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At times I questioned myself if I can answer those temple recommend interview questions with no issues. I remember the last time I went for a temporary temple recommend interview back in March for Baptisms for the Dead. I caught myself being harsh when asked questions. I attribute it to judging ourselves and we are our own worse judge. My Bishop agreed.
I often find myself self-interviewing on one particular question:
Are you kind to your family members?
Am I? What does that mean? It means, do I treat them as Christ would during the good times and the bad times? Do I display patience with my family at all times? Am I a good Father and Husband?
For a while, I was in a cycle of confusion and this is how it went:
- Despair
I feel like I am in a deep hole, looking upwards at the sky and that I can’t make it out.I feel that my family deserves better than I have given in the past. I have only been at it for over 18 months and I thought I was changing. I’m not sure sometimes. At times I feel like I really have changed.I am not always patient or soft spoken in stressful situations. I seem to let the worst come out of me only in front of my spouse and children. In my early twenties, I picked up the bad habbit of swearing. My language has cleaned up over the past 18 months but I have those moments of relapse.
I expect so much from my family (from expecting the same strictness that I had to follow when I was younger) at times that it only leads me to anger and fits of yelling when things aren’t going well.
I’ve been taught that true conversion happens over time. Am I converted? Am I converted enough?
Could I stand tall with my fellow brethren who are temple recommend holders?
- Hope
Every Sunday, I feel energized and I believe that I can climb my way out of this deep hole.I realize to myself that I cannot be perfect and Christ-like at all times. That is why we have the atonement.I am thankful for the atonement and the fact that Jesus Christ took upon himself my sins, my sadness and my pain. I am thankful for the ordinance of Sacrament where I can renew my baptismal covenants and be forgiven for my short comings. During Sacrament, I feel true sorrow and pain. I then feel forgiven and my burdens lifted away.
I love the feeling of being clean and renewed for another week.
I pray for long suffering, patience, being a good example for my children and to be a better Father and Husband.
I love feeling I can start over with myself and my family.
- Confusion
I feel like the moment that I slip, no matter how high I have made it I fall to the bottom of that deep hole and I have to start over. Maybe I’ve raised my voice to my kids or handle a stressful situation very poorly. When growing up, my parents were very strict and always yelled. I see myself doing that sometimes. I see my oldest son yelling at his brothers sometimes and I see myself in him and I become deeply saddened.With the atonement comes repentance. I truly feel sorry for the mistakes and actions that make me feel like I am not kind enough to my family. But true repentance means taking steps to not do it again and then, not do it!But when I falter I feel like I have failed at repentance. I take my prior transgressions from the week before and add it on to this week as well. That deep hole is getting even deeper.
What if it has been months that I feel I’ve been doing a good job and then I mess up by losing my temper and swear up a storm and scream and yell?
When do I become better? How long do I go without slipping before I can answer “Yes” to the question “Are you kind to your family members?” It can’t be one week. A Month? Two Months?
How can I live higher laws if I cannot live these lower laws?
Am I ever going to make it to the Temple?
Go to back to Despair
I feel like I have finally broken out of this confusing cycle by realizing that during this journey of life every day we build ourselves up to be much more righteous and when we falter we have the atonement and repentance to lift ourselves up and try again. As long as we are on the upward climb we are doing well.
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times that by doing in faith the following: Daily prayer, scripture reading, and keeping our minds constantly on the Savior Jesus Christ and the Savior make a very, very large difference.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints advises its members to have a three month supply of food stored in their homes. For years, member of the church have been counseled to have a full year’s supply of food. The year’s supply counsel still stands but members should begin by establishing a three month supply. Doing this makes it easier to get started. The three month supply is food you normally eat, whereas the year supply is long-term foods that store well over time such as wheat, rice, nuts, etc.
Before we go on let’s review some scriptures and counsel about being prepared.
In the October 2005 LDS General Conference Priesthood session, President Gordon B. Hinckley gave a talk called “If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear.” President Hinckley discussed some of the natural disasters that have occurred over the course of time, from the flood of Noah’s day to Hurricane Katrina.
He then quoted the following scripture:
“For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and not be able to stand.
And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.
And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people.” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:89-91)
President Hinckley noted the Asian tsunami and the recent hurricanes as “interesting” in respect to the previous scripture saying that the waves of the sea would have themselves beyond their bounds.
He then said: “What we have experienced in the past was all foretold, and the end is not yet. Just as their have been calamities in the past, we expect more in the future, what do we do?
Someone has said it was not raining when Noah built the ark. But he built it, and the rains came.”
President Hinckley then noted some things we can do to be prepared, noting that “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:30)
He said the primary preparation is set forth in the in following scripture: “Wherefore, stand ye in Holy Places and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come.” (Doctrine and Covenants 87:8)
He further said: “We can so live that we can call upon the Lord for his protection and guidance. This is a first priority. We cannot expect his help if we are unwilling to keep his commandments…the best storehouse is the family storeroom.”
So, basically we need to be both spiritually and temporally prepared for what may come.
In the LDS church-published pamphlet All is Safely Gathered In, the First Presidency of the LDS Church shares the following.
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to “prepare every needful thing” so that, should adversity come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others.
We encourage Church members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings.
We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve.
We realize that some of you may not have financial resources or space for such storage. Some of you may be prohibited by law from storing large amounts of food. We encourage you to store as much as circumstances allow.
May the Lord bless you in your home storage efforts.
The First Presidency
The LDS church encourages a three-month supply of food. Why?
There are some practical reasons for having a three month supply of food:
- If the amount of money coming into a household is reduced (such as through job loss, medical emergency, or illness), a supply of food can ease the economic burden that descends upon the family.
