Family

So a while back I blogged about giving a FHE lesson on the (S)trength, (W)eaknesses, (O)pportunities, (T)hreats in our family, you can read about it here – well last nights FHE was a follow up to the original. I wanted to meet back with the family and see how they felt we were doing as a family.

The consensus was that we were doing better, we knew that having evening scriptures too late was problematic and that we need to recommit to having evening scriptures right before or after dinner – otherwise we fall in a trap of pushing them till late and things fall apart.

Our morning scriptures go much better – and personally I enjoy having the family around in the morning. It’s a great way to start the day, and even though it’s kind of a cheat (we tend to listen to scriptures in the morning vs reading them) it still starts us off on the right foot.

After discussing how we felt about our original goals, I asked them to offer ideas about what we could add. I had an idea in my mind about what I wanted to add, but I wanted to see what they thought might help. The ideas were a little less forthcoming this time, so I nudged and prodded – directing them to my idea.

After being spiritually edified this weekend while listening to conference, it struck me that I need to do more in my life and center it with Christ. This spawned into what can we do as a family to increase our spirituality and Christ centering. I’ve also tried to create a less TV more reading environment in our home, with limited success.

So my idea was to dedicate at least 30 minutes to LDS related reading, meditating, and journaling. So I explained to my children they need to spend at least 30 minutes reading something related to the church, whether it was the Friend magazine, or LDS themed books then to take a moment to write something in their journal about what they read, spend some time praying and meditating and then be prepared to talk about their thoughts, and feelings at the end of the week.

My goal here is to get them used to putting the gospel in the front of their lives. That there is so much more outside secular media. To try and help them get closer to the Spirit of God and try to help them feel the Holy Ghost. While I must admit this was a move to force myself into the frame of mind, the side effect is my family benefits.

My ultimate goal is that my family is completely absorbed in centering their lives around Christ and his teachings that we will be better prepared, protected, and fulfilled in tackling what the future holds.

Meditation

So the next stop on the bus ride to the second coming is one that got me thinking due to the first paragraph. I’ll quote a few bits of it so you can see how my train of thought proceeded.

When the Spirit stops working with the wicked, they lose their ability to think rationally...Righteous people are seen as their enemies, and a threat to personal freedom and independence, a threat to the exercising of their agency…evil deeds and cruelty become routine…[emphasis added by me]

Those key points got me thinking about today, don’t get me wrong though there have been isolated cases of evil through out our short history. But it seems to me that there’s an increasing amount of this in our day to day lives. Just turn on the TV, or read the news (especially on the internet) and you’ll understand what I mean.

The bit that really hit me was they lose their ability to think rationally. As of late I’ve gotten more interested in what’s happening in this nations political circles and it’s really quite frightening. These men and women, and it’s independent of party seem to have serious problems thinking rationally.  But I digress…

Let’s look at the scriptures used as examples in the book.

D&C 63:32

32 I, the Lord, am ^aangry with the ^bwicked; I am holding my ^cSpirit from the inhabitants of the earth.

This was written in 1831, how much worse is it now then it was then?

Luckily though, the book points out that this is one of those signs that should be looked at in a larger context. There are still many people that receive the guidance of the Spirit as witnessed in these scriptures;

D&C 95:4

4 For the preparation wherewith I design to prepare mine apostles to ^aprune my vineyard for the last time, that I may bring to pass my ^bstrange act, that I may ^cpour out my Spirit upon all flesh—

Joel 2:28–29

28 ¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will ^apour out my ^bspirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall ^cprophesy, your ^dold men shall ^edream dreams, your young men shall see ^fvisions:

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

In looking back on the time I spent in northern Ohio I will openly admit that I could have done better; but, more often than not we did the work, the Spirit converted individuals, people were baptized (in a fairly difficult mission), and the field was harvested.

As I am sure most return missionaries can attest to, after being home for an entire decade my mind begins to wonder how will my time as a missionary be looked at by the Lord? I know could have worked harder, been a little more obedient, and a little more faithful in the Lord and his timetable.

