Be Anxiously Engaged by Elder Ballard

Confession: We were on vacation during General Conference & missed it.  I truly, dearly missed it.  My efforts to faithfully study the conference talks have been spotty & I've missed a few.  Tonight, I finally read Elder Ballard's talk "Be Anxiously Engaged."  I LOVE it & am inspired by it.  As I read his encouraging words to do good, serve others, and to be truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ instead of just going through the motions I thought, "I want to do more.  How can I recognize needs and act on impressions?"  Then, I came to this part:

  

"How do we make this change? How do we ingrain this love of Christ into our hearts? There is one simple daily practice that can make a difference for every member of the Church, including you boys and girls, you young men and you young women, you single adults, and you fathers and mothers.

That simple practice is: In your morning prayer each new day, ask Heavenly Father to guide you to recognize an opportunity to serve one of His precious children. Then go throughout the day with your heart full of faith and love, looking for someone to help. Stay focused, just like the honeybees focus on the flowers from which to gather nectar and pollen. If you do this, your spiritual sensitivities will be enlarged and you will discover opportunities to serve that you never before realized were possible."

That is solid & concrete.  I can do that!  I preach it; I sometimes live it.  I want to live it every day!  I've resolved to have a monthly resolution each month of 2013 instead of one soon forgotten resolution set in January.  I think I just found my February resolution.

Fathers and Sons

I almost skipped this talk because I'm not a father and I don't' have any sons. But I read it. It's exactly what I'd want a member of the 12 to say to my teenage son if I had one, and what I'd what the same member of the 12 to say to my husband.

My highlights:

• "When you put your trust in your dad [or any person, I'd add], he will feel the responsibility of that trust and try harder than ever to understand and help."
• "First, fathers, listen to your sons—really listen to them. Ask the right kind of questions, and listen to what your sons have to say each time you have a few minutes together. You need to know—not to guess but to know—what is going on in your son’s life. Don’t assume that you know how he feels just because you were young once." I think these same principles apply to mothers and their interactions with their children.
• "A one-on-one relationship should be a routine part of your stewardship with your sons [and I would add daughters]. Every father needs at least one focused, quality conversation with his sons every month during which they talk about specific things such as school, friends, feelings, video games, text messaging, worthiness, faith, and testimony. Where or when this happens isn’t nearly as important as the fact that it happens. " I don't think we can wait until our children are 12 to start this kind of relationship. 1:1 time needs to begin early.
• "Remember, conversation where you do 90 percent of the talking is not a conversation." Funny, that's what happens most of the time at my house. No one around here talks very much. It think it causes problems.
• "Use the word “feel” as often as you comfortably can in your discussions with your sons." Great advice. I think I'll try it.

Up next: To Acquire Spiritual Knowledge by Elder Richard G. Scott