I [have] learned the importance of creating your own background as a mother, so that when the stuff in the foreground starts rushing at you like a tidal wave, you can handle it. The key to this is knowing who you are and then bringing that person, well and whole, to the mothering party.
Inevitably, prayer is going to play a big role in the process. After all "who you are" goes back a lot further than this tiny slice of eternity we call mortality. If you want to understand the deepest part of yourself, who better to stay in touch with than the One who knows that part better than anyone--better than you yourself know it? When you are comfortable with your spirit, you can go forward armed with powerful spiritual tools instead of the flimsy hardward you might accumulate in the world.
You get comfortable with your spirit just the way you might get comfortable with a person who becomes a good friend--by spending time with it, attending to it, learning from it, recognizing its needs, and appreciating it. You have to feed it to keep in healthy, and a steady diet of scriptures and service works nicely, with maybe some good music and family fun for dessert. If you make your spirit sick with entertainment that you know better than to involve yourself in, or simply starve it to death with neglect, you will never be happy with it. And if you're unhappy with your spirit, you are unhappy with yourself in the most fundamental way.
"Being the Mom" by Emily Watts page 81-82
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Mountain Lion Hunt
Speaking of staying on the straight paths, I will never forget an experience I had with a friend in central Utah a few years ago. He had for his hobby mountain lion hunting. With other associates, dependable horses, guns, and well-trained dogs, he would seek to track the lions down, or tree them for capture. One day when I visited his place of business, he had a full-grown hunting dog tied to one of his sheds. “Isn’t he a beauty!” I commented. He responded with “He’s got to go. I can’t be bothered with him.” “What’s the problem?” I continued.
“Since he was a pup, I have trained him to track lions. He knows what I expect. The last time we were out on a three-day hunt, he took off after a deer, then a coyote, and finally some rabbits, and was gone the best part of a full day. He knows he must stay on the trail of the lion to be one of mine. Our business is mountain lions. Yep, he’s for sale pretty cheap.”
How often are we led from the right track by distractions like drugs that cross our paths? Do we sometimes seek the available “rabbit” when the big game is available up the path?
No Success Can Compensate for Failure in the Home
Following one of our recent general conference sessions, a troubled mother approached me and said, “I need to know what is meant by the statement, ‘No success can compensate for failure in the home.’” Knowing a little of the burdens this friend of mine carries in her mind and heart because of a rebellious, wayward daughter, I shared this meaning with her: I believe we start to fail in the home when we give up on each other. We have not failed until we have quit trying. As long as we are working diligently with love, patience, and long-suffering, despite the odds or the apparent lack of progress, we are not classified as failures in the home. We only start to fail when we give up on a son, daughter, mother, or father.
Marvin J. Ashton
Marvin J. Ashton
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
King Omer
I am reading in Ether chapter 9 about King Omer and how the daughter of Jared introducted secret combinations to her father. Then she seduced Akish and Jared said Akish could marry her if he killed his father--Omer. All of this was being planed in secret--there was no open declaration of war and the life of Omer was threatened by one of his friends--close friends. But the Lord knew and the Lord protected Omer because he was a righteous man. The Lord told Omer in a dream to leave--he did and traveled many days and lived in a tent.
I was reminded that our covenants protect us. They protect us like those barges protected the Brother of Jared and his family as they crossed the ocean. The Lord prepared the Brother of Jared with light and a plan for fresh air and provisions so they could survive the journey. They got into the vessels "commanding themselves unto the Lord." A "furious wind blew upon the face of the water" and they were "tossed upon the waves of the sea." Many times they were "buried in the depths of the sea because of the...waves.....great tempests." But the water could not hurt them because "their vessels being tight like unto a dish." They wind never stopped blowing to get them to the promised land, and when they "cried unto the Lord" He brought them "atop the water." "No monster of the sea could break them or whale could mar them"
I feel that life can be very dangerous but it has purpose and our safety lies in repentence and honoring our covenants. Our covenants protect us and the Lord is bound to us as we honor our covenants. And he will protect us just like he protected Omer.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
10 Axioms to Guide Your Life
1. It's not the obstacle that counts, but how you overcome it.
2. Pursue your goals with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. You are doomed to failure if you pursue them in a vacillating manner.
3. From a tiny spark can come a large fire.
4. Our greatest strengths can become our greatest weaknesses.
5. Failure is one of the greatest teachers if we have the faith to learn from it.
6. It is not how you start the race or where you are during the race. It is how you cross the finish line that matters.
7. If you wish to get rich, save what you get. A fool can earn money; but it takes a wise man to save and dispose of it to his own advantage.
8. You cannot learn the Lord's will without exercising your agency and becoming accountable for you decisions.
9. The more things change the more they stay the same.
10. The temple of God is the greatest university.
A Sanctuary of Service
"Inside the temple...the world is left behind with its clamor and rush. In the house of the Lord there is tranquility. Those who serve here know that they are dealing with matters of eternity. All are dressed in white. Speech is subdued. Thoughts are elevated. This is a sanctuary of service. Most of the work done in this sacred house is performed vicariously in behalf of those who have passed beond the veil of death. I know of no other work to compare with it. It more nearly approaches the vicarious sacrigice of the Son of God in behalf of all mankind than any other work of which I am aware. Thanks is not expected from those who in the world beyond become the beneficiaries of this consecrated service. It it a service of the living in behalf of the dead. It is a service which is of the very essence of selflessness."
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