The Struggle

Parenting...

I can not count the amount of times I have went to bed at night and felt guilty about not doing more as a mother. It is the most difficult thing I have ever done and probably will ever do! Pres. Faust explains what the true measure of good parenting is… “Who are good parents? They are those who have lovingly, prayerfully, and earnestly tried to teach their children by example and precept “to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord.” 4 [D&C 68:28.] This is true even though some of their children are disobedient or worldly. Children come into this world with their own distinct spirits and personality traits. Some children “would challenge any set of parents under any set of circumstances. … Perhaps there are others who would bless the lives of, and be a joy to, almost any father or mother.” Successful parents are those who have sacrificed and struggled to do the best they can in their own family circumstances.”(President James E. Faust, “Dear Are the Sheep that Have Wandered,” General Conference, April 2003)

Elder Hales also states, “We too must have the faith to teach our children and bid them to keep the commandments. We should not let their choices weaken our faith. Our worthiness will not be measure according to their righteousness. Lehi did not lose the blessing of feasting at the tree of life because Laman and Lemuel refused to partake of its fruit.

“Sometimes as parents we feel we have failed when our children make mistakes or stray. Parents are never failure when they do their best to love, teach, pray, and care for their children. Their faith, prayers, and efforts will be consecrated to the good of their children.” (Elder Robert D. Hales, “With All the Feeling of a Tender Parent: A Message of Hope to Families,” Conference Report, April 2004)

I need to do my best each day and that is all I can do!

Of Souls, Symbols and Sacraments

The Doctrine of the Soul

"First, we simply must understand the revealed, restored Latter-day Saint doctrine of the soul, and the high and inextricable part the body plays in that doctrine. One of the "plain and precious" truths restored to this dispensation is that "the spirit and the body are the soul of man" and that when the spirit and body are separated, men and women "cannot receive a fulness of joy" 

So partly in answer to why such seriousness, we answer that one toying with the God-given- and satanically coveted-body of another, toys with the very soul of that individual, toys with the very soul of that individual, toys with the central purpose and product of life, “the very key” to life, as Elder Boyd K. Packer once called it. In trivializing the soul of another (please include the word body there), we trivialize the Atonement that saved that soul and guaranteed its continued existence. And when one toys with the Son of Righteousness, the Day Star himself, one toys with white heat and a flame hotter and holier than the noonday sun. You cannot do so and not be burned. You cannot with impunity “crucify Christ afresh” (see Hebrews 6:6). Exploitation of the body (please include the word soul there) is, in the last analysis, an exploitation of Him who is the Light and the Life of the world."

A Symbol of Total Union

“Second, may I suggest that human intimacy, that sacred, physical union ordained of God for a married couple, deals with a symbol that demands special sanctity. Such an act of love between a man and a woman is – or certainly was ordained to be – a symbol of total union: union of their hearts, their hopes, their lives, their love, their family, their future, their everything. "

A Holy Sacrament

"Human intimacy is a sacrament, a very special kind of symbol... But I wish to stress with you this morning, as my third of three reasons to be clean, that sexual union is also, in its own profound way, a very real sacrament of the highest order, a union not only of a man and a woman but very much the union of that man and woman with God. Indeed, if our definition of sacrament is that act of claiming and sharing and exercising God's own inestimable power, then I know of virtually no other divine privilege so routinely given to us all--women or men, ordained or unordained, Latter-day Saint or non-Latter-day Saint--than the miraculous and majestic power of transmitting life, the unspeakable, unfathomable, unbroken power of procreation."

Help Meet

Unit 2

Part 2 Podcast 

The Lord, after creating Adam, saw that he was alone in the garden, and declared, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” (Gen. 2:18.) In Hebrew the term for the phrase “help meet for him” (‘ezer kenegdo) literally means “a helper suited to, worthy of, or corresponding to him.”The word meet in sixteenth-century English meaning “fitting” or “proper.” It might be clearer if there were a comma after “help”-“I will make him an help, meet for him.” 

The American Heritage Dictionary further explains: “In the 17th century the two words ‘help’ and ‘meet’ in this passage were mistaken for one word, applying to Eve, and thus ‘helpmeet’ came to mean ‘a wife.’ Then in the 18th century, in a misguided attempt to make sense of the word, the spelling ‘helpmate’ was introduced.” (Second college edition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982, p. 604.) Thus the original meaning of the phrase has been obscured.

