A Sense of Worth

The last couple of years I have noticed when I talk to other women or read women’s blogs there is an undertone of lack of worth among the sisters of Zion. Why is that?  Of course that can be traced back to Satan.  President Joseph F Smith said that the women of the church need,

“to lead the world and…especially the women of the world in everything that is praiseworthy, everything that is God-like, everything that is uplifting and this is purifying to the children of men.”

If we, as women of Christ, feel a lack of value we won’t be able to fulfill our purposes in the last days, we will be distracted by feeling unneeded and inadequate. (Which is Satan’s plan). That is why I wanted to write this.  To tell you how I finally came to believe I had worth. 

I used to be a person that didn’t think I was ever good enough for anything.  A great very many of us I think felt or feel like this.  I do think some people come to Earth with an innate sense of their worth however.  I believe this is a gift of the Spirit.  One reason I believe this is because my husband and a couple of my children intrinsically know they have value.  While some of my other children cry and pout at any side ways glance because “they know” someone is mad at them or whatever the grievance may be.  Some of us aren’t born with a sense of worth burning as brightly as others. I have come to realize that it is a gift of the spirit we can claim.   It is a gift we must seek if we want to fulfill our purposes here in the last days.

One day while pondering in the early morning hours a couple of years ago it came to me that I am here on Earth and there are two channels.  One channel (which is quieter) is from my Creator and He sends messages of light, truth and love.  The other channel (this one screams) is from my would-be Destroyer and the messages are darkness, lies and hate.  I came to realize that everyday my self-worth channel was set on the lying channel.  These are some of the messages on the two channels:

Creator:

You are a child of God.

Your life has meaning and purpose.
You have a divine nature.
I want you to come home to me.
The worth of souls is great.
I need you.
 
Destroyer:
You are worthless.
You can’t do anything right.
You’ll never be good enough, so don’t try.
You’re a fool.
You’re family and friends think you are ridiculous.
You are not needed for anything.
 
The lying messages are easier to receive because no effort is required.  It is a “path of least resistance” message.  It is easier to listen to these messages the same way it is easier to eat candy and junk food.  We feel sick afterwards but we keep eating because some how we think it is feeding us and it is an easier message to partake of.

When realization dawned, I realized I wanted and needed to change the frequency.  Of course I want life and not death.  But how do you change 30+ years of entrenched messages of lies?  I realized it was like loosing 50 pounds of fat (or maybe a lot more!).  I realized I had to change, but it was still overwhelming.  It is so much easier to keep indulging.  (Or so I thought of course).  So what was the answer?

Repentance.  It was not the answer I wanted to hear.  But it is always the answer.  I believed Satan.  I had put my trust in Satan.  I had let him be my god for sending me self worth messages.  I had been deluding myself into thinking I wasn’t sinning, but as a daughter who had made baptismal and temple covenants I did know what the truth was.  I just wasn’t believing it before.  I realized that not trusting in God was breaking the commandments.  The first commandment is to love God.  The God.  Of course it didn’t make me evil or awful.  It simply meant I couldn’t progress like I wanted to until I changed.  It meant I wasn’t able to receive the light I wanted until I realigned myself to God.  Elder Cook said in the last conference, “When our commitment is diminished for any reason, part of the solution is repentance.”

So I prayed.  I was sorry.  I wanted to listen to light and truth.  I realized that I needed to exercise faith.  After all the years of gospel teaching the plain and simple truth was applying the first principles of the Gospel.  Faith.  Since I didn’t have a testimony of my own self worth I had to start with a particle of faith.  I had to trust God when he taught that I really was a child of God and He needed me.  I had to believe the message He was sending.  I had to believe they were the truth.  I had to exercise my faith and believe Him.

Then came the work.  Because that is what faith is: ACTION.  It becomes a time to act and not be acted upon.  It becomes time to give up on the path of least resistance. It was time to take the higher road, do an about face, and turn to God. 

I had to reject the messages.  Simply quoting President Uchtdorf.  “STOP IT !”  Stop listening to the lies and the darkness.  Stop believing that Satan is telling the truth.  To do this each time a lie came in to my mind I had to reject the lie and quote the truth.

“You are stupid…….stop……wrong message…….I am a child of God and He loves me.”

