Showing posts with label Relief Society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Relief Society. Show all posts
A lesson on faith based on Juan Pablo Villar's General Conference Address.

“Many muscles require exercise in order to be in condition to perform our daily activities...Our muscles grow only when we use them.I have come to realize that spiritual gifts behave in the same way. They also need to be exercised to grow. The spiritual gift of faith, for example, is not just a feeling or a mood; it is a principle of action that frequently appears in the scriptures linked to the verb exercise.” - Elder Villar   

To use our muscles resistance is required. Every day we resist gravity by standing up, walking around, and lifting things. To build muscle we need more resistance. We might run instead of walk or lift heavier amounts of weight. Whatever the resistance is, when it's greater than what your body is commonly used to, the process of building muscle occurs. Specifically, muscle is built because tiny tears form in the muscle tissue when you exercise. These tears are then repaired, forming new muscle strands that can better cope with similar activity in the future. Have you ever heard of getting shredded? Well, you are literally shredding your muscles when you exercise them.

Take a look at the following vintage scientific illustrations and ask yourself what they have in common.



SEEDS


CATERPILLARS


EGGS

To reach their full potential all must resist the forces pressing against them. A seed must be buried before taking root. But it doesn’t only hold the soil at bay. It actively pushes back on it and up through it and must do so before it can become a plant. A caterpillar must be enclosed in a chrysalis and literally reformed before it can emerge as a butterfly. A chick has to break out of its egg before it can grow wing feathers and learn to fly. And muscle tissue must endure tearing before it can be made stronger.
Strengthening ourselves spiritually also requires us to resist forces that threaten our faith. Resistance is key because the threat to our faith lies not in the nature of the force itself but in our response to it. As we choose to exercise faith through trials it becomes easier to maintain faith through trials. Why do you think that is?
It’s at least partly due to strengthening our mental muscles. Think of your brain as a jungle through which you're trying to make your way. If you're forging a path through it for the first time, you're encountering dense foliage as you go along. Some plants you pull out, some you break until you're through. The next day you take that same path and break more plants and branches. Every day that you walk that path you compact the soil more and tear out more foliage. Eventually, use after use, you've worn that path well. It is clear of plants and easy to travel. Neural pathways in our brains create patterns of thought. The more often we follow certain thought pathways, the more established and easy to travel they become. This is how habits are formed.
Delbert L. Stapley taught, "Good habits are not acquired simply by making good resolves...Good habits are developed in the workshop of our daily lives. It is not in the great moments of test and trial that character is built. That is only when it is displayed. The habits that direct our lives and form our character are fashioned in the often uneventful commonplace routine of life. They are acquired by practice."

Faith is a habit. It’s something you cultivate and preserve. How do you train the habit of faith?
"Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.  For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which Christianity looks very improbable; but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable.  This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods “where they get off,” you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion.  Consequently one must train the habit of Faith.” - C.S. Lewis


Humility and Faith

Humility is the motivation for faith. Its acknowledging that you don't know or understand everything but that you hope Christ does and therefore turn to Him. Humility is essential for starting our in faith and continuing in faith.

“If we seek more patience, we may find ourselves needing to practice it while waiting for a response. If we want to have more love for our neighbor, we can foster it by sitting next to a new face at church. With faith it is similar: when doubts come to our minds, trusting in the Lord’s promises will be required to move forward. In this way, we are exercising spiritual muscles and developing them into sources of strength in our lives.” - Elder Villar
We aren’t perfect. Hopefully we have enough humility to recognize that and look to our Savior. Nor are we irreparably broken. Hopefully we have enough humility to recognize that and look to our Savior. Do you realize that when you choose to believe you are irredeemable you have set yourself up as being wiser than He? Our Savior is a far more merciful judge to us than we would be. 
"Some people confuse self-loathing with humility. But it's a counterfeit or false humility Because the truth is that self-loathing and self-glorification really aren't that different. They both share the same root, namely obsession with oneself." - C.S. Lewis
“In the ancient Japanese art of kintsugi, broken pottery is mended with gold. The cracks, instead of being hidden, are highlighted to show respect for the vessel’s history and showcase the beauty of a broken thing made whole. What if we could learn to do the same? To celebrate the person we have become, not despite our struggles but because of them?...Our moments of brokenness inspire us to turn to the Savior for healing, to humble ourselves, to rely completely on Him. They allow us, bit by bit, to become more like Him.” - Reyna I. Aburto

