Jesus Christ

Changing Your Christmas Experience

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Photo by Tyler Delgado on Unsplash

 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Everywhere you go.  My decorating, however, has still not happened but I have finally taken down my fall decor.  I left it up as long as possible because it is my favorite season AND it took forever for the leaves to change this year in our part of the world. On the other hand, once it got here it lasted a good long while.

How about other Christmas prep?  Are you done with your shopping?  Have you hit the stores as often as I have?  Actually, Wal-Mart meets my prep needs pretty darn well.  Don’t you even turn your nose up at that.  I like to shop local and also avoid all the traffic and drama in the larger cities.  My family has simple tastes and they don’t demand the trends like some.  I am grateful for that.

I have had discussions with the family this year about simplifying Christmas and I feel that the small things we are doing to take some of the stress out of our December will be good.  Here is a great article from Power of Moms that I recently read about transforming Christmas — one family’s experiment with giving experiences.

With 4 grandchildren and another on the way, I am hoping we can make a difference in our family’s Christmas experience.  We want them to know what the true meaning of the Christmas season is–celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ–and how important it is to savor family over stuff.

The Christmas season is also the perfect time to serve others as Christ did. Here is a great little video about that.  Fit some of this into your Christmas List this year.  And you don’t have to do it just at Christmas, you kn0w.

 

 

 

 

Conference Nuggets 2018

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It’s that time of year again, folks.  The Semi-Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints happened last weekend and here are the nuggets I would like to share with you:

 

  • Our Sunday meeting schedule has been restructured so that we can have a more home-centered, Church supported Gospel study experience.  
  • A renewed emphasis on the name of our church–The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–so that we may better represent who we are and whose Church this is.
  • We live in a remarkably revelatory time in the restored Church.
  • Center yourself in Christ, hold fast to what you already know and wait on further instruction.
  • Keep on the covenant path.
  • Achieve the conversion the Lord expects you to.
  • Establish righteous patterns.
  • Know the WHO and WHY of serving the Lord.
  • If we will make Jesus Christ the center of our lives, everything else will fall into place.
  • Trials happen because this is mortality.
  • Pray to the Father to bring you to someone for Him.
  • Our Heavenly Father knows how to exalt YOU.
  • The Lord requires our help to minister to His flock and gather His sheep.

 

Wow!  And that isn’t all but I didn’t put them all in here.  If you watched the conference, then you have probably noted some of these same nuggets and added more of your own as you felt inspired.

Have a peaceful Sabbath Day…

Nuggets

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This past weekend I attended Time Out For Women–a two-day conference sponsored by Deseret Book Company.  It was wonderful!  Beautiful, uplifting, powerful inspiration and music.  The following are some of the “nuggets” I picked up.  I hope you can be strengthened from these:

 

  • Every answer is in the scriptures.

  • If you saw the size of the blessing coming, you would understand the magnitude of the battle you’re fighting. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

  • Be centered in Christ

  • Look to the WORD, instead of the WORLD.

  • Your trial will turn you to the scriptures and to Christ.

  • What God doesn’t PROTECT you from, He will PERFECT you through.

  • Choose PROGRESS over PERFECTION.

  • The Lord will meet you where you are, but He doesn’t intend to leave you there.

 

 

Because of Him

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I hope you are enjoying this beautiful Easter Sunday.  We have been watching the sessions of our faith’s General Worldwide Conference from Salt Lake City.  How appropriate to also be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ during this time.

Please enjoy this short video with your family as we all remember our Savior, Jesus Christ, and all that He did for us.

Why We Are Baptized

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We have an exciting event happening in our family this coming week.  My 8-year-old grandson is being baptized at church!  We are taught that children reach the age of accountability–they are able to distinguish right from wrong–at 8 years old.  So this is a big milestone in his life, as it is for anyone, and we will be able to participate in that this Saturday afternoon.

Today I just wanted to share this really good video with you that shows children telling what they know about Jesus Christ’s baptism and about why it is important to follow His example.  In case you have trouble viewing it, here is the link:

  https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/collection/childrens-bible-videos/baptism

 

Share the Vision

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You might be wondering why there is a picture of a chicken on today’s Morsel post.  Well, I was “scratching” around for inspiration on what I could post today and thought I would share something that I just read in my Gospel study–just 10 minutes ago.  

Along with reading from the scriptures (right now it’s the Book of Mormon) I read an article from the Ensign .  I am also reading Lead, Guide, and Walk Beside —a great resource for women as they serve with and beside other leaders in the Church.  This is a great book and I will probably be sharing more nuggets from it in future posts–I am learning so much!

This particular insight came from a chapter on being a leader with vision.  It is critical to your success as a church leader–even as a parent, committee chair, manager–to share your vision with those you are leading.  Ardeth G. Kapp, the author of Lead, Guide… illustrates what I am talking about with the story of “The Little Red Hen.”  

