Spiritual Application!

I absolutely love fifth Sunday lessons; I love being able to having another testimony of the Bishopric. Since we had family in town, I was able to take notes and delve into the topic.

A few months ago, all of the regional leaders in our area had a training with Elder Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Our Bishop was so touched by how it was done that he spoke to the youth a couple months ago (my husband works with them, so that's how I know) and then the adults this past Sunday.

We were asked to come to the meeting with questions about our multiple stewardships, be they in the family or at church. And, not just any questions, but the type of questions that keep you up at night. He then stated: When a problem is present, there needs to be a reinforcement of doctrine or principles. Well, in order to reinforce we must first understand what doctrine and principles are.

Doctrine is truth revealed from heaven about eternal progression. It answers the why questions in life. Elder Bednar explained there are only 3 or 4 doctrines: Nature of the Godhead, Plan of Salvation, the Atonement and an unknown (it was implied that either E. Bednar was still trying to figure this one out or didn't want to give it away because it's meant for own discovery). These doctrine, eternal truths, set the foundation for everything else in the church and in life.

Principles then are guidelines for activity which grow out of doctrine. They answer the what? question; things like faith, obedience, repentance, everything in the scriptures, etc. Our Bishop reminded us not to get too rapped up in classification. The importance is in how we apply the doctrines and principles in our lives.

Applications of doctrine and principles are very personal and can change throughout time and circumstance. Applications cannot be taught by an every day mortal human being; they must be taught through the Holy Ghost through personal revelation. We use personal revelation to apply revealed principles like the Word of Wisdom, Sabbath Day, repentance, etc. in our lives and do so; but what may be good for one is not what was revealed to another.

Does this mean one is right and the other is wrong? I don't know, but what I do know if two trying-to-be righteous individuals are using the gift of the Holy Ghost to make right decisions, then they must both be right. The key there is we know if it's right for us by our own personal worthiness. We need to be worthy of the Holy Ghost in order to make decisions with his help.

What we can do is use our illustrations (experiences) of how personal applications of doctrine and principles work in our lives; which I think is exactly what we do with this blog! "I read this the other day," or "I was thinking about..." is usually how our posts begin. The spirit is talking to us; wanting us to share how it helped us because then we help each other. We try to grow closer to Christ, and each other, by sharing our own personal experiences of how we applied the gospel.

This whole hour was a big A-Ha! moment for me. The gospel is much simpler than we think. My husband wonderfully shared when the Bishop spoke to the youth, but I didn't write it down so I forgot. I remember how when he shared with me how I wanted to turn around and share it to my Spirituality sisters and everyone who would listen. I'm so grateful for inspired leaders who take their stewardship responsibility seriously and strive to spread the happiness around.

Let's never be afraid to share our 'secret weapon' because it's a something that helps us all.

Paradise

On Sunday we had some really amazing talks about death and the life we will have after earth. We had a really entertaining speaker that asked us to close our eyes and envision what our Spiritual Paradise would be like. He described his as a tropical island with white sandy beaches. Looking to the right there was a line of lawn chairs because in his paradise you can lounge all day. There was no sunscreen because in his perfect world nobody gets sunburned. To the left there was a McDonald's and you could get as many Big Mac's as you wanted because in his paradise all the good things are free and you never gain any weight from them.

When he first asked us to close our eyes, though, the firsr thing I envisioned in my paradise was my whole family standing in front of me all dressed in white. I couldn't tell you where we were or what we going to do, we were just all together. The strongest and earliest part of my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel was my knowledge that there is a life after this one, and our families are there and the Spirit World is part of God's plan for us. And I think when we get there our spirits will truly recognize each other as brothers and sisters and bad feelings will melt away.

It saddens me that so many people that don't believe in God think that when we die we disappear into the dust of the earth. But it makes me happy that they will be disappointed to find out that's not true.

Why go to church?

I'm so glad that we are going back to basics in Relief Society/Priesthood. Yesterday the lesson was wonderful and everyone gave such great comments! During the lesson the instructor asked a question that I didn't get to offer my answer to. Her question was "Why do you come to church each week?" The answers people gave were: being obedient, showing a good example to kids, renew covenants, etc. I wanted to give my answer because it was simple. I wanted to say, "I come to church because I like it." Seriously. I miss it when I don't go. If it means I'm obedient then great! Of course my kids will be more likely to do what is right if I am doing it too. But I just enjoy going to church.

I haven't always enjoyed going to church. Growing up I really did. I liked going to young womens and hearing the lessons, even though I didn't have amazing best friends in my group. I had friends, sure, but they weren't the reason I wanted to go. But when I started going to singles wards, it wasn't super fun. I was kind of shy and felt a bit isolated. That was until I went to the BYU wards. No one seems to get left behind there.

But anyway, I wonder if my answer has to be any deeper than that. It is really the reason why I do most things that I do- because I like to. If I don't like to do something, then why should I do it? When I go to church I get the same type of feeling as when I am in my nice warm bed and very comfortable. It is the same feeling I get when I hug my husband, nurse my son, and snuggle with either of them. Satisfaction.

Hopefully everyone who reads this feels the same way I do about church and likes going. If not for you, then . . . .well. . . . I highly recommend it.

Making History

I am so excited to share this with EVERYONE!! I'll admit that I'm not at all a great genealogist or that I've even started any family histories, but I've always had the excuse that I didn't know how to get started or there's other family members that are doing it, right?

Well, recently my mother started trying to get my grandparents on video telling their personal histories, but it's really hard to get the stories organized or even to get them telling new stories that we haven't heard. The other day a co-worker and I started talking about this and she told me about an article in the August 2003 Ensign titled "That Happened to You?" It's a great list of questions that are easy to answer and are organized according to phases of a person's life. This co-worker told me that she just e-mails her mother about 5 questions at a time and lets her take her time responding. When the gets the e-mail with the responses, she cuts and pastes it into a document saved on her computer for her mother's personal history. She's even getting stories that her mother never told her before like the time she was 12 and decided to take the family station wagon for a spin around the block and nobody in her family ever knew.

How awesome is that??!! It all sounds so simple. I can't wait to get these questions up to my grandparents' house and start hearing all the family gossip. Even just little things like I've never learned the names of all my grandpa's siblings. I might even start answering the questions for myself while I still remember what my childhood was like. So, I challenge you all to print out the article and start with yourself. In fact, I'd like you all to answer one of the questions right now as a comment to this post.

When did you begin to have a testimony of Jesus Christ? What memories do you have of Church meetings or activities?

Enhancing Your Sabbath

I love getting the Church News! Not only do we know what's happening with the church around the globe, we get brief glimpses of talks the Brethren give as well. Or we get a glimpse into BYU Education Week. In the five years I lived there I never went, and now I feel like I missed a giant opportunity. At least, CN is there to help.

One of the highlighted presenters in the CN was good ol' John Bytheway entitled, "The Best Three Hours of the Week: Getting the Most from Your Sunday Meetings." I have a pretty energetic 16 month old and I have a hard time paying attention on Sunday, so it was nice to have a repremand and ways to improve.

He said the first thing we need to examine is our attitude toward the Sabbath. Then, he used the acronym of CHURCH to offer improvements:

C: Choose

• The choice to get more out of Sunday meetings actually begins with Saturday night. Don't stay out (or up) too late.
• Pray for the speakers/teachers, and give yourself a smaller sermon in your mind about whatever topic they are addressing.

H: Holy Sabbath

• Ezekiel 20: 20: "And hallow my Sabbaths..."
• Not participating in activities that run over into the Sabbath

U: Unity

• D&C 38:27: "I say unto you, be one. And if ye are not one, ye are not mine."

R: Respect

• When you disrespect your called-and-sustained teacher, leaders or advisers, you disrespect the One who called them. In other words, you disrespect the Lord.

C: Covenant

• The most important thing we do on Sundays is partaking of the Sacrament
• Elder Holland has suggested Aaronic Priesthood holders wear white shirts when passing
• Ponder on the Savior during the actual passing of the sacrament---Brother Bytheway thinks about the video "Lamb of God" and when it shows the empty tomb.

H: Holy Ghost

• It's your job as a listener and my job as the listener as well as the teacher's job (to be in tune with the Spirit) so that we get something out of our meetings

He concludes by saying by reminding that it is our choice to make it (church meetings) exciting and interesting; but, in the end, we are there to worship the Lord. I hope this list can help us all improve our Sabbath worship.