Ether 12:27 reads: "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."
What weaknesses has the Savior helped you make strong? 
"Let's accept the invitation of President Russell M. Nelson and intently come unto the Savior by identifying those muscles that need more spiritual activity and starting to exercise them. This is a long-distance race, a marathon, rather than a sprint, so do not forget those small but constant spiritual activities that will strengthen those important spiritual muscles. If we want to increase our faith, then let's do things that require faith." - Elder Villar



From a Relief Society lesson I taught May 27, 2018



Pertaining to the new Ministering program, everyone will still have a partner and a few sisters to
minister to. Some of your partnerships may remain the same, others will change since young
women will be added to the mix. Each ministering sister will have a brief interview with a member of the Relief Society presidency once a quarter but your Relief Society president would like to be able to ask any one of you at any time, “How your sisters are doing?” and be confident that you, as a friend to those sisters, will know. When I asked my Relief Society president if there was anything in particular that she would like me to address concerning ministering in our ward she said the following:  “The biggest thing about the new ministering program in the church, in my opinion, comes down to serving our sisters with Christlike love. If we truly do that, everything else will fall into place.” So today I’d like our discussion to be centered around what Christlike love is.

I want you to ask yourself. Is there a difference between love and Christlike love? If so what is the
difference?

I feel that a big difference between love and Christlike love is that Christlike love will always help in bettering both the giver and the receiver, while our own love though genuinely felt and earnestly given, may at times be misdirected. How often have people done things motivated by love that end up being detrimental to the receiver or fall short of what is really needed? I came across a thought provoking talk in the December 1982 Ensign by Mormon and clinical psychologist Allen E. Bergin:

“Recently, while searching the scriptures for thoughts on how to improve and heal human relationships, I became fascinated by the book of John in the New Testament. According to John’s testimony, Jesus Christ taught that his capacity to love and to redeem the human race depended first on a harmonious relationship with his Father. It was as though this relationship was essential for gaining the capacity to redeem and bless the rest of humanity. The Lord revealed that his perfected relationship with the Father consisted of two ingredients: love and obedience. When combined and harmonized, these appeared to produce an alloy stronger than either ingredient alone…Do we likewise gain the capacity to love and participate in the redemptive process as we voluntarily and lovingly submit ourselves to the will of the Savior and our Father? ...Our unity with them is a result of obedience and love; and this oneness with a higher power in turn enables us to love more effectively and become one with each other.”
Love + Obedience to God’s Will = Christlike Love
For this equation to work we have to know what God’s will is. Not just pertaining to revealed
commandments and scriptural admonition. To truly be able to show Christlike love for those we’ve
been asked to serve, we must understand how Christ would love them. It was no coincidence that
President Nelson spoke so emphatically about developing the gift of personal revelation in the same
conference that these changes were made. The prophet described ministering as serving one
another in a “new and holier way” precisely because there is no longer a set formula. This new
approach gives us far more freedom and therefore far more personal responsibility. It also
emphasizes that a visit is not the end goal but a stepping stone. The end goal being to bring people
closer to Christ. The success of spreading Christ’s love depends on your good relationship with
God and recognizing His inspiration concerning when and how to help those for whom we’ve been given stewardship. This doesn’t mean that we need to pray about and seek for approval for every idea we have to serve and minister. Doing kind things will always be acceptable before God and we are commanded to do much good of our own free will. It just means being worthy and able to recognize revelation if God knows there is something more or something different that is needed at a particular time in a sisters life.



