Reading Nov 23-27 - Happy Thanksgiving!

"Being Good Citizens"
I love this topic. The readings of late seem to be shorter so I haven't been splitting them up into days. Perhaps I'll start doing that again at the beginning of the year with the Old Testament (oohhhh!).

Doctrine and Covenants 58:21–22, 26–28; 98:4–10; 134; Articles of Faith 1:12; Our Heritage,pages 133–34.

Taking on the armor of God = Be proactive

What excellent scripture passages for this last week! Thanks D for your comments! As I read through these scripture passages, the verbs really stuck out: take, write, lift, rejoice, gird, stand, love, cleave, repent, deal and let. Taking upon ourselves the armor of God takes a lot of work. We cannot just sit in our church meetings and expect someone to educate and inspire us, we have to be prepared to accept the education and inspiration. I think taking on the armor of God requires humility, which to me means, that you can make almost anything applicable to you and your life's moment, that you can find inspiration in almost anything.

Here's a question about the armor of God: When do we get to the point where we know the armor is on? And if we put it on one time, does it stay on? Sometimes I think life is an exercise of taking off and putting on armor. It's as much of a daily exercise as putting on physical clothing. But if we choose to put on the armor every day, the armor gets stronger making us more resilient in battle. Perhaps it follows the cycles of life. Sometimes we are ready to go for battle and sometimes we are on army reserves hoping not to be put in battle and therefore not putting much effort into preparation.

But if we want to be prepared, we must be proactive in our spiritual development. If we are not proactive with our time and efforts, our apathy and complacence allows our armor to weaken. We must take, write, lift, rejoice, gird stand, love, cleave, repent, deal and let the right things make our armor strong so that we are not caught off guard in battle, and even if we are, our chances of surviving are better with stronger armor.

As Jacob often repeats in the allegory of the olive tree: GO TO!

Readings Nov 16-20

"Take Upon You My Whole Armor" Willy-nilly scriptures this week.

D&C 76:25–29 and Moses 4:3. D&C 76:29; Moses 4:4

D&C 27:15–18.
D&C 42:22–24; 59:6; 63:16D&C 121:45–46

D&C 42:21; 51:9; 97:8. D&C 63:60–62; 136:21. D&C 52:16; 136:24; Ephesians 4:29.

Romans 13:12

2 Nephi 1:23

Ephesians 6:11–17

D&C 27:15–18

Is this like deathbed repentance?

I am waaaay behind. If anyone out there reads this blog, I'm sorry. We've had sicknesses on top of sicknesses in addition to all the other stuff I can't seem to say no to. Here is two weeks worth of reading and I'll do my best to comment on both. Though the first one is about missionary work, and I've posted on that before here.


"Every Member a Missionary"
Doctrine and Covenants 1:4–5, 30; 65; 109:72–74; 123:12; Our Heritage,pages 116–17, 124–25.

"Continuing Revelation to Latter-day Prophets"
Doctrine and Covenants 1:38; 68:1–4; 84:109–10; 107:25, 34, 93–98; 132:8; Official Declaration 2 (pages 293–94 in the Doctrine and Covenants); Our Heritage,pages 117–19, 125–27.

Readings Oct 27-31

"Every Member a Missionary"

Tues, Oct 27: Doctrine and Covenants 1:4–5, 30; 65;
Wed, Oct 28: 109:72–74; 123:12;
Thurs, Oct 29: Our Heritage,pages 116–17, 124–25

Enjoying the Temple

Reading through Elder Hales' article in the ensign, "Blessings of the Temple" gave me a few things to think about. I have heard before the definition of "endowment" is "gift." But when I read that in this article, I thought about it for a while. It seems that the current definition for gift is something that we give ourselves or others to please them or to pamper them. So, when Elder Hales says that "The [endowment] consists of a series of instructions on how we should live and covenants we make to live righteously by following out Savior," and that that is a gift, I have to think in spiritual terms to understand it, not social terms. Because why would a series of instructions on how I should live and promises I make pamper me? Here's how (per Elder Hales):

1- I will know who I am. I enjoy the temple because it's at least an hour of reminder of that basic truth which contributes to my core happiness. Making a few promises to help me keep a hold of that basic truth helps me enjoy me. That is a gift.

2 - Knowing the doctrine of saving ordinances gives me purpose and all my fellow being purpose and I should treat them as people with a common purpose whether they know what their purpose is or not. That is a gift to me and to them.

3- Temple attendance reminds me that things are just things and generally have nothing to do with my happiness in an eternal perspective.

4- Elder Hales refers to couples as knowing that they have each other for eternity and courting is over. For me this is a wonderful blessing. But I have many friends who have not found their someone or have lost their someone or their someone has left them or vice versa. I do not know why this is so, but I hope that the same gift of the endowment, instructions and covenants, provide comfort and joy, each in our own situation.

5 - Elder Hales says that because of the covenants we make, we learn to be unselfish, either in a couples relationship, or I think in any relationship or circumstance in life. While the world teaches that achieving things independently brings happiness, the Lord teaches that as we are dependent on Him and we are dependent on others and they are dependent on us, we experience joy.

These are the basic tenets of joy we can receive from the temple. There are many ways to go about achieving this joy because we are all different. But if we make sure, in our different ways, that we do the things directed by the spirit to receive these basic tenets, we will have joy.

Readings Oct 19-22

"Finding Joy in Temple and Family History Work" (emphasis on joy)

Malachi 3:16–18 Moses 6:5–8, 46 D&C 85:9 Abraham 1:31 D&C 128:7

There are not many assigned scriptures this week, so I will refer you to the Ensign for this month. There are four articles in the October Ensign that talk about temples or family history work. Here are links:

A Temple Going People

Blessings of the Temple

Temple Worship

In Search of My Dad - Online