“You will never be good enough for exaltation…stop…..wrong message……I have a divine destiny….my life as meaning and purpose…..”

Again.  Reject the lie. Quote the truth.  And believe it.  It is hard at first.  I was amazed how often the lies stream in through out the day and I didn’t even realize it.  It is easier to wallow in a lie from Satan about ourselves than it is to listen to a message of truth.

After you reject the lie and quote the truth you need to redirect yourself.  It’s time to stop thinking about ourselves. The treatment is the same as those struggling with angry thoughts or pornographic images.  We could “hum our favorite tune,” praise God, count our many blessings, and/or we can go serve some one.  We get our minds off of the train of thought we were going down.   We get our minds off of ourselves.

The miracle is that as you reject the lie, change to the truth channel and think about others your seed of faith grows until you KNOW.  You know and now you have a testimony.  You know you are a child of God.  You know you do have individual worth.  You finally really believe your life has purpose.  People do like you. And you know God loves you.

And then you live.  You discover greater depth to your relationships.  You feel a greater capacity to love other people.  You feel joy.  You grow.  You receive personal revelation. In a nutshell you soar with God.

Thoughts from Spring 2012  General Conference on this subject:

Elder Hales, “…a life of joy and happiness, is an essential part of Heavenly father’s plan for each one of us…As our spiritual desires increase, we become spiritually self-reliant….the sacrament gives us an opportunity to come to ourselves and experience ‘a mighty change’ of heart-to remember who we are and what we most desire.”

Elder Soares, “To sow in the Spirit means that all our thoughts, words, and actions must elevate us to the level of the divinity of our heavenly parents….the natural man, which allows people to be influenced by passion, desires, appetites, and drives of the flesh instead of looking for inspiration from the Holy Ghost…Therefore, our daily question must be, ‘Do my actions place me in the Lord’s or in the enemy’s territory?”  JUST READ THIS WHOLE TALK.

Elder Scott, “One must be ever mentally and physically clean and have purity of intent so that the Lord can inspire….The more closely you follow divine guidance, the greater will be your happiness here and for eternity-moreover, the more abundant your progress and capacity to serve.”

Brother Ochoa quoting Elder Holland, “I am looking for men young and old who care enough about this battle between good and evil to sign on and speak up.  We are at war.”

President Uctdorf, “This ‘mighty change’ of heart is exactly what the gospel of Jesus Christ is designed to bring into our lives.”

Elder Nelson, “Spiritual progress is attained through the steps of faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end, including the endowment and sealing ordinances of the holy temple.  Just as the body requires daily food for survival, the spirit needs nourishment as well.  The spirit is nurtured by eternal truth.”

Read Sister Beck’s talk.

How Should I Vote? Obama, Romney or Neither?

            Recently, I read a blog post from a lady I have followed for several years.  She remarked that she did not know who she was going to vote for yet, but she was leaning toward Romney.  She cited that in the previous election she had voted for Obama.

            I have also read/talked to others who declare they won’t vote for either one.  They will cast a “non-vote.”            

            I have been surprised by these ideas.  First of all I have to say I’m not personally thrilled by our choices this election cycle.  I am a conservative and I did not vote for Romney in the Republican Primary Election.  Romney is too moderate in my opinion; which was exactly why my fellow blogger was willing to vote for him.  Would I go so far as to cast a “non-vote” though?

There are a lot of tough questions facing Americans today.  Questions about foreign policy, border control, welfare, environment, fiscal spending, health care, social security….. The list goes on and on.  This much I’ve established:

·         Everyone has a different idea on how to solve a said problem.  And that person always thinks they are right.

·         Both parties contain people who are corrupt and they receive financial backing from corrupt people.

·         Both parties contain honorable people despite what the other party thinks.

·         No one really has all the answers.

·         It’s impossible to agree with someone on everything.

·         Some issues are more important to some people than they are to others.

I do believe at the end of the day there are two issues that are critical and more important than anything else.  These two issues must be fought for no matter what else you believe.  Period. Game over.  These two issues are: the sanctity of human life and the preservation of the family unit.

People must be placed in government who will defend these values.  All other ideas must always be secondary to preserving human life and defending the family as the fundamental unit of society.

Elder Oaks recently said, “We also need politicians, policy makers, and officials to increase their attention to what is best for children in contrast to the selfish interest of voters and vocal advocates of adult interests.”