Genesis says God created man; “male and female created he them.” (Gen. 1:27.) President Spencer W. Kimball taught that the term man in the story of the Creation refers to “a complete man, which is husband and wife.” (Ensign, Mar. 1976, p. 71.) 

The detailed description of the creation of Adam and Eve describes their relationship as “corresponding to each other” and prescribes the ideal of unity between a man and woman. The significance of this phrase “help meet” is that the woman is a creation who is a fitting and proper companion for Adam because she is like him and corresponds to him. 

This concept is further solidified by the description of the creation of woman as being formed from the rib of Adam-a rib being a metaphor for a person corresponding to Adam. Modern prophets have taught that the creation of woman from the rib of the man is to be taken figuratively. (See Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, Mar. 1976, p. 71.) The proper role of the man and woman is clarified in the scriptural injunction that they should leave their parents and “cleave” unto each other, and become “one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24.) The oneness of the man and the woman, as described by these two phrases, refers to more than just the act of procreation. They are to each leave their parents who have cared and provided for them both physically and spiritually; and now, “corresponding to each other,” are to help, care for, and nurture each other. (Professor David Rolph Seely, Ensign, January 1994)

Moses, My Son

Unit 2 Part 1 Podcast

Elder Rasband of the Seventy describes the adversary's attack on Moses:

"…After witnessing the power and glory of God, Moses was confronted by Satan, who “came tempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me”. Note that Satan attempted to persuade Moses that he was not, as he had been assured, a son of God but rather a “son of man”-that is, a mere mortal. It is obvious why Satan wants us to doubt that we are spiritually begotten children of God. Dissuading us that we have divine potential erodes the nobility to which we ought to aspire and invites us to embrace the sins of this world. In doing so we surrender to the adversary and forfeit our rightful divine inheritance.

Moses provides us with a wonderful example of how to resist the blandishments of Satan. Moses said, “I will not cease to call upon God” (Moses 1:18), teaching us the importance of prayer. Then Moses commanded Satan to depart from him, speaking “in the name of the Only Begotten” and thus declaring his loyalty to Jesus Christ and his dependence on the Savior's Atonement (Moses 1:20-21). By displaying such determination, Moses was strengthened and succeeded in driving Satan from him."

In this revelation God repeatedly refers to Moses as “my son” and teaches him that he was created in the similitude of the Savior (Moses 1:6). Commenting on the importance of this truth, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught: 

“Consider the power of the idea taught in our beloved song ‘I Am a Child of God' … Here is the answer to one of life's great questions, ‘Who am I?' I am a child of God with a spirit lineage to heavenly parents. That parentage defines our eternal potential. That powerful idea is a potent antidepressant. It can strengthen each of us to make righteous choices and to seek the best that is within us. Establish in the mind of a … person the powerful idea that he or she is a child of God and you have given self-respect and motivation to move against the problems of life.”(Dallin H. Oaks, “Powerful Ideas,” Ensign, November 1995, p. 25)

Is My Life In Order?

Each Latter-day Saint needs to ask himself or herself the questions:

• Is my life in order?
• Do I have all of the ordinances of the gospel that I should possess by this time in my life?
• Are they valid?

If you can answer these questions affirmatively, and if the ordinances come under the influence of the sealing power and authority, they will remain intact eternally. In that case your life, to this point is in proper order. (Pres. Boyd K. Packer, “Come to the Temple,” Ensign, Oct 2007, 18-22)

Our life's work is to KEEP our life in order, that is the hard part. Elder Packer says, "Ordinances and covenants become our credentials for admission into His presence. To worthily receive them is the quest of a lifetime; to keep them thereafter is the challenge of mortality." (Elder Boyd K. Packer, “Covenants,” Ensign, May 1987) 

How important?

President Packer confirms just how important participating in these saving gospel ordinances really is when he posed these questions: How important are they to us as members of the Church? Can you be
happy, can you be redeemed, can you be exalted without them?

Answer: They are more than advisable or desirable, or even than necessary. More even than essential or vital, they are crucial to each of us.

