6-2-2019 Advice to My Kids
I haven't written much in my blog here, so I thought I'd just maybe use it to pass on things to my kids. That way it will stick around as long as Google does, ha ha. So, listen up kids!
In Sunday School this week we had quite a good discussion about some things Jesus Christ taught near the end of His mortal ministry. It branched off into several related topics which, in turn, prompted other thoughts that I wanted to pass on to my children. I reflected on this talk given by Russel M. Nelson this last April.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2019/04/46nelson?lang=eng
In this talk, just preceding his closing testimony, he states
"My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ invites us to take the covenant path back home to our Heavenly Parents and be with those we love. He invites us to "come, follow me."
"Now, as President of His Church, I plead with you who have distanced yourselves from the Church and with you who have not really sought to know that the Savior's Church has been restored. Do the spiritual work to find out for yourselves, and please do it now. Time is running out."
Now, most of you haven't distanced yourselves from the church, but the phrase "Time if running out" keeps sticking to my mind like my grandma used to say mashed potatoes would stick to my ribs. These are 'perilous times' as any as spoken of in the Bible. I think it's time to be making ourselves sure in our spiritual footing as well as other things. My concerns for all of you are in several areas. As I pass some of the thoughts this prompts I am not trying to guilt any of you or point a finger at anyone or anything like that. I just want to bring up a couple of areas I hope you are all being careful of:
1) The "Abomination of Desolation" that the Savior talked about being rampant in our day is, in my opinion, all around us. It may be manifest in some physical, one-time event that people are looking for, but I feel it is more reflected in the wickedness in high places, in secret combinations, in the satanic doctrines and practices (including unnecessary abortions), in the attitude of entitlement (Satan's plan has always used the ruese of 'excellence without effort'), in the spirit of anger and the increase in doubt and criticism we see against the church and all that is good, and so many of the destructive attitudes that are so characteristic of our times. Think of the meaning of the words: "abomination" is corruption; "desolation" is destruction. The term literally means 'corruption for the sake of destruction'.
We have been sent here at this time for a reason. Yes, we all make mistakes and have our learning curves. That's part of the program. That's what the atonement is all about...to make that learning from ours and others mistakes beneficial instead of something to beat ourselves up about. But we also have been sent here to save the Earth from this "abomination of desolation". That's why you went on missions. That's why you are teaching your kids right from wrong....or eventually will. Furthermore, all of you who have been to the temple have covenanted to build God's Kingdom.
Building God's Kingdom doesn't mean anything radical or reactionary or that we go on a march. What it does mean is that we do what we can, starting with ourselves and our families, to stay true to the Gospel and the Church even when we can't see the end or the specific reasons. That's called "faith". It means that we build others up in their faith. It means that we encourage decency by example as well as by what we say. It means we aren't ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ or of the people to whom He has given His keys, even when we think they make mistakes or we can't understand their decisions from moment to moment. Yes, we follow intelligently rather than by blind faith, but we stay true through our doubts and, because of that covenant we have made, we don't take opportunities to join 'The Angry' when we aren't quite certain about something. It's OK to question, that's how we learn. But to follow every question to the point of doubt and criticism, to check in with those who are continually offended to make sure we don't displease them with our faithfulness, or to make sure the angry aren't thinking we're stupid; these are not exercising the faith that brings about the promise of safety for ourselves and our families. And those promises are real and needed.
But being "faithful" has nothing to do with 'pointing fingers'. It's a good thing to learn from watching others and avoiding pitfalls, but it serves no Godly purpose to look for a fight. Remember how in the Book of Mormon those who came to blows, supposedly sticking up for the Church, had their names 'blotted out' right along with the unfaithful. It is not our calling to be 'judge, jury and exicutioner' for those who are doing wrong. We can hold to our faith without being self-righteous. We can lovingly encourage and admonish when the opportunity presents itself or when we actually have a God-given stewardship to do so. We can be kind and friendly to everyone, including those with whom we disagree. These are the things that open doors of acceptance for the truth and, if necessary, repentence...which we all need.
Like someone brought up in our class today; we can sit around in Sunday School and agree on doctrine all we want, but if we want to have God with us and bring people to Him, away from the Abomination of Desolation, we need to be doing...that's DO-ing... what He asks; serving, blessing and comforting our fellow travellers on this earth. "Fill your minds with truth. Fill your hearts with love. Fill your lives with service."
2) The prophets have long encouraged us, rather strongly, to get 'our houses in order'. This is no easy task and I'm not by any means perfect in it. It takes time and, like in many aspects of good living, we have been cautioned from 'running faster than we have strength'. But from what I've seen and think we all could benefit very much from the council to work to be free of debt as soon as we can and to regularly set aside funds for a 'rainy day'.
There are, of course, some good reasons to be in debt, such as for a house. But I strongly encourage you to do what you can to avoid any unnecessary debt and get out of any you are in as soon as you possibly can. Make a plan, stick to it, set aside funds for it, and pay your debts off. Be freeeeee! It makes things so much easier when other emergencies and financial needs arise, which they will, when you are not in debt. Cars will break down, fridges will stop working, you will need stitches, etc. etc. etc. Even when a legitiment and worthwhile want comes along, it's much more possible to obtain it when you don't have overwhelming debt.
With this in mind it only makes sense to regularly contribute to a solid savings account (along with a retirement account and such) and build it up as much as you can. I can't tell you how many times your Mom and I were able to meet emergencies because we had a savings account and thus avoided financial disaster. Of course, the blessings of paying a full tithing helped with that. But we were always able to handle what came along...sometimes miraculously.
Two other things that helped us were:
a) not buying stuff we didn't REALLY need unless we had plenty of money for it. We didn't always have the nicest stuff, but we had good stuff that we had waited to buy until we saved up for it. That didn't kill any of us...did it?
b) doing our best to keep our income ahead of our expenses. Sometimes that meant me working an extra job in the summers or during Christmas break. I'm sure some of you remember me taking lots of classes during the summers and after work to earn my Masters' degree and beyond. It resulted in a bigger paycheck, but meant staying up until the wee hours in the morning doing homework and lots of stress. Yaa, I've been there. Maybe you weren't aware of this but Mom was taking steps to start a career of sorts at the time she passed away, just to help us finally get out of debt! (She felt OK about it because y'all were mostly raised and she wanted to really increase and use her talents). It just takes a little self discipline and takes some time, but it's worth it. Better to be working at getting a little ahead than spending yourself into a hole.
c) when we did buy stuff, we bought stuff that was sturdy, reliable, and actually benefitted us...NOTHING to keep up with the Joneses or that was just "cute" or that would be set aside after a short time. We THOUGHT THROUGH every purchase (watch the following):
https://vimeo.com/41152287?ref=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR2pwfwq2-YRZ_we9TvJz066luk7XdzkUf3pYAvKuGeWs_xH0TRgjAv-Zfg
Please know, again, that I am not trying to guilt any of you or call anyone out or anything like that. I just want to point out a couple of things I want you all to be careful of. I am very proud of all of you. With your great talents and intelligences you have done, are doing, and, I have no doubt, will continue to do so much good. I am so proud of you. I feel like I'm the lukiest man in the world to have you as children. You really are amazing and I honestly can't understand where you get it from. I love you all very much.
-Dad
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