Whatever differences we have (which are A LOT), Romney and I do agree that human life is sacred and that marriage is defined as a union of one man and one woman.  I therefore will and must vote for him if the choice is between him or Obama.  There is no other option.

These issues are not secondary issues.  They chart the course of a moral or an amoral people. We condemn our society when we allow the sanctity of life to be desecrated by legislation.

An apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ recently had these thoughts to give on the subject of abortion and children,

“Children are highly vulnerable.  They have little or no power to protect or provide for themselves and little influence on so much that is vital to their well-being.  Children need others to speak for them, and they need decision makers who put their well-being ahead of selfish adult interests…

“From the perspective of the plan of salvation, one of the most serious abuses of children is to deny them birth…

“Many laws permit or even promote abortion, but to us this is a great evil.”

He did not say abortion is a difference of opinion, like whether we promote social medicine or not, but he said abortion is EVIL.

Remember the words of the Savior,

“And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:5-6

In speaking of marriage the same apostle shared these thoughts,

“Throughout history, marriage has first and foremost been an institution for procreation and raising children.  It has provided the cultural tie that seeks to connect the father to his children by binding him to the mother of his children...

“Our church leaders have taught that looking ‘upon marriage as a mere contract that may be entered into at pleasure…and severed at the first difficulty…is an evil meriting severe condemnation,’ especially where ‘children are made to suffer.’”

He went on quoting a New York Times writer who noted “the striking fact that even as traditional marriage has declined in the United States…the evidence has mounted for the institution’s importance to the well-being of children.”

And finally, “The social science literature is controversial and politically charged on the long-term effect of this on children, principally because as a New York Times writer observed, ‘same-sex marriage is a social experiment, and like most experiments it will take time to understand its consequences.’”

As the family is protected so is the child.

A superficial view of the Civil War produces the idea that the war was just about slavery, but it wasn’t.  For many in the south it was an issue about state’s rights and the South fought for state’s rights.  If that had been the only issue I believe our little family would have worn gray.  However, as important as state’s rights are, the rights of human beings must always be more important.  When certain “inalienable rights,” bestowed upon us by our Creator are taken away from others then you and I must stand up and say, “NO!”

Slavery had to abolished, even if it meant big government had to come in and stop it.  Today no push for less taxes, foreign policies, or social medicine can ever be more important to Americans then the rights of all children and families.

I desire to stand before that bar of God and declare I did not vote for people that did not honor life and family.  I further desire to declare that I did vote for people who would promote morality in America.

Please join me in voting for life and family this election.

Pictures

We are having a fabulous time in Boston.  Only two days left.  My daughter has kept up her blog with pictures and little details about our trip.  You can read her blog here.


Here are some pictures from our house.  My mom has been taking pictures while we've been gone.  We are so excited.....

Our House

I REALLY need to stop saying that I am going to post more because the reality is that I probably won't.  But that doesn't mean I don't have blog posts still scrolling through my head.  It also doesn't mean that I have stopped thinking of my blogging friends.  If you are out there-I am thinking of you! : ) 

• (Mama Rachel I couldn't leave you a comment. I am thinking of you too).
• Good news.  They started on our house.  Yeah.  There is a very large hole and they are pouring the foundation next week.  Please read extreme excitement into my voice.
• The hypocrite in me:
• my house is going to be LARGE
• If I had to live in my 760 sq foot house forever I could, but my kids and my husband have decided not to (okay maybe I want a bigger house too).
• I rarely wear skirts any more
• I still think I should, I just don't
• So please forgive me for being a hyprocrite.  We can all change our opinions right?
• I went to Hawaii with my hubby, it was lovely
• I got a stress fracture on my foot from running
• I am still studying everything I can get my hands on about health. 
• I really want to write a post about women having self worth.  I had that problem-very bad- until a couple of years ago and then I finally figured it out.  It's simple.  So note to self: write a post on how I came to realize my self worth.

I'll see you in another couple of months when I get back on the Internet.

Prophets Speak: Elder Richard G. Scott and President James E. Faust

One of the conference talks that I read this week that caught my eye was the talk by Elder Scott entitled, “The Sanctity of Womanhood.” This talk was delivered in the Priesthood Session on April 1, 2000.

