Hello all,
I was asked to speak in sacrament meeting a few weeks ago. Here is my talk. Enjoy. :)
First, as a mother with three boys, there is always in one form or another lessons on obedience. For example, when I ask my son's to clean up their room. A simple task expecting obedience, returns with great opposition and disobedience. I get complaints "Why do I have to?" or "It's not messy? or "I don't want to" the list can go on and on. I have been praying and thinking of how I can get my boys to obey, to do the right thing. To have them WANT to do the right thing without being compelled. Even in smaller tasks they stray, from obedience, such as when they are asked to put their shoes away, or to throw away the wrapper from the string cheese they were eating. The request rarely gets fulfilled. A messy clutter-filled house results and the spirit leaves with the arrival of the mess. I am reminded of the small things we are asked to do to follow the Lord. Such things as reading our scriptures, write in a journal, say our prayers, listen for promptings and acting upon them. be nice to each other, be grateful for what we've been given. Just to name a few. how often do I say, I'm too tired, or I just read my scriptures yesterday, I don't need to read them today. I just don't have time to write in my journal, or I'll do it later when I have more time, or I don't need to call so and so... I'm sure their fine. But time never comes. I get sidetracked. I don't call the person that needed a call from me. I know I have good intentions at time I'll even remember. I'll even have my scriptures in hand, or sitting at the table/computer ready to follow thru and low and behold... the kids start fighting and I have to break them up, or the phone rings - it's important, or I just don't know what to write. So it doesn't get finished or even started. Sidetracked again. Just as easily my children get sidetracked on the way to the trash with the wrapper from their string cheese, by a passing sibling, or a flashy cool commercial on the t.v., or just plain forgetting what they were doing in the first place. As we become distracted or as we re-prioritize our list of the rising demands on our time. How easy like our children, are we being disobedient to the commandments and covenants from the Lord without meaning to. And how many times do we create opposition for the spirit tot dwell within us? Thru our own disobedience to the things the Lord has asked us to do. In the October 2008 Ensign is a great little story of how those little distractions and detours can affect the whole outcome. "Lines, Levels and Living the Gospel" by: Sandi Matlock Fairbanks. (It can be found on Lds.org, search articles).
After my husband and I finished some remodeling on our house, we decided to paint our daughter’s bedroom. She requested that we paint the top half pink and the bottom half purple. I never imagined that such a simple task would teach me so much about the gospel.
On the day I wanted to start painting, I couldn’t find a tape measure to mark the dividing line. I used painters’ masking tape instead and decided to eyeball the line. After all, how hard is it to tape a straight line across a wall? After I had one wall taped, it looked so good that I thought I’d find a level and check my work. Initially, the line started out even, but to my surprise, it moved fractionally downward. By the time I got to the opposite corner, the difference was about half an inch (1 cm). Although the difference may seem insignificant, if I’d continued on all four walls, the ending line would have been at least two inches (5 cm) below the beginning line!
After discovering my mistake, I found a yardstick and measured from the ceiling to the desired height on the wall, marked the measurement in several places, and then connected the marks by drawing a straight line with the yardstick and a pencil. I repeated the process on all four walls.
As I worked, it occurred to me that living the gospel of Jesus Christ is similar to painting a room. Sometimes we use our “tools” to keep us on the strait and narrow, while at other times we go through our days “eyeballing” our spirituality. We have the tools we need to stay on a straight course—scriptures, church, daily prayer, family home evening, counsel from Church leaders—but we don’t always use them. We often think that we are faster and better off doing the task on our own.
Painting my daughter’s room, however, showed me that I wasted time by not using the proper tools in the first place. Instead of making an even line on my first attempt and finishing the job faster, I had to fix the mistake and then finish the other three walls correctly.
We can also be the tools to help others. As home and visiting teachers, we have the responsibility to help both those who are struggling and those who seem to be fine. As teachers, we can prepare our lessons prayerfully and in advance, allowing the Lord to work through us. We can serve our families and others by being an example of one who strives to live the gospel.
As a Latter-day Saint in these troubling times, I have learned that I can’t get by with just eyeballing my spirituality. I need to use all the resources and tools I’ve been given to constantly check my bearings and remain on, or return to, the straight path that leads back to Heavenly Father.
Just as "eyeballing: and not using the proper tools in her painting, she ended up off course, just as my little child with his string cheese, and we to with the little things of forgetfulness, can easily get off course and further from our goal of returning to live with our Heavenly Father.
What are some things we can do to help us remember to be obedient to the things the Lord would have us do? For instance, if your reading your scriptures and he phone rings, don't answer it. It can wait 5 min or so until you've finished reading. If your sitting down and going to write in your journal, start with a prayer and ask the Lord what you should write and the Lord will place in your mind the things to write, just by starting simply. If your writing in your journal and your kids are around, have them write in their journals with you. It helps teach them the importance of Journal writing as well as time well spent. Even in they can't write they can draw pictures. To help us remember to keep the spirit with us we can place signs in our house to help us remember the savior, or play calming music. I have tried recently to not yell at my kids when I'm trying to get them to obey. Which helps keep the spirit in our home and still helps them accomplish the task they were asked to do. Does the Lord yell at us when we are being disobedient? No. He still quietly and lovingly tries to reach us.
Recently, I had an experience with my mother that I'd like to share. She recently sprained her ankle. She calls and needs a ride home from the emergency room. She assures me she is okay. When I arrive I have her recovery plan already planned out for her. She will stay at my house where I can take care of her needs. Mind you this is without asking her first what she needs or wants. I try to be persuasive. I try to tell her it is what is in her best interest. Then it dawns on me... Duh?! Did she even ask me for this? Is this what she really needs or wants? How many times when we are given a situation from the Lord that would normally require us to receive counsel from the Lord on what he would have us do, do we try to take over? Think we know best? and not go to him for what the situation is in need of.? When we finally do... do we try to persuade the Lord into doing what we want to do, not obeying what he asked us to do? In the end, I obeyed the wishes of my mother and let her take care of herself. And I had to submit to the will of my mother, juts as we need to submit to the will of the Lord. He knows what needs done. If we would only listen and obey what he has to say. How much easier would our life be?
In the 3rd article of Faith it states: We believe that through the atonement of Christ, All mankind may be saved, by OBEDIENCE to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. Those laws and ordinances of the gospel grow as your understanding of the gospel grows thru the first four basic principles of the gospel found in the 4th article of Faith: We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are first: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; Second, Repentance, Third: Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; Fourth: Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. By following those things and the things we know we should be doing such as reading our scriptures, saying our prayers and waiting for the answer from the Lord, acting upon those answers, following the counsel of our church leaders, writing in our journals, not getting sidetracked into the worldly things. We can draw closer to our Heavenly Father and be ready willing and able to obey. We will truly be blessed.
I know this church is true. I know that by being obedient to the teachings of the savior and by obeying the laws and ordinances of the Gospel we will truly be free and blessed. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. AMEN.