I want you think back on an act of kindness that helped you feel God's love for you. Think about ways you’ve been ministered to in your life. People have no doubt done things for you that have helped you feel their love, but the goal of ministering is to convey not only your love, but Christ’s love. Perhaps thinking about kindnesses that have helped you feel loved by God will give you ideas on how to minister to others. It can be hard to become a part of someone's life when you don't understand them or when they seem to shut you out. I'm grateful for many people who were never deterred by my anger and abrasiveness as a deeply depressed teenager. Never discount the power of sincere, kind words. I am here today because of them!

Please remember that though we as members of the church have the special privilege to minister
to specific individuals, we must not restrict ourselves to ministering solely to them. Having Christlike love means being willing to fulfill any needs we see for anyone we come into contact with. Christ certainly had things to accomplish each day that he lived, just like we all do.  But no goal or objective was more important than someone who needed his help.


Resources for additional study:




Today to open our lesson I asked sisters to tell me what words come to mind when they think of Hurricane Harvey. Some of the responses included: Service, Disaster, Rescue, Wet, Community, and Destruction among others.
Several sisters raised their hands when asked if anyone hey know had been directly affected by Harvey. This disaster is in the forefront of many of our minds. My Grandpa and his wife, my aunt and uncle and their son, and my great Uncle all live in Cypress which is in Northwest Houston. My grandpa and aunt flew out of town for a family reunion on Thursday morning when Harvey was a small tropical storm. Overnight it intensified into a category 2 hurricane and we all know what happened after that. As predictions for historic rainfall were coming in I texted my Uncle and told him everyone could come and stay with us. My Uncle thanked me and told me if flooding happened they could move things upstairs. He was determined to ride out the storm. He kept that determination even when, after 30 years of living in his home on Cypress Creek, floodwaters breached it for the first time. He and the dogs moved on upstairs and hunkered down. When talking with my kids about it last Monday I asked them why, when so many others were panicked and calling for rescue he wasn’t. One child said, “Because he thought he would be safe”. I said,“Ok, but WHY did he think he would be safe?” It was because he had what he needed to survive upstairs until the waters receded. He was prepared. Then I asked them if all the other people who needed rescue were unprepared? I explained that that was not necessarily the case. What if my uncle had been living in a single story home and the flood carried away his necessities and threatened his life?


Thankfully all of my family members stayed safe through this event. My uncle’s preparations weren’t for naught and they helped him feel confident in staying in his house and letting others in more dire need be rescued. Sometimes, however things don’t work out so well.


A story was shared in the February 2017 ensign about the Ashton family:


“The Ashton children were sitting in sacrament meeting when the bishop announced the meeting was canceled. A fire in Southern California was sweeping toward ward members’ homes...With the Ashton parents, Tom and Sheila, and some of the other children out of town, it was up to the teenage siblings to take charge and keep the younger ones safe...they decided they would stay at their aunt’s house in a neighboring city...The next morning, they learned that their home and eight-acre avocado orchard had both been destroyed by the fire...The Ashtons had been prepared for nearly any natural disaster. The house was built to remain stable in an earthquake, and they had plenty of food storage to sustain them during an emergency...But all those things were lost in the fire, and the Ashtons were left only with their faith.”
So all the preparations they had done seemed to be for nothing when the fire burned it to ashes. However, fellow ward members who had not been affected by the fire and who had listened to council to prepare for times of physical emergency, were able to use their surplus and preparation to assist the Ashton’s. We then watched the following church video:



I love the part in this video where the young man talks about having all his buddies around him. He’s part of a team and whether they win or lose the game he wants to be able to look at them and tell them that he gave everything he could.

Well we are also all part of a team. Just like members of the Ashton’s ward were able to draw from their own stores of food and money to help the the Ashton’s  we can do the same to help others if we have prepared. Being able to help someone in that way is such a privilege and a blessing. In the same vein, while we cannot create testimony in another person, we can be willing to share our own and that might strengthen someone who is struggling spiritually. But it’s hard to share of ourselves, physical or spiritual if we don’t have anything to draw from.
If you’ve done any amount of personal prep you know that you don’t just buy a bunch of food, shove it in a closet and forget about it until it’s needed. Packaged foods have expiration dates and it’s important to rotate, use and replenish certain supplies to keep things fresh and useable. Just as we need to rotate and replenish our stores of food, we need to constantly nurture and replenish our stores of spiritual fortitude. President Henry B. Eyring has warned us that faith has a short shelf life.