Some of the quotes that stood out were:

“So many of our sisters are disheartened, even discouraged, and disillusioned.  Others are in serious trouble because of the choices they make.  Satan has unleashed a seductive campaign to undermine the sanctity of womanhood, to deceive the daughters of God and divert them from their divine destiny.  He well knows women are the compassionate, self-sacrificing, loving power that binds together the human family.  He would focus their interest solely on their physical attributes and rob them of their exalting roles as wives and mothers.  He has convinced many of the lie that they are third-class citizens in the kingdom of God.  That false hood has led some to trade their divinely given femininity for male coarseness…

Because it is their nature to give and please others, many women do not realize their intrinsic worth. That loss makes them vulnerable to those who would convince them that their major role is to be physically appealing.

“So many of our own young women sacrifice their God-given endowment of femininity, deep spirituality, and a caring interest in others on the altar of popular, worldly opinion.”

Satan is so loud in trying to get us distracted, turn us into males, and/or destroy our belief in our inherent individual worth.  I am grateful for Elder Scott reminding us of our worth and our importance in God’s plan.

In the Young Women’s meeting given the week before President Faust taught along the same theme,

“I wonder if you sisters fully understand the greatness of your gifts and talents and how all of you can achieve the “highest place of honor” in the Church and in the world.  One of your unique, precious, and sublime gifts is your femininity, with its natural grace, goodness, and divinity.  Femininity is not just lipstick, stylish hairdos, and trendy clothes.  It is the divine adornment of humanity.  It finds expression in your qualities of your capacity to love, you spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength.  It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each of you possesses it.  Femininity is part of your inner beauty.”

Spiritual Creations

I recently finished reading Elder Bednar’s new book, Increase in Learning: Spiritual patters for obtaining your own answers. 

There are only four chapters in the book. At the end of each chapter there are several “readings” that help the reader learn more about the principles taught.  These readings are his previous related conference and CES talks.  The four chapters are:

1. Our Individual Responsibility to Learn
2. Knowledge, Understanding, and Intelligence
3. Prayerful Inquiry: Asking, Seeking, and Knocking
4. Doctrines, Principles and Applications

This book is power packed with some fantastic tools to help us learn through the Spirit better.  At times there were certain parts that seemed overly simplistic.  Yet, as I took the time to reread and pray I realized there was a great depth of “hidden treasures of knowledge.”  There is so much more for me to understand with this book, but two of the biggest lessons I learned were: spiritually creating your day and the why, the what, and the how of the gospel.

At the recent World Wide Training they talked a lot about the why, the what, and the how of the gospel, or so I’ve been told.  I hear the Training will be (is already?) available on line for us to listen to.  I look forward to that.  Included in the book by Elder Bednar is a DVD that helps with learning and understanding the principles taught in the book.  The interview was particularly helpful in understanding more concretely what Elder Bednar meant with the why, the what, and the how of the gospel.  I’m not going to write more about that only to say these principles have been very helpful in being a parent and also for myself trying to learn what the lord is trying to teach me.

I do want to write about the principle of spiritually creating our day.  On first glance the principle was basic and I thought I already had that down.  Ever think that?  On rereading it I realized there was much to it.  After rereading and rereading the chapter again I starting working through the talks.  His first talk, that I distinctly remember listening too, was from October 2008 and it was called, Pray Always.  He said:

“The patterns used by God in creating the earth are instructive in helping us understand how to make prayer meaningful.  In the third chapter of the book of Moses we learn that all things were created spiritually before they were naturally upon the earth.

“’And now, behold, I say unto you, that these are the generations of the heaven and of the earth, when they were created, in the day that I, the Lord God, made the heaven and the earth,

“And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew.  For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth’ (Moses 3:4-5).

“We learn from these verses that the spiritual creation preceded the temporal creation.  In a similar way, meaningful morning prayer is an important element in the spiritual creation of each day-and proceeds the temporal creation or the actual execution of each day. Just as the temporal creation was linked to and a continuation of the spiritual creation, so meaningful morning and evening prayers are linked to and are a continuation of each other.”

Elder Bednar than gives some examples of how to spiritual create your day through prayer.  Basically you go through all the things you want to accomplish, say and be that day.  For example you want to interact with your kids nicely and happily all day.  You express this desire and you visualize yourself doing it.    We ask for help from the Lord.  We work the day through with Him with what he wants us to do.  Basically you play out your day with the Spirit guiding you through it in your mind.

