Monday, January 07, 2013

These Things I Know Continued and Updated ......



I remember as a child being so thrilled with my family

.

I was particularly thrilled with family reunions. I would get so excited to visit the family reunion in Raymond, Alberta, Canada, that I would hardly sleep for days after we arrived. I would do everything possible with my cousins.

 

I really felt great to be part of a group of people who loved each other.

I also loved the security and safety of Church and its programs.

I first remember having a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a 7 year old boy running and skipping over the wooden logs that formed the parking lot of our stake center located at the Melbourne Ward in Houston, Texas. It was the lunch break between sessions of our stake conference and I was passing the time playing in the parking lot. I remember thinking as I hopped on and off the logs- “Wow whatever my parents and the people in the meeting are talking about I like! This is really a neat feeling! I am really glad to be here! This Church is true.” I remember feeling safe and good and secure and very happy and really loving my family.

I didn’t know what the feeling was but I knew I liked it. It felt like Heaven, or what I thought Heaven would be like.

That feeling repeated many times over the years as I grew up. I thought everyone felt that way too. I assumed that the feeling of love and happiness and faith in Heavenly Father was a right all children got to have. It all seemed so normal. I have never forgotten that feeling and how much I love it. For me it was always a very safe feeling that I could depend upon. I have come to count on this feeling still.

Twenty seven years later I was married to a wonderful and beautiful wife and delightfully had two little girls ages 7 and 4.

I wanted with all my heart to have peace, unity, love and understanding in our new family just as I had felt often as a child. I felt that if there was any way that I could get Heaven’s help to strengthen me and my family I might as well ask Heavenly Father to show me how, and then I would do it. I felt overwhelmed by the responsibility of raising a family of two beautiful girls, with their awesome talents, gifts and personalities! I felt a great responsibility to Heavenly Father to create in our home and family opportunities to feel the same undeniable feelings of love, truth and goodness I had felt as a child.

In my adult mind I wanted to influence these children to joyfully make decisions which would always lead back to Heaven. I knew my time of direct influence was short. I felt at the time that there were many distractions and disunifying forces impacting our family. I wanted to strengthen the love we felt for one another and for Heavenly Father. I felt that if we could feel-- for a few minutes--- every day--- as a group the Spirit of the Lord that could come from prayer and scripture study that we could feel the love I felt as a child.

I also knew that the natural seeds of faith and testimony would grow of their own accord and then I would not worry so much about every other of a million worries I carried in my mind and heart.

 If we could feel every day the love of Heaven, I felt that we as a family would always return to that feeling throughout our lives no matter what else happened.

 

I recommitted to the practice of personal, spousal and family prayer and scripture study and family home evening on a regular basis.

I continue this same feeling today over a quarter of a century later. I am so grateful for the blessing that comes from the regular observance of this simple practice.

 

Our family has increased in numbers and we are all older. I am truly grateful beyond words for each and every member of our family. I am grateful for their patience, love, commitment, example, courage, sense of humor, and joy.  

As I continue on in my life, I continue to seek the blessing of prayer and scripture study. For me this is an essential part of maintaining a testimony, renewing faith, uniting the family, uniting a marriage, receiving Divine direction, being obedient to Heavenly Father, receiving Divine inspiration, receiving Divine help, communicating with Heavenly Father, receiving forgiveness, expressing gratitude and affirming my standing before Heavenly Father.

For me, prayer is essential to living a happy life. I know that prayer works. I know prayers are heard and answered. I know that prayers bring the Holy Ghost in my heart and into my life. I know that prayers with my wife each night and morning help us to be unified and to be better people and to receive all of the other benefits of prayer. I know that family prayer brings all of the blessings that are promised. Some of the blessings of prayer include: receiving the Holy Ghost, (3 Nephi 19:9), receiving what so ever is expedient (D&C 88:64).

These things I know. I know other things too, but that is all for today.

Sunday January 6, 2013

These Things I Know- Updated

These things I know for sure without any equivocation or doubt.

I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are actively involved in the details of each of the lives of Heavenly Fathers children-men, women and children throughout the world.

The Holy Ghost tells me this is so. I see His witness all around me. I know God loves all of His creation. I know that love softens all things, overcomes fear and will never fail. I know God is sad when I am sad and happy when I am happy. I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Paul is right, (Philip. 4: 13)).

