Attitude of Gratitude & Thoughts on Faith

Salutations!

I hope all of you are doing well out there in blogland!

Attitude of Gratitude

1. Easter!
(I am grateful to celebrate the Atonement of Christ and acknowledge the sacrifice that was made for you and for me. He did something no one else could and He did it out of love for us. So that we can all be together again, in the end. What an amazing gift and an amazing blessing!)

2. Camera Phone
(I've had fun taking pictures recently and documenting the adventures I have with my husband. I am grateful to the technology that makes this process possible and I am amazed at how far tech has come in the short time that I have  been on this earth!)

3. Google Docs
(Again, yay for tech. Because of this tiny little program, I can write in real time with my Bestie and we can create magic! This was something unheard of, even as little as back when we were in college, where we used to use AIM to chat and write stories. This process is far more streamlined and produces faster and clearer results!)

4. Physical Scriptures
(I totally love my digital scriptures but I am thankful I could borrow my Mom's copy of the Book of Mormon and look up page numbers for my book report assignment. It has been at least sixteen years since I have written a book report and, back then, ebooks did not exist. So this is all new territory for me and it was nice to have a source that I knew how to cite and for which the parameters had not changed all that much!)

5. Citation Machine
(Sharee was kind enough to direct me towards a website that explains to you how to cite various sources for a paper or report. This site showed me how to cite an ebook and I appreciated not having to shell out fifty dollars for a new copy of the Bedford Handbook, or the Chicago MLA book or an APA Handbook).

The Gathering

The lesson started out as usual, we began by talking about our experiences during the previous week and what we have been learning from the reading and the videos online. Katie commented that one of the videos reminded her about the importance of not bottling up your emotions and of how having good communication skills can be helpful in various areas of your life. Sister Miller spoke about a former client that she had, whom she spoke with recently and learned that this person had suffered a loss in their family, due to suicide. She shared how humbling it was to be able to speak with her friend about a video from the Digging Deeper section of our class and how that video ended up being a comfort to the person who was suffering through the painful experience. (Sometimes we get to be the answer of aid to the worries and fears of another person).

Then we moved into the next topic. The study skill that we were taught this week was List. A list is a purposeful grouping in which items are included (or excluded) for a specific reason. When working with lists, we are to ask ourselves what do these items have in common? What is the topic? What is this grouping trying to say to me? The skill was presented with a definition on the board, along with the questions you can ask yourself to be able to recognize a list and figure out its relevance in the narrative.

We broke into groups and I was able to pair up with several of my favorite people. The Directed Study we worked on was Option 3. My group consisted of Katie, Brother Graham, and myself. We answered three questions. First, how did Moroni describe the Brother of Jared's vision? Moroni described the vision by not describing it in much detail at all. What he did say (according to Ether 4:4-7) was that 'never were greater things manifest' than the things that were show unto the Brother of Jared. This lets you, the reader, know that he saw amazing things, perhaps the whole of history. The second question was this: What did the Lord command Moroni do with the writings of the Brother of Jared? The Lord told Moroni to seal up the writings of the Brother of Jared. They were to be sealed until the Gentiles repent and become clean. Until they have the type of faith that the Brother of Jared manifested. The last question asked when we will be able to see the writings (which I previously answered: when we are spiritually ready and when we repent and are clean before the Lord). It also asked the following: what does this promise mean to you and me? That promise means that we have a lot we need to strive for as we are not spiritually where we need to be yet in order to read these things and have new information revealed to us.
One of the things that struck me the most from this class was the idea of how important faith is. We often think of faith as something important that exists within us. It can make us strong or it can falter and make us feel weak. But faith is far more powerful than we give it credit for or than we notice at face value. Because of faith, the Lamanites were baptized. Because of faith, the 2000 warriors in Helaman's army survived their battles. Because of faith, countless miracles were wrought. All of these amazing things have happened because of faith and all of those people who were a part of such miracles ... well, they all started out with the same tiny amount of faith that you and I have. We all start out with a seed of faith, a small little sprout that we have to nourish with experience, with the written word of the scriptures, and with prayer. We all start out with a tiny, grain of rice sized, seed of faith and from there, what we do with it makes it grow. It can flourish or it can falter but whether or not that faith is resilient is completely up to us. We will all face trials in our lives, hard things that we never thought we could endure ... but we either let those things break us or make us ... We can use them as stumbling blocks and let them build a wall between us and our faith, or we can use them as stepping stones and let them build us a staircase upwards to better things. The choice is ultimately ours. (As it always has been). What will you do with your faith?

