Dear Friends,
As I was thinking about this post I had a thought occur to
me as I was making chicken soup for my sick family. My thought centered around
how I have found a lot of joy in sharing my experiences on this blogspot. At
times I feel like I am back to contributing to making the world a better place.
I thought of other mothers that stay at home with their little ones understand
how wonderful and important you are. I also understand that it isn’t always easy
to feel that while doing 6 loads of laundry and cleaning bathrooms. Sometimes
being at home with our little ones is a little overwhelming. To be perfectly
honest I have never had a more demanding responsibility.
I gave up my career the day my son was born, but what I
needed to understand was that I hadn’t given up on being a force for good in
this world. I concentrated my efforts on my family the first 3 years of my
transition from career woman to stay-at-home Mom. I had little time or energy
for anything else, but I found that I was lacking the happiness I had when I
was single and working in my profession, and I also was feeling out of balance.
I love the gospel and how this precious gift has given me a pattern to follow
that not only increases the amount of love I feel from God but a greater
appreciation of my own life as well as for others. I knew I needed to look for
the answer of how to fix this little problem within the teachings of the
gospel. I did have a clue where the problem was and where to look, but I was
literally surprised by what I found. Since I knew I needed to change something
about myself I looked to where I knew I lacked. I recognized that one of the fruits
of the spirit that I had always struggled with is in being temperate (See Alma
7:23). The scriptures use the term temperate to mean being moderate and exercising self
restraint. Combine that with this scripture, Mosiah 4:27 “…see that all these
things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should
run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be
diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be
done in order….” and there you have my dilemma.
The Lord’s balance is required to maintain a healthy spirit and
body. Life seemed to always throw me off balance with work responsibility,
social engagements, and furthering my education. I obligated myself to be at
the mercy of what others required and there was little time for anything else.
Sometimes these requirements came in conflict with God’s requirement for living
a temperate life. It also led to some health complications. While I was warned
by my Acupuncturist that I needed to adjust the way I lived it would be years
until I figured out how. While I made small adjustments I couldn’t see how I
could do what I needed and still keep my job. After marrying my acupuncturist
and retiring from my career I finally decided I would take control of my life
and act as an agent rather than being acted upon, as Elder Bednar, a member of
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has instructed many times. I wanted to know
how I should change my life after those things the Lord required. After all the
Lord has taught us in scriptures that being spiritually minded and that this is
“life eternal” (see 2 Nephi 9:39).
One of the changes I have implemented was to concentrate my
efforts in all areas of the threefold mission of the Church simultaneously. For
those of you unfamiliar with our faith we believe in concentrating our worship
in three main ways. They are;
1. Perfect the
Saints. This probably doesn’t need any explanation, but I will explain anyway
because it is a beautiful way to show your love of the Lord. When Christ spoke
with Peter after his resurrection he asked,” Do you love me?” three times. His response
to Peter when Peter said he did love Him was to feed his lambs and to feed his
sheep. When we work in the area of perfecting the Saints then we can work with
those who have chosen to enter into covenants to serve God as members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We work in a lay ministry which
means we are volunteers in our church assignments and we are given multiple
assignments throughout our lives. There are organizations for every age and
some that are specific to gender. There are so many I will just refer you to
Lds.org and Mormon.org to investigate further if you are interested. Serving
with the saints gives us the opportunity to strengthen our own gifts and
abilities while giving us a rich association with others to whom we may not
have any other way to socialize with.
2. Proclaim the gospel. This area of worship is perhaps what
we are most known for because it is how most people outside the Church become
familiar with it. Proclaiming the gospel happens mostly due to the faith of 18
and 19 year old men and women who devote 18 months-2 years of their lives to
accept calls all over the world and teach others the gospel. Senior couples are
also called to organize and lead the mission. They are valuable resources to
the younger missionaries. We as members also have the responsibility to share
what we know with others. The sharing of the gospel is a great opportunity to
show the love we have for the Lord and give others the opportunity to feel more
of his love as well.
3. We believe in doing work for those who have died. This is
called Redeeming the Dead. We take names of those in our family as well as
other names who have been submitted to the temple for service to be done and
act as proxy for them, meaning we receive ordinances for them in which they
need for salvation, baptism is probably one of the most familiar to those who
study the scriptures. This doesn’t have any power or affect if the individual
does not want the work to be done. They are given the choice to accept it. What
we do is facilitate the opportunity for them making that choice.
I believed at one
time that proclaiming the gospel, redeeming the dead and perfecting the saints;
were things that I would focus on separately. I planned to work on redeeming
the dead when I was in my later years; I was currently working in proclaiming
the Gospel by teaching it full-time. I
also longed for a family of my own to focus entirely on perfecting the saints.
I had begun to see there was an overlap at times between these missions but
still my emphasis proved that I spent about 90% of my effort in one area at any
given time in my life. While I don’t think I was trying to do anything wrong
with how I lived I do feel like I was missing something.
When my Stake Presidency challenged us to find a name and
take it to the temple I wondered how I would find time to do that. I was
already maxed out in what I was doing, but then change occurred in me. I found
that if I was more temperate and focused on family history, while still working
on proclaiming the gospel and perfecting the saints I would be able to
accomplish something in each one instead of just spending my time focused too
much in one area and lacking balance. I have found like the spiritual gifts of
faith, hope, and charity working together for our good the threefold mission of
the Church is the same. As I spent more time in redeeming the dead it improved
my focus in the other areas of Church service. My callings began to include
more of a focus on the temple. I also felt an increase of the spirit, with this
I felt more inclined to share my experiences by using the social media in a
missionary like way. I believe that the Spirit can teach us all what we need to
do to get more of the blessings of temperance in our lives.
I realized that even though I was at home most of the day
and rarely had a chance to get out of my house I could still make a meaningful difference
in someone’s life. Perhaps something I shared on my blog would help someone
feel better. I find a name of relative to take the temple and give them the
opportunity to choose the Lord. I could serve and love my family to the best of
my abilities. I also felt like this new focus gave my family something more. I felt a richer feeling of the spirit and most
importantly I found a greater balance which is such a blessing for my little
one because I can set a better example for him.
Ways you can
accomplish the three-fold mission of the Church when your home or on your phone
or computer.
Perfect the Saints
Don’t forget that being in the home is a great privilege and
you are accomplishing the Lord’s work as you nurture and teach your family.
Every mundane task is more important than you realize. Your home is a training
center for life. Whatever you teach them to do and take care of in their home
and with their family will be a blessing not just to them but to the world. We
change the world one child at a time. Remember that families are primarily responsible
for teaching the gospel to their children.
Start the day off right with prayer (family, couple and
personal) and read your scriptures. I have my 2 year old get the gospel art kit
notebook and we tell the scripture stories behind the picture. He loves it.
Someday I use the Living Scriptures DVD’s. I put those one while my little one
waits for me to finish making breakfasts. We always talk about what is
happening so that he doesn’t become confused or too scared about difficult
topics that the scriptures bring up. I find that if I have a testimony of the
things I am saying and I am not afraid of any principle my children more
readily accept it.
I know as a mom there is a lot less appreciation than when I
was recognized in my career, and to think I felt unappreciated then. This is
partly due to the fact that your children are too young to appreciate what you
are doing for them and no one else sees it. I know that God does see it and
will bless us. I have felt blessed when other thoughtful people have taken the
time to offer sincere encouragement and compliment my worthy efforts.
1.
Think of ways to include your children in the
work of the home.
2.
Sing a few primary songs before you children say
prayers and go to bed.
3.
Make some of those delicious recipes you post on
Pinterest and watch family happiness increase. In fact make a pact with
yourself that you will not pin anything to your board until you make one thing
on it that is already there.
4.
Teach the scriptures to your children on their
level. Look to lds.org for helps in teaching young children.
5.
Sharing your testimony in non-formal ways on Facebook,
twitter, Instagram or your blog. While this is also a missionary effort your
testimony will also reach the hearts of members who know you and may need the
uplift that day.
6.
Take time to compliment and encourage those who
can through Facebook and other social media efforts, text messages, phone calls
and of course the best way of all, face to face.
7.
For those of you who have the opportunity to
stay at home with your children don’t forget to show appreciation to the one,
or ones that make that possible. This will help the love in your home and
relationships increase.
Proclaim the Gospel
You don’t need to be a full-time missionary to make a
difference. Your unique experiences make your impact important. Many full-time
missionaries are learning from their training to use social media in healthy
ways. If you need ideas ask them for help. Using social media is sometimes
easier for me to do because I can do it whenever I have time. Sometimes I have
5 or 10 minutes while I am waiting for whatever reason. I am all about talking
to people around you but I have also found those moments to be effective when I
use them to pray and follow promptings in what to say on social media that
would be uplifting. I have a few to share that work for me and my friends. They
are;
1.
Share your testimony in Non-formal ways. Say
things like I know…and then tell them what you know by the power of the Holy
Ghost. You don’t even need to say that you know things by the power of the Holy
Ghost unless you feel prompted to do so. It is also important to remember while
there are many principles of the gospel that we can testify. It is the Holy
Ghost job to carry that message to their hearts and these simple declarations
are very powerful.
2.
Pray for guidance in what you need to share. I
have always had that prayer answered. No sooner do I finish a post that the
idea for the next one comes home.
3.
When writing your blogs, tweets, instagrams and
posts consider that there are people who may not be acquainted with the
Latter-day Saints and take time to write explanations that will make it easier for
them to understand. Also this will help the rest of us to feel comfortable in
sharing your posts with our non-member friends. Don’t worry about the numbers
of people who like or comment on your posts, you make a difference if you reach
one person or millions.
4.
Share those things that inspire you. Make sure
the things you are posting are uplifting and edifying things.
5.
It’s great to be honest about our troubles and
how we are turning to the Lord and others for help.
6.
Invite others to pray for blessings that you and
your family need.
7.
Take time to support others in their missionary efforts,
accept challenges that will help you grow spiritually and share the results.
Redeem the Dead
Redeeming the dead includes family history and temple work.
Family history starts by keeping your own history. I have found that this gets
more difficult with the demands of family but even taking a few minutes every
week will still be beneficial. Everything you choose to record can be useful to
your posterity. Also choosing to record when we have had experiences with the
Spirit of the Lord will be the most valuable of all. Extraction work has never
been easier; the internet makes it possible to do the work of the Lord from our
laptop and phones. This is the work of eternity and it has great blessings
attached to it. There have been many talks in general conference and I know
from personal experience that there is great protection for us and our
families. Who couldn’t use more help there? If you need help figuring this out
don’t worry it is avialable. There are still also family history centers and
consultants in every ward and stake that will be happy to assist you in
learning how you may be more useful in this endeavor. Here are things that have
helped me, family and friends to get more involved in this important work while
we are working on the most important job of being a good mom.
1.
Write in your own journal when you have seen the
hand of the Lord bless you and those around you.
2.
Keep journals for your children while they are
young and record special events as well as any other thing you feel inspired to
write about.
3.
Encourage children who can write to begin
keeping a journal. Establish a time in which you all work on your journals.
They can also draw pictures which will help you get a little time to write too.
4.
Make photo books with the loads of pictures you
have saved on your phone and computer.
5.
Index names using phone, i-pad and laptop.
6.
Look for your cousins that have not had their
work done. If they have died over 100 years ago then you are free to do their
work. Don’t hesitate asking relatives of those who have died more recently for
permission to do their work. This opportunity may turn into a perfecting of the
saints, or proclaiming the gospel moment. Multitasking is a strength of females.
7.
Share babysitting with women in your ward or
branch so that you have some time for family history work and taking the names
you have found to the temple.
May the Lord bless you with an increases ability to feel of
His love through your efforts and His grace.
Andrea Erickson Lindsey
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