Vision

Thinking about vision lately - the scripture in Proverbs that says "Where there is no vision, the people perish:". I normally would end the reference there, because I honestly did not know the rest of the couplet; it continues: "...but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." (Proverbs 29:18) It seemed that vision as described had to do with a personal perspective or view of our own life, the direction we are taking, decisions we are making, or perhaps "vision" on a grander scale. Is it the vision we have as individuals, as a group, or is it the vision of our leaders? Or is it something completely different? I have some thoughts I will share in a few days. What are your thoughts? What is this verse describing? Is it important? What does if mean to you?

A perspective on Charity

Found this incredibly interesting talk about charity, and thought all would enjoy it. If you read it, please share your thoughts.

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1826

I really promise I will do better on posting in the future!

We have to work for things that are worthwhile

Dave and I have been reading talks for our scripture study.  We just finished one entitled The Inconvenient Messiah given by Jeffery R. Holland at a BYU devotional in February 1982.  It really made me think and Dave and I had some good discussion about it.  What we both got from the talk is that it is not usually "convenient" to receive worthwhile blessings in this life.  Really anything - earning money, parenting, schooling, having a good marriage, losing weight, etc - takes hard work to achieve our goals.  I think this is something we need to remember often when we are struggling with our job (be it in the office or in the home) or our calling, or our financial situation.  Elder Holland points out that Christ's life was never convenient.  Satan will tempt us to try and take the easy way out, but that is never the best way.  This talk helped put the big picture into perspective and helps me to remember that life is hard for a reason :)  I would recommend this talk to anyone!

Prayer Part 1

The first topic I would like to pursue with everyone is prayer.

What is prayer? What is your definition of prayer?

The bible dictionary says this about prayer:

As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.

A couple of additional questions I invite everyone to contribute answers and perspective to:

How has prayer helped you to overcome challenges you face?
How has prayer helped you approach your day in a different way?
What are some ideas you use to help focus your prayers?

I would love to get your perspectives and experiences, and then compile then in a family "book of remembrance" of some type. More to come on prayer in the coming days. Looking forward to your comments!

Celestial Birth...Heaven on Earth

The kids (now all adults!!) will remember the family slogan we had about 15-20 years ago that we used to set some goals one year. As I thought about this just in the past few weeks, it seemed appropriate to once again encourage gospel discussion with the family. Given the geographic separation of the family this seems like a more practical way for us to "get together" and share thoughts, insights, and lessons we have learned about the daily application of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our personal lives and in our families.

Each of us enjoyed a Celestial birth. One of our goals is to create a heaven on Earth, through a loving family and a gospel centered home. I plan to post questions, thoughts, quotes, and positive messages and create a discussion with the family. To begin, maybe we can share a memory anyone has of coming up with this slogan. Looking forward to lots of sharing!