Couple Reunion Missouri 2019

Some pictures from the couple retreat Febuary 2019

Parables

I have loved the Come Follow Me Manual that we have been given to study this year with our families!! https://www.lds.org/study/manual/come-follow-me-for-individuals-and-families-new-testament-2019/title?lang=eng

This past week we’ve been studied the parables that Christ taught is Matthew 13, and Luke chapters 8 and 13. I’ve been pondering why did Christ teach in parables? Then I thought, do I not learn better when I have an object lesson to see and visualize what is being taught? Yes, I believe we all learn, or it sticks with us longer if we can visualize.

Matthew 13:18 is the parable of the sower. As Christ speaks to me is his word falling upon a stony “heart”, is it falling among “thorns”, or is it falling in good ground where it can be cultivated and grow? I’ll admit that I’m not always ready to listen to His word and therefore it’s falling among thorns or stones where it’s not going to grow. This morning His word came to me in a parable, I was ready to listen, and I wanted to share this parable with you.

It is the parable of the clogged drain. Our tubs in our home allow the very smallest of particles to pass down the drain. Although hair is small and if a little hair goes down the drain, no big deal. I was noticing that the boys shower was not draining like it should, I have a special tool that I’m able to use to remove excessive hair out of the drains. I took my special tool to the boy’s bathroom and began removing my first clog, it seemed like such a little amount of hair, but as I used my tool again much more hair came from the drain. After cleaning this drain, the water ran down it with no problem. I compared this to me and the Holy Ghost. When I am trying to do what’s right, I truly can feel of God’s spirit running through me, helping me! I quickly go to my knees in prayer for guidance, I find myself in His scriptures listening to His word, listening to the words of our Prophets and leaders. Then a little sin crepes in, maybe too much social media, maybe forgetting a morning prayer, maybe serving with the wrong attitude, and so on! Then suddenly, I find that I can’t hear his voice, I am “clogged” with disappointment, clogged with laziness, clogged with little sins. How grateful I am for the tool of the Atonement,

I can apply daily, I can be cleaned and have the spirit again flowing within me freely.

The pipes will need to be continually cleaned of the hair and debris that clogs it, the same is true with all of us, we will need to continually apply the Atonement daily in our life in order to stay close to our Heavenly Father.

I am deeply grateful for Come Follow Me and the lessons that I am learning. I’m thankful for the opportunity of growing closer to my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the Holy Ghost that if I’m willing to listen will guide me every day – we are promised that if we always remember him and Keep his commandments, he promises to ALWAYS have His spirit to be with us! What a beautiful promise.

-Shannon Morley

The Power of Being There (Teaching Moments)

You never know when it’s going to happen. What is that saying....if the teacher is ready the student will come...or something like that. All I know is that it happens sometimes when you least expect it. It has really taught me the lesson lately that there is no substitute for being there.

You can prepare a lesson to give in church or to give at family night, and sometimes (let’s be honest, most of the time!) your kids could care less about what you want to teach. They have their own agenda and usually that is just to get the lesson over with as soon as humanly possible. I remember having those feelings from when I was a kid. Poor parents. What goes around comes around.

But once in a while, when you aren’t even preparing a beautiful sermon in your head of what to say, your child is asking a question and that moment happens. A teaching moment. A moment when your truly connect and both of you are edified.

It’s amazing when you can tell that your child sincerely wants to know something and you can express what you want them to hear and they really LISTEN to what you are saying to them. Not the kind of listening when you know they heard what you said but they really didn’t hear (“uh-huh, got it mom, now stop talking, mom”) what you said. This is a moment when you know that what you said and what they heard will definitely impact them and they may even remember it for the rest of their lives.

Just in the last two days, it’s happened twice. That’s like lightening striking twice! It just doesn’t happen like that....ever!

In the car with one son and we’re waiting for his basketball practice to start but the coach is late so we are just sitting in the car. It starts with small talk and then, BOOM, the teaching moment appears and we have a heart-felt discussion about life as a junior high student and some of the struggles he’s facing. I was able to express that I knew what he was going through and that I remembered and understood. We came to some resolutions about some things we can do to make life better and I’m so thankful that the coach was 20 minutes late. That conversation lead to further conversations, and confessions, and now we really feel like we’re making some progress.

My life has changed recently and I have been in school this last year so I’m not home every day if my kids were to come home for lunch. Sometimes I regret that I’m not home as much but even on the days I have been home, they haven’t come home to eat so today when my high school-aged son came home, I was surprised. I immediately stopped cleaning the bathroom and went to the kitchen to make him something to eat. We started talking while he was eating and BOOM, it happened again. A wonderful teaching opportunity occurred where I was able to talk with him heart-to-heart and bear my testimony about repentance and forgiveness and the gratitude I feel for the Savior and His atonement in my life. What if I would have missed that? It was so sweet. I love being able to communicate one-on-one and when there’s true understanding, it creates a bond like no other.

I know we can’t be everywhere that our kids are, and they would hate it if we were. But we can be there for the small day to day things and then pray that those teaching moments will happen. We can do our best to be prepared spiritually for when those moments come and pray like crazy that Heavenly Father will help us to know what to say to our child when they are “really listening.” When these moments do come, it’s a blessing and can be life-changing for both parties.

-Cathy Bennett