Then you go to work.  As that spiritual creation becomes a physical reality you recognize the Lord’s help with your weaknesses in accomplishing otherwise impossible tasks like being patient or having the energy to do something.  With each realization Elder Bednar reminds us to thank our Father throughout the day for blessing us and lifting us higher.  When we do this he says we are keeping the commandment to, “Let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord” (Alma 37:36).

At the end of the day you review your day.  How did your spiritual and physical creations match up?  Thank Him again for working miracles in our life.  Repent for the things you did wrong.  Reflect what you could have done better in those situations.

That’s basically the main thoughts with it.  I learned from this HOW I can have the Lord much more involved in my life.

I have been earnestly trying doing this.  As I am letting the Lord lead me through my day each morning in prayer I have learned how I can apply this principle to other areas in my life.  For example, I now spiritually create my Sunday School lessons on Sunday morning, I strive to spiritually create my week, my husband is helping guide our family through spiritually creating our week as a family, I spiritually create specific goals or tasks-long or short, etc.  The list goes on and on.  The results are that I am seeing miraculous and AMAZING things happen.  I am doing and being in ways I seemed forever doomed to not bring about.

Another important concept I realized is how important it is to have solid evening prayers.  I have been able to recognize more specifically all the blessings God is pouring out on me and also I feel like I am repenting much better and completely.  After doing this I spent time spiritually creating my early morning wake up.  I pray for help to get up easily and quickly and I visualize myself doing so.  I ask for His help and tell him that as it is 10:30 PM and the thought of getting up at 5AM the next morning is very unappealing.  I say I am tired.  I ask Him to please help me and deliver me from these feelings and this insurmountable obstacle.  This is important to make sure I start my day off right. This is also important because for the first hour or two I don’t prayer beyond a prayer in my heart because if I did I would fall asleep.  So my evening prayers are my spiritual creation for the morning until I am able to say coherently my morning prayers.

Through my reading in this book I have realized the importance of asking the right questions in my prayers.  Joseph Smith could have asked any number of questions but he specifically asked, “Which church should I join?” After finding out that Nephi needed to build a boat he asked, “Where can I find ore to make the tools?”  Asking the right questions is very important.  The process of reading, pondering and prayer help us to learn what the right question is.  When we learn the right question to ask I testify the heavens will and do open!

 Here is one of my favorite statements about prayer found in the Bible Dictionary:

“The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them.  Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.” (Emphasis added).

 As it says, this amount of mental effort given to prayer takes work.  We are so easily distracted with life that it is hard to quiet our minds enough to communicate with God.  It is worth it though.  All these things have very life changing for me.  I hope some of these thoughts and principles can help you.

Thinking About Whole Foods

I have been reading a lot of books about food.  I’ve read books about what hunter-gathers ate, books about people sneaking into poultry farms in the middle of the night and the horrors they saw, books trying to prove how dogs would really rather eat a vegan lifestyle (okay that was just a chapter in a book about raw foods), I also read a clever recipe for how to make raw pancakes (it was actually very good)….The range of books on the topic of food in my public library is quite extensive.  A lot of it is a little nutty.  I have studied in the scriptures extensively on the subject as well-that’s where I started-and I have found some really interesting things.

The most important message I have gotten in all my reading is to eat WHOLE foods.  Not parts of food, but real, whole foods.  An apple is a real food.  We found some salsa that only has whole foods in it.  It’s yummy. 

I have found one book amongst the masses of dwaddle on the subject that has some good ideas.  It’s called, “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” by Michael Pollan.  He makes some interesting points about how we are more concerned with nutrients (or parts of food) instead of in the food itself.  Here is his succinct, sage advice: “Eat food.  Not too much. Mostly plants.”  That pretty much sums it up right?

Mr. Pollan had some good advice about his first point: “Eat food.”  (Pointing out he means real food, not parts of food or synthetic food).  Here are his points to finding and eating (whole, real) food. 

1. Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. He says Go-Gurt is not food and your grandma wouldn’t recognize it. (She would recognize yogurt though).  By the way we all know where our red food coloring comes from that is in all our food right? Red bugs, crushed up from South America. Yummy.  Think red M&M’s, grapefruit juice, strawberry yogurt….
2. Don’t eat anything incapable of rotting. (like Twinkies)
3. Avoid food products containing ingredients that are:
1. Unfamiliar
2. Unpronounceable
3. More than five in number
4. Contain high-fructose corn syrup

He listed “Sara Lee’s Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread” as an example of a food that breaks all of these rules. He listed all 41 ingredients but I’m not going to type them here. It would take up a lot of space. He pointed out unfamiliar ingredients like ethoxylated monoglycerides and unpronounceable ones like azodicarbonamide.  Sounds yummy doesn’t it!  And of course it has high-fructose corn syrup.  Do you know how many food items contain high-fructose corn syrup?  Try checking out your refrigerator and you shall be surprised. (Unless your name is Lara or Misty, you threw those foods away along time ago).

4. Avoid products that make health claims.
5. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.  (We’ve all heard that one).
6. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible. Meaning go to a farmer’s market or grow your own food.

I thought those were some very basic ideas to get our family started on a whole foods way of life.  I’ve been thinking a lot about what Leah Widtsoe said.  I quoted her in my last post.  Summarizing her thoughts she said we should spend as much thought into what we feed our children as we do our prize winning livestock. Coming from the area of the world I live in and the passion around us for 4-H that is a very interesting thought.

The Word of Wisdom

My early morning study as led me to ponder seriously “The Word of Wisdom.”  Since it is “that time of year” when the world thinks about diets and dieting I’ll share a recent resource that I have discovered.

As I have been restudying the Word of Wisdom I remembered that in John A. Widtsoe’s biography, written by Alan K. Parrish, which I had read several years ago, there was a lot of dialogue about The Word of Wisdom.  So I pulled it out.  I learned from the biography that Elder Widtsoe and his wife Leah wrote a book called, “The Word of Wisdom-A Modern Interpretation.”  Their book was approved by President Grant and in a later edition by President McKay.  The book later served as a manual for the Priesthood. 

Joseph Fielding Smith said of their book, “This work is needed immediately and should be published as soon as possible.”

President McKay wrote, “Elders Joseph F. Merrill, Charles A. Callis, and Albert E. Bowen, acting under appointment, report that they have read your manuscript entitled THE WORD OF WISDOM-A MODERN INTERPRETATION, with very great interest and found it to be an ably written exposition of the Word of Wisdom as seen in light of a multitude of confirmatory evidence furnished by modern science….We are therefore pleased to give our consent to the publication of this book.”

When their book was up for another printing Leah would not proceed without the approval from the first Presidency.  Parrish writes, “Each of the presidency wrote a strong letter of endorsement urging that the book be updated and reprinted.”

Their book is available through Amazon and a free copy is available on line here to print.  It is not the best layout however.

 In Widtsoe’s biography the author compiled several quotes.  Here are some:

Elder Widtsoe wrote: “To many of our members feel that if they refrain from taking liquor, tobacco, tea and coffee, they are keeping the Word of Wisdom.  They are doing so only in part.  If the law be understood and lived, people would not be ill and the blessings promised may be fulfilled….The Church of Christ must ever try to care for the whole man.”

He also said, “The Gospel of Jesus Christ is designed to give man health and happiness. Health is concerned with the spirit and mind as well as with the body of man.  The Gospel is mistakenly supposed to concern only man’s spiritual health. Mental and physical health forms the only assurance of spiritual progress.  A man who is physically or mentally ill is not truly happy, though he may approach spiritual peace.  The three parts of man’s nature are interrelated and depend upon one another’s welfare.”

Elder Widtsoe wrote, “In the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, the sanctity of the body is second only to that of the spirit.  It is the duty, as well as the desire, of every person to preserve his physical health, so that he may live out most completely the destiny of his existence.”

The author summarized some of Leah’s writings by saying, “That teaching children about [physical health] exceeds the importance of teaching them reading, writing, or arithmetic.”

And later he summarized her again by saying, “Leah explained that mortal bodies are composed of dust of the earth, which chemists had divided into fifteen elements that could be found only in the Lord’s foods, the plants and fruits of the ground.  Children should be fed with at least as much thought as farmers put into feeding their prizewinning livestock…a person’s health is largely a function of the food consumed.”

