I had to speak in church today and while preparing my talk I was able to have what I consider a sweet moment with my Heavenly Father. As today was approaching and I was getting down to those last few days to write my talk and doing the hard part of gathering all your thoughts and actually putting them into a form of a talk. I don't mind preparing talks because it a sweet little reminder of how good it feels when you really take time to study but I don't feel like I am very good at expressing myself in a talk form. I feel more comfortable in a classroom setting where people can chime in as needed and you can have discussions. English class was never my strength and I question my knowledge of remembering how to give an appropriate talk. I feel that the good talks usually have stories that help remember what is being taught and sadly I feel that I can't remember much and don't have many stories I am able to share. Its always nice when you are preparing a talk and you see the truths you are studying and going to be teaching and sharing happening right before your own eyes.
I was assigned to give a talk on President Nelson's conference talk titled " Drawing the Powers of Jesus Christ in our lives". I had been listening and studying it as well as other talks on the same subject and trying to figure out how to share all these wonderful things you read without just reading the whole talk for your own talk ha! Heavenly Father allowed me to have a simple experience happen to me which could sound really silly to anyone else. It all starts with me enjoying the yellow dandelions in the big field of grass and then while we are at the park I watch the man use the lawn mower to cut the grass and soon enough the field was now a freshly cut field of green grass. It helped me relate it to the atonement. (Talk will be posted below)
As I was finishing up my talk last night I questioned if dandelions were really considered weeds or not because I didn't want to be relating dandelions to "weeds in our life" if they actually weren't. I start researching..meaning googling "are dandelions weeds". You can find quite a few articles about dandelions-some trying to help you get rid of them and some defending these "flowers" and showing all the benefits they bring. The first thing I read was "Only in the twentieth century did humans decide that the dandelion was a weed. Before the invention of lawns, the golden blossoms and lion-toothed leaves were more likely to be praised as a bounty of food, medicine, and magic." As I go on reading a little more because health related things interest me I also learn how they help with the soil. It stated that "dandelions aerate and condition distressed soil. The long, strong taproots of dandelions push through into dry, cracked, compacted earth, helping to break it up, create channels for air and water to penetrate, and maintain a loose soil structure that allows earthworms to do their work. The plants draw calcium, iron, and potassium from deep in the earth into their leaves. When they die and decompose, they leave behind mineral-rich organic matter that nourishes the soil" In that moment I was like WOW! I had related these dandelion weeds to the hard challenges, trails, temptations, heartache, sadness, pain etc in our lives and just like dandelions help the soil in that moment I knew it was just like those negative challenge can help our SOUL. If you go back and read that again you can relate what I dandelion does to the soil to how trails in our lives help in similar ways. Help dry compacted cracked earth...help hardheartedness. Create channels for air and water to penetrate could be related to many different things. They draw those minerals into their lives just as trials can help draw things into our lives...and so on. But what stood out to me the most was probably the fact that they leave behind mineral-rich ORGANIC matter the nourishes the soil...hard challenges in life can be nourishing the SOUL.
In that moment I realize how Heavenly Father had that all play out for me which was just a neat correlation that again to other people might sound silly. It was getting late but I was on that spiritual high and was enjoying this experience of relating trails to dandelion weeds. I clicked on another article and what I read next just made me literally laugh out loud. It said " The war on dandelions is a war we cannot win. These plants are here to stay. By developing more environmentally sound lawn and yard care practices we can limit the population of dandelions somewhat, but face it, they are now apart of our landscape. And remember, its just a little plant, its not the second coming of Satan. Take a deep breath, relax and enjoy your lawn more. Life's too short to get all bent out of shape by a little plant." Like seriously did this random person who wrote this article know I was relating these to the gospel? Trails, temptations, heartache, sadness, pain etc are here to stay while in this mortal life (war on dandelions is here to stay) but by developing a good foundation built upon christ and drawing on the powers of the Atonement of Jesus Christ (developing more environmentally sound lawn and yard care practices) we can limit them but lets face it we can't avoid them completely. Take a deep breath and enjoy your life more instead of dwelling on the weeds. The end of the article asks "Is Dandelion an unwanted weed or a beautiful healing flower that pops up in your yard every spring".
In that moment I felt that Heavenly Father showed me how he has a little sense of humor and I felt that connection to Him in a different way then I have felt before that even when I tell this story to someone they will not fully be able to understand and experience it and I am grateful for that experience but as I learned when I was studying for my talk without my agency to choose to study this subject I would have never had this opportunity to cherish. :) Something as simple and silly as this was a way I felt closer to my Heavenly Father. When we put ourselves in a situation to feel of His love He is always there reaching out ready to give it to us. We have to act and not just expect to be acted upon.
Here is my talk even though I didn't read it word for word and I added things here and there.
Here is my talk even though I didn't read it word for word and I added things here and there.
Just the other day my kids and I were walking to the park and I passed a big green grass area that had little yellow flowers popping up all over and just couldn’t help but think how beautiful it looked. I made my kids stop and take a picture to remember and soak in that moment. After the picture I kinda laughed to myself thinking its funny how these little yellow flowers popping out all over the grass were actually just dandelion weeds but looked so beautiful to me even though they are considered weeds and usually are unwanted. I realized though it is all about perspective. We can see beauty in the weeds. Since living in Las Vegas the last 5 years it’s a nice pleasant change to see these bright beautiful colors even if they are considered weeds. But lets be honest none of us really want dandelions all over our front yard just like none of us really want a bunch of “weeds” in our lives. These weeds can represent different things for each of us-they can be trials and challenges, temptations, heartache, sadness, pain and any of those negative challenges we have in this mortal life. But We all have to unavoidably deal with these unpleasant weeds that pop up all over in our lives.
As we played at the park over the next little while I watched as a man used this nice ride on lawn mower to cut the grass and when the field was done it was a smooth nice freshly cut field of grass. It might seem silly but in that moment I thought how anyone could have slowly put surely picked every one of those dandelions off that grass if we wanted to but that lawn mower he used made the process so much easier and efficient. Just as in this mortal life we can get through challenges and heartache by ourselves but if we draw on the power of Jesus Christ Atonement it can help ease the burden.
Matthew 11--28 ¶ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
President Nelson said We live in a most difficult dispensation. Challenges, controversies, and complexities swirl around us. He warned us that in our day the adversary would stir up anger in the hearts of men and lead them astray.1
He continues-" Our Heavenly Father never intended that we would deal with the maze of personal problems and social issues on our own.God so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son2 to help us. And His Son, Jesus Christ, gave His life for us. ALL so that we could have access to GODLY POWER—power sufficient to deal with the burdens, obstacles, and temptations of our day.
How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?
He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.
How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?
He sent his Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know.
How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?
He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.
What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?
Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.
What does he ask? Live like his Son.
When you think about teaching someone about the Atonement of Jesus Christ I believe the first things a lot of us teach is that Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we can repent and be cleansed-which is fundamental and foundational to the doctrine of Christ.
But as Elder Bednar said “we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to live in us—not only to direct us but also to empower us. Most of us clearly understand that the Atonement is for sinners. I am not so sure, however, that we know and understand that the Atonement is also for saints—We may mistakenly believe we must make the journey from good to better and become a saint all by ourselves, through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline, and with our obviously limited capacities.
Relating back to those dandelion weeds in the grass…We don’t need to suffer pulling each of those weeds out one by one and then even going with little scissors to cut the grass down to the right size to make it look really nice. We have that lawn mower already paid for and sitting right there waiting for us to use it. But we have to make that choice to actually use it. So how do we choose to Come unto Christ and access that power?
President Nelson says We begin by learning about Him. The more we know about the Savior’s ministry and mission7—the more we understand His doctrine8 and what He did for us—the more we know that He can provide the power that we need for our lives.
How convenient that this year we are studying the saviors life in the New Testament this year individually and with the family.
President nelson also suggested or even challenged to-Study everything Jesus said and did as recorded in the standard works.9 He invites to let the scriptural citations about Jesus Christ in the Topical Guide become your personal core curriculum.10
He did that challenge himself and knew of the benefit of doing it and said “my wife asked me what impact it had on me. I told her, “I am a different man!”
He also urges us to Study the Living Christ. I feel like most of us that are here are striving to become better so we he said he was a different man it makes me curious what impact it can have on us if we take on the challenge if you haven’t done so already.
President nelson says As we invest time in learning about the Savior and His atoning sacrifice, we are drawn to participate in another key element to accessing His power: we choose to have faith in Him and follow Him.
There is nothing easy or automatic about becoming such powerful disciples. Our focus must be riveted on the Savior and His gospel. It is mentally rigorous to strive to look unto Him in every thought.15 But when we do, our doubts and fears flee.16
True disciples of Jesus Christ are willing to stand out, speak up, and be different from the people of the world. They are undaunted, devoted, and courageous.
I have been reminded repeatedly when I am not feeling motivated that the Natural man is an enemy to God who I would say naturally wants the easy way out or to be lazy. As Satan also convinces us Its easier to just turn on the tv or sit on your phone and relax then to get out your scriptures and study. Its easier to not fit into your schedule a temple visit. Its easier to not minister and think about others because we are too busy with our own life. Its easier to sit home on the weekend then to get ready and come to church and in my stage of life take care of crazy kids at church. And to even put that on another level its easier to just show up to church and just have them teach you want you need to learn instead of putting forth your own effort to really study and learn for yourself. Its easier to make excuses or blame others and not be accountable.
