I taught a lesson today in Young Women's on individual worth. I think some of my best lessons are ones that I need to hear. I needed the Lord to confirm in my heart and remind me that I am of infinite worth. Satan really likes to lie to us. He tells us all sorts of things...you are not good enough, you are not important, there is nothing special about you. He tries to get us to compare ourselves to everyone else and somehow we always seem to come up short. He wants us all to tear each other down and gain a false sense of importance from being negative about everyone around us.
The Lord however, has such a different way of viewing us. He sees us with such love. In my lesson, I listed about 15-20 lies that Satan likes to tell us about the worth of souls. I had them on pieces of paper on the chalkboard and I had the girls write down all the negative things that they remembered telling themselves in the past. We read some of the lesson together and then I started taking each one of those slips of paper off the board and with gusto ripping them up and throwing them away. At the same time, I bore my testimony of all the reasons why these lies weren't true while continuing to throw them away. I know the Spirit bore testimony that what I was saying was true.
Yet, even tonight, I was struggling with some of these same lies that I was rebuffing in my class. I used an example of a baby to help the girls understand just how wonderful their spirits selves really are. Most people are really drawn to babies because their true, beautiful, non-judging, unconditionally loving spirit selves are so close to the surface. They are so full of light and love that you can't help but love them. I know that we too would be amazed if we could see our own potential. Why is it so hard to see?
Satan is also really good at distracting us with unimportant things. So many times I find myself struggling with not bad and good choices, but good and better choices. During the adult session of stake conference, as I was listening to one of the talks, I had the distinct impression that I didn't truly try to seek the Lord's will in my day-to-day activities. I felt like there are so many times I am caught up with doing what I want to do, that I forget that there are certain things the Lord would have me do, that maybe I am not doing. I am not choosing between bad choices and good choices necessarily as much as good choices and choices with eternal consequences, such as...missionary work, strengthening my family relationships, practicing patience, kindness, and love, etc.
After last Saturday night, I committed to try to start each day asking the Lord what He would have me do. For about 4-5 days last week, I started my morning with a sincere prayer asking the Lord what He would have me do during the day. I am telling you, my day's went so much better. I don't remember anything significant happening, nothing sticks out in my mind, but my relationships with my family flourished, I had patience with my children, and I felt the spirit more abundantly. Then, Sat and Sunday roll around, I completely forget my sincere prayers. I have struggled both days feeling the spirit, with relationships with my family, I have struggled to have patience, I have struggled with feelings of inadequacy, and the list continues. Last Sunday, I set some spiritual goals and I was pretty successful in accomplishing them for about 4-5 days. It is so easy to get off your own band wagon, isn't it?
So much of the gospel is about remembering. I wonder how many times it says the word remember in the scriptures. It is hard to always REMEMBER. I had one of the most edifying sessions of stake conference just one week ago, but now here I am a week later trying to remember why it was so amazing. That is why studying and praying EVERYDAY is so important. It is too easy to get distracted with the unimportant, with the things of the world, with the time wasters, with our own weaknesses, and with the lies that Satan would have us believe.
At the end of my lesson today, I had each of the girls take their own personal LIE list and rip it into tiny pieces. I told them that they needed to quit listening to the lies that Satan would have them believe. That they needed to "remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God" (D&C 18:10). I know the Lord loves each one of us more than we can imagine. He wants us to glimpse the greatness that is inside us and do our personal best. When I remember, I am humble and my eyes are opened to the true potential in each one of us. When I am weak, I see the faults in others to falsely elevate myself.
I definitely need to work on remembering!
Jay turned 5 on October 13th. We had about 15 kids come to his first birthday party with friends. He got so many cool presents and I think everyone had fun. Of course, it had to rain, so instead of having everyone make a train car and go outside to blow whistles and pretend to be a train, we had a train and 12 blowing whistles inside the house. It was a little chaotic, but definitely memorable.
It has been one party after another this month. On the 18th, we went to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins for a pumpkin carving party that night. It is a tradition to take pictures at the farm, and here are some of the cutest ones.
When I was a little girl, my family dressed up as the Wizard of Oz. It is probably one of my favorite Halloween pictures. I got to be Dorothy, my brother was the Tin Man, my sister was the wicked witch, my mom was the Scarecrow, and my dad the Cowardly Lion. I had a lot of fun duplicating that memory in my own family and we actually got a good picture. We had our ward's Trunk or Treat the night of Doug's birthday, but he was a good sport about it. We celebrated his birthday Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, because of it.
Another note worthy happening in our family is how much our little baby is growing up. He started pulling himself up on everything this month. He is getting so huge! I think the 3rd child must grow up about twice as fast as the first two. He is already almost 8 months old. What happened to my baby?
4 years ago
