As Landon and I have had the opportunity this year to teach Sunday School to the 15 and 16 year olds, there has been one theme that has particularly stood out to me. Even though the Lord had delivered the Israelites from bondage by the Egyptians and provided many miracles in doing so, they were quick to fall into transgression. They seemed to be so easily distracted by the influences of the world around them that they fell into idol worshiping again and again. One scripture that rang in my ears was in Deut. 6:12 "...beware lest thou forget the Lord..." This made me think of the Sacrament. When we partake of the bread and water we are doing so in remembrance of Christ's body and blood and we are reminded of the covenant we have made to always remember Him and then renew that covenant.
Knowing that my life is going to be very busy with the changes of me and Jordan going to school (and I don't see it ever getting less busy), I want to make sure that my family and I don't get so distracted with life that we forget the Lord. We truly need His blessings to protect us from falling into wrong paths that will lead us away from having Him center in our life. I also know I will be very dependent on the promptings of the Holy Ghost to be aware of my family's needs and to know how to appropriately divide my time between school and family. Another quote that has stayed with me is from President Benson. “When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities. …
May God bless us to put [him] first and, as a result, reap peace in this life and eternal life with a fulness of joy in the life to come."
So, I was hoping to discuss ways that we can keep our covenant to always remember Him and the put God first in our lives. Love you all!
Brenda
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I recently taught a lesson on the sacrament. One of the suggestions in the lesson was that we come to sacrament meeting prepared with a specific promise in mind to make with the Lord about what we will or will not do throughout the coming week to better keep his commandments and always have His spirit with us. As we do this we will feel that the sacrament is more personal. I testify of the importance of honoring our baptismal covenants. I think that sacrament is a good time to put the Lord first and think of what we can do to better keep His commandments.
ReplyDeleteLove you,
Kaylene
As I was thinking about this, it reminded me of a meetting I had with President Harris (our Stake President). He encouraged everyone to pray daily. I know we all know D&C 10:5 (Pray always). He stated that everyday we should repent and by repenting we would see miracles. His example was that if we are tired and find ourselves being lazy, then we need to repent. As we get up in the moring, we should pray for the stregnth to have the energy that we need to get through the day. By saying this type of prayer, we are repenting. We would see the blessings of the Lord poured out upon us. We would be able to accomplish all that the Lord would have us do. I think that being humble enough and asking for the Lord to help our shortcomings (or asking for that small miracle) each day, that we will see the promise of President Benson be fulfilled. Each of us, personally, can have these miracles and then we can testify that we live in a day of miracles. I know that we do. I have been wrapped in the love of Jesus Christ through the atonement. I know he lives, and he loves us.
ReplyDeleteWe love you all,
Paul
In sacrament meeting today the speaker said that one of the things his mom taught him was that there is 3 things that drive us to do what we do. 1)Fear 2)duty 3)love. We sometimes do things because we are afraid of receiving a punishment or of what others will think. When we do something out of duty its not all bad but if its the only motive, loses its spiritual power. The best motivation for doing something is out of love. The spirit is felt and changes the nature of our being to that of a more puified state. I feel that if we can be motivated by the love of God in our daily labors, We will remember Christ and God, Who is love,and keep the covenants we have made with him.
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Great thoughts children of mine! I'm impressed.
ReplyDeleteWe have always been encouraged to have pictures of the Savior and the Temple and such in our homes. We have our little ones (and some of our big ones) wear CTR rings. The whole purpose of these things is to help us to always remember Him.
Elder Oaks gave a great talk on the Sacrament last October. He mentioned there that he often witnesses people in Sacrament Meeting doing activities (such as texting) that break the very covenant we have just made to always remember Him.
It seems to me the very least we could do is to ALWAYS remember Him during the 70 minutes of Sacrament Meeting.
There are so many things in our lives that we could use as reminders to remember Him. Let us as a family commit to remember Him in ALL WAYS.
Love DAD
With this last weekend being rememberance day of 9/11, I remember when the attacts happened, and the stories of the nation turning back towards God. Well that lasted for about a week. But if we will make a priority of remembering our Lord and Savior before such things happen, the tough times will be easier to bare.
ReplyDeleteLandon
Elder Eyring gave a talk in October 2007 that focuses on this topic. He spoke of blessings he had received in his life because he wrote in his journal every day about how he had seen the Lord's hand in his life. That talk touched me and as a result I have made a greater effort to recognize the little things as well as the big things in my life that are blessings from the Lord. I have found that as I reflect on how He has touched my life in each specific day I have felt an incredible strength and my testimony has grown. I know that the my Heavenly Father and my Savior really are deeply involved in my life and I know that my prayers are answered.
ReplyDeleteWhoops - I should have ended that comment with my name. That was Maggie. Oh, and by the way I LOVE this blog! You guys are awesome! What a wonderful blessing it is to have such a strong family.
ReplyDeleteMaggie