I'm grateful for this opportunity to prepare for this talk. I've had a lot of time to think about this talk and I am grateful that I had that time to before it.
My message is from a talk in the February Ensign titled: "The Power of Early Preparation" by Ronald Bartholomew.
*He starts off by telling the story of his family's "Early Morning Family Tradition" of scripture study.
*They held scripture study every morning at 5:00 am
*When he was in high school, he showed his lack of appreciation by putting his blanket over his head, lie on his pillow, and snore in protest. BUT HIS PARENTS PERSEVERED!!
*As a full-time missionary, he realized how valuable his parents' early morning prayer and scripture study was.
*His first Sunday in Korea, he was asked to give a talk and he realized that he might not know much Korean - he knew many lessons from the scriptures.
Over the years, I’ve learned that the example my parents set for me as they prepared me for my mission and adulthood was something I could implement in the lives of my own children. In fact, preparing our children is something we as parents must do. President Henry B. Eyring pointed out why:
“We will need to have developed and nurtured faith in Jesus Christ long before Satan hits us, as he will, with doubts and appeals to our carnal desires and with lying voices saying that good is bad and that there is no sin. Those spiritual storms are already raging. We can expect that they will worsen until the Savior returns.
*After receiving this assignment to speak in sacrament, our family read Alma 49 as a part of scripture study. I thought this chapter in the Book of Mormon was perfect and had a great lesson about preparation.
*This took place after Capt. Moroni raised the title of liberty
*After Amalickiah became the king of the Lamanities through deceitful means.
*ALMA 49:2 - It talks about how Moroni had re-built the city of Ammonihah to withstand the armies of the Lamanites. Moroni took the time to prepare for the city to defend the Nephites within it's borders against the war with the Lamanites.
*ALMA 49:1 - "And now it came to pass in the eleventh month of the nineteenth year, on the tenth day of the month, the armies of the Lamanites were seen approaching towards the land of Ammonihah. "
*ALMA 49:8 - The Nephites prepared for the war through Moroni's instruction. We should prepare for the war against Satan and follow the instructions given to us through our prophets. They have counseled with us many time to have early morning scripture study and teaching our families the gospel. When our time comes - we can defeat Satan.
*The Lamanites decided to attack the City of Noah
*ALMA 49:14 - If we prepare today, we can prepare our families and homes against the war with Satan. We can have a strong hoe if we follow the counsel of our prophets. Not matter where are home are spiritually, we should prepare.
*John Byetheway called this the Boy Scout Chapter - "Be Prepared"
Elder Erying said "Learning to start early and to be steady are the keys to spiritual preparation. Procrastination and inconsistency are its mortal enemies.”
As President Eyring explained, because the current storms will only increase, our current level of preparation also needs to increase. The secret to our success is to be consistent and to start early.“However much faith to obey God we now have, we will need to strengthen it continually and keep it refreshed constantly. We can do that by deciding now to be more quick to obey and more determined to endure.
Sometimes it is difficult to incorporate the practices of personal and family prayer, scripture study, and temple attendance into our busy daily lives. That is why it is important to plan frequently how we are going to accomplish these goals. As a friend of mine once mused, “If I were the devil, I don’t think I could get to Latter-day Saints with any of the big sins. I think I would just keep them busy.”
*We need to set goals to do the important things - evaluate where we are spiritually and prepare often.
We need to make sure we don’t allow anything to interfere with our divine duties to prepare ourselves and our children early and consistently"
"Elder M. Russell Ballard said that we must pause and take a careful inventory to determine how well our families are doing spiritually. Eternity is now, not a vague, distant future. We prepare each day, right now, for eternal life. Though we may be necessarily preparing our youth for short-term goals, we cannot allow those things to distract us from our larger eternal goals. We need to start early to establish regular patterns of gospel living."
President Marion G. Romney said if we prayerfully and regularly read the Book of Mormon in our homes and with our children, “the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. … Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives.”3 I have seen these changes occur slowly and incrementally over many years of serious and consistent personal and family study. These blessings are not always realized in their fulness immediately. - This change takes time.
What Can They Have to Say
I am a child of the modern age,
I am a son of the present hour.
What can these words from so long ago
Mean to me now?
What can they have to say to me?
We live so differently today.
What can they have to offer me?
They lived so far from me;
So many years away.
What can they have to say?
We are the prophets, years gone by.
We spent our days, we gave our lives
For a record which was written not for us,
But for you. And every word is true.
Each word chosen prayerfully,
Laid down carefully in its place
For here, from so far away,
We have seen your day
And we pray;
Hear what we have to say!
"The first evening of the three-day youth conference culminated with a reenactment of Lehi’s dream. It was dark, so the leaders were all busy helping the youth find and hold onto an iron rod that led them to a tree representing the tree of life, which was illuminated in a clearing on the top of a large hill. As the youth approached the tree, my parents, acting as Lehi and Sariah, picked glowing “fruit” hanging from this tree and distributed it to them. It just so happened that I was the last person to arrive at the tree. As I approached the tree after a long and exhausting day, I had a sudden epiphany when I considered that the two people representing Lehi and Sariah were in fact my own parents. The scene took on special significance when my father reached up and pulled some of the fruit from the tree and handed it to me. Then I understood something clearly: as a young man I hadn’t received my knowledge of the gospel from someone else—I had received it from my father and mother—one day at a time, one morning at a time, amidst my grumbling and moaning and complaining. It occurred to me that in Lehi’s dream, the Lord hadn’t come down and personally called Nephi to the tree—He did so through Nephi’s father, Lehi—and for me, it was my parents.
As we strive to prepare ourselves and our youth spiritually, we can have a tremendous impact—even though we may not readily be aware of it. Thus, we must be patient. Rearing children in the gospel is a process, not an event. The secret is to start early, be consistent, plan for life’s demands, focus on eternal truths, and study the gospel—especially the Book of Mormon. Through our efforts, trusting in the Savior’s grace to compensate for our weaknesses, we can succeed. And through these efforts, we can find peace in our lives and joy with our children."
After visiting the AMOCOCO, we received free tickets to see a museum at the Arts Center. After the exhibit, the kids were given ribbons to tie around the place. We really enjoyed walking around Mesa Arts Center, especially when the kids found the water features.
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