Cut to the Very Center

Today in fast and testimony meeting I was thinking about my parenting in the past several weeks. I have been in lecture mode, and I was reflecting on ways I could teach my children (specifically my teenagers) without lectures. It is one of my life goals to raise my children, especially my teens, to be self-reflective, self-motivated, and hard working. I try to lead by example, but sometime I am afraid that my lectures are obscuring my example, and they become discouraged or disinterested in growth.

Then I was thinking about how as parents we spend a lot of time helping our children with course correction, and how they may not always appreciate that at this time in their lives. I know that I probably didn't appreciate the helpful criticism of my parents when I was a teen.

But now that I am in the position of parent I actually crave helpful criticism. It would be so helpful to have people in my life speak out and point out those areas in which I can improve. In the first book of Nephi chapter 16, Nephi admits that he has been lecturing his siblings, and that "the guilty take the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center." Every day I feel the need to be cut to my very center. I am not a finished product - far from it - and I need all the cutting down I can get.

I am in a stage of life where the people who speak truth to me are typically speaking truth in general terms and to a large group of people, and not specifically directed at me. It is up to me to reflect on my own life and personality and allow words of truth to cut me "to the very center". This takes a lot of humility, and an enormous ability to rely on and hear the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Both are areas of life that I struggle with and work on every day.

Perhaps as I work to teach my children about self reflection, self motivation, and hard work, I can use examples from my own life, and allow them to consider if the truth is cutting them to the very center, causing them the discomfort of growth. Then we can learn together, and I can focus on my own personal growth more than lecturing my teenagers.

What do you use as a source of truth to help refine you and cut you to the very center? If you have teens (or if you were a teen) what strategies helped you teach (or learn) self-reflection, self-motivation and hard work?

GCBC Week 4: "We Are Daughters of our Heavenly Father"

This is a picture of me and my sister, Christy, when we were young (5 and 7?) When I turned twelve and entered the Young Women program at Church I couldn't wait for my sister to join me. I remember helping her memorize the Young Women theme and the excitement I felt that she was going to learn all the things I had been learning - which obviously wasn't much in just two years.

I knew of my divinity as a daughter of God long before I entered the Young Women program, but the fellowship of the other young women in the ward and my leaders helped solidify that knowledge.

I know a lot of young women were sad to see Sister Dalton go - probably similarly to when Sister Beck was released last year. I'm not sure how Sister Dalton got through her talk, knowing she would be released in the next session.

What were your thoughts about Sister Dalton's talk?

We are Daughters of our Heavenly Father - Sister Elaine S. Dalton

If you are new to General Conference Book Club, click here to find out more. The basic idea is to study one General Conference talk each week between April conference and October conference, and to chat about the talk here in the comment section. You can also link up (using the linky tool below) to your own blog post about this talk. The link up will be open until I post the next week's talk, but if you study this talk later and missed the link up, feel free to post your link in the comment section.

Arise–2012 Mutual Theme

I was looking for an arrangement of Love is Spoken Here for our Youth to sing in sacrament meeting (I’m the choir director in our ward and I’m trying to get more people involved in the music in the ward) and thought “I wonder if there is a song for the Mutual Theme for this year.”

Sure enough, there is! I don’t think it’s appropriate for sacrament meeting – more for a fireside or youth activity – so we won’t be using it to sing in sacrament meeting, but it was really a neat video, so I had to share. I hope you enjoy it. The tune is really catchy, and the young man’s voice is really beautiful (or handsome? not sure if that rule applies for voices…). If you have youth in your family you should download the song for them. You can download it free here. I am going to download it for myself. I love the seminary video soundtracks. Some of those songs are my favorite to listen to. This one is just as inspiring. I hope you will listen and enjoy and share!

What are your favorite songs for youth? Do you have youth in your home? Do they listen to the seminary music?