Just like those young men in the video have to work every day to stay physically fit, and prepared for game day, we need to work every day to stay spiritually fit in preparation for the storms of life. It doesn’t matter how righteous you are, how good of a life you’ve lived, none of us are exempt from trial. I don’t personally believe God picks and chooses specific trials to happen to us but I do believe He allows those things to happen because we agreed to that as part of His plan and he knows that we can emerge stronger, wiser, and more compassionate for it. But whether we actually do is entirely up to us.

 “Qualities of spirituality do not come without effort. Like any other talent with which we are blessed, they must be constantly practiced.” - Barbara Winder


Like the young men in the video stated, “You gotta take it a day at a time, you can’t be where you want to be in one day” and the other said, “If you didn’t do it, you can’t do it on game day. You gotta do it months and years before.” The parable of the 10 Virgins talks about being ready for Game Day, so to speak. Those who were ready for Christ had been constantly replenishing the oil in their lamps, never letting it run too low or run out. Some of the things we can do every day to fill our lamps include:
  • Practice
  • Perservere
  • Show gratitude
  • Personal Prayer
  • Scripture Study
  • Family Home Evening
  • Temple Attendance
  • Payments of Tithes
  • Patience with others
  • Acts of service
  • Set goals
   

 I know my faith has helped me through times of trial, large and small. The fact that I have to exercise faith means I don't have a perfect knowledge but I have enough experience with feelings I can't deny that I can overlook what I don't understand and wait patiently for more light and knowledge. Faith isn't something you just have, faith is something you must constantly replenish. If you're not praying day and night, if you're not reading the Book of Mormon on a regular basis, I challenge you to begin. Those are two foundational pieces of building and maintaining a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.



Suggestions for further study:





From a lesson I taught in Relief Society April 9, 2017

Adam and Eve were given two paradoxical commandments. They could not create children without "having their eyes opened", and they could not have their eyes opened without eating of the fruit. After Eve chose to eat the fruit Adam might have chosen to follow the commandment not to eat of the tree. But he didn’t. He chose his wife. Thus began the saga of the human family and today I want to talk about all of the joy and heartache family life brings and how we can be better children, sisters, aunts, mothers, or grandmothers.

So let me first tell you a little bit about my family. I am the oldest of 5 children. I have two brothers and two sisters. Growing up we did plenty of squabbling, yelling, clawing, hitting, and tattling. We also did lots of giggling, talking, hugging, playing, and secret keeping. My younger brother and I were really good friends. When we were very young we shared a room and I remember trading late night back scratches while we talked ourselves to sleep. As we got older I still hung out with him and his friends a lot. We played nintendo, roller hockey, and would roller blade to the local Blockbuster for movies and candy.

I was not so close to my younger sister. I was always annoyed at her for tagging along and wanting to be part of everything. My brother and I would often exclude her from our adventures. It wasn’t until we were 18 and 14 that my sister and I started to develop a friendship. And then shortly after that, I got married and moved across the country. I truly regret how selfish and unkind I was to her but thankfully she hasn't held that against me.
My other brother and sister were much younger than me so I got to change their diapers, feed them bottles, watch them learn to crawl and walk and generally adore them.

My sibling, parents and I all share different relationships, and all of those are filled with happiness and regrets. Even though things weren’t perfect we were informed of and involved in each other’s lives.

As we began to mature into teenagers and young adults we started forming our own ideas about things like politics, religion, health, and happiness. And over the years it became apparent that our ideas were sometimes very different. From drug use, alcohoism, atheism, religious indifference, and divorce to marriage, children, college education, small business ownership and religious devotion, we’ve all made some very different choices in our lives. But one thing we will always have in common is that one word: FAMILY.

