Sunday Thoughts

Today we had Stake Conference in our church. Our stake president, Pres. Nye, gave a talk, and I found myself becoming extremely inspired the more he talked. His talk of course followed a talk that my Bishop gave, and my Bishop’s talk was pure inspiration and answered a week long plea of prayers on my part. It does not cease to amaze me on how the Lord can inspire and direct those who are spiritually in tune. Thanks to these talks I found myself refilled with the spirit and ready to take on another week. Back to Pres. Nye’s talk though, he talked a little on the parable of the ten virgins and how when the five without oil for their lamps pleaded with their bridegroom (the Lord) to open the door for them, the Lord’s response was “I know you not”. How well do we know the Lord? It’s a question Pres. Nye asked as he stood before us at the pulpit today. It’s a question I think all of us should ask ourselves. How well do you know the Lord, and how well does he know you? I truly think that the only way we can come unto Christ is to give unto him our entire heart, something Bishop Hibbard talked about today. Pres. Nye gave some suggestions in doing this; I really loved them and thought I would share in my blog. He says we should think of five qualities in ourselves that separate us from Christ. Write them down. Now think of five qualities or things you could do that will bring you closer to Christ. Now write those down. Does this not give you an insight to yourself and to your relationship with the Lord? This is something I plan on sitting down with Tom and doing for family home evening tomorrow night, and I might post my five and fives when I’m done. Pres. Nye was truly humble in sharing his five weaknesses that separate him from our Savior, and I was quite impressed at his courage to share those things. One of his weaknesses was that at times he loved sin. Bravo! I was thrilled to hear him say that, because how much do we love sin in our lives? But we can’t truly overcome that desire until we admit it, so I was truly pleased to hear him say it.
On another note I found another blessing today when Tom brought up the mail (no, the mailman doesn’t deliver on Sunday here in Iowa, we had forgotten to get it yesterday). More good mail! I was talking to Amy on the phone about a week ago, and we were talking about good mail. She must have noticed the desire in my voice to receive some of my own good mail, and went ahead and sent me some. Yeah!! Thank you Amy. I love the ‘Thank You’ cards, the chocolate of course was a big hit (and it was the really good stuff!), and the boys loved the Spongebob paraphernalia. And of course Collin was thrilled with his Sunbeam booklet, we're also excited to use the family home evening kit. As soon as we got the mail and were going through it, Talin says, “That Aunt JoDee is sure nice, mom”. Hee hee. Don’t worry, I quickly informed him it was his Aunt Amy who sent the goods this time. And he is still missing his cousin Aidan, once again the other day, out of the blue, he started musing on how much he misses Aidan. We’ll have to have them talk on the phone sometime.