"Picture yourself on one side of a stream, and on the other side is your eternal happiness. You need to have some stepping-stones in your life to get across. For example, choose to go on a mission, to be married in the temple, and to have a family. As you prepare for each of these events, you will be on track to reaching your ultimate goal." Elder Won Yon Ko

Rungs on the Ladder

Unit 3 Part 1 Podcast

Jacobs Dream of the Ladder

In the Old Testament, we learn about the choices of two grandsons of Abraham, who were brothers. One, Esau, sold his birthright for a bowl of porridge. Another, Jacob, valued the things of God, and there were other differences between Jacob and Esau as well. Esau made the decision to marry outside the covenant-two Hittite women, “which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah [his parents] (Genesis 26:34-35).  Jacob, on the other hand, took a long journey to Haran to take a wife from among the covenant people. While in Beth-el, (which means literally, house of God), Jacob dreamed of a ladder set up on the earth above which the Lord stood (Genesis 28:10-22). What did this ladder mean?

Covenants as Rungs on the Ladder

President Marion G. Romney had this to say about Jacob’s dream of a ladder.

“Jacob realized that the covenants he made with the Lord there were the rungs on the ladder that he himself would have to climb in order to obtain the promised blessings – blessings that would entitle him to enter heaven and associate with the Lord” (Marion G. Romney, “Temples- The Gates to Heaven,” Ensign, March 1971, p 16.)

Temples are to us all what Bethel was to Jacob. Even more, they are also the gates to heaven for all of our unendowed kindred dead. We should all do our duty in bringing our loved ones through them.

Love and Law

In the talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks "Love and Law", he speaks about God's love and God's commandments. He says, "His choicest blessings are reserved for those who obey His laws.1 These are eternal principles that should guide parents in their love and teaching of their children." He gives a few examples where parents have situations where their wayward children are making wrong choices and what parents should do. 

The above diagram was used in Elder Kim B. Clarks talk "Building Zion Together". He says, "think of this as a map of your efforts to help your roommates and friends establish the doctrines, attitudes, and practices of Zion in their lives." We can use it to guide us with our decisions with our children. Elder Clark states, " You need to be in the zone of Zion, the zone of high love and high standards.  There are two reasons.

First, the upper right is the only zone where we are fully living the gospel.  It is the only zone where we love one another with the pure love of Christ and teach the standards of the gospel by precept and by example, the way the Savior would teach them.

Second, the upper right zone is the only zone where you can help another person establish the patterns of Zion effectively.  Look carefully at the other three zones.  In each one an important part of the gospel message is missing."

What is Truth?

President Uchtdorf asked 3 questions,

1. “What is truth?”

2. “Is it really possible to know the truth?”

3. “How should we react to things that contradict truths which we have learned previously?”

What is truth?
It is His gospel. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life.” "This truth is different from belief. It is different from hope. Absolute truth is not dependent upon public opinion or popularity. Polls cannot sway it. Not even the inexhaustible authority of celebrity endorsement can change it."

Is it really possible to know the truth?

"We simply don’t know all things—we can’t see everything. What may seem contradictory now may be perfectly understandable as we search for and receive more trustworthy information. Because we see through a glass darkly, we have to trust the Lord, who sees all things clearly...Yes, our world is full of confusion. But eventually all of our questions will be answered. All of our doubts will be replaced by certainty. And that is because there is one source of truth that is complete, correct, and incorruptible. That source is our infinitely wise and all-knowing Heavenly Father. He knows truth as it was, as it is, and as it yet will be. “He comprehendeth all things, … and he is above all things, … and all things are by him, and of him.”


“How should we react to things that contradict truths which we have learned previously?”
"If you experience such a moment, remember that in this age of information there are many who create doubt about anything and everything, at any time and every place...And it is always good to keep in mind, just because something is printed on paper, appears on the Internet, is frequently repeated, or has a powerful group of followers doesn’t make it true."

Hirelings

Being married for 11 years now and thinking back to the day I got married, I had no idea what I was doing. I knew it was important, that I had always wanted to be married and that my husband was the one for me. Other than that, I had no idea. I didn't know how hard or how wonderful marriage could be. I didn't know that another person could have so much influence on my happiness or misery. Knowing that my marriage is eternal makes a difference. 

In Bruce C. Hafen's talk, "Covenant Marriage", he talks about hirelings. "Jesus taught about contractual attitudes when he described the 'hireling', who performs his conditional promise of care only when he         receives something in return". When in a marriage it is important that whatever difficulties may occur, we are in it for the long haul. Hafen expressed, "May we restore the concept of marriage as a covenant, even the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. And when the wolf comes, may we be as shepherds, not hirelings, willing to lay down our lives, a day at a time, for the sheep of our covenant. Many people today marry as hirelings. And when the wolf comes, they flee."

