I haven't read the whole article yet to comment on it, but wanted to write and say how cool Sarah and I think this is. We're excited to share and read your ideas as well.
"When young people can acquire the skills, the techniques, and the knowledge of these times, and along with it have a spiritual commitment and a solid faith and cleanliness of life, there is nothing that you can't achieve; nothing in righteousness or in reason."
This is a powerful promise to us and our youth.
2. I also thought the following from Elder Bednar was interesting:
"A student can memorize wonderfully and perform well on exams and ultimately know very little or nothing at all.".
This is all to true. The past month I've been studying for the PMP exam and took a course to help me prepare. Many of the students in the class just wanted to know the minimum so they could pass the exam. During the course I realized that there are many principles that I could apply to my work projects.
3. "Now also consider the word "strength" as a descriptive of the "mind".
This made alot of sense to me; if we are to receive insight and revelation we need a strong mind to study the gospel, the scriptures, and begin to think like our Heavenly Father.
This will be kind of short and I'll have to write again and share more later (5 am comes early). While reading about sacrifice I was reminded of a cool principle I've read about and used a lot recently. It was suggested that we can surrender feelings - out of balance emotions - to the Lord. It is as simple as saying a short prayer recognizing the feelings, handing them over, and saying amen. The result is almost instantaneous. To me the most amazing part of this is the way other people, not just myself, feel the difference. I know that Mary and Evelyn feel it at home right away.
I guess this could be called sacrifice as it's giving up something... but it's so easy it almost doesn't seem fair. I'm grateful that it does work and know that it does because of the Atonement. I can hand over my imperfections and be changed from a good person to a better person.
Hope some of this made sense. I have more I'll try to share soon.
I had often asked myself how these differed. I thought of sacrifice as being willing to give the first fruits of our efforts or to give a tithe. I then supposed that perhaps consecration was a willingness to give more, even all we possess when required. Elder Bednar points out that sacrifice is a) motivated by faith & hope and b) is willingness to give all for the gospel of Christ. Thus sacrifice is not a grudging gift. It is to come from the heart filled with faith and hope. This definition elevates sacrifice beyond compliance and beyond giving just a modicum of what we have. So what more could consecration be? Consecration is to make or declare sacred. I like emphasizing the word "make" and the thought of acting to become. Elder Bednar uses the word developing. These ideas really give consecration an identity distinct from sacrifice. I pledge to not only give all that I possess, but also pledge to develop or become all that I can through a life dedicated to God and His work. As we ponder the concept of consecration, note that the word consecrate comes from the Latin "con" (together) and "sacer" (sacred). We do not become sacred or Christlike alone. It requires oneness. That is, a togetherness with Christ and a togetherness with those we serve. We become perfect "in Christ" (Moroni 10:32-33) through His grace, His divine help and strength. Receipt of grace is not just an act of opening ourselves to receive his help. It requires service to others, that is, being the means of sharing His grace with others. This three-way togetherness is clearly stated in D&C 93:12-13. We receive grace as we share grace. In so doing we continue from one grace to another grace until we receive a fulness. Thus we find that Christ who was sent into the world also sent his saints into the world that they too might have a fullness of his joy. (See John 17:13-18). Then we are taught a key to helping those we serve. We must be one, even as Christ and the Father are one in each other, that those we teach may come to believe that Christ was sent by the Father (John 17:21). To conclude for now, we note that consecration is a pledge to become all that we can as we work to build up Zion. And it is through Christ and our united service to those around us that we together become sacred.
I really liked the distinction between diligence and competence. It is something I've really come to realized recently with school. I've told myself for so long that I'm not a great student with regards to being able to focus on studying for a long time and learning things from a book, and because of that I passed all of my exams, but I don't think I took the time to really make it stick... having a true competence in those things. In other words, I've realized that I put my head down and barrelled my way through with diligence. What I didn't do was achieve real competency in some of the things I should have, and am having to go back and learn those things again. So often I focus on just getting though things without really thinking "what can I take from this for the future?".
Diligence and competence help us in the midst of stuggles as well. When I keep my head up, being aware of what I am doing while struggling though something instead of just putting my head down and plowing though I gain a stronger realization of what I am doing, where I am, and can better appreciate what I've done afterwards.
I remember a time last year when I ran for 11 miles, most of which was along the coast. I was training for a half marathon and was so focused on my time, how I felt and the road right ahead of me. It wasn't until I was done that I realized I had just spent about an hour running along the beautiful coast of Maine and didn't take any time to appreciate it while I was running.
So... I've always focused on diligence, but am understanding more and more how important it is to partner that with competence to gain a true understanding and testimony of the things we experience.
Hope this makes sense. Now on to the next article...
5 comments:
I haven't read the whole article yet to comment on it, but wanted to write and say how cool Sarah and I think this is. We're excited to share and read your ideas as well.
David's thought's on the article:
1. I really liked the quote by Elder Evans:
"When young people can acquire the skills, the techniques, and the knowledge of these times, and along with it have a spiritual commitment and a solid faith and cleanliness of life, there is nothing that you can't achieve; nothing in righteousness or in reason."
This is a powerful promise to us and our youth.
2. I also thought the following from Elder Bednar was interesting:
"A student can memorize wonderfully and perform well on exams and ultimately know very little or nothing at all.".
This is all to true. The past month I've been studying for the PMP exam and took a course to help me prepare. Many of the students in the class just wanted to know the minimum so they could pass the exam. During the course I realized that there are many principles that I could apply to my work projects.
3. "Now also consider the word "strength" as a descriptive of the "mind".
This made alot of sense to me; if we are to receive insight and revelation we need a strong mind to study the gospel, the scriptures, and begin to think like our Heavenly Father.
This will be kind of short and I'll have to write
again and share more later (5 am comes early). While reading about
sacrifice I was reminded of a cool principle I've read about and used a
lot recently. It was suggested that we can surrender feelings - out of
balance emotions - to the Lord. It is as simple as saying a short prayer
recognizing the feelings, handing them over, and saying amen. The result
is almost instantaneous. To me the most amazing part of this is the way
other people, not just myself, feel the difference. I know that Mary and
Evelyn feel it at home right away.
I guess this could be called sacrifice as it's giving up something...
but it's so easy it almost doesn't seem fair. I'm grateful that it does
work and know that it does because of the Atonement. I can hand over my
imperfections and be changed from a good person to a better person.
Hope some of this made sense. I have more I'll try to share soon.
Distinguishing sacrifice from consecration.
I had often asked myself how these differed. I thought of sacrifice as being willing to give the first fruits of our efforts or to give a tithe. I then supposed that perhaps consecration was a willingness to give more, even all we possess when required.
Elder Bednar points out that sacrifice is a) motivated by faith & hope and b) is willingness to give all for the gospel of Christ. Thus sacrifice is not a grudging gift. It is to come from the heart filled with faith and hope. This definition elevates sacrifice beyond compliance and beyond giving just a modicum of what we have. So what more could consecration be?
Consecration is to make or declare sacred. I like emphasizing the word "make" and the thought of acting to become. Elder Bednar uses the word developing. These ideas really give consecration an identity distinct from sacrifice. I pledge to not only give all that I possess, but also pledge to develop or become all that I can through a life dedicated to God and His work.
As we ponder the concept of consecration, note that the word consecrate comes from the Latin "con" (together) and "sacer" (sacred). We do not become sacred or Christlike alone. It requires oneness. That is, a togetherness with Christ and a togetherness with those we serve. We become perfect "in Christ" (Moroni 10:32-33) through His grace, His divine help and strength. Receipt of grace is not just an act of opening ourselves to receive his help. It requires service to others, that is, being the means of sharing His grace with others. This three-way togetherness is clearly stated in D&C 93:12-13. We receive grace as we share grace. In so doing we continue from one grace to another grace until we receive a fulness.
Thus we find that Christ who was sent into the world also sent his saints into the world that they too might have a fullness of his joy. (See John 17:13-18). Then we are taught a key to helping those we serve. We must be one, even as Christ and the Father are one in each other, that those we teach may come to believe that Christ was sent by the Father (John 17:21).
To conclude for now, we note that consecration is a pledge to become all that we can as we work to build up Zion. And it is through Christ and our united service to those around us that we together become sacred.
I really liked the distinction between diligence and competence. It is something I've really come to realized recently with school. I've told myself for so long that I'm not a great student with regards to being able to focus on studying for a long time and learning things from a book, and because of that I passed all of my exams, but I don't think I took the time to really make it stick... having a true competence in those things. In other words, I've realized that I put my head down and barrelled my way through with diligence. What I didn't do was achieve real competency in some of the things I should have, and am having to go back and learn those things again. So often I focus on just getting though things without really thinking "what can I take from this for the future?".
Diligence and competence help us in the midst of stuggles as well. When I keep my head up, being aware of what I am doing while struggling though something instead of just putting my head down and plowing though I gain a stronger realization of what I am doing, where I am, and can better appreciate what I've done afterwards.
I remember a time last year when I ran for 11 miles, most of which was along the coast. I was training for a half marathon and was so focused on my time, how I felt and the road right ahead of me. It wasn't until I was done that I realized I had just spent about an hour running along the beautiful coast of Maine and didn't take any time to appreciate it while I was running.
So... I've always focused on diligence, but am understanding more and more how important it is to partner that with competence to gain a true understanding and testimony of the things we experience.
Hope this makes sense. Now on to the next article...
Post a Comment