A New Calling

So, I haven't had a calling at church in like ev-uh! And today, Brother Conners approached me after sacrament meeting. A more accurate description might take on the image of a run-down, Ha! And I knew, just as everyone knows. It was my turn. My turn to answer, to plan, to prepare, to serve. So a new calling it is, but I must admit, I feel rather spoiled. This calling definitely allows me the best of both worlds: to interact with the youth of the ward and to regularly attend Gospel Principals AND Relief Society. Any guesses? Send me a comment stating what you think my calling is and the winner gets a prize. Hint: Rachel, your mom was this to me when I was growing up.

Take Five: General Conference

General Conference is this weekend and since Sunday, Sunday also falls on Take Five, I decided to combine the two. So here are my top 5 talks/lessons given during General Conference.

1. Elder Uchtdorf (from the RS meeting last week) - Creating and being compassionate are two objectives that contribute to our Heavenly Father’s perfect happiness. Creating and being compassionate are two activities that we as His spirit children can and should emulate. The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before. Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty. Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty.

2. Elder Perry - In our quest to relieve stress, the solution is to simplify our lives. There are spiritual benefits to a simplified life.

3. Elder Uchtdorf - Hope's absence can make the heart sick. We cultivate hope the same way we walk - one step at a time. Faith, hope, and charity - as one increases, the others follow.

4. Elder Wirthlin - things to do to be happy: 1. Laugh (as a result, anger and resentment have no place). 2. Seek for the eternal. 3. Understand the principle of compensation - the Lord compensates for every loss, come what may. Accept it and love it.

5. Elder Hales - (speaking of responding to aggressive challenges to our faith) surely Heavenly Father is sad and the devil laughs when we contend with others. It is a given, therefor, our intent must be to lift others and help them find the truth, not vindicate ourselves or our ego. Sometimes true disciples show Christian courage by not saying anything at all. Don't come down off the mountain and argue in the mud.

You're Invited

A little while ago, I was reading an article about parenting in the August Ensign titled Love, Limits, and Latitude. I knew as I read that the impression from this article would be, will be lifelong. I was really inspired, encouraged, and validated by these simple words. I want to read this article every morning before I get going so I can start the day in the right frame of mind. Seriously, it made everything seem so clear. I consider myself a pretty savvy parent. I parent with love and authority, I praise with gratitude and esteem, and I discipline with clarity and diligence. But oh the times they are a changing. As Brendan and Jillian grow, their demand for discipline increases, and Mark and I have began to notice differences in our parenting. I come from a long line of yellin' and hollerin', so I constantly battle the vociferous urge to bark and squall commands. Mark on the other hand, comes from the ideology that you do what you are told, when you are told - no questions asked. If only it worked that way all the time, right? I have noticed over my last 11 years as a parent that my children are more responsive when I invite them to do something, instead of commanding them to do it. I was sharing the article and its teachings with Mark today and relating all my newly discovered answers to all the parenting questions we have had lately hoping to reach a middle ground. A middle ground may be within reach, each day adds a new piece to the puzzle. However, what we did get today was some immediate super-spectacular comic relief. Actually, it hurt too much for Mark to laugh, but I was laughing my tail off anyway.

The cause for such laughter...Mark and I were still not feeling well one day last week (he had pneumonia, I have shingles.) It was the first day we managed the whole day without help. The kids were finally bathed and in bed, Mark and I were ready to crash, and the Bigs were constantly getting out of bed. Brendan already achieved three times up post tuck in, Jillian was inching towards a fourth (we could here the springs of her bed squeaking yet again), and Mark had enough. Enough, I tell ya. So from his roost on the couch, he yells upstairs, "Jillian, I invite you to go to bed!" Read the article, you will understand and it will make you laugh even harder.

Spiritual Perspective.

Before church this morning, I was thinking how great it would be to start making a profoundly spiritual post to my blog each and every Sunday. I have a few times in the past, but I want to express this fervent side of me and share my testimony more often. So, I was sitting in sacrament meeting today and was wanting to take away something really illuminating to share on the blog. I was focused on focusing, listening, learning. Instead, I found myself hushing and shushing, getting books out, putting books away, feeding Cheerios, eating Cheerios, cleaning Cheerios, one potty break, one crying baby exit, etc. I was struggling to just begin to write something, anything spiritually driven. I decided procrastination was the best answer, and maybe, just maybe, tomorrow will hold more enlightenment.

Now that it is Monday, today's blogging purpose is to finish yesterday's post. Instead I chose to catch up on everyone else's blogs I read, when I stumbled upon a blog belonging to a very dear, childhood friend, Kasia, the Diana to my Anne of sorts. I will talk more about her later, for now I will finish this post. While catching up on the last I-can't-bear-to-think-of-how-many years, I came across this entry in her blog and it epitomized every emotion I was feeling and conjured the solution for which I searched. She was discussing Lehi's vision of The Tree of Life as told in 1 Nephi 8, and says Lehi PARTOOK of the fruit of the tree of life and it filled his soul with exceedingly great joy [while] many of the people simply TASTED of the fruit and they were ashamed and fell away and were lost. SO...What is the difference between partaking and tasting? Tasting refers to getting acquainted with or maybe testing the flavor of something; whereas, partaking means to share in something or to take part in something. I reflect on this a lot in my life, because I feel that I can easily get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I really want to be a partaker of God's greatest gift. I don't want to just taste of it. I really want to *share in* and *take part in* eternal life with my family and with God.