Author Archives: S.D. Sorensen

General Conference Book Club Week 9: Elder Perry

Posted in General Conference Book Club by

05_06_perryThis post will be brief and boring, but the GCBC talk for this week is

by Elder L. Tom Perry
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

For more info on how the General Conference Book Club works, go here.

And I never got around to making my comments for last week, but I read it, and you should read all the great comments that people have left on previous GCBC posts.  You continue to amaze me with your insights.

I’m frantically getting it together; I leave *early* in the morning for EFY.  See you in a few days.

Women’s Conference chapter 6: Prayer

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44-06See? I eventually get around to finishing my goals.  After I get back from EFY next week, I’ll write about Sister Beck’s talk, which was my favorite message from Women’s Conference.

These are notes from the class, “Meaningful Prayer:  Holy Communication + Consecrated Work,” taught by Renee Wood and C. Robert Line.  It was based on this talk by Elder David A. Bednar, which I’d still like to go back and read.  As a preface, I really liked this class.  Thought I’d throw that out there in case it encourages you to actually read on.

Part 1:  Sister Wood

  • Prayer became critical after Adam and Eve left the garden– a lifeline, complete and total dependance.
  • Prayer OPENS the door.  Why deal with life alone?  Pray in specifics– as if He’s right there.  He is.
  • We must commit to prayer.  D&C 88:63– “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
  • Sis. Wood told stories from her life and how prayer had been essential.  She had some major challenges:  a sudden, unexpected divorce after 18 1/2 years of marriage, a son who became wayward and lost spiritually, a sister with recurring cancer, etc.  At one point she described her feelings as “I didn’t know someone could hurt so much and still be alive.”  Her story moved me and gave me gratitude for my blessings and the Atonement that can swallow up that kind of pain.  She testified of how prayer made miracles and healing happen in her life and in her family.
  • Just like in Mosiah 24:15, even when the Lord does not take away the trial, He does strengthen our backs to bear them.
  • Answers to prayers always require actions.
  • The key:  Pray with sincerity of heart, listen, accept His will.  Our faith will be strengthened.

Part 2:  Brother Line

  • The prayer of faith requires us to plead and to perform.  It is our duty.
  • Alma 34:28— “And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need—I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.”
  • Elder Eyring taught in this talk that we need to couple prayer with scriptures.
  • There are three pieces of the combination lock to answered prayer:
  1. Faith
  2. Personal righteousness
  3. what is “right” for us

All three must be in place for us to receive what it is that we’re asking for.  Often 1 &2 are there, but it is not what is “right” for us.  Our rejected petitions teach us about our flawless Father.

  • In Mere Christianity (p. 101-102), C.S. Lewis stated that sometimes our process of failing and trying again is what we need.  It trains our habits of the soul.
  • This scripture gives us the formula of how to receive answers to our prayers: D&C 9:8-9–   “But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it* be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought…”
  1. Study.
  2. Make a decision. (*implied.  You have to make a choice first.)
  3. Ask if it’s right.
  4. Get an answer:

a.  burning in the bosom/ feel that it is right = Yes.

b.  stupor of thought/uneasy = No.

c.  Neither a. nor b/ Father witholds an answer. =  He wants us to gain experience, and act with faith and obedience to revealed principles of truth.  GREAT quote by Elder Richard G. Scott:

“When He withholds an answer, it is to have us grow through faith in Him, obedience to His commandments, and a willingness to act on truth. We are expected to assume accountability by acting on a decision that is consistent with His teachings without prior confirmation. We are not to sit passively waiting or to murmur because the Lord has not spoken. We are to act.

Most often what we have chosen to do is right. He will confirm the correctness of our choices His way. That confirmation generally comes through packets of help found along the way. We discover them by being spiritually sensitive. They are like notes from a loving Father as evidence of His approval. If, in trust, we begin something which is not right, He will let us know before we have gone too far. We sense that help by recognizing troubled or uneasy feelings.”

  • D&C 8:23 teaches us that when something is right, the Lord will let us know in our mind and in our heart.  Elder Holland taught that this is like a checks and balances to help us recognize the truth:  God teaches in a reasonable and revelatory way.

Anyway, these were some great reminders to me about prayer.  Although I pray many times throughout the day in my mind and heart, I need to do more on-my-knees, heart-pouring-out praying.  And I loved how he explained God’s pattern for answering (or not answering) prayers.  I hope something has been helpful to you, too.