And it drives me to keep trying to stay connected with them, even when it’s difficult. I came to a realization of how important those relationships are to me when I was conversing with a sibling who has some very different ideas than I. I don’t remember the particulars, but I know that the conversation declined to the point where the spirit suddenly rushed out of the room. It was as though a gust of wind had extinguished it in an instant and I felt like I was being egged into saying something vicious. In that moment, quick as it was, I knew I was on the brink of a life changing choice. I thought of my sibling and of whether it was important to be right at the cost of our relationship. Even though I was frustrated and hurt I decided right then that I had to get over it, that it really didn’t matter. As I replied calmly and with kindness it was as though the flame of the spirit flickered back to life and that oppressive, nearly tangible darkness lifted. The spirit confirmed to me in that moment that nothing will ever be more important than doing my best to maintain family relationships.
Ask yourself this question: In what ways do you act differently toward or think differently about family members, than you do about others?
For me, it's often easier to judge my family the most harshly. I think we feel like because we were raised with, or are raising or living with them, we know their circumstances, thoughts and, motivations and somehow that’s justification to be offended, bitter, unkind, or critical toward them.

“At no time did Jesus Christ encourage us to spend time participating in damaging, destructive criticism.  - Marvin J. Ashton
Quote 2: Ephesians 4:29 reads: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is good and edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers”
In his talk, What Are You Thinking?, Elder W. Craig Zwick said, “What does the phrase “no corrupt communication” mean to you? We all regularly experience highly charged feelings of anger - our own and others’....All of us, though covenant children of a loving Heavenly Father, have regretted jumping headlong from the high seat of self-righteous judgment and have spoken with abrasive words before we understood a situation from another’s perspective...The writer of Proverbs counsels, “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger” A “soft answer’ consists of a reasoned response - disciplined words from a humble heart. It does not mean we never speak directly or that we compromise doctrinal truth. Words that may be firm in information can be soft in spirit.”
President Uchtdorf, in his talk, The merciful Obtain Mercy, talked about how strained and broken relationships have existed since the beginning with Cain who allowed malice and bitterness to canker his heart. Who fed his hatred until he murdered his own brother. I don’t think most of us are in danger of allowing our feelings to go that far, but we truly are only poisoning ourselves when we stew over our feelings of anger and hate.
So I wanted to talk a little bit about how to prevent those feelings from ever culminating like that, and a huge part of it is proper communication. In a 1976 General Conference address Marvin J. Ashton suggested ways that we can make our family communication more effective.


A willingness to sacrifice

“Too early and too often we sow the seeds of “Can’t you see I’m busy? Don’t bother me now.” When we convey the attitude of “Go away, don’t bother me now,” family members are apt to go elsewhere or isolate themselves in silence. All family members on some occasion or other must be taken on their own terms so they will be willing to come, share, and ask.” - Marvin J. Ashton
A willingness to listen

“Listening is more than being quiet. Listening is much more than silence. Listening requires undivided attention. The time to listen is when someone needs to be heard.” - Marvin J. Ashton
A willingness to vocalize feelings

“Too often we are inclined to let family members assume how we feel toward them...We must learn to communicate effectively not only by voice, but by tone, feeling, glances, mannerisms, and total personality.” - Marvin J. Ashton
A willingness to avoid judgment

Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught: “This topic of judging others could actually be taught in a two-word sermon. When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following: Stop it!”
A willingness to maintain confidences

“Be worthy of trust even in trivial questions and observations. Weighty questions and observations will only follow if we have been trustworthy with the trivial." - Marvin J. Ashton
A willingness to practice patience

“Pure religions encompasses patience and long-suffering. A father recovering from the wounds of alcoholism has often said, “I am making my way back because my family would not give up on me. Everyone had written me off except my wife and children.” How sweet are those words: “I am making my way back because my family would not give up on me.” - Marvin J. Ashton


Now of course loving family members, especially those who might be more difficult to interact with does not require that we suffer at their hands. Emotional, sexual, or physical abuse, dangerous addictions and the like may necessitate creating distance, and in some cases cutting ties for however long is necessary. And sometimes no matter how hard you try good communication, the other party may not be interested in putting as much effort. I know that our Heavenly parents are pleased when we do our best to love our family members.