But I was a naïve 19 year old kid who thought I knew the Gospel, and thought I could go teach the whole world, and thought that everyone would jump at the opportunity to hear about the restored gospel and join the Church. At least that was my impression coming out of the Missionary Training Center. After two years in a fairly difficult land trying to teach the gospel, having more negative experiences than positive, yet developing as a person, both spiritually and physically, I returned home and moved on in life.

However, I have found it increasingly difficult since that time as an ordained minister of the Lord to talk to complete strangers about the Gospel, and verses like this don’t seem to add to my self-confidence:

2 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.

3 And it shall come to pass, if they are not more faithful unto me, it shall be taken away, even that which they have.

D&C 60:2-3

The pass along cards that the Church has created are a wonderful tool, and I have a ton of them in my shoulder bag I sometimes take to work. The problem is trying to figure out a way to work them into a conversation with success. I don’t have a problem explaining fundamental principles of the Gospel to people, it’s just taking that first step in getting them into a conversation that I find difficult.

Are you a return missionary? Have you found success in spreading the Gospel with strangers on the street since you’ve been home? Do you have a method to re-develop ‘talents’ to Open Your Mouth? I’d like to know your thoughts or hear about some successful experiences, as I’m sure thousands of other return missionaries would.

Family

Originally published on May 25th, 2008

Recently, it seems my mind has been opened, and I’ve felt new needs. Today was no exception. We got on the topic of dedicating our homes.

I quickly picked up on that and it occurred to me, that even though we’d been in our home for nearly 2 years I don’t think it’s ever been dedicated. It may have been blessed by my wife’s father, but I had not taken up the yoke of my Priesthood responsibility to do so. Like I said, recently things have changed for me, call it a spiritual awakening, or a spiritual maturity – either way I feel very strongly that our home needs a change.

I love it [The Gospel], and let me put it in context of why I’m saying it right now. Our home has some issues – I mean that in our family. There’s something missing, and I think it goes along with how we treat each other and, well, the lack of family unity we experience occasionally. If I notice this, then I know my wife’s felt it a lot longer. But I believe this is why I picked up on the idea of dedicating our home so quickly. I knew I wanted to do it and I felt like it would actually be a great topic to write about too.

So I do what I always do when I want to talk about something, I visit lds.org and see what has been written on the subject. I did a simple search, “dedicate our home”.

The dedication of our home brought about a change of heart in our family.[1. Bless This House - Ensign 1989]

That was the first line of the first item listed in the return of my search. Could it be any more connected, or in tune? I know that was a long way round in explaining one of the reasons I love the Gospel, but I just wanted to express it.

I’m actually glad that I ran across this article. It sums up exactly how I feel about what a home should be. The couple who wrote the article give a perfect example (which is one of my reasons too.)

We wanted to have the Spirit of God dwell in our home to help us shape the lives of our daughters.[2. Bless This House - Ensign 1989]

Of course for us, it’s not all daughters but sons and daughter and so the level of craziness can get high pretty fast. But this is something I want my family to have. I want a sanctuary, a “sacred edifice where the Holy Spirit may reside” [3. Melchizedek Priesthood Handbook].

The couple who wrote the article weren’t aware that you could dedicate your home. I feel that if we [men] take up the call and magnify our Priesthood that this is just one more piece to having a more spiritual family, and bringing our families closer to Christ. Not to mention all the side effects this can have that we might not even think of.

We discussed as a family that my wife and I thought it to be a great idea and something that we needed to do to help our family. We also explained that we would take the opportunity to straighten the house and perform it in the morning. I’m rather excited to be able to share my faith and testimony with my children so they can see how personal the Priesthood can be and how it can be applied to their lives. As my boys grow and gain the Priesthood themselves I want them to know how to magnify it, and my daughter should expect her spouse to be an active magnifier (is that a word?).

I’ll take just a quick moment to express my testimony that the strength of a family spiritually is so important in these days, to be a stronghold against the coming storms. It’s so important to keep active in building up the family and dedicate it [the family] to the Lord, so that His strength and Spirit is an active part of it.