A Woman at Church

Today I led the 5th Sunday discussion on Being Wise in Managing Our Finances. I did a great job! I thought about how a good portion of our ward members have grown up in the Church and have been taught self-reliance principles their whole lives. We could tell them one more time to have a budget, but what prevents them from implementing the things they already know are good counsel? So we talked about the purposes of increasing faith in Christ, building unity in the family, and increasing commitment to self-reliance principles. And we talked about how finances affect us spiritually and emotionally, about how it matters how we have these conversations and how me make decisions, not just what the decisions are. I put my money where my mouth was and walked in with an outline that was mostly questions, prepared to lead a discussion rather than to lecture. We had a good discussion, and I was able to underscore certain things people said to highlight the most important principles in the materi...

I am glad I was at church today. I was called to repentance in a personal way that I'm sure no one else is aware of. My children avoid being with me and spending time at my house. I understand that it's true that at 14 and 17 I can't control their behavior. They will walk miles rather than follow my rules for driving the van, in 17 degree weather even. I make my peace with that and commit to being the parent I want to be nonetheless. However, I've become a little too laissez-faire of late. I realized today that I need to renew my efforts at inviting, as painful as it can be to have the invitations rejected or simply ignored. The kids were here when I got home from church. I asked them to be home at 8:00 p.m. every night so we can pray together next time they come back to my house in a week. I have no expectation that they will do it. I also think I need to text them more, which I am sure will annoy them in the short run. It's hard to know the right frequency, or...

I attended Sunday school today. It's the 2nd time that Ben has been in attendance at the same meeting since I started going back to the adult classes. I was a little nervous, and decided to delay getting there a bit so I could choose my seating more circumspectly, since last time I ended up sitting directly behind Ben. Our current Sunday school teacher is an interesting guy. He has a mellifluous radio voice and has dabbled in acting. He's smart and likes to research a variety of topics that are of interest to him. For example, today we spent some time hearing about how the young man who ran away naked after others laid hold on his garment could have been Mark, or even Lazarus. If the latter, his cloth may have been the shroud he'd been wrapped in before he arose from the dead. Interesting, no doubt, but hardly significant in helping ward members live the gospel better. You have to stop and do the math on 50 minutes twice per month and then see what's really worth the ...

We had a lovely fast and testimony meeting. The bishop invited us to pray for confirmation of our new stake president's calling. That's easier for me to do than to feel confident in his counselors. It's an opportunity for them to learn from someone genuinely loving and kind, I suppose, and for me to expand my sustaining capacity. My emotions have been close to the surface after my encounter with Ben last night. Nevertheless, I realize that I need to watch my thoughts more closely to draw them back to the things I need to work on myself. Those are the things I can control. We talked about Pr. Eyring's talk "The Power of Sustaining Faith" in Relief Society. There was some good discussion, including a note that sustaining includes providing additional insight or information when we see something we think should be different, as long as we're motivated by love, encouragement, and shared interest in success rather than a spirit of criticism and knowing better...

Stake Conference was pretty good. My friend Cristi planned beautiful musical numbers that came off wonderfully well. I sang "Surely He Has Born Our Griefs" in the stake choir. Not Handel's version, Joseph Martin's. My friend Tiffany spoke last night, lovingly encouraging us to share the gospel. She is a beautiful human being, and a great stake Young Women president. There were many wonderful talks last night. Interestingly, the women who spoke this morning were more focused than many of the men on testifying of Christ. Pr. Hansen was released after more than nine years of service. He has been a good leader to me. I was particularly impressed by Melanie's remarks, her testimony of sacrifice in the service of God. His counselor I struggle with most was called into the new stake presidency. Leadership pro tip: when you're interviewing someone and they are in the middle of a sentence, don't interrupt them to say, "I know." Maybe you know, maybe you...