Category: Thoughts on Life

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Faith

Be of Good Cheer

Be of Good Cheer - A Christmas Message from the Book of MormonOne of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon occurs just previous to the birth of Jesus Christ. Across the ocean on the American continent lived a people descendant from a prophet who followed the Lord and left Jerusalem with his family 600 years earlier. At the time of the birth of the Savior, most of the people had lost their faith and had become a wicked and idolatrous people. A handful, however, held fast to their belief that Christ would be born and, as the Savior, redeem all mankind.

A prophet named Samuel foretold the date of Christ’s birth and the sign of the star that would be given. As time passed, and the sign had not come, the unbelievers had set aside date, “that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass, which had been given by Samuel the prophet.” Nephi, the prophet living among them at the time, wept over the wickedness of the unbelievers, bowed himself before God and cried mightily unto the Lord on behalf of his people who would soon be slain for their beliefs.

I love the answer he received.

“Behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:  Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.”

The Lord counsels Nephi to “Be of Good Cheer” for He was to be born in a lowly stable.  A humble, yet fitting place reflective of the man He was to become.

A midst the presents, the trees, and the Christmas Carols, let us all take a moment to remember the true meaning of Christmas: to celebrate the birth of a tiny baby born long ago. Be of Good Cheer. Rejoice. The Savior of the World was born. I can’t think of a better reason to celebrate.

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Faith

How to Find an LDS Meeting House While You Are Traveling

How to Find an LDS Meeting House While Traveling“Its seriously the smallest church building you’ve ever seen,” I say to Jess as she wrangles Cara’s dress over her head last Sunday morning.

“No way. Really? Are they even going to have a primary for the kids?” she asks.

“No idea,” I respond. “But I guess we’ll go find out.”

We arrive at the church building (aided by Google Navigation on my phone), and it is, indeed, the smallest LDS Meeting House Jess has ever seen. Most buildings are fairly large, with a good sized chapel for a congregation of 100 families to meet in. Rows of pews, a pulpit area with choir seats, 30 ft ceilings. Not ridiculously huge, but you know, spacious. There is usually even a gymnasium (hard wood floors for basketball and other activities), and classrooms around the perimeter of the chapel & gym.

This small building, in Apalachicola (app-a-latch-a-cola), Florida had preciously one larger meeting room (could be divided into thirds with curtains to make smaller classrooms) for the chapel, regular chairs, a movable pulpit, 1 small bathroom, and maybe 3 classrooms? Maybe? Rough count there were approximately 25 people in attendance, only 2 under the age of 20 and we’re pretty sure they were visiting grandchildren.

We loved it.

Arriving unannounced to a worship service 2000 miles from “home” and feeling completely at ease and in familiar surroundings is one of the blessings of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The meetings are conducted the same, there’s always sacrament meeting, followed by Sunday School, then Priesthood/Relief Society. The same lessons are taught in every class all over the world. Its comforting, familiar, and helps us continue to worship and be strong in our faith in such a transitory life style.

Visitors Welcome Sign LDS Meeting House

Finding a nearby ward to attend is actually very easy, using some of the tools the LDS Church has produced and here’s a run down of how to do it:

To get started, visit lds.org/maps and click on Find a Meetinghouse. Enter an address, or even just the name of the town you are in.

The map will show locations of LDS meeting houses and other nearby buildings such as CES buildings and Family History Centers. Click on a location, and it will tell you which wards meet in the building, and what time their meetings start.

If you click on a location and you see information not related to a ward, click the ‘Other Units Here” link at the bottom of the popup box, and it will show you local meetings.

If you know your address, you can get driving directions (which will include a time estimate). As you are visiting a ward, you can really select any meeting location and time to fit your schedule. Meetings typically start anytime between 9 and 11, with times sometimes ranging from 8am to 2pm, depending on how many wards meet at that location. Choose a meeting time that works well with your schedule, and enjoy your worship!

This week for us? We’ll be attending the Gulf Breeze Ward, starting at 11. See you there.

Find Places of Worship LDS Maps

 

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Faith Musings of Sam

Enjoying the Moment of Rachel’s Baptism

photoEvery once in a while, some life event sneaks up on me and suddenly brings me to terms with my age. In September, my oldest daughter Rachel turned 8. I was suddenly reminded that yes, I was old enough and had been married long enough to have an 8 year old child.

Turning 8 is a special milestone in a Mormon’s life, as at the age of 8 you become eligible to be baptized.

Why 8? We believe that young children are unable to commit sin until they have matured enough to be personally responsible for the exercise of their agency. Being baptized is their choice, based on what we’ve taught them  and what they’ve learned from Christ’s life. Is 8 old enough to FULLY understand their choice? Perhaps not. Looking back to my own Baptism (also at 8) I’m satisfied that I knew enough to make the choice. I have certainly grown in my understanding of the Gospel of Christ since then, but I believe that 8 was old enough to make the decision to follow Christ.

In preparation for Rachel’s Baptism, she and I read The Book of Mormon cover to cover. Her reading ability was good enough to navigate scriptural text, and increased dramatically over the months we read together. We started a good 8 months before her birthday, but didn’t really get serious about it till just a few months before our goal. For the 2 months at the end, we were reading 6 pages each evening together. We made it with a few days to spare.

I read The Book of Mormon before I turned 8, and I was happy to share a similar experience with my own daughter. Though her understanding of the scriptures is basic, my own experience hints that the practice of scripture study will benefit from starting at such an early age.

They day of her Baptism was very special for me. Despite a little hectic here-and-there to get ready, it was a very peaceful day. In the LDS faith, every adult male is able to hold the Priesthood and participate in ordinances. Because of that, I was able to be the one to baptize Rachel. As I stepped into the water with Rachel, I was struck by the significance of the moment, and I wondered if I was going to be able to speak clearly enough to perform the ordinance.

I paused for a moment, found my voice, and performed the ordinance. I  gave my big (little!) Rachel a hug, and we climbed out of the water to get changed.

It was a great day, and I’m grateful for family that traveled so far to be with us. I’m grateful for our friends in Virginia that shared the experience with us. I’m grateful for the Gospel of Christ, eternal families, and the blessings of the Priesthood.

And most particularly, I’m grateful for My Rachel.

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Holidays & Bdays Mommy Diaries

Thanksgiving Holiday Wrap Up

I’ve always had mixed feelings about Thanksgiving. Growing up, for me, it was a holiday to get together with all of my extended family, play games all day, eat around 3pm, play more games and then eat dessert when we finally thought we could fit it in before heading home late that night. Sam, on the other hand, grew up doing work/service projects in the morning, and eating during the late afternoon after everyone showered. The last 10 years have been a mix of both – sometimes with my family, sometimes with his, always trying to find a holiday routine that fulfilled the needs of our young family.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a parent, its that your family needs will change. Constantly. Young kids don’t have the attention span to play games all day (Mom! I’m bored!), nor do they have the skills to engage in an all day work project. Modeling our holiday solely after either family’s traditions has usually ended in frustration. This year, however,  I felt we finally found a good balance for us.

We spent the morning in our pajamas, lazily playing Plants vs. Zombies on the tablet. No kidding. It was fantastic. We showered, got dressed, had a normal lunch and then headed over to our friend’s house in the early afternoon armed with art supplies so the kids could work on their crafts while I helped Cassie with the food. It was great! I helped the kids paint, we made Indian headbands and vests (found via Pinterest, of course), we listened to music, chopped vegetables and talked and laughed in the kitchen.Thanksgiving Wrap Up 01A lot of our success with the kids came down to being prepared. With no cousins to run around and play with, my kids really want to play with us. I’m totally okay with that, it just means that I usually have to bring something to do, and it also means that holidays don’t generally feel like a day off. In fact, they are probably more work. And that’s okay because I want our holidays to be memorable.

Maybe one day we’ll cook our own Thanksgiving feast in our Airstream, but this year we were completely content to be on vegetable chopping, table setting,  and dish washing duty. Thanks again to our amazing friends who helped us create a memorable first Thanksgiving on the road!

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Faith

Faith

Lousville Kentucky LDS TempleNote: This is a post I wrote back in August when we first picked up our Airstream from Illinois. At the time I didn’t feel like I wanted to share it, but now I feel like its an appropriate addition to our Sunday posts…

We are in Louisville, Kentucky. It’s hot. And humid. And ridiculously miserable. Ironically it’s been a well-planned and eventful day. We spent both the morning and the afternoon sightseeing (indoors and well air-conditioned), dinner went well and then we figured we had an hour or so until bed time and needed to go grocery shopping, so off we went. Right as we were pulling back up to the Airstream, the rain started. And then the lightning came. It isn’t just any lightning storm though. It is close, and LOUD, the kids are frightened, and when you are living in an aluminum trailer, lightning is a bit of a concern. So we unplugged from the camp electrical box, which means no air conditioning but we felt a little better about our chances of not getting struck by lightning. I suddenly feel trapped. By the humidity, by the rain, by our impossible situation. All I want is to go OUTSIDE, but its not safe.

I fall apart. I’m ready to throw in the towel and just go home. What on Earth have we gotten ourselves in to?

“And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” – Alma 32:21

I have faith that my Heavenly Father has a plan for my life. I don’t know what it is but sometimes I’ll see glimpses. Maybe if I could just stretch around a corner my road would be laid out before me – straight and perfect. In reality though, my road is not straight. There are so many twists and turns that its difficult to see a distance at any given moment. Most of the time I take one step, then another, and when I reach the end of the light, I leap.

We just leapt. And I’m scared. And homesick. And I really have no idea how we are going to do this, but I KNOW, I know its exactly where the Lord wants us. That probably scares me the most because I don’t know why.

I believe that we are on this Earth to learn, to grow, feel pain, joy, sadness, happiness, and ultimately become perfected through Jesus Christ and return to live with Him forever. The only way for us to grow is to struggle, which by definition means to progress with difficulty.

There’s a story of a science project that tried to create the perfect environment. They created a bubble, and planted trees. No wind, no drought – just beautiful sun, rain, and good soil. All the trees became sick. Turns out that when there is wind, and drought, and bugs, the trees have to compensate. Their roots go down deep, they develop thick, strong bark, and they flourish in the face of opposition.

We are the same. In order to become perfected and ultimately like our Heavenly Father, we must face trials. Life is hard.  Sometimes what the Lord requires of us is difficult. Sometimes I just want to give up. It is in those moments that I cling to my faith. The peace, the calm, the sense of direction I felt when we made this decision were overwhelming. It felt so right.  That’s what I am going to hold on to when I don’t feel like I can do this.

When we are miles away from anyone we know, and the lightning is so close, the thunder so loud and it is so unbearably hot and humid that I think I am going to go crazy I know that this is our struggle. This is the test of our faith so the Lord will know that we are obedient and willing to give everything to Him if he asks.

As I curl up on the bed with my computer, my tears, and my deep-rooted faith, I hear my husband comforting our children in their little makeshift beds. He’s telling them stories from when we were dating to distract them from the intense cracking of the lightning and thunder so loud my ears ring. I hear them laugh, and for one small moment I am okay. I’m not doing this alone.