Good afternoon sisters, what a beautiful day and
what a wonderful meeting, meetings we were able to enjoyed today.
THOUGHT:
“Imagine, Jehovah, the Creator of this and
other worlds, 'astonished'! Jesus knew cognitively what He must do, but not
experientially. He had never personally known the exquisite and exacting
process of an atonement before. The cumulative weight of all mortal sins—past,
present, and future—pressed upon that perfect, sinless, and sensitive Soul! All
of our infirmities and sicknesses were somehow, too, a part of the awful
arithmetic of the Atonement. The anguished Jesus not only pled with the Father
that the hour and cup might pass from Him, but with this relevant citation.
'And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this
cup from me' “Had not Jesus, as Jehovah, said to Abraham, 'Is anything too hard
for the Lord?' Had not His angel told a perplexed Mary, 'For with God nothing
shall be impossible'? “Jesus' request was not theater! “In this extremity, did
He, perchance, hope for a rescuing ram in the thicket? I do not know. His
suffering—as it were, enormity multiplied by infinity—evoked His later soul-cry
on the cross, and it was a cry of forsakenness. “Even so, Jesus maintained this
sublime submissiveness, as He had in Gethsemane: 'Nevertheless not as I will,
but as thou wilt'
Neal A Maxwell
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- MOMMY MINGLE, Tuesday, April 24th
at Val Vista HOA park at 10:00 am. Behind the Thompsons (north end) Bring
your kids to play & moms get to relax and visit.
- CIRCLED IN SEWING at Kay Johnson's home,
Tues, April 24th – 7 pm. Bring mending or projects, or COME
MAKE A WONDER OVEN or work on humanitarian projects. If you are making
a Wonder Oven, bring 3 yards of 100% cotton, or flannel or a flat bed
sheet and a sewing machine if you have one. Let Martha know if you are
making one, so she can prebuy the stuffing.
- RS BIRTHDAY BRUNCH – Sat, April 28th
– 11 am (Sisters with birthdays Jan – March) will celebrate, eat and enjoy
visiting at Megan's home.
- GUILT FREE CELEBRATION
OF MOTHERHOOD
Thurs, May 10th 7 pm by Amy Waldron. Please fill out one of her
'success forms' and return.
- Check out our RS BLOG http://manila12thwardrs.blogspot.com
- To get to know one
another better, look forward to answering 10 questions about yourself –
which will be a fun “Spotlight” delight on our RS blog!
BIRTHDAYS: April 24th Shelly Dailey and
April 25th, Petra Chou. Happy Birthday to you both.
Our lesson today was taken from President
Monson's Conference address “Stand in Holy Places” and it was presented
by Lynette Anderson. We were honored by the presence of the Laurels.
Lynette showed a cartoon that had an announcer
with the word “And now for today's top ten commandments”
What does this mean today?
Andrea C: Well the world is always changing.
Quoting from President Monson: “Although
the world has changed, the laws of God remain constant. They have not changed;
they will not change. The Ten Commandments are just that—commandments. They are
not suggestions. They are every bit as requisite today as they were when God
gave them to the children of Israel...”
He goes on to talk about an article by Jonathan
Sacks, Britain's chief rabbi that he read in the Wall Street Journal. Among
other things, he writes: “In virtually every Western society in the 1960s
there was a moral revolution, (an reevaluation of values) an abandonment
of its entire traditional ethic of self-restraint. All you need, sang the
Beatles, is love. The Judeo-Christian moral code was jettisoned. In its place
came (the adage): [Do] whatever works for you. The Ten Commandments were
rewritten as the Ten Creative Suggestions.”
Rabbi Sacks goes on to lament: “We have been
spending our moral capital with the same reckless abandon that we have been
spending our financial capital...
“There are large parts of [the world] where
religion is a thing of the past and there is no counter-voice to the culture of
buy it, spend it, wear it, flaunt it, because you're worth it. The message is
that morality is passe, conscience is for wimps, and the single overriding
command is “Thou shalt not be found out.'”
18 years ago I was visiting my three
grandchildren and their mother, my daughter-in-law. I caught one of my grandson
doing something that was not appropriate and as I tried to use a teaching
moment, he, very sincerely, said to me. “Oh no grandma, it's OK is you do not
get caught. Even at his age, he had already made the decision to set his own
standard.
Shanel: When we lived in Las Vegas, we sometimes had to
attend special dinners. This particular one was one where a lady was being
honored for coming up the the slogan “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” It
was considered a wonderful slogan and every clapped. I felt sad as I sat there
and watched them make such a deal out of it.
That really interesting. We could say the same
thing about Relief Society. “What happens in Relief Society, stays in Relief
Society.” Except with Lupe taking notes, that's not the case.