Attitude of Gratitude & Thoughts on Pride and Respect

Greetings, my lovelies!

It has been another banner week. I will explain in a bit.

Gratitude List:

1. Soundscapes
(This is a channel I have found on our cable television and I love to listen to it while reading or doing homework because it is very soothing stuff. If you like Celtic, Riverdance, New Age, or Yanni, you would enjoy this station as well! It is a blessing because I can turn this on and drown out some of the louder and more obnoxious television programs that other family members enjoy).

2. Digital Technology
(I have cited this before but it is still true, I am not sure where I would be without my tech. Because of my smart phone and my kindle I can read things so much faster than I ever could before. I can alter the print size and not have to carry around a jumbo sized book and feel ostracized from the rest of society. It really is a huge blessing to be able to work around various limitations because the tech is now ubiquitous and available almost everywhere).

3. Testimony
(I lost a friend this past week. He started a row (fight) on my FB page and tried to provoke other people. He used slanderous names and behaved aggressively. I called him out on it and he defriended me. I was a bit shocked and very sad at his loss, as he was a good friend to me, many years ago, when I was going through a very hard time in my life. But he is a far different person now then he used to be. We both are, really. And I guess you can only trade so long on credit of memories of the past. I am not willing to tolerate him attacking people, just as I never would condone and have called out other people for attacking him. I believe in tolerance. I also believe in respect and he proved that he had none for me. Again, I feel sad but I cannot change the mind of another person, I can only do me. Ultimately, he wanted to tear me away from the gospel and I wouldn't be moved ... so we parted ways).

4. Clean Water
(We do not often think about it but it is a luxury to have clean water to drink. We don't have to trek several miles to find a water source for ourselves and our families. It is readily available and we should appreciate what we have).

5. Shelter
(As I look outside at the dreary gray clouds and the wet, muddy ground, I am immensely grateful for housing. I am glad to have a place to be warm and dry and out of the elements).

The Gathering

This week, our Religion class was taught by Paul Brooks. He opened the lesson by asking us if we had anything to share from what we had been reading and learning this week. Sister Miller brought up the powerful quote from the Digging Deeper videos, where it was stated that "to be without to do is void." I liked this quote so I wrote it down in my notes! It is a good reminder that your actions are important, and that without them to be the foundation of your words, your words carry far less meaning. We also chatted a little about temple work and about the 'Spirit of Elijah' (where the hearts of the children are turned to their fathers, or their ancestors, in other words).
Paul presented the study skill, which was Setting. It deals with looking at the main points of a narrative. You are asked to consider 'who' is writing the account, as well as 'who' is speaking, 'where' the action is taking place, 'when' is it happening (time period), etc. Our Lead Student added 'why' the event was recorded, and 'what' was the purpose for sharing this event or information with the reader, as well. This study skill urges you to look more closely at the various parts of a story and think on the deeper meaning of what is being shared (as well as how it is received and why it is important) with the audience. The skill was presented by using the chalk board and having the different categories (who, what, etc.) introduced one at a time. Then we broke down one of the chapters to analyze it with the study skill.
For the Directed Study, we were broken up into groups of four. My group was given Option 3, Part B. We were asked to answer two questions. The first being: in what ways do you turn your heart to your fathers? We each came up with our own personal answers for this. My answer was that I do this through reading the journal entries of my ancestors and through doing genealogy research on the website Ancestry.com. The second question was: how can you further assist in Family History? We came up with a list of answers for this one. We included the following: supporting ward temple night, supporting youth baptisms, joining Ancestry.com or Familysearch.com and doing genealogy work for our relatives, participating in the church's indexing program, attending the temple regularly, and taking others to see the temple (like the Christmas lights) and the Visitor Center, and being missionaries. After we came up with our own answers, we were all split into different groups to share our answers and learn more about what the other groups had stated in their own portions of the various options that were offered. (These answers were not recorded, as we only had enough time to share our various parts with one another before we went back to finishing up the class).
One of the things that I liked that was pointed out in class was that the gospel is all about "full disclosure." The Plan of Salvation is laid out for us, more than once, in various scriptural resources. God does let us know the details that we need to know in order to further our progression. Satan, on the other hand, is all about secrets and lies. He peddles in half-truths and pushes people to keep secrets from one another. It is the very antithesis of how Heavenly Father treats us.

