Todd led our discussion in priesthood meeting this morning and looked at the lesson from three different angles as a way to think about the lessons we can learn:
1. The nature and circumstances of the council in Heaven- Lucifer's plan was flawed and a lie (it couldn't have worked), yet 1/3 of our spiritual brothers & sisters went along with it. Are there aspects of our spirit or character that, if fed, could lead us to make wrong decisions? How do we be sure we are "starving" these aspects of our character and feeding the good aspects of it?
2. The attributes of Jehovah that drew us to the Father's plan in the pre-mortal existence & should draw us to Him in this life- He is loving, meek, lowly, perfect, a purveyor of truth. He is our advocate with the Father. Pres. Wood compared Him to an attorney that is meek and lowly! Todd pointed out the many dichotomies the Savior presents us with- He is both God & a man, He is meek but a fierce advocate of ours, He is a King and yet He is a friend to us.
3. Jehovah said to the Father "Here am I; send me."- Do we listen for the Spirit to tell us when the Father needs us to do something and then do we respond "here am I; send me"? Or, "here am I; I'll do it."
Sunday, February 14, 2010
EQ/HP Survey Results & Discussion
As you probably know, an anonymous survey was conducted a couple of weeks ago with the members of the elders quorum and high priests group in our ward. The response rate was 75%. Mark Johnson and Jonathan Clark discussed the results of the survey last week.
The survey indicated that many of us are doing well on individual fundamental activities such as daily prayer, daily scripture study, family prayer, and family home evening. However, it showed that very few of us are doing well at most or all of these things. Mark & Jonathan suggested that by increasing our efforts on these fundamental activities of the gospel that even greater things can happen in our ward and in our individual families. For example, if we are doing these things better, we will be able to testify of their power to the families we hometeach and inspire them to do better, too.
Ben Wannamaker likened this to the findings in a report about the phenomenal success of the Apple stores. The study found that many other retail stores do certain individual, important things very well. But, unlike most of these other stores, the Apple stores seem to do ALL of these important things well. There appears to be some "magic" that comes from putting all of these important things together.
It was suggested that we try not to tackle a lot of things at once in our pursuit of improvement in these gospel fundamentals. Make a plan and prioritize. Jonathan talked about the metaphor of the rice and ping-pong balls. He recalled as a young man watching some missionaries bring in a glass container with rice in it and try to fit a bunch of ping-pong balls in it. No matter what they did, they could not get all of the balls to fit. Then, they dumped out the rice and put the balls in first. They all fit. Then, the rice was dumped in and it still fit in the container, too! The lesson was on prioritization: putting the right things first in our life.
Mark & Jonathan referenced Elder Oaks' talk from the Oct. 2000 General Conference, titled "The Challenge to Become". Elder Oaks distinguished testimony and conversion. To testify, he said, "is to know and declare. The gospel challenges us to be 'converted', which requires us to do and become." We need to DO and thereby BECOME better bearers of the priesthood, better husbands & fathers, better friends, better servants of God.
Mark ended the discussion by asking us what it would be like if we improved markedly in these fundamental areas. What if, for example, 75% of us were doing all of the above activities regularly (vs. the current 1/3)? What if 2/3 or 3/4 of us were attending the temple regularly (instead of the current 30-40% of elders)? How would things change? Would our countenances change? Would more miracles occur in our families? Would we grow in charity and be more effective hometeachers? Would more investigators be coming to our ward? Would we FEEL any different?
The survey indicated that many of us are doing well on individual fundamental activities such as daily prayer, daily scripture study, family prayer, and family home evening. However, it showed that very few of us are doing well at most or all of these things. Mark & Jonathan suggested that by increasing our efforts on these fundamental activities of the gospel that even greater things can happen in our ward and in our individual families. For example, if we are doing these things better, we will be able to testify of their power to the families we hometeach and inspire them to do better, too.
Ben Wannamaker likened this to the findings in a report about the phenomenal success of the Apple stores. The study found that many other retail stores do certain individual, important things very well. But, unlike most of these other stores, the Apple stores seem to do ALL of these important things well. There appears to be some "magic" that comes from putting all of these important things together.
It was suggested that we try not to tackle a lot of things at once in our pursuit of improvement in these gospel fundamentals. Make a plan and prioritize. Jonathan talked about the metaphor of the rice and ping-pong balls. He recalled as a young man watching some missionaries bring in a glass container with rice in it and try to fit a bunch of ping-pong balls in it. No matter what they did, they could not get all of the balls to fit. Then, they dumped out the rice and put the balls in first. They all fit. Then, the rice was dumped in and it still fit in the container, too! The lesson was on prioritization: putting the right things first in our life.
Mark & Jonathan referenced Elder Oaks' talk from the Oct. 2000 General Conference, titled "The Challenge to Become". Elder Oaks distinguished testimony and conversion. To testify, he said, "is to know and declare. The gospel challenges us to be 'converted', which requires us to do and become." We need to DO and thereby BECOME better bearers of the priesthood, better husbands & fathers, better friends, better servants of God.
Mark ended the discussion by asking us what it would be like if we improved markedly in these fundamental areas. What if, for example, 75% of us were doing all of the above activities regularly (vs. the current 1/3)? What if 2/3 or 3/4 of us were attending the temple regularly (instead of the current 30-40% of elders)? How would things change? Would our countenances change? Would more miracles occur in our families? Would we grow in charity and be more effective hometeachers? Would more investigators be coming to our ward? Would we FEEL any different?
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