The Sabbath Day

So today is Sunday. I enjoy the Sabbath day. I went to meet with my Elder's Quorum Presidency, and we discussed some good things for our Quorum. Then my kids didn't really complain when I woke them up for earlier Church. My two Aaronic Priesthood holders, Josh and Wes, even went over to the Church early to set up chairs. We had a good testimony meeting, and the spirit was the strongest during an almost 12-year-old's testimony. He was caught by the Spirit and got emotional. Over something simple. 

He told the story of how his family went to a restaurant, and they wanted to talk to each other and spend quality time as a family, but there were a bunch of TV's that kept distracting everyone. And he said that is what our world is like today--so many distractions, keeping us from strengthening our families and stuff. It was pretty awesome coming from a kid who just got sustained to receive the Aaronic Priesthood today.

I guess it's always interesting who the Lord chooses to use to spread His message and His Spirit. I am grateful for this. You don't have to be the "best" or the most righteous, to act on promptings from the Spirit. You just have to be willing to do what God wants you to do, when He wants you to do it.

Priesthood and Love

So last Friday, Rhoda had surgery. It was kinda major, but pretty common, so she wasn't worried about it. But then she had some people how bad theirs had been, and how she was going to take a long time to recover, and how much pain she was going to have. Rhoda (being the awesome person that she is) didn't let that phase her, but she started to wonder.

Anyway, before we went in for the surgery, I had the opportunity to give her a priesthood blessing, and then the surgery went well, and she is having a fairly mild recovery (especially compared to some of the stories she was hearing from other people).

So as I was thinking about how God's hand had been in my life, I had a conversation with Rhoda about how she's had a relatively mild recovery so far (obviously she's not all the way back to 100%, but so far so good). I had 2 very specific thoughts about how I had seen God in my life.

First, we were witnessing, at least in part, the power of the priesthood, and that one contributing factor to how things have gone so far is that priesthood blessing. I am grateful that God shares that power with His children and allows us to bless peoples lives with it.

Second, I had several people ask about how they could help when they found out about Rhoda's surgery. I had several people ask if we wanted then to bring over a meal or something like that. In these cases, I politely declined, reminding them that we have most of our kids old enough and capable of making a meal, etc. Then one person was like "I'm gonna bring dinner over...is Tuesday or Wednesday better?". Then, someone else was like "Hey, I'm coming over to visit with Rhoda". I told them they'd be welcome, and then as they came, they brought us a dinner for the freezer that we could pull out and throw in the oven any time later. Then, another person was like "Hey, I'm bringing over a couple of meals" and basically just wanted to make sure we were home, and then they brought over a couple of meals. 

At some point, I realized that people don't bring a meal over because they don't think me or my kids could cook a meal. People bring a meal over because they care about us and want to do something. They were sharing their love in a way that they physically could. And that comes from God.

Thanks to those who brought a meal, who wanted to, or were even just willing to. Thanks to those who asked me how Rhoda was doing, who showed genuine care and concern for the welfare of this wonderful daughter of God.

I know God's hand was in it, and I am grateful.

O Remember, Remember

I have had a number of times recently where I have had the recurring theme of remembering pop into my mind. And it is remembering specific things.

I don't remember a lot of conference talks, but one that I actually remember pretty well from over a decade ago was given by President Henry B. Eyring, with the same title as this post (O Remember, Remember, October 2007).

One main thing that I have wanted to do for a long time (because of this talk) but never got around to, was to do what he had done for years. He would write down things every day. He said: "I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: "Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?" As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would case my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done."

I think about all the little things that happen in my life, things that are just straight-up blessings directly from God, yet they were maybe even mostly unremarkable, until I gave it some thought and really felt impressed that God has a hand in the details of my life.

One fairly recent example was this: My oldest, Josh, drives to school every day, and leaves pretty early to attend early morning seminary. My 3rd, Wesley, goes to school across the street from Josh's school, and he rides home with Josh every day. One morning, Wes realized he had left his backpack in Josh's car, so I sent him with a spare key to go get it out of Josh's car before school. It turns out, after school, Josh accidentally locked his keys in the car. But because Wes "happened" to have left his backpack in there, and I "happened" to send him with a spare key, he was able to unlock the door and they were able to be on their way.

When I heard about this circumstance, I had a distinct thought that this happened because it was meant to. Was it a big deal for Josh to have locked his keys in the car? Not really. Someone could have been there in 15-20 minutes to open up the car and get him on his way. It would have been a little disruption to our work, but not a big problem. But I really felt like God orchestrated this whole thing to just make it a little easier on us.

See, it's often the consistent little things that show love, maybe even more than the monumental, occasional acts that happen. 

Anyway, at the end of the day, I decided that I wanted to try what President Eyring did. I want to recognize the hand of God in mine and my family's life. I want to make note of these things so that I can remember. As I thought about where to do this, I had another moment of "remembering"... I remembered that I started this blog forever ago that was just about things that are on my mind. It has been sitting dormant for quite some time, but I think I'd like to use it to accomplish this purpose: to see God's hand in my life and others around me.

Let's see what else we can remember!