Capture General Conference--Template Idea

I love forms and plans and they change frequently.  Here’s one I’m experimenting with to apply the ‘eating forward’ concept to General Conference...

A paper form hopefully will provide the 'cup to hold the living water...rather than attempting to hold all the key concepts in our minds. 

Create a seven-cell table with the following headings: author, title, key concept, plan to implement, back-up plan, weekly report, weekly evaluation.

What do we do with this table?  Here's a case study using last conference:

Author:

Members of the First Presidency speak many times during conference...so for them a qualifier can be put in brackets such as...opening, closing, priesthood, relief society or young women’s...

Monson, Thomas S. (Opening)

Title: As We Meet Together Again

Key Concept (The Holy Ghost Impressed to You):

“If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer in this conference, you will find it.” (Henry B. Eyring, Oct 2010 General Conference).

 ‘Continue faithful in attending the temples’

Plan to implement:

Make time to attend Ward Temple Trips

Back-up Plan:

Many options means a larger chance of ‘success’

Read up on covenants ordinances; cultivate a temple-atmosphere in home; cultivate the Holy Ghost; send ancestors to general temple file...

Weekly (or Monthly) Report:

When performance is measured, performance improves.  When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.” Thomas S. Monson (Preach my Gospel, page 150)

Week 1: Planned to submit Henry Brewer/Catherine Munk family to general temple file. Already in nfs and done.

Week 2: Re-read Elder Christofferson’s “The Power of Covenants”

Week 3: Planned to find home for things in Kitchen Junk Drawer.  More things ended up being added to kitchen junk drawer.

Week 4: Attended Ward Temple Trip

Weekly or Monthly Evaluation:

These questions came from “The Ultimate Diet Log” by Suszanne Schlosberg and Cynthia Sass:

•    What went well, and why?
•    What didn’t go well?  What got in my way? 
•    What is the most important insight I gained about myself this week?
•    What do I plan to do differently next week?

Where to Find the Time?

In theory it is great to be this detailed about applying gospel principles—but where do we find the time to do this recording and reporting and evaluating? 

The same place we find the time to do the cleaning, grocery shopping, budgeting, etc...it is a necessity we make time for...

The 'Eating Forward' Concept and General Conference

“Eating Forward will change your life!!!” Sandi Richard’s website proclaims. 

What is ‘Eating Forward’?

“Eating Forward,” Sandi explains, “means knowing what you are going to have for dinner - at the beginning of the day.”

This is such a (apparently) revolutionary concept she has written a whole set of books devoted to the subject.

The benefits of implementing her “simple step by step proven system” are enticing and include...

·       Dramatically reduce your stress...

·       Improve health and pocketbook...

·       Improve your entire family’s dinner experience...

Are there spiritual parallels?  Why, yes...we have “feast upon the words of Christ...” and the Lord’s statement that he is the “bread of life,” and “living water...” his blessing that those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled with the Holy Ghost...”

But what does this have to do with General Conference?

Conference has been compared to a spiritual feast.  But guess what?  The teachings we receive at Conference time are not a one-meal deal.  Rather they are like the magic food pouch of Lloyd Alexander’s Gurgi.  Providing an unceasing amount of food when necessity requires.  Unlike Gurgi’s pouch which produced food without effort we have to work the Conference talks to get the nourishment...kinda like milking a goat...

‘Eating Forward’ in a General Conference context means knowing how we  are going to apply a gospel principle at the beginning of the day, before we meet the crisis...

Is it possible?  Will doing so reduce our stress and increase our health, wealth and that of our families?

In the Lord’s words, “If any man will do [the Father’s] will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”

And as Alma interpreted it: experiment!

Next up: A plan to help us apply the 'Eating Forward' concept to Conference

God Sends Ten Thousand Truths: Reflections on Capturing Them

Reflections in preparation for General Conference this Saturday and Sunday...

“There are joys which long to be ours,” Henry Ward Beecher told his congregation over one hundred years ago.  “God sends ten thousand truths, which come about us like birds seeking inlet; but we are shut up to them, and so they bring us nothing, but sit and sing a while upon the roof and then fly away.”

Satan, as the Father of lies, loves to close our minds to those truths. 

He offers telestial treasures which--like junk food--are a fast, easy, appealing and addictive alternative to actually making and partaking of a nutritious meal.  But in choosing the telestial alternatives we lose the eternal truths that are sent to give us joy.

Sometimes the meaning of phrases heard in a gospel context may become (seemingly) hackneyed and meaningless.  One such time-worn phrase is “word of God.”  We listen to General Conference to hear and (hopefully) apply the “word of God.”

What does that phrase mean?

Word of God = Heavenly Father says

(‘Heavenly Father’ has the potential to be another hackneyed phrase, unfortunately.  Suffice to say ‘heavenly’ does not refer to a care-bear land of clouds and caring located loftily above us, but to the attributes of God.  Like the ‘ghost’ part of the Holy Spirit’s title, it is part misnomer, part gospel short-hand, a left-over of KJV translation. Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines ‘heavenly’ as supremely excellent or celestial, again referring to divine attributes..)

Wrench myself back from that interesting tangent...

·       Why should we listen to Heavenly Father and follow his counsel as given in General Conference?

·       What tools has he provided that (like vitamins) gives us added energy, power and strength to live his word?  

·       How does Satan (the Adversary) keep us from learning and following Heavenly Father’s loving counsel?

I turn to last Conference to find out.  Here’s a summary of key concepts:

Satan keeps us from listening to Heavenly Father by magnifying:

·       Noise

·       Distractions

·       Emphasises differences between people

·       Information over-load

·       Addictions (limiting of choices)

·       Pride

(Hey--and since he is the Father of lies does that mean instead of harps his angels play lyres?)

Word of God (What Heavenly Father tells us) is...

·       Beautiful

·       Simple

·       Elegant

The Word potentially gives our lives

·       Meaning

·       Purpose

·       Hope

Why ‘potentially’? 

Just like a loaf of new-baked bread has the ‘potential’ to be delicious and nourishing, it won’t be unless we reach out and eat a piece.  Same with gospel truths.  They might smell of heaven, warm and sweet and beautiful...but unless we consciously partake we will miss out on their benefits.

To Store and re-store the Word requires...

·       Obedience

·       Conscious choice and effort

·       Purity

·       Trust

·       Work

·       Caring for our physical needs

·       Integrity

·       Sharing the Word with others

·       Quiet Time with God in sacred spaces, learning of Him through scriptures and listening to him through prayer

·       Investing time in strengthening vital relationships with God, Family, Fellow Men and Ourselves.

·       Inviting the Holy Spirit into our lives and acting on His promptings...

Virtues that empower us to live God’s Word:

·       Faith

·       Repentance

·       Gratitude

·       Humility

·       Charity

·       Knowledge of our history

·       Service (Home/Visiting Teaching, Teaching/Participating in lessons)

Next up: Applying the 'Eating Forward' Concept to General Conference