Dobrý den, Bratry a Sestry. Chtěla bych mluvit česky, ale čeština je těžká a nemůžu mluvit česky pro dvanáct minut.
President Pilka asked me to talk about how our family maintains the Spirit. My first, short answer is that sometimes we don’t. But we try, and we keep trying, and that’s what I’ll talk about today.
First, the typical answers come to mind: family prayer and family scripture study and family home evening. We try to do all of these things, with varying levels of success. We’re good at family prayer and family home evening and have successfully made them into habits. If we miss family prayer or Family Home Evening for some reason, everyone notices and misses it.
We are less successful with family scripture study. It’s hard, isn’t it? But we do keep trying. It took us several years to finish reading the Book of Mormon together, but we have done it. Once. It helps to have some kind of permanent bookmark so we know where we are – tablets and smart phones are good for this. We keep trying to get better at regular reading, but even when we only read occasionally, I think our family is blessed. We get better at reading and understanding and discussing scriptures together. And maybe by the time Mira moves out, we will finally have a good habit of family scripture study.
Each member of our family also helps to invite the Spirit by reading scriptures and saying prayers on their own. We ask for the Spirit to be with us, both in family prayer and our individual prayers.
I don’t think everything we do to maintain the Spirit is spiritual, though. Some things are practical. We spend time together. We keep TV, music, and video games off most of the time, so there can be quiet. Well, it’s not often actually quiet, but we try to allow space and time for interaction with each other. We try to keep the arguing and fighting to a minimum, and when that doesn’t work, we try to apologize and forgive.
In the past few weeks, as I’ve listened to talks from the most recent General Conference and thought about my talk, I’ve realized that maybe the most important way that we invite and keep the Spirit is by participating in the ordinances of the gospel. In the Sunday afternoon session, Elder Neil L. Anderson talked about how everyone can benefit from Priesthood power. He said:
(1)There are special blessings from God for every worthy person who is baptized, receives the Holy Ghost, and regularly partakes of the sacrament. The temple brings added light and strength, along with the promise of eternal life.
All of the ordinances invite us to increase our faith in Jesus Christ and to make and keep covenants with God. As we keep these sacred covenants, we receive priesthood power and blessings.
Do we not feel this power of the priesthood in our own lives and see it among the covenant-keeping members of the Church? We see it in new converts as they step from the waters of baptism feeling forgiven and clean. We see our children and youth more sensitive to the promptings and guidance of the Holy Ghost. We see the ordinances of the temple becoming a beacon of strength and light for righteous men and women across the world.
One of those special blessings of the Priesthood that Elder Anderson is talking about is the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Our youngest daughter Mira was baptized and confirmed just a week ago, and I’m grateful for her decision to make that covenant with Heavenly Father. By making that covenant, Mira has helped to make our family worthy of the companionship of the Spirit.
Also in the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference, Elder Kevin S. Hamilton spoke about how baptism and the sacrament help us have the Spirit. He said:
(2)"Those of us who are members of God’s Church today have made covenants to follow Jesus Christ and to obey God’s commandments.
Each week we have the opportunity to attend a sacrament meeting, where we can renew these covenants by partaking of the bread and water of the sacrament ordinance. This simple act allows us to once again pledge ourselves to follow Jesus Christ and to repent when we do fall short. God’s promise to us in return is His Spirit as a guide and protection.
Some of us made that covenant of baptism a long time ago, but every week we have the opportunity to renew our baptismal covenants when we take the sacrament. What a blessing Heavenly Father has given us in the ordinance of the sacrament. Every week we can repent of our sins and renew the covenant we made at baptism. Both of the sacrament prayers speak specifically of Heavenly Father’s part of that covenant – we can always have his Spirit to be with us.
Elder Hamilton also encouraged us to attend all three of our Sunday meetings. He said:
(3) From Preach My Gospel, our missionaries teach that revelation and testimony come when we attend our Sunday Church meetings: “As we attend Church services and worship together, we strengthen each other. We are renewed by our association with friends and family. Our faith is strengthened as we study the scriptures and learn more about the restored gospel.”8
He describes the purpose of each Sunday meeting and then says,
(4) In each of these unique but connected meetings, we learn the doctrine, feel the Spirit, and serve one another.
This is something our family does that invites the Spirit throughout the week. Three hours seems like a big chunk of time to give to worship every Sunday, but it’s an opportunity to gain strength from our fellow members and also to give strength. We not only benefit individually from our participation in church meetings, but also as a family.
I’m grateful for the covenants we’ve made that help our family to invite and keep the Spirit. There are times when I don’t feel very worthy of the Spirit, but Heavenly Father allows me to repent and to keep trying. I’m so grateful to have the Spirit to guide and comfort us.
Bratry a sestry, vím že Joseph Smith byl prorok. Vím že písma je pravdi. Jsem vděčná za mou rodinu a za evangelium. Jsem vděčná za Spasitele, Ježíše Krista. Ve jménu Ježíše Krista, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment