Growing in Light

Dear Family,

Today’s message is about the importance of learning.  We are here on Earth precisely for this purpose, to learn and to grow.  Our knowledge is one of the only things we take with us into the next life, making it all the more valuable.  I hope that we can put the time and effort needed to add to our knowledge.  It is a worthy work to focus on.

With Love,

DaD

Growing in Light

That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day

—Doctrine and Covenants 50:24

What a remarkable plan—a light that grows “brighter and brighter until the perfect day.” It speaks of growth, of development, of the march that leads toward godhood. What a profound challenge! We must go on growing. We must continually learn. It is a divinely given mandate that we go on adding to our knowledge.

Stand a Little Taller by Gordon B Hinckley

Higher Ground

Dear Family

   This week's message is about placing ourselves in a better position to execute the many challenges in our lives. In one of the Star Wars movies young Anakin Skywalker had been dupped into believing that moving to the dark side was good for him. In a scean Anakin was battling Ben Kenobi in a lava flow. Ben and Annican, a one point ended on stable soil with Ben higher ground. Ben warned Anakin that he had a better position and pleaded with him to stop fighting. Ben won this confrontation. In our recent trip to France at the beaches of Normandy the German Army had high ground and had fortified their position on the beach front. I am sure that German army believed they had high ground. What the German armies did not have that Ben Kenobi did have, was fighting for the greater good. 

  Standing on solid ground and the positive influence of the Holy Ghost gives you the greatest advantages and opportunities in every situation your seeking betterment in. God will champion you as seek to know and understand Christ and his Atonement. The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to find the fullness of these blessings. 

I Love you all and I pray for you. 

DaD

Run to Higher Ground

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord.

—D&C 87:8

On December 26, 2004, a powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia, creating a deadly tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people. It was a terrible tragedy. In one day, millions of lives were forever changed.

But there was one group of people who, although their village was destroyed, did not suffer a single casualty.

The reason?

They knew a tsunami was coming.

The Moken people live in villages on islands off the coast of Thailand and Burma (Myanmar). A society of fishermen, their lives depend on the sea. For hundreds and perhaps thousands of years, their ancestors have studied the ocean, and they have passed their knowledge down from father to son.

One thing in particular they were careful to teach was what to do when the ocean receded. According to their traditions, when that happened, the “Laboon”—a wave that eats people—would arrive soon after.

When the elders of the village saw the dreaded signs, they shouted to everyone to run to high ground.

Not everyone listened.

One elderly fisherman said, “None of the kids believed me.” In fact, his own daughter called him a liar. But the old fisherman would not relent until all had left the village and climbed to higher ground.

The Moken people were fortunate in that they had someone with conviction who warned them of what would follow. The villagers were fortunate because they listened. Had they not, they may have perished.

The prophet Nephi wrote about the great disaster of his day, the destruction of Jerusalem. “As one generation hath been destroyed among the Jews because of iniquity,” he said, “even so have they been destroyed from generation to generation according to their iniquities; and never hath any of them been destroyed save it were foretold them by the prophets of the Lord” (2 Nephi 25:9).

Since the days of Adam, the Lord has spoken to His prophets, and while His message differs according to the specific needs of the time, there is one consistent, never-changing theme: Depart from iniquity and journey to higher ground.

It is better to look up - Life experiences shared from the pulpit

Recipe for Joy

Dear Family

   I Hope you all had a Great Mothers Day. Weather your a mother or just celebrated the  blessings of having a mother. Any joy and happiness you may feel or have felt in your life, it surely stems from the love of a mother and remembering the many many times they made us smile and feel loved.  As you read this weeks message think of things that bring you joy. I kno  for me it is more important to be in the service of others that brings me the greatest happiness in life.  Press foreword and share with others the very things that make you feel loved and bring joy to you. It will multiply the happiness you already acquired for yourself!  

Love you all so much! 

DaD

 

Sister Wixom Shares Three Ingredients in “Recipe for Joy”

Keeping covenants, following the counsel of Church leaders, and looking for ways to serve others are all ingredients in the recipe for joy, Sister Rosemary M. Wixom, Primary general president, told LDS Business College students during a devotional on March 1.

“My hope for you today is that you will find joy in your journey and define for yourself, if you have not already, those things that matter most in your life,” she said. “We cannot be casual about creating a personal vision for our future—regardless of our age.”

In the devotional held in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Sister Wixom shared with students ways they can set their priorities of life in the right direction. Joining Sister Wixom on the stand was her husband, Jack Wixom, and her two counselors in the Primary general presidency, Sister Cheryl A. Esplin and Sister Mary R. Durham. LDS Business College President J. Lawrence Richards conducted the event.

Sharing three principles “you can act on today,” Sister Wixom spoke of ways individuals can “point [their lives] in the right direction with a guarantee that [they] will experience joy in [the] journey.”

1. “Be loyal to covenants with the Lord.”

“The covenants we make at baptism and in the temple are solemn promises to God about how we will conduct our lives,” Sister Wixom said.

It is through honoring covenants, Sister Wixom taught, that individuals will find joy and align their will with God’s. “When we are baptized, we take upon ourselves the sacred name of Jesus Christ. … We put Him and His work first in our life,” said Sister Wixom. “We seek what He wants, rather than what we want and what the world teaches us to want.”

There are many demands or “causes” vying for time, Sister Wixom said. Some “would even pull us away from our core beliefs—the very foundation upon which our covenants rest.” It is during those times, Sister Wixom said, that it is important to ask, “Where is my priority? Where is my loyalty to the covenants I have made?”

In the premortal life, every person had already faced a similar situation and had chosen to follow Heavenly Father’s plan.

“Here in mortality, we must choose again,” stated Sister Wixom. “[Satan] would have us reason we are not rejecting Christ even if we reject His Church and its standards and values. … We cannot separate our loyalty to Christ from our loyalty to His Church and living our covenants confirms our allegiance to Him.”

2. “Follow His prophet.”

Quoting from President Harold B. Lee’s general conference talk in 1970, Sister Wixom spoke of the importance of following the prophet. It is through giving heed to the words and commandments the Lord shares through His prophets that individuals are able to find safety.

At times, the prophet may say things a person does not like or contradicts their political views. It is then that a person must listen “as if from the mouth of the Lord Himself, with patience and faith.”

“The promise is that ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you,’” said Sister Wixom, again quoting President Lee.

Sister Wixom told a story shared by President Lee of a man traveling on the Baltic Sea. The boat on which he was traveling wound on a seemingly aimless course through thousands of islands, making the man question the boat’s captain until he saw the broom handle markers sticking out of the water. At that point the man realized that “someone had carefully explored these channels and had charted the safest course.”

“When we follow the prophet, our course will lead us safely back home,” Sister Wixom said. Again quoting President Lee, she said, “God’s engineers, by following a blueprint made in heaven, have charted the course for safest and happiest passage and have forewarned us of the danger areas.”

3. “Forget yourself and find someone to serve.”

Sister Wixom shared a few examples of people who, despite difficult or imperfect circumstances, look for ways to serve others.

“To forget yourself and find someone to serve is a recipe for joy on this journey,” stated Sister Wixom.

Whether it is a plate of cookies or taking the time to talk with someone, finding simple ways to serve helps others feel Heavenly Father’s love.

“But what if … we do not live a perfect life?” asked Sister Wixom. “This is the Father’s plan—not that we would come and be perfect people on this earth but that we could become perfect someday only through Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice. … Perhaps in our quest to point our lives in the right direction, each of us will come to know the real secret to achieving that goal.”

The secret, she said, is service. “The more we love, serve, and bless the individual people on our daily path, the more we become like the Savior, whose only goal is to do the Father’s will and bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (see Moses 1:39).

Contributed By Noelle Baldwin, Church News Contributor