As some of you may be pondering health at this time I invite you to read the Widtsoe’s book as I think it will add value to your studies.

It comes down to those absolutes.....

WARNING! THIS POST WILL SHOW YOU A BAD PARENTING MOMENT.  READER DISCRETION IS THEREFORE ADVISED!

A couple of years ago I read a series of books to my kids.  I edited out several parts as I went along.  I was concerned about a couple of things but overall I thought they were fun and the kids loved them.

Fast forward to present day.  Recently my kids checked out the same books on CD from the library.  They had asked me if it was okay first and I said it was fine.  We don't check a lot of books on tape out because they read a lot and I try to get them outside instead.  Yet for some reason (absence of brain on the above mentioned day) I allowed them to check one out.  Like I said I remembered that the books were fun and we liked them.  Fun is good, right?

For several different days over the course of a couple of weeks we listened to one of the books.  Some of the kids were quilting and some were playing Lego's (don't tell anyone).  As I listened I noticed I was uncomfortable.  This book was pushing the boundary line on what was really appropriate.  I let it pass though.  The nagging worry didn't leave though and I started getting really bothered.  The books were making it seem okay that the stars of the show were committing adultery and there was an enormous amount of taking the Lord's name in vain.  Not to mention what I call the "smack talk" by the kids.  I think because I had edited it out when I read it to them I just flew by it or something.  (At this point a, "Duh, Deanna" would be completely appropriate from you).

So one morning I had the words from the For the Strength of Youth go through my mind. (You know because I get up early to hear the Spirit speak to me now).

"Satan uses such entertainment to deceive you by making what is wrong and evil look normal and exciting.  It can mislead you into thinking that everyone is doing things that are wrong. 

"Do not attend, view, or participate in entertainment that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in entertainment that in any way present immorality or violent behavior as acceptable."

And then that's when the groaning started-that would be me realizing what I had done.  I was allowing my kids (and I was participating with them) in not keeping their standards.  Then I realized that President Monson had asked us this last conference to stand up for our standards. 

"But" the books aren't that bad.  "But" it's fun and exciting and entertaining. "But everyone else is reading them..."

As the first paragraph said wrong and evil were definitely mixed up in the books.  Of course the good guys won and the bad guys were really bad and lost, but the good guys/girls were getting a way with some very immoral behavior.  It became a joke by the end.

While pondering I also noticed two different absolutes repeated twice in the second quoted paragraph from For the Strength of Youth that caught my eye. Do not and any.  Here it is again,

"Do not attend, view, or participate in entertainment that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in entertainment that in any way present immorality or violent behavior as acceptable."

Absolutes get me every time.  It's pretty clear cut.  Yet I repeatedly try to justify my poor behavior.  We should not participate in any entertainment that portrays immorality as acceptable. Period. The End. Case Closed. Game Over.  I knew what I had to do. Repent.

So after discussing my thoughts with my husband he immediately saw the damage and we called a family council.  Three children were immediately ready to reject the book serious forever based on our rereading the council in For the Strength of Youth.  The other one?  It was painful.  Lot's of tears.  The child had to fast and pray about it.  After a couple of days and a second family council the child conceded. It was the absolutes that finally turned the tide for him.  He immediately pointed out several other changes we had to make based on the same logic.

I think about how many times I have set a bad example for my kids and they have bad habits or addictions because of me.  I'm supposed to be their protector.  Anyway...

Challenge: Reread For the Strength of Youth and notice the absolutes.  I've noticed several that I need to make some changes on.

Called to Testify

I reread this from President Monson, “Once we have a testimony, it is incumbent upon us to share that testimony with others.”(Ensign, November, 2011 page 67).

So my mind’s been pondering this indepth..  I’ve had a lot of amazing and wonderful experiences the last while and I haven’t really shared them with others.  Sure some shouldn’t be shared, but I have had plenty of faith promoting experiences that should be shared and that could be faith building to many people.  I feel the call to start blogging more.  To testify. To help share the good news.  Now I just have to remember to blog. 

None of these experiences are anything to “write home about” as far as being awe-inspiring or “that should be in the Ensign.”  They are however, quiet faith building experiences that remind me that I am a child of God, God does have a plan for me and He knows exactly what I’m up too.
So where to start?  I feel impressed to let you into my life a little bit.  I have to admit I am not exactly thrilled about that.  We’ll see where this goes….