Pride and Respect

This past week, reading in 3 Ne 23-30, we are given another glimpse of the Pride Cycle. The people had several hundred years of peace, after the coming of Christ, and then they began to deteriorate into pride. They started to differentiate and separate one from another. They preached renewal of old hatreds and donned the names of their ancestors (Lamanites). I will bet that Satan did not need much in order to turn the people against one another. It only takes as tiny crack in your defenses to let water in, or to fracture a much larger foundation. Pride led to the downfall of the people of Nephi ... even after they had achieved the pinnacle of a working and loving, classless society.
My mind has also been pondering on the subject of respect. I feel like I lost my friend because he could not offer tolerance and respect to my other friends. I felt sad and a bit hurt that he did not respect me enough, value our fifteen plus year friendship, to step back and not spew hate all over my FB page. I hate it when people walk away, when they value for so little that which I value so much. Only my Mom truly understood that his loss hurt me. (Everyone else meant well, but the general consensus was 'good riddance' and that shocked me, too). For me, a friendship is like a tree. It grows roots deep into your heart and when you dig that tree up, tear it out of the soil, you are left with a large, gaping hole, where the roots tore out part of your heart. I am fighting to not let this parting of ways discolor the happy times we had in the past. I also do not want to let it change me. I want to still love people - of all walks of life, of all faiths - with an open and caring heart. (The upside, if there is one, is that I told him something simple about myself that I had yet to realize until I wrote it: I do not believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ because of the prophets of the church. Or the apostles. I believe in the gospel because I have a personal relationship with my Heavenly Father. It is that simple). I do not require other people to believe as I do ... but I do ask them to show respect and tolerance for differing points of view. It is not a stance I will change.

Attitude of Gratitude & The Cycle of Pride

Greetings and Salutations!

As usual, here is my Attitude of Gratitude list:

1. Medical Technology
(With my Mom's hip surgery, I am really very grateful for the techniques that have been developed in modern medicine. First, being able to get a new hip. Second, having the surgeon who pioneered a safer procedure, with quicker recovery time, be able to perform that particular surgery. Third, all of the minor medical supplies that are offered to aid in the healing/recovery period ... ice gel packs, a collapsible walker, etc.)

2. My Husband
(I am really glad for his presence. He takes care of me, makes sure I eat, get some sleep, etc. This enables me to take care of Mom. I may not take decent care of myself when he's not around, but I do get watched over during the few days that he is here! I appreciate him trying to lighten my load a bit!)

3. BBC & Hulu
(Having a small bit of time to spend with my love, we were able to enjoy a program that was a miniseries on the BBC a few years ago. It was called 'Lost in Austen' and it followed the adventures of a woman who walks through a door from her bathroom and into Jane Austen's novel of Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth Bennett is now in the modern world, as Amanda Price attempts to navigate the events of the novel, posing as Lizzy's friend. A lot of crazy mayhem ensues and, of course, she falls for Mr. Darcy. You'll have to look it up to see how it all ends, but it was fun to get lost in something that poked fun at Austen's characters and still managed to follow in her classic style).

4. (Re)Generation Who
(Seriously looking forward to going to the Convention next month! It is marked on our calendar and, we have the added treat of being able to offer tickets to some wonderful people who are new to the fandom! It is so fun seeing the universe of Who through the eyes of someone who has never experienced it before! I cannot wait!)

