On Family Unity

IAT = I am thankful

1. When life is slow.
2. My boy is coming home after being gone all summer.
3. I'm in an awesome place in my life.
4. Rain!!!
5. Brownies. :-) I didn't taste! Hahaha

It's been almost a month that I wanted to post this. I've probably forgotten a lot of it. But these are thoughts from a talk the Bish gave in church last month. He spoke about unity.

I appreciated that he began by saying we had a lot of things in our community that were not unifying, and he was not going to speak to any of those. He also wanted everyone to know that he was not speaking to anyone in particular, but everyone. And he didn't want anyone else thinking, oh, so and so should be here because they need to hear this. :-) And hopefully the Spirit would touch those who needed the message. The purpose of his talk was to speak to family unity.

He started by quoting from Elder Eyring's talk on Hearts Knit as One. "We see increased conflict between peoples in the world around us. Those divisions and differences could infect us. That is why my message of hope today is that a great day of unity is coming. The Lord Jehovah will return to live with those who have become His people and will find them united, of one heart, unified with Him and with our Heavenly Father." He quoted Mosiah 18: 21

And he commanded them that there should be no ^acontention one with another, but that they should look forward with ^bone eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts ^cknit together in unity and in love one towards another.

 and Moroni 7: 48:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

He said he believed our "eternal welfare rests on being able to get along."

He quoted Elder Eyring, "The joy of unity He wants so much to give us is not solitary. We must seek it and qualify for it with others. It is not surprising then that God urges us to gather so that He can bless us. He wants us to gather into families. He has established classes, wards, and branches and commanded us to meet together often. In those gatherings, which God has designed for us, lies our great opportunity. We can pray and work for the unity that will bring us joy and multiply our power to serve."

He spoke about an institute teacher he used to have that often said, "I may not say everything I think, but I think everything I say." He encouraged us to pray to Heavenly Father and ask him to help us think before we say things. And that just because something was true, did NOT mean we need to say it. He encouraged us to see others in God's perspective. To take off the glasses we wear that we see others through.

 One of his favorite scriptures is:

• Jacob 4:13

  13 Behold, my brethren, he that prophesieth, let him prophesy to the understanding of men; for the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. But behold, we are not witnesses alone in these things; for God also spake them unto prophets of old.

Truth is things as they REALLY are. (Not how we may think they are). We see others differently than the truth. The self sufficient tend to be critical of those who are not. Examples: how the bishop uses fast offerings, a spouse who does things differently than a parent. (Dawn's note: I know my husband's biggest struggle as a bishop is the proper use of fast offerings and that he would much rather err on the side of generosity than caution. He is very aware of his accountability on this point. Would you like to bear that burden?)

He said we need to pray for the gift of discernment. Here is a quote he used to define discernment. Very enlightening.

 Stephen L Richards: “First, I mention the gift of discernment, embodying the power to discriminate … between right and wrong. I believe that this gift when highly developed arises largely out of an acute sensitivity to impressions—spiritual impressions, if you will—to read under the surface as it were, to detect hidden evil, and more importantly to find the good that may be concealed. The highest type of discernment is that which perceives in others and uncovers for them their better natures, the good inherent within them."

(I was impressed that discerning included uncovering the better natures of others. I LOVE that.)
He encouraged us to see the good, not the evil, and see as God sees. He quoted D&C 18: 10. Remember the ^aworth of ^bsouls is great in the sight of God; and encouraged us to come to a point where the worth of souls is great in OUR sight.

The Bishop said we have more in common that we have differences and we need to pray for humility. He referred to Ether and his telling us that we have weaknesses that we will be humble. He said we need to focus more on ourselves than on others. We need to change our own selves and focus on our own issues. (This is a theme I come back to again and again. When I am upset with someone or circumstances, I remind myself that the only person I can control is me, and what should I do to change me?)

He referred to the fact that the word busybody is in the New Testament. And that it often seems easier for us to fix others problems. But we need to be humble and fix ourselves. He counseled to resist the urge to gossip. That we should be "repositories of information." In other words. When someone shares something with us, we need to hold on to it. We need to not share it with others. It will not create unity and it separates and divides. If we must share something, he said to call someone far away who doesn't know the participants. Aunt Edna in Connecticut for example.

He encouraged us to develop charity. 1 Corinthians 13. Charity is the more excellent way. We should act, speak, and feel and the Savior would. Moroni--pray with the energy of the heart that we may be filled with this love. And then he made a promise. "I promise that if we do, we will come to feel about our families and ward members differently." He said to love our enemies, pray for those that spitefully use us. We can do that. We can get to a point where we can honesty say I love you to our enemies and bless them. (Easy peasy, uh-huh. Dawn)

When charity becomes real for us, we want to extend it to others. He encouraged us to do as scripture says and take up our cross. Once we have, we can forgive others. We ought to learn to get along (families) not just for eternity, but for joy in the now.  As we follow how we are prompted, he promised we would be able to change.

Much needed words of wisdom from my bishop.

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