"And when the wolf comes, may we be as shepherds, not hirelings,    willing to lay down our lives, a day at a time, for the sheep of our           covenant."

Come to the Temple

Our Stake President has been focusing on a couple of topics the last year or so. One is keeping the sabbath day holy and the other is temple attendance. As I was studying this week I enjoyed Elder Bednar's talk, "Honorably Hold a Name and a Standing". 

Elder Bednar talks about the sacrament prayer and how we are willing the take the name of Christ upon us and what that means, he said "As we partake of the sacrament, we look to the temple. We pledge to always remember the Savior and to keep His commandments as preparation to participate in the sacred ordinances of the temple and receive the highest blessings available through the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, in the ordinances of the holy temple we more completely and fully take upon us the name of Jesus Christ." As we attend the temple we are better able to receive the blessings that we stand in need of.

Elder Bednar also talked about how as we attend the temple we are protected from the adversary. He said, "We should not be surprised by Satan’s efforts to thwart or discredit temple worship and work. The devil despises the purity in and the power of the Lord’s house. And the protection available to each of us in and through temple ordinances and covenants stands as a great obstacle to the evil designs of Lucifer." We all need as much protection as possible and as we attend the temple and keep our covenants we receive the protection we need. "Light is like a protective shield that can withstand the fiery darts of the adversary. To put on the armor of light is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the light and life of the world. This light—His light—forsakes the evil one." As we attend the temple we radiate with the light of Christ and this light protects us from the adversary.

True Womanhood Defined

I am not sure when it happened. When women began thinking that we are not enough. Or thinking that we don't need men. What does it mean to be a woman? Is womanhood defined by our bodies? Is it being able to bear children? Dr. Logan Levkoff said, "I believe that being a woman is a state of mind and a commitment to social action. We act as a moral compass and a sounding board for partners, friends and family. We believe in standing up for what’s right." 
I believe that being a woman is all those things and so much more. The following clip is Elder Holland on being a woman:

He went on to say, "A woman not of our faith once wrote something to the effect that in her years of working with beautiful women she had seen several things they all had in common, and not one of them had anything to do with sizes and shapes. She said the loveliest women she had known had a glow of health, a warm personality, a love of learning, stability of character, and integrity. If we may add the sweet and gentle Spirit of the Lord carried by such a woman, then this describes the loveliness of women in any age or time, every element of which is emphasized in and attainable through the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ." 

President Faust observed that femininity “is the divine adornment of humanity. It finds expression in your … capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength. It is manifest differently in each girl or woman, but each … possesses it. Femininity is part of your inner beauty.”

Being a woman is something I am proud of. Being a woman is part of my eternal destiny and I pray that I might always remember the importance of these things. 

How to Find Happiness

As I did my studies this week, one thing really stuck out to me. According to the Harris Poll only 1 in 3 Americans are very happy, that's really quite sad!  In his talk "The Real Search for Happiness" W. Eugene Hansen said "Real joy and happiness come from living in such a way that our Heavenly Father will be pleased with us". Our lives are complicated and busy and we can lose our way. 
Jack H. Goaslind said "Our wise and loving Father in Heaven is concerned for the welfare of his children. He desires to see us happy. The very purpose of our lives can be defined in terms of happiness. The Prophet Joseph Smith said, 'Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it.' Our yearnings for happiness were implanted in our hearts by Deity. They represent a kind of homesickness, for we have a residual memory of our pre-mortal existence. They are also a foretaste of the fulness of joy that is promised to the faithful. We can expect with perfect faith that our Father will fulfill our innermost longings for joy. In fact, the plan he has given to guide us is called 'the plan of happiness'."
Sometimes we can sabotage our happiness by making bad decisions are going down the wrong path for a time. Jack Goaslind also mentioned, "Our happiness is diminished by at least two things: sin and adversity. The doctrine is concisely summarized by Alma: 'Behold, I say unto you,wickedness never was happiness'.  If we are not pure, we would be miserable in the presence of God and Christ, who are by their very nature happy and joyful and cannot look upon sin with any allowance."
In The Proclamation to The Family it says "happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord, Jesus Christ". I know this to be true and if we live a life pleasing unto God we will find peace and joy in this life and in the life to come.