The jigsaw puzzle that is General Conference

What did you get out of Conference? 

 I was reminded that Conference falls under the umbrella “revelation from God”--therefore the rules President Uchtdorf talked about apply—

“[revelation]... often comes in the form of a puzzle—one piece at a time. Each individual piece may not be easily recognizable by itself; it may not be clear how it relates to the whole. Each piece helps us to see the big picture a little more clearly. Eventually, after enough pieces have been put together, we recognize the grand beauty of [the gospel].”

Joy, happiness and peace--this is the ultimate goal of a life spent building up the kingdom of God, Conference reminds us..  But like all goals how to do that can seem daunting.  So the Lord gives us this beautiful concert of Conference talks—each speaker sounding a bit of a different theme or variation on a theme.  Usually we examine the talks one by one—and miss the harmony of the whole! 

So I went to the Conference Ensign looking for puzzle pieces—then I tried to match them up and see what ‘big picture’ they revealed.  Some of the 'pieces' are so intergrated they are like the chicken and the egg--determining which came first is difficult! Perhaps because the Lord's ways is like making candles the candle gets dipped and redipped in the wax adding layers of the same thing and becomine stronger thereby--the Lord's principles of growth are such that we apply and reapply them... round and round adding grace for grace and strength to strength...

Here is what I found (themes of Conference organized in approx. order)...

1.     Desire-- “to wish for the possession or enjoyment of...” (1828 Dictionary)

Leads to

2.     Faith—“belief and trust in and loyalty to God”

See also “Shall He Find Faith on the Earth?” by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Leads to

3.     Revelation of Truth—comes in jigsaw pieces

Leads to

4.     Testimony—“What will protect you from the sin and evil around you? I maintain that a strong testimony of our Savior and of His gospel will help see you through to safety.” (Pres. Thomas S. Monson)

Leads to

5.     Covenants (sacrament)—“Always have His Spirit”...” which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer.” (Moroni 8:26)

Leads to

6.     Hope—“Our hope in the Atonement empowers us with eternal perspective”—including  regarding future and trials

Leads to

7.     Prayer—Receive Divine Chastening & Guidance

Leads to

8.     Be Like Christ—cultivate His character traits

Leads to

9.     Receive blessings by keeping commandments--specifically: obedience, tithing, prayer, nourishing testimony, partaking of sacrament, honouring Sabbath and temple attendance...

Leads to

10. Love God by loving others

“We build...unity and share our unique colors through benevolence: individual acts of kindness.” (Mary N. Cook)

a.     Marriages

b.    Families

c.     Church and Community

d.     Missionary Work

e.     Temple Work

Leads to

11. Rejoice

Express...love and gratitude often. That will make life far richer and more pleasant and purposeful. (Elder Richard G. Scott)

[Do not allow] worldly anchors to keep us away from the abundant joy that comes from service... partake of the feast of happiness, peace, and joy that God grants so bountifully...” (Pres. Uchtdorf)

                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So what do I gain from this big picture?  A treasure map, an (ideal) pattern to get from where I am to where I want to be.  For me this Conference seen in this manner outlines the whole plan of salvation.  Every Conference does that, I guess--—with varying emphasis.

It is eye-opening to overlay the spiritual lives of scriptural figures over this criteria and see how wonderously they match!

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

Gratitude: Duty or Blessing? (Part 1)

It seems to me," C.S. Lewis mused, "that we often, almost sulkily, reject the good that God offers us because, at the moment, we expected some other good…God shows us a facet of glory and we refuse to look at it because we are still looking for the old one...” (Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer)

  

The proverbial solution, of course, is to remember the good God has given us—to count our blessings and express gratitude for them.

"When sorrow and failure come to us," William George Jordan reminds us, "we regard them as misdirected packages that should be delivered elsewhere." Counting our blessings at such times can seem an onerous duty rather then a divine gift.  But is expressing gratitude just a duty, one of many commands of God?

“Health and happiness are what our Father in Heaven wants for us,” Harold B. Lee reminds us,  “and that is why He has given us commandments to keep, and not for any other reason.”

And Thomas S. Monson, in his keynote address “The Divine Gift of Gratitude,” assures us: “Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love.”

Health and Happiness…feeling God’s Love…what lovely gifts…but how is gratitude a path to them?

M. J. Ryan offers one explanation: “Gratitude creates happiness because it makes us feel full, complete; gratitude is the realization that we have everything we need, at least at the moment.” (Attitudes of Gratitude)

So how do we cultrivate gratitude when those "misdirected" packages arrive in our lives? After all, the post office of heaven does not accept returns.

"A prayerful life ,” Thomas S. Monson assures us, “is the key to possessing gratitude.”

As Shakespeare’s Henry VI implored:

“O Lord, that lends me life,

 Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!”