I’ll post up the new GCBC post on Sunday, but then I’ll be noticeably absent for a few days while I’m teaching at EFY next week.  Don’t think I decided to hate you if I don’t show up at your blogs for a while as I play catch-up.  Have a great weekend.

Someone in this family is going to jail.

Posted in Diapers by

So far I have counted three legal infractions today.

We went Wal-Mart (that in itself should be a misdemeanor).  Clark wailed in the parking lot and said he did NOT want to go in.  His heart was set on Sam’s Club and free sample handouts, but my membership expired, so we went to Wal-Mart instead.  He wasn’t happy.  He refused to get out of the van.  I explained to him that if I left him in the van, someone would call the police, and they would come get him and take mommy to jail and he would have to live with another family.  He thought about that for a minute with a scowl on his face.  I’m not sure what his real preference is, but perhaps for the sake of not hurting my feelings, he hopped out of the van and surrendered to our shopping trip.

While I was checking out, he and Natalie somehow managed to get about 5 toy cell phones in their possession and run with them over to the blasted arcade section in front of the check-out area.  I finally wrangled them back and returned all the merchandise to its appropriately unpurchased position.

When I got home, I unloaded the van.  As I was putting the groceries in the kitchen, Natalie kept digging in her pocket.  “I have lipstick,” she grinned.  “What lipstick?”  I was trying to think what she might have dug out of my backpack or van.  She proudly showed me her treasure.

DSCF2080“Hey, where did you get that?!”

She smiled again, “At the store.”

“Natalie….(remember that grumpy sighing I told you about yesterday?)… that’s STEALING.”  I went on to explain to her in terms that she understood that she was a robber.  (She always asks me, “what if there’s a robber?,” and I say, “He’ll go to jail,” and she says, “I’ll punch him in the nose.”)  I’m not sure whether she was more afraid of jail or a punch in the nose,  but she got a little remorseful and said, “I’m sorry mommy.”  I asked her what we should do and she said, “take it back to the store.”   To be honest it feels like torture to return to Wal-mart again with my children, but it must be done.

All that criminal behavior for this little gem:

DSCF2082Yes, it does say “Oooh La La Bubble Gum Lip Gloss.”  What can I say?  Natalie’s got impeccable class.

Grant is my smoochie kid.  He is super cuddly and lovey-dovey.  Not being much of the affectionate type myself, I’m often annoyed with his abundant loving.  (I know, that’s not very nice of me, but I am.)  So today, Clark and Grant were playing tag and I hear Clark say the classic line of obnoxious childhood, “You missed me.  You missed me.  Now you have to kiss me,” which of course Grant takes literally and chases Clark around the house for 30 minutes trying to smooch his face off.  I reminded him of my tramautic childhood experience of being chased by a kissy boy around the playground in kindergarten.  I also repeated my sage warning that boys who kiss people who don’t want to be kissed can go to jail.

So, I’m sure you’re all proud of me for raising a band of 3 pint-sized hoodlums.  Maybe our family can just become a small gang of toddler thugs.  Yesterday I cut off the bottom of sweatpants to make shorts for the boys and I used the discarded pieces as hats.  How do Clark and I look?

DSCF2075Maybe our gang can be called the Jailbound Jesters.  Send me chocolate when we’re all in the slammer.

(Final plea to go vote for my blog at MMB by tomorrow…. look on my sidebar for the link.)

Because my blog has been way too serious lately

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Photo 40My blog has felt a little bleak recently. I can’t help it. I’m more busy than usual, and my mind is preoccupied with lots of stuff to do. I’m counting on the fact that things will settle down in the next couple of weeks and we’ll be able to fall into a joyful summer routine (a.k.a. a strategy that keeps us occupied enough so that I don’t harm my children).

So, a couple funny things in the last few days. I was driving the boys to the primary activity on Saturday (which, by the way, turned out really great I thought. Your ideas you shared triggered ideas of things I could do with the materials we had on hand, and the kids all had a fun time.), Clark blurted out from the back seat:

“Mom! I saw something on TV that daddy’s really going to want, but it’s too, too expensive.”
“Really? What was it?”
“It’s this thing that if you put it under your knees and bend around, it makes your fat turn into skinny!”
“Wow. (stifling snorts) That sounds really cool.”
“Yeah, when you twist, your fat falls off. But it’s too expensive even though daddy would really like it. It’s in the double digits, mom.”

I’m just glad he pegged Matt for it instead of me, because I wouldn’t be laughing.

I pulled this out of an old blog file and wanted to share it because I’m curious what keeps you laughing with your kids.

Elder Boyd K. Packer said, “Find happiness in ordinary things, and keep your sense of humor.”  My husband works full time and goes to law school at night, so I don’t get as much adult conversation as I would like.  Sometimes things happen during the day that I need to laugh about, so I have to call him or call my sister just so I can give my punch line and hear someone laugh.  And sometimes I just laugh to myself.  And on the days that you’re missing a little well-needed laughter in your life, here are a few suggestions that have worked for me:

  1. Tickling.  Nothing can break up a kid’s boo-hoo moment like a good tickle.

  2. Rhyming.  Sometimes at lunch while the kids are eating, every time they say something, I will make up a funny phrase that rhymes with what they said.  They think I’m very clever (and I am).  “Mom, can I have a drink?”  “Clark, will you eat the sink?”

  3. Rule vacation.  Occasionally, I’ll let the “no jumping on the bed rule” slide, but I pretend like I’m kind of mad about it so I chase them around the bed and try to knock their feet out from under them and they flop on the bed.  They think this is hilarious because they relish their temporary naughtiness.

  4. Self-adulating jokes.  While you’re driving in the parking lot, say: “Lean forward if you think mom is cool!,” and then slam on the brakes.

  5. Be stupid.  Apparently, for a 4-year old, it’s a real gut-buster if your mom sings the lyrics wrong to a song you know.  “Row, row, row your boat gently down the toilet paper aisle…”

  6. Maybe it’s just my kids, but they absolutely love to see pictures of themselves, so sometimes we’ll take lots of pictures of them making funny faces and they die laughing when they check them out on the computer.  (Mac’s program Photo Booth is awesome for this.)

Photo 27

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no holly-jolly-happy mom with a constant twinkle in my eye. There are plenty of days that I’m in such a bad mood, an army of circus clowns couldn’t chisel a smile on my face if they tried, but it’s nice to have a few strategies in place.  What works for you when you need a good laugh?

(p.s. I got released as the Primary president the same day as the activity.  I got called as a counselor in the Stake Young Women’s presidency.  How’s that for a good laugh?)

Hitting myself where it hurts

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Maybe you react to anger very responsibly.  I on the other hand, tend to temporarily enforce a semi-silent treatment, or roll my eyes and make glaring mean-mom faces, or start lots of sentences with “Why can’t…?” in an accusatory

droppedImage_1

voice. Oh, and I do lots of really grumpy sighs, too.  Yah, I know, really mature.

I read a book last week that made me look at relationships a lot differently.  The author made a really cool analogy that I’ve thought about several times since.  He pointed out how after dislocating a shoulder, the main character did not get angry at the shoulder or treat it roughly as a reaction to the pain it caused him, but rather nursed it and cared for it gently.  It was a part of him, and had to be treated in a way to make his whole being better again.  This story was then tied in to the scripture in the Bible (1 Corinthians 12) about the body of Christ:

12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.      •  •  •

27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Anyway, since our goal is to be at one with Christ, and at one with each other, we should be much more forgiving and nurturing towards others even when they hurt us or cause us pain, like He is with us.

Naturally, the people I should be the most “at one” with are my husband and children.  This analogy opened my eyes to the fact that I sinfully tend to give them the cold shoulder or use my “I’m annoyed” tone of voice or give thoughtless sarcastic answers with them when they (probably unintentionally) bug me, hurt my feelings, or cause me inconvenience.  But I would never try to act gruffly like that to an injured part of my own body, even if it were hurting me; I would care for it and give it even more nurture than normal.  Well, I feel like I haven’t been able to explain my self well, but I hope it made some sense to someone.

The point is, in the last little while, I’m trying to work on reacting to my own “suffering” with a greater dose of kindness toward the cause of that suffering.  Just one more thing to work on in the quest to become a little more Christ-like.  (That grumpy sigh part will be tricky to overcome.  Wish me luck.)

(This entry was originally posted Sept. 3, 2008.  I’m rebuilding my lost archives.)