Anyway, I realized that I very rarely post on Sundays. I also tend to not post too many of my spiritual thoughts. I'm trying to change that though. This has been quite the weekend. I played the piano for a baptism on Saturday morning. Weston came with me. I love that he always wants to come to things like that. He has come to several baptisms and funerals that I have played at. Always by choice. He almost didn't come this time when I told him he couldn't bring a toy to play with, but at the last minute decided to join me. I don't know if he just doesn't want to miss out or if these kinds of things just fascinate him. Either way it makes me happy that he chooses to be where the spirit is.
Saturday evening was the General Young Women Meeting. It was broadcast at the stake center and I really wanted my YW to be there. I called them all to remind them and offer rides on Saturday afternoon. I may have also sort of bribed them by taking them out for ice cream after. :) I was very pleased that all but three of them came. There were lots of good talks and beautiful music. Very uplifting.
Today was a super busy Sunday. I'll be honest, it stressed me out a little. I taught the lesson in Young Women's then also spoke in Sacrament meeting with the rest of the YW presidency. This means that I had spent several evenings this week studying and preparing my lesson and talk. I lucked out that I got to teach the lesson on repentance to the YW. I ended up only having about 25 minutes to teach, but I think the main message got across. I hope that I inspired them a little to get down on their knees and repent today. I wanted them to know how much our Savior loves us. He wants us to be happy and repentance is the way. We make mistakes. Every day. But the atonement is there for us every day too.
I told a story from my teenage years about a time when I had lied to my parents. I don't even remember what it was about. I sure hope I'm not the only one who lied to my parents as a teenager, but anyway, I felt horrible about it. I knew I needed to tell them the truth and apologize. I was so scared. I was sure I would be grounded for life. When I sat down to talk to my mom and dad I was crying and told them what I had done. I said I was sorry and that I knew I was wrong. I will never forget my dad simply putting his arm around me and saying that he loved me and he was proud of me. When we repent I imagine our Heavenly Father has the exact same feelings of love, joy, and pride for us times at least a hundred.
My point was that repentance isn't something we need to be afraid of. It's how we grow and progress spiritually. And our Father in Heaven loves us and will forgive us! Anyway, it was a good lesson. Amazingly I got through most of it without crying. I thought my handouts turned out pretty cute too.
My talk was on making and keeping covenants. I was a little worried about it because I didn't have an experience to share pop into my mind when I heard the topic. However, after some research and reading several talks on the subject I was pretty happy with my talk. I was so inspired by the talks I read too. My favorite was a talk by Bonnie D. Parkin, the Relief Society General President, called "With Holiness of Heart." She says, "Making covenants is the expression of a willing heart; keeping covenants, the expression of a faithful heart. Sounds so simple on paper, doesn’t it? Of course, the doing is where we prove who we really are. Thus, every time we reach out with love, patience, kindness, generosity, we honor our covenants by saying, “Here am I; send me.”"
We keep our covenants every day without really thinking about it when we live the commandments, serve others, and teach our families. We reap the blessings from living those covenants too. This week/weekend has been full of wonderful teaching moments for me. I'm grateful for the opportunities I have to serve in the church, and for my testimony of my Savior. I hope you all had an equally inspiring and wonderful weekend!
PS-Weston asked if he could take pictures of Talia the other day. He actually got some really cute shots. This was my favorite one, after the picture he took of her socks, of course. ;)
8 comments:
What a coincidence that you wrote about including spiritual things in your blog. I had the exact same thought today. I taught the lesson in Relief Society on Elder Larry R. Lawrence's October general conference talk, "Courageous Parenting". I felt the spirit during the lesson as the sisters in the ward shared their comments and I realized that part of parenting is sharing our spiritual side with our kids as well.
Sometimes I wish church wasn't so busy and stressful but I always feel good when I've completed my assignments. It's like Heavenly Father is smiling and pleased with me for serving Him. I'm sure you can relate :)
Thank you for this post. We had a rough night last night (Kenzie woke up 8 times) and were too worn out to make it to church at 9 and I felt a void all day for having not gone. So thank you for your thoughts on repentance and your testimony of the atonement. Oh, and you should post the picture Weston took of Talia's socks. ;)
It sounds like you are one of those YW teachers that really knows how to be a friend and example at the same time. I love your eraser handouts, your personal experience, and your "bribery" to get the YW to the broadcast. :)
It's cool reading about how you're doing with your calling and trying to balance everything in life. I can definitely relate to what you're saying. And I love the pic of Talia- what beautiful big eyes! Such a cutie :)
Great post, Shan. Thanks for sharing your weekend. I'm glad you got to enjoy the YW broadcast, I was kinda bummed I didn't have a reason to go and I did think about it on Saturday. And lucky you getting to teach and give a talk. ;) It's good to be spiritually busy!
I had a good and busy Sunday too. I taught the R.S. lesson on how faith leads to diligence which leads us to having the spirit and leads right back to being more diligent and having greater faith. For some reason I could not put the lesson into words and instead I ended up just picking some major points with some quotes and then letting the spirit lead the lesson. It turned out to be a pretty good lesson.
I do love it when you share your testimony and thoughts too. You have so much to share and to give to the girls in your ward. Wherever did you get such cute erasers?
We had to host the ward Linger Longer after church Sunday, which made it seem extra long and busy. But not all of that is done. Today Dad tried to get out of making souffle for conference morning, but Jules and I would have none of it. We are looking forward to a quiet weekend after this crazy week of concerts!
Love you!!
i love the handouts! that's such a great idea. :)
Handouts are a great idea. I have so many I had saved from when I was a young women. I'm positive, although it seems like a busy calling, that you do a great job!!
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