5. Writing with Aimee
(This proved to be some decent therapy for me, after a particularly trying day. I was able to work out some frustrations by penning some scenes where Stone got to knock in some heads and defend his wife from kidnappers!)

Moving on to The Gathering ...

I attended the gathering this Thursday, after several attempts, I managed to snag a ride to class. Having missed class on the week prior, I really was looking forward to seeing everyone again. Thankfully, Sharee brought donuts! (Valentine's heart-shaped ones, at that!) The one I chose was filled with cookie dough! (I seriously had no idea they made such things!) I snagged some of the refreshments and sat down, explaining to several people why I had missed the prior Gathering (My Mom had her hip replaced! I discovered I could not 'do it all' as well as I thought I could).
Sister Read shared a thought with us. She pointed out that 211 degrees is the temperature at which water is hot, while 212 is the temperature at which water boils. She spoke about the significance of a change in one little degree and how such a change can work in our own lives. That if we are able to jump up by one degree in our covenant keeping, our academics, our church callings, that it can make a major difference in our lives (and the lives of those around us). I thought this was a really neat idea.
Next, we talked about the Study Skill for the week. The Study Skill that was presented in class this week was Principles. These are defined by Elder Richard G. Scott as "concentrated truth, packaged for application to a wide variety of circumstances." Principles are unchanging truths, eternal laws, and fundamental beliefs. They are portable. (If you cannot lift a principle from a story, or if it is only applicable in one type of story or situation, then it is not truly a principle and does not meet the standard of portability). The Study Skill was presented with colorful definitions which were placed on the chalk board and read out loud by members of the class. I anticipate using this skill often in the coming week. The scriptures are loaded with principles for us to study and learn from. (One example is Helaman 12:1, where it states, "yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.")
For the Directed Study activity, we broke up into groups and my group worked on Option 1, parts B and C. For part B, we read Helaman 10:1-4, Joshua 1:7-9, and 1 Nephi 11:1 and we discussed the role that pondering plays in receiving revelation. Pondering serves to open your mind and clear away the distractions of the world. It helps you to focus inwardly and to seek God's will, instead of your own. It centers you in a state of mind that is prepared to receive revelation and divine inspiration. In short, pondering puts you in the right frame of mind to listen to what Heavenly Father wants to teach you and to take that knowledge and light and move forward with it, to guide your actions. For part C, we were asked to select a challenge we are currently facing, and set aside some time during this coming week to ponder this challenge and record any impressions that come to mind. I did not share my challenge, as we were not required to share it with the class, but I will share it here. My current challenge is finding a way to take care of everyone's needs and still find a way to meet my own. I find myself constantly in a crunch for time, exhausted from lack of sleep, and not always clear headed, as I try to take care of the needs around me. I tend to neglect my own needs (such as meals, etc.) in order to get every task done, and I do recognize that I cannot keep going like this. I will ponder and pray on things this week and hope that the Lord will help guide me in what steps to take, in order to accomplish all of my goals and care for the household (myself included).
We went around the room and presented our learning to the class, as a whole. We talked extensively about the Cycle of Pride that exists, and was currently being experienced at this point in the Book of Mormon. We concluded that there are steps you can take to avoid participating in this cycle. One of them is to retain your humility. We need to remember that we are 'less than the dust of the earth' because even the earth obeys the commandments of God. All of the creatures and the elements obey Him, their Creator, and it is only man who chooses to be puffed up in his own pride and not be obedient to Heavenly Father. If we work hard to 'retain a remembrance of the goodness of God', we will be better able to stay humble and to not fall into the trap of lifting ourselves above our fellow brothers and sisters. Another step to avoid pride is to educate yourself, read the scriptures and learn the words of the Prophets. Take them to heart, cherish what you learn and share it with others. This helps to prevent you from becoming wayward and following in the footsteps of the mistakes made by others who have come before you. A third step to bypass pride involves knowing of God's love for us and utilizing the Atonement in our own lives, seeking and receiving a remission of our sins. If we follow Christ's example, and constantly try to uplift our brothers and sisters, we will be less likely to succumb to the cycle of pride (and, therefore, less likely to face the punishments that befall those who are lifted up in the pride of their own hearts).
One of the statements that struck me during this class period was this: "We should pray only for the things that are in accordance to the will of the Lord." I am not sure who said it (or if they were quoting someone else) but I really liked the statement itself. That we need to pray and be mindful (and ponder on) the things that align with the Lord's will for us. (I have not always done this in the past but I will be more open in the future to look for such opportunities and to embrace them as they come my way!)

