Tony led a great discussion about Pres. Eyring's talk on adversity. He started out by asking us what our response would be to various difficult scenarios (losing your job, getting injured, losing a loved one, etc.). Tony distinguished between "short term" vs. "long term" challenges. He then posed three main questions for us to consider during the lesson:
1) What are the consequences of adversity in our life? Suggestions included learning to focus on others, increased dependence on God, increased faith in Christ, and being an example for others.
2) How do you deal with adversity? Many people mentioned the importance of getting support from others. Also, it's important to learn what God wants us to learn from the situation.
3) How do we prepare for adversity? We can prepare physically (e.g., keeping the Word of Wisdom, sufficient sleep & exercise), temporally (saving $, avoiding or paying down debt, living within a budget, learning multiple skills), and spiritually (prayer, diligently studying the scriptures).
We ended with DC 121.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Presidency lesson on the temple
In today's lesson with the HPs, I led a discussion about the temple. My aim was to encourage more temple activity from each quorum member (whatever "activity" might be mean to each person).
I started by referencing DC 109:5 where in Joseph Smith's dedicatory prayer at the Kirtland temple he states that the saints' purpose in building this temple, at much sacrifice, was "that the Son of Man might have a place to manifest himself to his people." We then discussed how the Lord can and does manifest Himself to His people through the Holy Spirit, when they are serving in the temple. It was compared to the Israelites in the wilderness to whom the Lord manifested Himself and directed His people via the cloud over the tabernacle both day and night (Ex. 40:34-36).
We also discussed John 2: 13-19 where the Savior strongly chastised those merchants conducting business on the temple grounds and then prophesied of His resurrection. What does this tell us about the holiness and importance of the temple to the Son of God?
We read a passage from Elder Scott's most recent conference talk when he suggested setting a specific goal pertaining to the temple. I handed out 3x5 index cards and asked everyone to take 5 min and write down a personal goal related to the temple to keep in your scriptures. There were no rules about what the goal should or should not contain.
Lastly, I read Pres. Monson's words on the temple in his final address at the April conference. Why did he "admonish" us to attend the temple often? How does being saviors on Mt. Zion help us to better understand the Savior of us all?
I started by referencing DC 109:5 where in Joseph Smith's dedicatory prayer at the Kirtland temple he states that the saints' purpose in building this temple, at much sacrifice, was "that the Son of Man might have a place to manifest himself to his people." We then discussed how the Lord can and does manifest Himself to His people through the Holy Spirit, when they are serving in the temple. It was compared to the Israelites in the wilderness to whom the Lord manifested Himself and directed His people via the cloud over the tabernacle both day and night (Ex. 40:34-36).
We also discussed John 2: 13-19 where the Savior strongly chastised those merchants conducting business on the temple grounds and then prophesied of His resurrection. What does this tell us about the holiness and importance of the temple to the Son of God?
We read a passage from Elder Scott's most recent conference talk when he suggested setting a specific goal pertaining to the temple. I handed out 3x5 index cards and asked everyone to take 5 min and write down a personal goal related to the temple to keep in your scriptures. There were no rules about what the goal should or should not contain.
Lastly, I read Pres. Monson's words on the temple in his final address at the April conference. Why did he "admonish" us to attend the temple often? How does being saviors on Mt. Zion help us to better understand the Savior of us all?
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