Friday, September 11, 2020
9:32 pm
This morning I packed lunches for everyone before Abbie left for early morning seminary. Then I had time to make peach cobbler for Julie for breakfast before I left for work. I listened to an article by Elder Bednar while making it, and it was really uplifting. He talked about the importance of strong marriages, and the fact that marriage is more than a social contract that allows individuals to pursue their own happiness. One thing he said was really profound (italics mine):
[Viewing marriage primarily as a means to satisfying our own individual desires] often leads to divorce as people bounce from one relationship to another, desperate to find something that is elusive because it does not exist: a relationship that will afford people ultimate freedom, ultimate self-fulfillment, and ultimate happiness—all without their having to give anything from within themselves. The relationship sought is no relationship at all because selfishness is by definition singular.
The Divine Pattern of Eternal Marriage
September 2020
Ensign
David A. Bednar
It was a great way to start the morning.
Spencer overslept, so I took him to school.
I finally finished the financial statements for August today. We are getting a new server installed at work tomorrow, and it was mounted in the rack today. It is an impressive looking configuration. I look forward to seeing how our performance improves on Monday.
Getting the little kids in bed tonight was challenging. Emma felt like "no one was being nice to her" because Isaac wanted to sleep with Neil tonight after sleeping with Emma the last two nights. (We're doubling up some of the kids to make room for Mom W, Rachel and Karina.) After way too much crying we finally got to reading scriptures and came upon the perfect teaching opportunity.
In 3 Nephi 3:4, 10, Giddianhi claims that the Gadianton robbers dissented from the Nephites because of the many wrongs supposedly committed against them. We talked about the fact that if we tell ourselves lies and repeat them often enough, we may actually begin to believe them. The Gadianton robbers convinced themselves that they were wronged somehow, and that justified their wickedness. We then related that to our family – We need to be careful not to tell ourselves things that are not true until we begin to believe them:
· No one is being nice to me
· It's not fair
· He always gets what he wants
· I always have to do extra chores
· I never get to (fill in the blank…)
It was a timely discussion, and Emma especially asked a couple clarifying questions. Hopefully it will help all of us do better at recognizing the blessings we have.
Mark called this evening and had a nice visit with Julie, Jessie, Abbie and Spencer while I was upstairs with the little kids. It sounds like they had a great time visiting. I look forward to getting a recap from Julie.
Thankful: I am thankful for how good it feels to study the gospel and invite the Holy Ghost into my life.
Ministering: I ministered to Julie with a delicious pan of peach cobbler. I also tried to minister to my employees in a way by handling a couple of difficult situations at work today.
More later…
A view of our new server (I know, lame photo. Sorry.)
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