I know that God hears and answers every prayer. (Matt. 7: 7-12) I know that adversity and challenges come “…that the works of God should be made manifest…”. (John 9: 3)

I know that the Savior Jesus Christ knows my pains, my sufferings, my temptations, my fears, my weaknesses and can aid me perfectly. (Alma 7: 11, Ether 12: 27)

I know that my life is structured and influenced by my Heavenly Father to instruct me in exactness, so I may learn the lessons, prove faithful and gain the virtues needed to return to Him. I know my life is not an accident. I know I can return to Him through His Son Jesus Christ.

I know that forgiveness is sweet, real, genuine and much sweeter than any other substitute.

I know other things too, but that is all for today.

Happiness and Success

I came upon this truth as I was preparing a talk for Sacrament Meeting and I wanted to share it with you.

"It is the misapprehension of most people that if you are good, really good, at what you do, you will eventually be both widely known and well compensated.

"It is the understanding of almost everyone that success, to be complete, must include a generous portion of both fame and fortune as essential ingredients. The world seems to work on that premise. The premise is false. It is not true. The Lord [teaches] otherwise.

"....You need not be either rich or hold high position to be completely successful and truly happy. In fact, if these things come to you, and they may, true success must be achieved in spite of them, not because of them.

"It is remarkably difficult to teach this truth. If one who is not well know, and not well compensated, claims that he has learned for himself that neither fame nor fortune are essential to success, we tend to reject his statement as self-serving. What else could he say and not count himself a failure?

"If someone who has possession of fame or fortune asserts that neither matters to success or happiness, we suspect that his expression can also be self-serving, even patronizing.

"Therefore, we will not accept as reliable authorities either those who have fame and fortune or those who have not. We question that either can be an objective witness.

"That leaves only one course open to us: trial and error---to learn for oneself, by experience, about prominence and wealth or their opposites.

"We thereafter struggle through life, perhaps missing both fame and fortune, to finally learn one day that one can, indeed, succeed without possessing either. Or we may, one day, have both and learn and learn that neither has made us happy; neither is basic to the recipe for true success and for complete happiness. That is a very slow way to learn.

"We come into mortal life to receive a body and to be tested, to learn to choose.

".....the choice of life is not between fame and obscurity, nor is the choice between wealth and poverty. The choice is between good and evil, and that is a very different matter indeed. (from Boyd K. Packer, Memorable Stories with a Message, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2000, pp. 128-130)

I was reading on Sunday- I was reading about a man who was worried -- he was worried about his present situation and about the future - He didn't know about the future. One thing he knew .... that his cause was just .... the preservation of his group's families, religion, freedom and peace. He knew his group was good. He knew that he loved his children and he wanted the best for them. But he was worried.

Here is what he did with his group.

He said, " we did pour out our souls in prayer to God" I am sure his soul ached with desire for those in his care.... including himself. He says, "we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us..." " ... and also give us strength to...." and then he listed his worries......

I imagine it was a longer prayer and a deeper soul felt process than the short verse reads and that his list of worries was pretty long and specific. Then he says,

".... and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him."

Hmmmm. I have heard of this before. I have felt this before. I am grateful for this shared experience of this man.

Hmmmm. " The Lord granted assurances that he would deliver us. He spoke peace to our souls, he granted great faith, and did cause us to have hope for our deliverance in him.

I like that. The Lord is in the details of our lives.

Happy 3rd Birthday V. - The World's Best Detective!

Little V is growing up and celebrated her 3rd birthday on Saturday!

The theme for the party was the detective/mystery. It was great! Complete with footprints on the wall, spy glasses, mystery smells, treasure hunts and mystery pictures. The food was great too! "pigs in a blanket", fruit, vegetables, limeade, and cupcakes.

The gifts had a princess theme! I was so glad to be invited.

Happy Birthday V.

Being Understood

It is so helpful in finding the solutions to daily problems to have a listening ear.

The Divine ears always listen and communicate back. Having a mortal listener is truly a gift. To be completely and thoroughly understood is a wonderfully sublime experience, which enlarges the souls of all. It helps to clarify thought and focus intention.

Medieval