The topic was obedience. For FHE Monday night, I'd found a talk on being a superhero like Daniel in the bible, thinking Grayson would give it. I walked him through it and he did awesome. Then he realized what it was for & said, "I won't say that in church." Hmmm... Beckham said he wanted to bear his testimony, so I thought I'd just have Grayson hold the pictures while I gave the talk & then Beckham would do his little spiel and we'd be done. As the week went on, we practiced a bit like that, but didn't emphasize it too much because we were so pressed for time every day.
Yesterday I took the boys to the church so they could practice on the stand in the chapel and Beckham could use the microphone. I pushed the step up to the pulpit & he stood there so proudly and Grayson stood beside me holding the pictures. I went to say the talk & Beckham started repeating after me...so I asked him if he'd like to give the talk & bear his testimony while Grayson held the pictures. He said, "Yeah!" So we practiced and he did AWESOME! Then Grayson said, "Could I sing the second verse of Scripture Power?" I was shocked {tried to hide it} and said, "of course! Why don't you practice?" He did and he was kinda whispering it, then loudly singing, then moving all over, etc. He didn't want to use the microphone, so I told him he'd have to project but still be reverent. I laughed as we left thinking there just had to be no expectations, because I really thought it wouldn't happen when they realized the chapel & part of the gym would be filled with people. I was pretty sure they would both freeze.
Of course my expectations were exceeded, which is often the case with our kiddos. We got to church 30 minutes early {a miracle in itself!}, practiced in the primary room upstairs two times, knelt in the primary room and said a quick prayer asking Heavenly Father to bless us with courage and to enable the spirit to be with us and those listening, and went downstairs to sit on the stand. They sat pretty well through the opening portion + the sacrament & youth talks and then it was our turn. I went up with the boys and Beckham stood right on the step in front of the mic reverently and Grayson stood next to me on the floor. I told him he was up and he projected his song beautifully! He was right on pitch/tune/volume, everything, and sang clearly and amazingly. He didn't rush or move around or make weird faces. He just sang. I had to keep from thinking about it too much or I was going to start crying because I was so so proud of him. It took serious guts! Here is the verse he sang:
"I'll find the sword of truth in each scripture that I learn,
I'll take the shield of faith from these pages that I turn.
I'll wear each vital part of the armor of the Lord,
and fight my daily battles and win a great reward.
Scripture Power, keeps me safe from sin,
Scripture Power is the power to win.
Scripture Power, every day I need,
the power that I get each time I read.
Then Beckham said "my turn!" Grayson held the pictures and Beckham gave his talk. He did awesome! He didn't lick or eat the mic, he projected and spoke clearly, and he had inflection in the right places. So so cute! His talk was this:
I want to be a Super hero
Not one who flies through the sky
I don't need a cape & mask
to be a Super guy.
I want to be like Daniel
who wasn't afraid to pray
Even though it was against the law
he prayed each & every day.
When thrown in the lion's den
His faith kept him strong
If I could be just like him
I would choose right from wrong.
I will never be put in a lion's den.
Like Daniel was that day.
But I will have my own battles,
And I don't want to go astray.
I need to have super faith!
like Daniel long ago.
When I make hard decisions,
my faith in the Lord will show.
Let's all be super hero's!
And strengthen our faith each day.
The best way we can do that,
is never forget to pray.
I then said, "okay, bear your testimony."
He said, "I'd like to bear my testimony. I know the church is true. I know the temples are true. I know Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. I love my mommy and daddy. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
Wow. Totally humbled. Completely aware that the things we are doing daily-reading our scriptures with the kids & praying with them-is sinking in somewhere. Their primary teachers & singing time teacher are a HUGE impact for good. They are sponges and they soak everything in-even when I think they're not. I was in awe, so amazed at their braveness and perfect faith.
The boys sat down with T&T, and their grandparents {minus my dad-so wish he could have been there!}, and I gave my talk. For my journaling reference, it is as follows:
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"I listened to a talk on
CD by a youth speaker for the church, Hank Smith, called, "breaking up
with the world." He talks about the
scripture D&C 25:10 which says, "lay aside the things of this world,
and seek for the things of a better."
He says we have to really break up with the world. Or the things we have an unhealthy
relationship with. He taught a class to
a group of youth on this concept-which is HARD to obey {giving up things we
really love}-and a girl said she had a tv show she loved-she'd watched it since
it's conception and said she knew she needed to give it up, but she didn't
think she could. She knew it wasn't
uplifting her-it was bad for her, but she wanted to keep watching. A week later she told him she'd been
convicted enough to break up with that show.