I am humbled as I have to be honest and admit that I could do a better job myself and put more effort into these things that are important especially scripture study. ( I don't believe God wants us to feel guilty about it I believe he repeated reminds us because he wants us to feel his love-to use the Atonement each week as we partake in the sacrament and see where we can improve. ) I would like to use the excuse as we just moved and I have young kids and don’t have much time to myself but I feel like any phase of life we can have excuses. One of the quotes I have always love is from
Richard G Scott: Don’t yield to Satan’s lie that you don’t have time to study the scriptures. Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!
We need to reach up in Faith to draw on the powers of Jesus Christ. As we recently studied about the women who had been sick for 12 years who said “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.”
President Nelson said Her physical stretching was symbolic of her spiritual stretching.
He continues-When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours. When the Savior knows you truly want to reach up to Him—when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life—you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do.21
Isn’t it amazing that when we have true desire to make those righteous choices in our lives that God helps us find a way to make it happen and things usually seem to go a little more smoothly. We somehow find that we have more time, we have more patience, we have more love and understanding for others. Even the simple thing like my kids taking naps at the same time and I have that choice between the million things on my to do list or sit down and read my scripture I find myself being able to get more done when I put him first. Some people may call it coincidence but to me I feel my Heavenly Fathers love for me saying I see your effort. Other times I believe we might be tested us a little more to see where our priorities are and no one naps so I don’t get that perfect opportunity but I can choose to still find time and put forth that effort which I think that situation happens more than not for most of us. Our lives are filled with so many distractions and choices and that talk titled “Good better best” keeps coming to my mind over and over again. How we choose to spend our time shows our commitment to the Lord.
Another way president nelson says we can increase the Savior’s power in our lives is when we make sacred covenants and keep those covenants with precision. Our covenants bind us to Him and give us godly power.
He says: Covenant-keeping men and women seek for ways to keep themselves unspotted from the world so there will be nothing blocking their access to the Savior’s power. He gives the example of a couple who instead of listening to the radio chose to listen to conference talks. Think if there is possibly an area in your life that you could be changing into a better choice to help you draw on the savior’s power?
President Nelson says: Faith in Jesus Christ propels us to do things we otherwise would not do. Faith that motivates us to action gives us more access to His power.
You know that feeling when the spirit is so strong and you feel on a high and even your worries start to fade away-maybe you have felt this at a church meeting or activity, or at the temple, or reading your scriptures, or listening to conference this past weekend. That moment when the spirit is testifying to you that what you hear and feel is true and it motivates you. I believe He wants us to feel that way everyday. He wants your worldly worries to not seem as big of a deal so he gives us these tools to use so we can continue to feel his love for us. We have the agency to choose to use them.
Richard G Scott said: Because He respects your agency, Father in Heaven will never force you to pray to Him. But as you exercise that agency and include Him in every aspect of your daily life, your heart will begin to fill with peace. It will help you to manage those challenges from an eternal perspective. He even goes on to say that “Family prayer should be a nonnegotiable priority in your daily life.”
When I brought my 3rdchild home from the hospital I was a little worried about how I was going to handle life. I was told by my mom and a handful of others that adding that 3rdchild can be a challenge. I had received in the mail that same day a wall hanging for my house with the scripture Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” And that scripture is always a humble reminder that I have a choice to access that enabling power of atonement of Jesus Christ.
President Nelson said: There is no amorphous entity called “the Atonement” upon which we may call for succor, healing, forgiveness, or power. Jesus Christ is the source.
It is the Savior who paid the price for our sins and transgressions and blots them out on condition of our repentance. It is the Savior who delivers us from physical and spiritual death.
I believe as you access that power it can help you change your perspective in the challenges in your life. You can look at each of them as an opportunity for learning, growth and development. You can be humbled as you trust in Heavenly Fathers plan. You can start finding beauty in those weeds when you have that power from the atonement of Jesus Christ to help. I actually started researching about dandelions because I questioned if they really were weeds or not and there is quite a few articles that talk about the benefits of dandelions to use medically for us or even being good for the soil. I learned that they aerate and condition distressed soil. When they die and decompose, they leave behind mineral-rich organic matter that nourishes the soil. So is Dandelion an unwanted weed or a beautiful healing flower that pops up in your yard? We don’t always find happiness in those hard challenges but when we focus our life on the savior Jesus Christ we can find lasting joy.
