Three major themes stood out to me this time:
- Love (Love of God, love from God, love of your neighbor, love of your family)
- Listening to and following the promptings of the Holy Ghost
- Missionary work and service (These two go together in my head. Although service could also fit nicely with love.)
Elder Oaks' talk about love and obedience to the law was timely for me. Peter has been having trouble with obedience lately. A LOT of trouble. There have been times in the past few weeks when I've felt so beaten by the constant disobedience that I've thought, "It would be so much easier to just let him do what he wants and not insist that he obey." I would usually insist anyway, but the mental debate would rage on. Elder Oaks' talk was a solid reminder that truly loving your child means teaching them the eternal importance of obeying God's laws, which begins with obeying mom and dad's simple house rules.
Bold. That's the word that best describes Elder Holland's talk. He declared a bold testimony of the truthfulness and divinity of the Book of Mormon. I was also touched by his thanks to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the beginning of his talk. I have a strong testimony of the power of sacred music and I love that he pointed out the importance of the teachings in O Divine Redeemer.
Yesterday morning during breakfast the boys and I read about Lehi's vision of the tree of life and the iron rod. Imagine Peter's delight to hear that story recounted in two talks later in the day. When I heard Sister Dibb start to share Lehi's vision I asked Peter what she was talking about. He knew. It was the story of Lehi from our scriptures. I wonder if I would have paid as much attention to that section if I hadn't read it to the boys.
I didn't put up any decorations. I was too busy listening.
1 comment:
I LOVED that Holland went kind of fire and brimstone on us. It was a really powerful talk. Good stuff all around this weekend!
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