Boyd K. Packer - Parents in Zion
- We have watched the standards of morality sink ever lower until now they are in a free fall. AT the same time we have seen an outpouring of inspired guidance for parents and for families.
- I recently saw a woman respond when it was said of another, "Since she had the new baby, she isn't doing anything in the Church." You could almost see a baby in her arms as she protested with emotion: "She is doing something in the Church. She gave that baby life. She nurtures and teaches it. She is doing the most important thing that she can do in the Church."
- I do not want anyone to use what I say to excuse them in turning down an inspired call from the Lord. I do want to encourage leaders to carefully consider the home lest they issue calls or schedule activities which place an unnecessary burden on parents and families.
- Attending Church is, or should be, a respite from the pressures of everyday life. It should bring peace and contentment. If it brings pressure and discouragement, then something is out of balance.
- Remember, when you schedule a youngster, you schedule a family--particularly the mother.
- The ward council has resources often overlooked. For instance, grandparents, while not filling callings, can help young families who are finding their way along the same path they once walked.
- Developing faith, hope, and charity within ourselves is a step-by-step process. Faith begets hope, and together they foster charity.
- "No one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity."
- Even when our trials seem overwhelming, we can draw strength and hope from the sure promise of the Lord: "Be not afraid nor dismayed ... for the battle [is] not yours, but God's."
- "Be friendly. You have to make a friend before you make a convert. Conversion follows friendship. The opportunity to teach follows friendship."
- The Lord said: "But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against them.
- "And it shall come to pass, if they are not more faithful unto me, it shall be taken away, even that which they have."
- Obedience is a great virtue, essential to our progress. I am not talking about blind obedience but the obedience that allows us to reach a higher and more spiritual level in life, using our agency to do the will of the Lord.
- Be yourself.
- There are at least three steps to take when striving to overcome discouragement.
- 1. You can work on changing your attitude toward the problem.
- 2. You can receive help from those who are close to you--your family, friends, and ward members, those who love you the most.
- 3. You can develop a more powerful and complete trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Change your attitude. By looking at a problem in a different way, it may be possible to reduce discouragement.
- Any sailor can steer on a smooth sea, when rocks appear, sail around them.
- "Oh Father in heaven, help me to be a good sailor, that my heart shall not break on the rocks of grief."
- It is often difficult to change circumstances, but a positive attitude can help lift discouragement.
- Accept help from others.
- Develop trust in the Lord.
- Because the Lord is kind, He calls servants to warn people of danger. That call to warn is made harder and more important by the fact that the warnings of most worth are about dangers that people don't yet think are real.
- Few prayers are so fervent as those of a parent asking to know how to touch a child to move away from danger.
- The Lord would not use the word warn if there is no danger. Yet not many people we know sense it. They have learned to ignore the increasing evidence that society is unraveling and that their lives and family lack the peace they once thought was possible.
- Love always comes first. A single act of kindness will seldom be enough.
- Second, we need to be better examples of what we invite others to do.
- Most of us are modest enough to think that our small candle of example may be too dim to be noticed. But you and your family are watched more than you may realize.
- The third thing we must do better is to invite with testimony.
- I am a child of God, And he has sent me here, Has given me an earthly home With parents kind and dear. Lead me, guide me, Walk beside me, Help me to find the way. Teach me all that I must do To live with him someday. It's as simple, it's as pure and clean as that little simple song.
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
The Dream
I was out with my family, my Aunt Lia's family, and maybe Aunt Dal as well as my grandmother, we were going through the different sections of the stores, mostly the clothes sections looking for things we wanted, and Kikay was obsessed with finding something that had a butterfly on it, and I thought she meant like pillows and such, but no, it turned out to be a pair of pants in shades of blue and green that she'd wanted, and mom had found for her. Somehow or another I ended up with just my brother and my grandma, and she gave my brother a 20 telling him to go by something. But my grandmother was upset, because apparently this whole shopping trip was an intervention for her. Why? Because she was spending too much money on herself, and her kids thought she'd be better off and happier if she spent her money on the grand kids. She wasn't happy about that because she felt like they just wanted her money, especially Lia's family and how they never asked her what she wanted, but they always came around expecting things from her. And she just wanted to have some time away for herself because it felt like Grandpa was getting in the way of everything -at one point we were sitting in chairs talking and Grandpa was there, big like a giant in the chair and grandma had him on her knees, but you couldn't tell because she was so small compared to him.
I then heard a noise outside and upon investigation of the dilapidated town I found an injured group of performers of sorts in the jail. One, a camel/horse/person like figure appeared to be super sick, the ribs were all out of alignment and sticking out of his skin, and nobody was willing to help him. But, upon seeing them, I decided to try and help, as I was a sort of...healer magician, but I hadn't healed anyone recently because I felt like my powers no longer worked because I had failed to heal someone else a year or two ago and because of that, I had stopped healing, but this creature's plight struck a cord with me, and so I took off my robe and began to dance, having the creature mimic my actions around. And it seemed like when we spun in a certain direction, he would glitch out. Which told me there was where the injury was. At the end of the dance, I drew a line across the floor and crossed it. But the creature stopped just before crossing the line. He was thankful for what I'd done, and wouldn't follow me any further to cross that line, so finally I had to tell him. "You need to go over the line to finish it out." and so he did, and as he did so...and was totally healed. Much to everyone's excitement. Including mine. Because that told me that magic still worked, that it wasn't me who had failed to heal the last person that I had failed to heal, but that it had been some other factor that prevented the healing from happening,
Then the unholy tones of daylight pulled me away....
and I became myself again. :)
-S.N.D
No comments:
Post a Comment