- If the price of gas ever had an abrupt and drastic shift which carried over into other economic sectors, we may only be able to buy a fraction of groceries that we could on our current budgets.
- Imagine something like an avian pandemic flu outbreak. This could severely limit the transportation food. Since most areas of the United States are not self-sufficient in the production of food, it’s reasonable to think that food prices could rise drastically.
- It may be needed in the event of a natural disaster.
How to get a three month supply:
- Start with a one week supply. Buy a few extra items next time you go shopping.
- Plan. Make it simple. What foods do you typcially use? How can you have more of those foods on hand. Next time you go to the grocery store, pick up a few extra items.
- Once you start getting some food storage on-hand, remember to rotate it. Spoilage is wasteful and will defeat the purposes of the program.
- Be persistent. With a little planning and continued thought, you can consistently have a three-month supply of food.
Want to know more about the LDS Church? Visit mormon.org or request a free Book of Mormon.
I ran across this quote from Neal A. Maxwell recently:
“There is so much more in the Book of Mormon than we have yet discovered. The book’s divine architecture and rich furnishings will increasingly unfold to our view, further qualifying it as “a marvelous work and a wonder” (Isaiah 29:14). As I noted from this pulpit in 1986, “The Book of Mormon is like a vast mansion with gardens, towers, courtyards, and wings (Book of Mormon Symposium, 10 October 1986). All the rooms in this mansion need to be explored, whether by valued traditional scholars or by those at the cutting edge. Each plays a role, and one LDS scholar cannot say to the other, “I have no need of thee” (1 Corinthians 12:21).”
The link is here.
I’m not a very heavy football fan but wanted to share something funny I heard a few weeks ago.
The Las Vegas Bowl Game 2007 ended the score of BYU 17; UCLA 16.
The teacher in my gospel principles class pointed out that there was someone holding up a sign that read: “Alma 18:27″ when BYU scored.
Looking that up in the Book of Mormon, that verse reads:
And he said, Yea. (Alma 18:27)
I’ve come across an important message in Alma chapter 34, taught by Amulek, son of Alma, in the Book of Mormon a few times while studying in the past nine months since.
The gist of the message is: Do not procrastinate!
Don’t put things off that you can do today, for tomorrow. Especially for things of a spiritual matter.
For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world. (Alma 34:32-34)
We came to Earth to obtain a body so that we may learn to control it and display obedience to Heavenly Father. Doing so during this probationary period prepares us for the blessings to come: Living with Heavenly Father and receiving all that he hath.
One who is not aligned with the Gospel can start changing today and should not wait for tomorrow. How do you change? Salvation comes by taking advantage of the atonement of Jesus Christ, repenting of your sins and obeying the commandments and living gospel.
In the preceding verses, the day is our life on Earth. Our labor is works that show our faith and obedience. Night is when we die. The state of your spirit, whether it be dirty or clean, becomes its permanent state after death. Who wants a dingy spirit in their perfect and brand new body? Labor cannot be performed after death. How can you show faith or obedience when you know you’ve already died and still exist?
This is why we must live righteous every single day. We do not know what day will be our last.
And what if you live good for your whole life and then so happen to pass away during an off day or off week?
What if you put off your labors until night?
That didn’t seem right to me.
I remember my missionaries answering that the labor can still be done, it will just be more difficult. Things that take ten minutes to do with a body may take ten years without one.
The severity can be seen by a scenario setup by my missionaries:
Take for example smoking. What happens if you’re a regular smoker and don’t have a cigarette for a day? You begin to crave it. If you don’t kick the habit of smoking in this life, imaging having cravings for a cigarette when you do not have a body? If it takes you one month to quit smoking in this life, it may take you one hundred years!
2008 is just a few days away. Hard to believe, but true. With the change of year, most of us feel some strangely innate need to make the coming year better than the past one in some areas of our lives.
I resolve this year to consistently read the Book of Mormon. Sure, as a born and raised Mormon who served a mission, I’ve read it numerous times. I’m a religious slacker though. I have times when I read the scriptures but those times have become more rare as I’ve aged. The last time I read it was when President Hinckley challenged all members to read it in 2005.
So why should I read it again now? I’m always conflicted on what facet of the gospel or LDS church history to study. What will benefit me most at the time? Scriptures frankly bore me and are a chore to read, probably because as I was growing up, scripture study often interrupted more “fun” things I was doing. I like to read the Ensign and some books written by General Authorities so I often pass this off as my “scripture study.” But let’s be honest – lately I haven’t even done much of that type of study. Anyway, I feel now is a good time to get back to the Book of Mormon for the following reasons:
1) I need to teach my children the Book of Mormon. I don’t want them to be teenagers when I realize that I’ve never read the Book of Mormon with them and they have no idea what the book is about.
2) The LDS curriculum calls for the study of the Book of Mormon in Sunday School this year. So by studying it maybe I’ll actually be able to contribute in class.
3) I need a spiritual boost. I was remembering recently some of the spiritual experiences I’ve had in my life. These almost always occurred when I was doing the right things, studying and actively making God a part of my life.
So this is my plan for this year:
I will read the entire Book of Mormon for my personal gospel study.
I will STUDY the Book of Mormon with my wife and children. By this I mean I don’t care how much we read, I want them to learn while we’re reading it. The main thing is to establish the habit. The best time for us to read is immediately after dinner. This last year we had some times where we studied the New Testament and we would usually only read a few verses but I made sure the kids were listening and we discussed what we were reading. We will do the same with the Book of Mormon.
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