The Love of God

Wow. I am blown away right now with the words of Deiter F. Uchdorf. On October 3rd my church had the semiannual General Conference. I was at the marathon while this talk was being aired, so I missed it.

I just watched it online and am totaly filled with peace in my heart and love for God. What a powerful talk.

Watch the video here.

Here are the quotes that were especially meaningful to me:

Why should we love God?

"God the Eternal Father did not give that first great commandment because He needs us to love Him. His power and glory are not diminished should we disregard, deny, or even defile His name. His influence and dominion extend through time and space independent of our acceptance, approval, or admiration.

No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God!

For what we love determines what we seek.

What we seek determines what we think and do.

What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become."

Why Does God Love Us?

"He loves us because He is filled with an infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love. We are important to God not because of our résumé but because we are His children. He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken. God’s love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked.

What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us"

How Can We Draw Near To Him?

"My dear brothers and sisters, don’t get discouraged if you stumble at times. Don’t feel downcast or despair if you don’t feel worthy to be a disciple of Christ at all times. The first step to walking in righteousness is simply to try. We must try to believe. Try to learn of God: read the scriptures; study the words of His latter-day prophets; choose to listen to the Father, and do the things He asks of us. Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible—and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you."

Aaron's Prayer

Aaron is starting to say prayers. Its very sweet. He usually says "Thank you for this day. Thank you for Mom, Dad, and Alex. Thank you for the food. Amen" 

Today he was holding Buzz under one arm and holding Woody in the other. He folded Woody's Arms and said "Heavenly Father, thank you for Buzz, and Bullseye, and Zurg, Amen."

It was amazing to see that he was thinking through Woody's perspective and praying appropriately. I love that kid. 

How did Prayer get started?

Today while Alex was stirring his cereal he said "Maybe one day the people on the earth said, How do we talk to Heavenly Father? and they said, Prayer! And they tried it and it worked. And thats how they talked to Heavenly Father."

He rattled off this little story out of the blue. He said it like it was his own personal discovery which makes me wonder what is his perception of God. He is trusting and he doesn't question it. Which is interesting because he questions practically everything else.

"...becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

Mosiah 3:19

Book of Mormon

The words "Well Done"

"A little encouragement goes a long way."

Just finished watching Super Nanny after a particularly exhausting day. (I'm not sure why I would watch a show about children with behavior problems 5 minutes after getting my kids into bed)  This episode was the most extreme poor behavior I have ever seen. What I loved to see was how praise had an immediate affect on the children. 

So tomorrow I am going to structure the day so I have opportunities to encourage the boys. I realize that there are many ways I can busy myself during the day and give no encouraging words. I can't exactly encourage them while they are watching TV or if they are playing alone. 

I am just going to brainstorm a bit. Activities where I have opportunity to encourage:

• Doing a project at the table
• Cleaning (they love washing windows, vacuuming, washing floors)
• Cooking
• Puzzles and games
• Kids doing play-dough in the kitchen while I work
• Teach Aaron to dress himself
• Working on letters and numbers
• Get out the beginner reading material with Alex

These activities also can be the most frustrating, messy, requiring the most work. But if my Heavenly Father was peering through my window, I know he would love to see me using my agency to teach my children (and His) how to use their agency righteously. As I say "well done" to my children, He says "well done" to me.

 

Simplicity

This has been an interesting week. The boys (and I) have been sick since Sunday and we have barely left the house. Alex gets cabin fever quickly and today we had a conversation like this:

"Okay boys get your shoes on, we are going to Dad's work" 

Alex started bouncing around with joy. 

"What are we going to do there? 

"We're just going to drop something off, we won't even go inside. Sorry. Do you still want to go?"

"Yes, I'm excited." (with a huge smile on his face)

Sad thing was, he fell asleep after a minute of driving and when we got home he was miserable because he missed our only outing of the week. 

Anyway, the homebound life has given me some much needed perspective. 

1. The boys are so happy. From this I have learned that my attention is the most valuable thing to them and the most available resource I have.  
2. Less is more. Each day this week I have taken on only two "to do" items - and actually accomplished them. Feels much better than wanting to do 10 things and accomplishing nothing.
3. Use what I have. 

Wrapping Christmas presents tonight was a perfect example of this. I looked at my seemingly endless roll of Christmas wrapping paper only to find about 6 inches left. Next to it was my roll of kids art paper. Hmm. This is paper - it can wrap stuff.  I think I'll use it. Then I go to my ribbon box - the only thing is white ribbon. Hmm. I bought this because I thought white went with all colors of paper. But does it go with white paper? Why not. So as a result I wrapped my family's presents with the white on white look (hopefully not too weddingish)  

As I wrapped I thought of all the colors associated with Christmas.  In the US, the month of December is not lacking in colors, frills, bows, lights and accessories.  When Christ was born he  was wrapped in swaddling clothes  because thats all they had - and it was beautiful. 

Albert Camus said "in the depth of winter [we find] within [us] an invincible summer." I am finding that this week.