She never watched it again.
Two years ago this
month, I taught a lesson to the primary kids about The Anti-Nephi-Lehis. I put Brother Smith's words in action in my
own life.
You all know the story:
Before receiving their new name, they
killed lots of people in their previous rebelliousness. Once they
repented, the Lord told them they needed to give something up. He told them they needed to give up war. They had been raised on war. This wasn’t an easy request. They knew they needed to bury their weapons
of war so they would never be tempted to take up arms against another person
again. They made a covenant with God to never use weapons of war.
Alma 24: 17-19 says, “they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used
for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did abury them up deep in the earth.
18 And this they did, it being
in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they anever would use weapons again for the
shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching and bcovenanting with God, that rather than shed the
blood of their brethren they would cgive up their own lives; and rather than
take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their
days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands.
19 And thus we see that, when
these Lamanites were brought to abelieve and to know the truth, they were bfirm, and would suffer even unto death
rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of
peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace.
That is burying
it deep. They didn't just dig a shallow grave so they could access them
later. They buried them deep into the ground and when they were in need
of defense, they knelt instead on the earth-with no weapons-and many were
slain. But then, the Lamanites, who had come against them, saw that they
weren't fighting back, and dropped their swords & were converted to the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
In preparing for the lesson, I decided to have
the kids ponder their personal “swords.” They would think of something
they wanted to "bury." I thought about Brother Smith’s talk. I thought about my obsession with diet coke.
And how I really was in an unhealthy relationship with it. And how I used
it way too often...and how I was willing to give anything up for the
Lord...except that. I was willing to give up anything else...coconut
{which I dislike anyway}, for instance.
But I wasn't in a relationship with that, so it wouldn't have been true
sacrifice & obedience & it certainly wouldn't have been burying a sword. I hesitantly brought it up to Zac one night
in bed. I told him I was possibly,
maybe, vaguely, not really-but maybe, contemplating giving up diet coke.
I was scared because I knew if I told those kids that I was burying my
"diet coke-sword," I'd have to bury it deep. I could never go
back. He laughed because I kept waffling back & forth and making
excuses. I told him all the reasons I should wait a bit before doing
it…not before my ten year reunion, our trip to Florida, etc. Then I laughed at myself because I know the
Lord was thinking, "Okay, I'll wait." Zac said, "Karli,
whatever you do, I'll support you. I think when YOU decide what you're
going to do, the what if's & what about's will work themselves out.
Making the decision is half the battle & once you do that, you'll receive a
certain power & freedom that comes with doing that. The Lord will
make the decision & the undertaking of that decision easier on
you." And I knew he was right. And really, my decision had
already been made.
So I gave my lesson. And I brought out my can of
diet soda. And I told them it was my sword. And I cried a bit.
I was committed-and didn’t even feel regret about the decision-but there was no
way they could know the sacrifice it was to me at that time. I was drinking WAY too much caffeine. Hopefully someday when they are faced with a
tough decision, they'll remember their primary president gave up something I
loved for a God I love more. That I buried it deep-never to take it up
again.
Let's talk about the 3 Nephites for a minute. King Nebuchadnezzar created a golden image
& commanded all men to worship it.
The guys we know as the three nephites, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego
refuse him and are cast into the fiery furnace. The king asks them who their
God is that would deliver them out of his hands. In Daniel chapter 3 verses 17-18 say, “If it
be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. BUT IF NOT, be it known unto thee, O King,
that we will not serve they gods, nor worship the golden image which thou has
set up.” These guys were obedient in all
things. EVEN with the prospect of a
fiery furnace in their near future. And
they were protected because God honors those who honor Him.
God asked Abraham for Isaac. He was willing to give anything but
that.
Sometimes we choose what things we're wiling to offer
the Lord. I'll read my scriptures, I'll
pray with my family, but don't ask me to do this____. We present our sacrifice table to the Lord
and he says, "What do you have back there?" Nothing, nothing...you don't want that. Oh but I want that. The one thing you're not willing {yet} to
give.
It might be consistent Sabbath day attendance-even when
our spouse or another family member doesn't always support and/or come with
us. It might be the way we speak on the
"off days," it might be attending the temple more frequently. It might be energy drinks, yelling at our
kids, or giving up a relationship that is draining you.