I have a bad habit.  (Well, I have more than one, but we won’t get that personal today).  I love sleep.  I love to sleep.  I love thinking about when I get to sleep next.  I imagine being in my jammies and snuggled down in bed.  So cozy, warm and blissful.  (It is 20 degrees outside, perhaps that is prompting my cozy, snuggly thoughts).  Just thinking about it is well, “ahhhh.”

So here’s the big problem.  I sleep too much.  I am not a morning person or a night person, I am simply a sleeper.  Perhaps you don’t get enough sleep, but I get plenty.  It gets worse.  The Lord has told me over and over that I need to get up early.  For years it’s the same thing.  So I go in spurts.  I’ve gone months upon months of getting up at 5 AM.  Numerous times I’ve done this.  I do well for six months and then I go back to day dreaming about sleep and it’s just too much and I succumb.  Well, the real problem is the getting up.  Why is it so hard to get up early?  Perhaps the obvious answers are: it’s cold and it’s dark.  Another is that I just love snuggling with my husband.  Why get up?  It’s sooooo hard. 

The Lord’s been inviting me again.  Well, He never stopped, I just didn’t want to listen.  I am like a child with my hands over my ears, “I can’t hear you!”  The plan was working really well until it happened.  The Lord tried a different approach and my husband did something really jerky.  Well, that’s how I initially viewed it.   He heard the Lord call him and so he started getting up early.  He didn’t even discuss it with me.  I am sleeping soundly in his warm arms and then, he’s gone.  He’s up studying on the couch in the cold and in the dark (well outside it is).  And he keeps doing it every morning.

So who am I supposed to snuggle with now? The cat? The dog? The nine year old?  Needless to say I just started to get up with him.  What else can I do?  So here we go on round number 25 of Deanna trying to get up early to obey the Lord.  I hope it lasts because the spiritual outpouring of blessings that come to me when I get up early and study are amazing!  They are more important than my sleep.

Another interesting tidbit is that even when I sleep in (until 7:30) I still go through my routine: journal, conference talk(s), and scripture study every morning.  Usually for just as long too.  However I always get WAY more out of my studying when I study earlier.  Why is that?  Like I said, it’s cold and it’s dark.  My eyes are glued shut and I’m delirious.  But it never fails.  I learn more.  Every single time.

The scripture that always comes to me when I think about this is D & C 88:83, “He that seeketh me early shall find me, and shall not be forsaken.”  My husband and I always “argue” about this one.  I say it means we should get up early and he says it means we should seek Christ early in our life.  We’re both right I suppose, but it has been a great comfort to me.  I have a testimony that when we get up early the Lord will speak to us, that when we draw near unto Him, He will draw near unto us. (D & C 88:63)

It’s so simple.  I believe it.  But why is it so hard to comply?  I receive so many spiritual blessings when I heed the call to seek Him early.

President Packer said this to the graduates of BYU-H, “These are sobering times you are going out into a world that is different than the world I faced when I was {19}…You won’t survive spiritually unless you know how to receive revelation…I don’t know whether you know how to receive revelation, but you won’t survive without it…it’s a noisy world, and you’re going to have to learn personally, and privately, and individually that revelation will come when the Lord can speak to your feelings…go quietly into the world and quietly go about your affairs-learn that in the still, small hours of the morning the Lord will speak to you.  He will never fail to answer your prayers.”  BYU-H Commencement Address, December 7, 2005.

I find this quote motivating.  Not only about the importance of revelation in our lives (which is a top of the list priority in teaching my children), but because of the promise that the Lord will speak to us in the quiet hours of the morning and teach us everything we can possibly handle.  In those quiet hours He will mentor us on receiving personal revelation and fulfilling the measure of our creation.

So why is it that we learn more in the early morning hours than later?  I don’t know the answers.  Perhaps it’s quiet. Perhaps nothing in the world has had a chance to mess with us yet that early.  Perhaps because it is cold and dark the Lord accepts that seemingly pathetic sacrifice for what it is-the best we can do.

So I hope to testify more regularly about the truths I am learning.  Because again to quote President Monson, "Once we have a testimony, it is incumbent upon us to share that testimony with others."