Attitude of Gratitude and Taking It All In (Immersion of the Spiritual Senses).

Greetings Folks!

Long time no see? Sorry about that. I got distracted by Thanksgiving and life. Anyways, we will start off, as always, with our little Five List of Gratitude:

1. Cell Phone
(I am grateful that I can access the scriptures and the Proclamation of the Family on my phone and that I can enlarge the text so that it is easily readable for me).

2. Mini-Heater
(I am glad for my tiny space heater, the warmth it provides to my little bedroom. I know, I have said this before, but it is still true, especially on these cold winter days).

3. Rain
(I am grateful that the unceasing rain we have had has been rain and not snow. Rain will typically not prevent me from getting to a Gathering, and I fear snow will be a barrier to that, because of where I live, so far out from the meeting place).

4. Google Docs!
(I am grateful that I can write with Aimee in 'real time' and that we can apply and strengthen our craft on an almost daily basis!)

5. Nilla Wafers and Good Music
(I am glad to be able to indulge my tastebuds with a treat I recall fondly from childhood and I am happy for the opportunity to listen to lively and fun music, with my husband, as we travel home from the Gathering each Thursday).

Moving on to the events of the last few days, I got to attend the Gathering this past Thursday ... and boy did I miss those people! Not having a class to attend in person last week was very sad. I asked my husband to read the scriptures with me for the Directed Study assignment last week because the thought of doing it alone was hard to wrap my mind around. I, at least, wanted someone to bounce my ideas and answers off of. This week, the tone of the class was more somber because at least ten of the members were missing. We had a couple from Akron join us but we were down by almost half our numbers. Because of this, the laughter of previous classes was significantly lessened and the tone was more calm than jovial. (I prefer jovial but I can recognize the importance of both types of environments).
This week, we were taught by Katie (again!). Apparently, she was an emergency fill-in for whomever was supposed to teach but she only got the call on Sunday (and then prepared the lesson for the Life Skills class, only to learn that she was being asked to teach the Religion class ... I felt bad for her frustration because I know what it is like to pour hours upon hours of your effort into something, only to not have it be utilized, in the end). Anyway, she did an amazing job with teaching and leading us and she used a lot of print-outs, which I, with my vision issues, truly appreciated.
First, we talked about the previous lesson, from Thanksgiving week. We talked about the conversion of Alma, how he was Abinadai's only convert and that may have lead the man to believe his preaching was a failure, but that Alma was on fire with his own testimony and he went and established the church and taught and converted a great many of the people. Like a stone thrown into a pond, that one stone of Abinadai changed Alma's life and Alma then shared his testimony and the ripples extended outwards into numerous far reaching ways. Brother Graham brought up the talk by Dallin H. Oaks where it talked about having a change of heart and overcoming the desire to sin. Then we moved on to the introduction of the study skill . We have gone through all of the study skills, so this week we did a review of the study skill of Principles and Doctrine. Sister Swank handed out a printout that detailed the definition of Principles, indicating they are concentrated truths, packaged for application to a variety of circumstances. They are portable, unchanging truths, eternal laws, and fundamental beliefs. To illustrate the concept, we were broken into groups. My group was given Option 1, which consisted of three sets of scripture verses (Mosiah 27:22-23, Alma 5:46, D&C 121:36-37). We read them as a group and wrote down the principles we found there. These three scriptures deal with fasting and prayer and the fact that the Lord answers the prayers of the righteous. (Mosiah was about the priests assembling together and fasting for Alma the Younger, Alma was about the Holy Spirit confirming gospel truths, and D&C focused on the importance of the Priesthood and how one needs to stay righteous to remain worthy of it and keep their connection to the powers of Heaven). We finished the following statements: Thus We See: the importance of faith, prayers, and