the big weed. I reached in, yanked as hard as I could, got it up, and even got it in the garbage can in time to let the truck take it. I also came out covered in thorns and prickles all up my arm. That was fun picking them out. But I was right. It made the yard look worlds nicer.
As I weeded, I kept thinking how my weeding was like repentance and the weeds were like sin and temptation. We may resist putting on gloves or shoes, but in the end, we get stuck with thorns, no matter how we try to avoid anything painful. We can't go through life without putting on the armor of God and expect not to get stuck with painful sin/temptation. How do we put on the armor? Very simple. We pray. We read our scriptures. We attend our church meetings. We do all other things we've been asked to do and keep the spirit in our lives. Yes, they are extra steps. But are they really any harder than putting on our shoes?
We may think that sins are going to be easy to repent of because they are old. But we will find that all sin has root somewhere. The root is usually very hard to pull without help. We need to remember the Atonement. If we only pull the tops that look dead- or only the easily removed sin, we leave the roots and the sin will appear again. It is only if we get the root that the weed doesn't come back.
We may think sins are isolated, but usually they are not. Pride leads to unkindness. Anger leads to harsh words. Etc. We have to rid ourselves of sin one sin at a time, but we need to expect the interconnected nature. Look deep- if you find the main vine and pull IT, other things will come with it.
It is often easiest to work on ridding ourselves of small sins that will come easily and be easy not to repeat. But they are often not the things that are keeping us most from the Lord. Sometimes we need to pull the big, painful things from our lives first. The process is painful and hurts in many places, but the end result is a much more beautiful soul than if we tried to leave it. Sometimes these big weeds need shovels- maybe we need to seek help from our bishop or elsewhere to get rid of it. But in the end, the larger the weed we pull, the better our souls look.
These were just my thoughts. :)
Anyway, I learned a few things this morning. 1) When your four-year-old tells you that you really should put on shoes and gloves before doing that, you should listen. 2) Just because weeds look dead doesn't mean they want to come out of the ground. 3) Vines are evil and interconnect everything, making it hard to pull anything up. 4) Just because some weeds are easier to pull, doesn't mean they are the ones that need to come out most.
1) I don't normally wear shoes. I have nothing against them, I just prefer to be sock-footed. Normally when I do yard work in the front yard, I remain sock-footed. But I also haven't ever weeded that area by the mailbox. I discovered something about that area. It is the motherland of thorns. You know the prickly ones that look like misshapen thumbtacks and stick to you from four areas at once? I reached in to what looked like just some normal weeds to discover that thorn patch hiding underneath. I said, "OW!" and pulled a thorn from my hand.
Anna told me that maybe I should go get my mittens. I responded that I didn't know where the gloves were. This is true, however the main reason I didn't go look is that I just don't like gloves. If I'm afraid of getting bit by a spider, I'll wear them. Otherwise, I suck it up without. Instead of getting gloves, I just moved to a different area. I had already gotten the visible weeds in that area with the first pull anyway.
My kids went in and got their shoes on. Anna told me I needed mine on, too. I told her I was just going to walk around the edges where it wouldn't hurt my feet. And that worked for a while, too. You know, until I forgot about the above-mentioned thorn patch and walked through it sock-footed. OUCH! At that point, I had Anna go get my shoes for me.
2) The first bunch of weeds I pulled was dead, making them extremely easy to pull. This gave me false confidence, as I expected all the weeds to come up easily. I soon found that just because the tops were dead, didn't mean that the roots were...
3) I have no clue what the vine was, but it was under the bush and tied EVERYTHING together. That area took me forever, even though there weren't that many weeds needing to come out.
4) Right next to the mail box was a big dead sage brush looking thing. It was HUGE- could have been a small bush. It was also thorny. The stalk going into the ground was really thick, and my first attempt to yank it out was fruitless. So I decided to do all the other weeds and just leave that one. As I kept going, I kept chastising myself for that decision. After all, if I pulled that one huge weed and nothing else it would make the yard look nicer than if I pulled everything BUT the one weed. Finally, I got up the courage to get the big weed. I reached in, yanked as hard as I could, got it up, and even got it in the garbage can in time to let the truck take it. I also came out covered in thorns and prickles all up my arm. That was fun picking them out. But I was right. It made the yard look worlds nicer.
As I weeded, I kept thinking how my weeding was like repentance and the weeds were like sin and temptation. We may resist putting on gloves or shoes, but in the end, we get stuck with thorns, no matter how we try to avoid anything painful. We can't go through life without putting on the armor of God and expect not to get stuck with painful sin/temptation. How do we put on the armor? Very simple. We pray. We read our scriptures. We attend our church meetings. We do all other things we've been asked to do and keep the spirit in our lives. Yes, they are extra steps. But are they really any harder than putting on our shoes?
We may think that sins are going to be easy to repent of because they are old. But we will find that all sin has root somewhere. The root is usually very hard to pull without help. We need to remember the Atonement. If we only pull the tops that look dead- or only the easily removed sin, we leave the roots and the sin will appear again. It is only if we get the root that the weed doesn't come back.
We may think sins are isolated, but usually they are not. Pride leads to unkindness. Anger leads to harsh words. Etc. We have to rid ourselves of sin one sin at a time, but we need to expect the interconnected nature. Look deep- if you find the main vine and pull IT, other things will come with it.
It is often easiest to work on ridding ourselves of small sins that will come easily and be easy not to repeat. But they are often not the things that are keeping us most from the Lord. Sometimes we need to pull the big, painful things from our lives first. The process is painful and hurts in many places, but the end result is a much more beautiful soul than if we tried to leave it. Sometimes these big weeds need shovels- maybe we need to seek help from our bishop or elsewhere to get rid of it. But in the end, the larger the weed we pull, the better our souls look.
These were just my thoughts. :)
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