We probably all remember reading our Little Golden Book story of the little red hen who wanted to bake homemade bread–she was so committed to this goal that she could almost smell it baking in the oven, but it was a daunting task since she had not even planted the wheat to start the process.  She wisely approaches her barnyard friends to enlist their help with this endeavor and ,as we all know, they turn her down.  

 

 

So she goes back home, works hard and completes this project by herself.  As she is enjoying the wonderful smell of her freshly baked bread her barnyard pals are enjoying it, too.  They beat a path to her door to partake of the fruits of her labors but are not allowed even a taste, because they didn’t help.

How do you think this story would have turned out if Red had shared her complete vision with each friend that she approached for help?  What if she had told them of the great party they would have sharing the bread they ALL worked for, the bonds of friendship they would strengthen, the skills that each would develop in the process? 

Imagine how much bread they would have produced by working together, and how they could have shared their abundance with others down the road.

I love this quote from the book:

A visionary leader will help others see what she sees, hear what she hears, and feel what she feels.  When we share the vision, we inspire others with the real purpose–“the grand why.” There are many reasons why we do some things and not others, but the “grand why” is to serve people, reach people, bless people, and bring souls unto Christ.

 I know someone who has done all of that and more–our Savior, Jesus Christ.  He has shared His vision with us through scripture and example and He is the most successful and loved leader of all.

 

Image of hen from Pixabay.

 

Finding Peace

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“Angels, shepherds, and Wise Men sought and found peace from their faith in Jesus Christ. So will you. The Savior’s birth is the gift that makes it possible for the Father to give us ‘peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.'”
—President Henry B. Eyring, First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional
A friend recently sent to me a copy of a talk entitled “Peace in this Life”, by Henry B. Eyring.  What a timely message this is.  Our world is in turmoil; oftentimes our personal lives are extremely challenging for many reasons, both within our control and not so much.  But amidst whatever trials, challenges, another’s choice that affects our lives, or influences that can impact us on a global level, we can find peace.  That one word means so much.  Where can we turn for peace?  We turn to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate this month.  The following quote from this talk was very meaningful to me, as I had just prayed that improving my relationship with my Savior would strengthen me on those days that are especially trying.  I hope it helps you and gives you some direction during a difficult time.
“It is only through following the Savior that any of us can find peace and serenity in the trials that will come to all of us.”
And it just now occurred to me that we should remember that our relationship with Jesus Christ, as well as our Heavenly Father, can make the good days even sweeter.  They aren’t just there for us on the rough days.

Image from LDS.org.

Inspiration from an Unexpected Source

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We have been serving as Church Service Missionaries in the Welfare Services Department of our church. Our area of focus is in a regional Home Storage Center where members of our church, as well as those who are not members, can come and purchase pre-pack and bulk items of foods such as flour, wheat, sugar, beans, etc. for everyday use or for food storage.  Ask me about the Hot Cocoa Mix.  We have been doing this for a few months now and have really enjoyed our service.  

This past week things were a little slow, until a young mom came in to buy a couple of items while she was in the area. She does not live locally, but sometimes stops by when she is in town on business and picks up a few things.  She was probably in her 30’s, and was just a delight to talk to.  She radiated the spirit of the Gospel: her light was warm and beautiful.  As I sat there chatting with her about her current assignment in church–she is Primary President in her congregation–I was struck by how strong her testimony was of the Savior and living the Gospel–she has only been a member of the church for 4 years!  

I am 58 and was baptized at 8 years old, and she is more spiritually mature than I am.  I was honored and blessed to be talking to her and I kept thinking that it was so cool to be having this conversation with a perfect stranger, and yet, because of our beliefs we were really sisters.

She set an example for me that day of a loving mother, a beautiful daughter of God, a strong warrior for our Savior Jesus Christ.

It was a good day.

Thoughts on General Conference

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conference-points

 

Our Church holds two conferences annually to our worldwide membership and this year I was actually able to attend the Saturday afternoon session in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.   While in Salt Lake I was able to take a really cool picture of the spires of the Salt Lake LDS Temple.  As I was preparing a spiritual thought for today, I just really wanted to share the photo I took and also a few thoughts from other conferences that I have watched and taken notes from.  Hope you gain something from what I share today:

  • It is not the work of the Lord that is frustrated, but the work of man.
  • In spite of conditions in the world today, we live in a consecrated time.
  • Your calling isn’t about what you’ve done, but what the Lord can do through you.
  • Simplify your approach to discipleship–start where you are.
  • No matter where we are, we are the Lord’s agents.  We are always on His errand.
  • We are not aware of what the Savior’s sacrifice has done for us.
  • It’s not the trial, it’s the load.  Bearing it is necessary on our path to eternal life.  Don’t expect to carry it alone.
  • Keeping covenants empowers us–stay firmly on the path.
  • We were tutored in the pre-existence and were given trials and challenges unique to us.
  • Learn to recognize the power of the Atonement in your life.  
  • The Lord sees weaknesses differently than he does rebellion.

 

Okay, that’s it for now.  Time to get ready for church.  Happy Sunday!