“We must be vigilant in a world which has
moved so far from that which is spiritual. It is essential that we reject
anything that does not conform to our standards, refusing in the process to
surrender that which we desire most: eternal life in the kingdom of God.”
You young girls, taken a stand and don't
surrender your values.
Andrea C: I had always been told that that the prophet
had told us not to play with face cards and therefore, I never did. I was on a
trip with the band and some of the kids wanted to play a card game and they
took out face cards. I suggested that we play with rook cards instead and so we
did. Even the small things can make a difference.
I feel that in the gospel there is no small
thing. The world's way is to tell us it's no big deal.
Martha: When we lived in Italy, my girls were involved
in sports and they would have chartered buses and travel to different places
for their games. One time they were going to Sicily and Francesca was on the
bus with kids who were using foul language, etc. Someone took her iPod and
thought it would be fun to see what a little Mormon girl was about. They put
her iPod on speaker and put the Book of Mormon on the speaker, they listened to
that for a while then, EFY music. They were poking fun at her and she told them
that the Book of Mormon was a great book and it would change what came out of
their mouths. It toned down their behavior and one little girl who had moral
troubles told Francesca that she was filling dirty and could that book help
her. There were lots of discussion. At the end of the year the 'Falcon award'
was given to Francesca. The award was based on character.
Yes, we can take any group in the Church and
have them be natural leaders. One of our blessings is to have the ability to be
natural leaders. We can have the courage to say 'I don't feel comfortable with
...” You'll be amazed to see how many kids will follow you.
Holly: We live in a day where evil is called good and
good evil. I was watching a weather report and the announcer showed a picture
of the world. And he said 'isn't God wonderful? And was he attacked for saying
that. Some people wrote, which God? Etc. I just said, 'yes, he is.' I didn't
argue. Then people started to like my comment. It is important to take a stand.
When I first read the title of this talk, my
first thought was that it had to do with the Temple, but it's about values.
Megan: White we were on our trip, we had to wait
in long lines and while we were waiting, one of the young men who worked there
would stop and ask questions, like where were you from. We said Utah. Oh, you
must be Mormons. Yes. He told us that he once had a girlfriend who was a
Mormon, the best girl friend he had ever had, but that she had moved to Utah.
We can definitely reflect the light of Christ.
What's that quote 'when the time of need arises,
the hour of preparation is past.' Take a worthy stand now. Decide how you will
handle situations that might come up.
Andrea C: We must be careful to not call people to
judgment. We could give them every scripture available, but unless they are
willing, it will not come across in a rightly manner. We need to take a
positive approach.
Yes, think ahead of time what you might say, use
humor. I have a brother who is very inactive and he tends to get mad if I say
something about the church. So, one day, I just told him that 'I'm happier with
the gospel'. He says, that works for me. I told him that because we are so much
happier, we want to share the message with people.
If for instance someone wants to kiss you on the
first date, you can say, I can't kiss you because I'm wearing a red dress. Come
up with some clever responses.
Amy W: You can turn your cheek. When I was in Laurels,
I thought that as I got older the peer pressure would go away. It hasn't gone
away yet. It almost feels the same. You know, you are in a movie theater and
come to the point where you really need to just get up and walk out. That has
happened frequently to me. Or even pressure from your children. It happens a
lot more. Once you make a commitment, you can still have the same power as when
you were young.
Sherrie Dew once gave a talk about standards
regarding morality. She said 'I choose to have this behavior because then I do
not have to worry about consequences that come from being immoral. Never argue,
don't be offensive. You can just say that you don't feel comfortable about
this.
Luone: There are humorous ways to stand up for
your values. There is the story of a man who was doing something in Russia. He
was expected to make a toast at one point during the dinner and he didn't know
how he was going to get away from using the glass of vodka. What he ended up
doing was taking a chocolate that was on the table, made his toast and took a
bite. People accepted it. Later on, he put some water in his vodka glass, and someone
said no, no, and they got him a different style of glass for his water. They
didn't want him to appear like he was drinking.
In my career, I once worked in the advertising
field , and I found that people would ask me questions if they saw that I was
not drinking.
“My beloved brothers and sisters,
communication with our Father in Heaven—including our prayers to Him and His
inspiration to us—is necessary in order for us to weather the storms and trials
of life. The Lord invites us, “Draw near unto me and I will draw near onto you;
seek me diligently and ye shall find me.” As we do so, we will feel His Spirit
in our lives, providing us the desire and the courage to stand strong and firm
in righteousness—to “stand … in holy places, and be not moved.”
“As the winds of change swirl a round us and
the moral fiber of society continues to disintegrate before our very eyes, may
we remember the Lord's precious promise to those who trust in Him: “Fear thou
not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen
thee; yea, I will help thee; year, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment