RS Meeting Reminder

A quick reminder about our RS Meeting this week! 

9/1/13 Review

Important Reminders

-Sept. 7th RS Fireside--6:30 to 8 pm at the Thomasville building for sisters 18 and up. Elder Munns, an Area 70, and Sister Burton, the RS General President, will be in attendance. There will also be a Youth Fireside at the same time at the Stake Center for sisters ages 12-18.
-Sept. 12th--RS Meeting "Meet. Greet. Eat." at 7pm. Bring your favorite dip to share.
-Sept. 28th--RS Social and Broadcast
-Oct 5-6th--General Conference

Lesson Review

In Wisdom and Order

What are the things that take up our time?  What duties and responsibilities do we have? What are those things we know the Lord wants us to be doing in our lives? This list might include:

Grocery shopping Cooking/Setting table Washing dishes Cleaning/Never ending tidying Laundry/Mending/sewing Chauffering Refereeing Parenting Exercising Playing with our children School/homework/continuing education Nursing/nurturing Medical appointments Extracurricular activities

Home/car repairs and maintenance Work/career Community/volunteer service Hobbies Media (newspaper/TV) Reading Gardening/lawn work Canning Social obligations Searching for misplaced items Overcoming addiction Develop talents/skills Conflict resolution Attend Sunday meetings

Planning meetings Seminary/YM/YW Callings Service projects/compassionate service Care for the poor/feed the hungry/minister to those in need Temple attendance Genealogy Food storage Missions Visiting teaching Prayer (family/individual) Scripture study Medical emergencies

Some of the things on this list we know are essential to our salvation.  But most of them feed into those things that are eternal and cannot be omitted from our lives.  But while it is important to keep forward vision/perspective, we do still have to live in the here and now and many of these temporal things affect what happens in the eternities.

The Lord does not require that we run faster nor labor more than we are able.  But he does expect us to be diligent and use wisdom and good judgment so that we can accomplish those things he knows we can do. So what do we do about all these things on our to-do list?  How do we ever get to those things that are essential for our salvation?

Mosiah 4:27: And see that all these things are done in wisdom and ^aorder; for it is not requisite that a man should run ^bfaster 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.

Even though it might not be our “season” to address some of our responsibilities, at some point we will need to see to it that these things are accomplished. How do we know what is wise and orderly?  We need to turn to our Father in Heaven, communicate with him, and let the Holy Spirit guide.  If we say our prayers (individual, mealtime, family),read our scriptures, fast, listen to the prophets, the rest won’t seem so overwhelming.  And through this communication with the Lord, we will know what our current focus should be.  Continued communication with the Lord will provide the knowledge as to when to start incorporating more into our lives, and what should take priority.

Some scriptural references/quotes from prophets cited:

Prayer:

Matthew 6:6, 8: But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy ^acloset, and when thou hast ^bshut thy door, ^cpray to thy Father which is in ^dsecret; and thy Father which^eseeth in secret shall ^freward thee openly…for your Father ^aknoweth what things ye have ^bneed of, before ye ask him.

Scripture reading:

2 Nephi 32:3: Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

The Prophet Joseph Smith admonished: “Search the scriptures – search the revelations which we publish, and ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to manifest the truth unto you, and if you do it with an eye single to His glory nothing doubting, He will answer you by the power of His Holy Spirit. You will then know for yourselves and not for another. You will not then be dependent on man for the knowledge of God; nor will there be any room for speculation.  No; for when men receive their instruction from Him that made them, they know how He will save them. Then again we say: Search the Scriptures, search the Prophets and learn what portion of them belongs to you.”

Fasting:

Alma 5:46: Behold, I say unto you they are made ^aknown unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have ^bfasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of ^crevelationwhich is in me.

Prophets:

D&C 68:4:  And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the ^aHoly Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the ^bpower of God unto salvation.

These seemingly simple things are key to helping us prioritize our lives and accomplish those things as the Lord wants to do them – in the time frame he has in mind:

Elder M. Russell Ballard said: “Think about your life and set your priorities.  Find some quiet time regularly to think deeply about where you are going and what you will need to do to get there.  Jesus, our exemplar, often ‘withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed’ (Luke 5:16). We need to do the same thing occasionally to rejuvenate ourselves spiritually as the Savior did.  Write down the tasks you would like to accomplish each day. Keep foremost in mind the sacred covenants you have made with the Lord as you write down your daily schedules.”

By staying in constant communication with the Lord, by prayer and fasting, by reading our scriptures and following the prophets, we will be able to navigate through all the busyness of our lives and accomplish those things that Heavenly Father wants and expects us to do.

Next Week (9/8/13): Lorenzo Snow Chapter 17 found HERE

September Calendar