fasting, in righteously using the Priesthood, to gain answers to our prayers. Eternal Truth: of fasting and prayer, that they are powerful and that the Lord uses the Holy Ghost to testify of the truth to us. I Can Learn and Apply This To Myself: by fasting and praying for answers to important questions, respecting the Priesthood and helping my husband stay a worthy Priesthood holder, and being worthy to have the Holy Ghost with me and let the Holy Ghost teach and confirm gospel truths to me. The Moral Is: to be righteous and worthy of the blessings of the Priesthood and to fast and pray for what we stand in need of. Also, that we need to be worthy of the Holy Ghost, living lives that let the Holy Ghost dwell with us and guide us. So What: we learn from these verses is that fasting augments prayer and the Lord answers righteous desires. We also learn that we need to be worthy of the Priesthood and of having the presence of the Holy Ghost to bring about those answers.
For the Directed Study, we were broken into groups, again, and my group was given Option 1: Mosiah 28:1-9. We read about the Sons of Mosiah and how they wished to teach the gospel to the Lamanites. We learned that their father tried to dissuade them from going and that he feared for them to go among their enemies. However, the Lord assured Mosiah that his sons would be alright, that their desires were righteous, and they would convert many people and bring them to the truth. We answered three questions as a group. First, the reasons why the sons of Mosiah and their companions wanted to preach the gospel to the Lamanites were several. They wanted to cure them of their hatred and stop the fighting among their two peoples. They wanted them to come to a knowledge of the Lord and to rejoice in Him and all He had done for them, to correct the things that the Lamanites were falsely taught by their fathers. They wanted to establish friendship and banish contention. The most important reason was that the sons of Mosiah could not bear that ANY human soul should perish. (That is an amazingly strong statement!) The second question dealt with the contrast between the Sons of Mosiah and their mission and the missionaries that we know today. The Sons of Mosiah wanted to go on their missions, they chose to go; whereas, it is more of a requirement and an expectations for young Mormon men to serve missions. They had no social pressure asking them to go, it was a true and pure desire of their heart. Unlike modern missionaries, the Sons of Mosiah got to choose where they were going on their mission, they were not assigned a location. The upside, is that today, our missionaries are less likely to face death threats and torture; whereas the Sons of Mosiah were going into extremely hostile territory. (We do our best to keep our missionaries out of harms way or keep them from serving in areas that are deemed as life threatening). I would say that, overall, the Sons of Mosiah were more dedicated than modern missionaries because they had this pure desire that no soul should be lost and, while I think some missionaries gain that insight on their mission, not all of them do. I think the hearts of Mosiah's children were in the right place and they set out with a deep rooted intent to look to the welfare of their enemies and bring them to the truth of the gospel (which they had forgotten). And they were in the best position to see that contrast, as they themselves had sinned and led many people astray, and had also found the light and turned their lives around by giving them over to God and by utilizing the cleansing power of the Atonement. The third question pertained to the promises the Lord gave to Mosiah regarding his sons. He promised that many would believe on their words and be converted to the truth and he promised that they would be delivered out of the hands of the Lamanites. As he was a loving father, I am sure that promise meant a lot and did a lot to console Mosiah's worried heart.
One of my favorite things that was said was that 'we need to pray for the gifts that we want' ... As we talked a great deal about the power of prayer and fasting, this idea of praying for spiritual gifts was a good one. I know we pray for Heavenly Father to help us change but praying for specific spiritual gifts is a concept I would like to try out. (Previously, I may have thought it pretentious but I'm not of that opinion any longer). This truly was an amazing Gathering and I look forward to the next few weeks (and I will miss everyone immensely over the holidays!)