If the Lord knew Abraham would kill Isaac & He
knew He wasn't really going to make him kill Isaac, why did he even have him go
up there? I'm sure it wasn't the Lord
who needed to find out about Abraham.
It’s more likely it was Abraham needing to find out about Abraham and
what he was capable of giving up for the Lord.
Often times our obedience-especially with the things
that might be tough for us-is less about the Lord needing to find out those
things about us, but more about US having an opportunity to find out about US. We may need to realize what we're really
willing to give up for the Lord. And how
much we love Him. We might find we can
choose to give up things we love for a
God we love more.
The main takeaway for me about obedience-even when we
can't immediately see the blessings-is that it makes us depend on God. Doing the things we KNOW are right and will
bring us eternal happiness-even when the days are long and everything around us
may seem to be falling down-day in and day out, will bring us the promised
blessings.
A few quick examples from the scriptures:
First,
there’s Noah. He had to wait many years while building the boat
and then the 40 days while on the boat (and we should remember that he
didn’t know it was going to be 40 days… Imagine what he must have felt like day
after day trapped on that boat with all those stinky animals!).
Jacob
had to work for Laban for a number of years before getting to marry his dream
girl, Rachel.
Speaking
of Rachel, she experienced a long season of barrenness while her sister, Leah,
Fertile Myrtle-d her way through life.
Joseph
waited in prison under a false accusation for over 2 years.
The
Israelites were in bondage in Egypt for hundreds of years.
David
was anointed to be king as a young boy of about 12-15 years old, but he didn’t
actually become the king until he was 30, with those years of waiting filled
with all kinds of drama between him and King Saul.
The
list goes on!
I'd challenge you today to choose something in your
life that you can bury. It may be a big
thing and it may be a seemingly small thing, but make a choice, give it up, and
you'll be blessed. As we distance
ourselves from the world, we automatically move closer to the Savior. And don’t give up on being obedient.
Because:
Noah
eventually got off the boat.
Jacob
married Rachel.
Rachel
gave birth to Joseph.
Joseph
was freed from prison and given a pretty awesome promotion.
The
Israelites got out of Egypt.
David
eventually became king…
I
tell you this because it is hope for the weary, obedient soul.
One
day we too will be delivered.
sometimes
our deliverance is not exactly as we dreamed.
And if we've made the choice to be obedient-in all
things-while we're here, it will be that much sweeter for us.
Being
obedient helps us realize that we are not in control – and that is a good
thing.
I hope that as we choose
to be obedient we can look back on our lives and reflect on how God grew us and
stretched us as His children. And how we
learn to lean on Him in those times of trials and to trust in His perfect plans
for us. {Bear Testimony}
As usual, I received much more from preparing my talk this week than I'm sure I gave to anyone else, but hopefully the spirit touched and convicted someone who needed it as much as I did.
Zac spoke last and did a fantastic job. He is so sincere, so real, and so desirous of becoming the best he can be. I love him for it. He shared a story by Donald Staheli from when he was a child and his dad got him a puppy which he named Spot. He LOVED the dog. The dog learned all sorts of obedience tricks, but was forever chasing cars on the road. He just couldn't get it in his head to give that up & obey his masters when they tried keeping him from doing it. Eventually a neighbor, who knew Spot's routine, ran him over. Elder Staheli was devastated and his mom taught him a valuable lesson. From his talk: "my mother then taught me one of the great lessons of
life as she explained the principle of obedience and its application in my
life. She made clear that seemingly small acts of disobedience can result in
longer-term consequences of unhappiness, regrets, and even fatal results.
Brothers and Sisters, how many of us are just like
Spot? We may have learned to obey some
of Heavenly Father’s commandments, but we still choose to chase cars." Zac also shared the following,
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"President Ezra Taft Benson teaches us that no
matter our age or what stage of life we are in, Obedience is the only sure way
to eternal happiness, he said…'When obedience ceases to be an irritant and
becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power.'"
All in all our first time speaking in sacrament as a family was a huge success. It was another lesson to me in learning to never put limitations on anyone, especially my kids. They will show me up every single time. Everyone who really knows Grayson commented to him or to us on how impressed they were {because they know that he does NOT generally sing in public}, and on how Beckham has been super shy lately and surely wasn't going to speak. I kept thinking how kids just surprise us all the time. They are incredible little humans. I'm so grateful for the good husband I have and for the littles we've been blessed with.
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