When I'm teaching primary, I'm
sitting down. When I taught RS, I was
standing up. The sisters have decided to
put themselves in a circle, which has its benefits. I thought I might try walking around and pace
myself back and forth as I've seen another instructor do - but my voice doesn't
seem to carry as loud as hers nor did I have much of a voice on Sunday and so
had to stand behind the microphone.
NONE of the shoes that I wear on Sunday
are very comfortable and so my feet hurt as I neared the end of my lesson and
later on that night I was experiencing back pain. I blame the shoes. I think Roland would blame my weight. Probably a combination of the two.
There are posts on either my own or my brother's blog which provide several reference to everything I discussed in my lesson - well almost everything.
Dear Elder Joseph B.
Wirthlin spoke of an occasion when President Thomas S. Monson said to him:
“There is a guiding hand above all things. Often when things happen, it’s not
by accident. One day, when we look back at the seeming coincidences of our
lives, we will realize that perhaps they weren’t so coincidental after all.”
After I had passed around the photos
of my mom and dad found in this post, I shared an experience that Roland and I had while he was a realtor. He had
made appointments for showing clients houses that were still occupied by their
owners. The clients noticed a newly
listed house across the street that hadn't been on Roland's agenda because he hadn't known about it, but as it was also occupied, he might have to make arrangements for another appointment and return at a later date. As it turned out, the owners were gone and we were able to go inside.
The interior of the first house
seemed to have dark walls in most of its rooms.
No photos on the wall. Just a
couple on a night stand. I thought it seemed poorly lit. The house across the street was
the same exact floor plan except in reverse.
And with brighter walls. A great
big picture of an LDS temple (though I forget which one; the picture was definitely the largest I have seen - exceeding the entire length on the couch) LOTS of photographs
and "families are forever" themes. It was roughly 20,000 more than
any other house they looked at. But it's
the one that they wanted. Was it a
coinsidence or divine design?
"But remember, He has
always used ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things" - Ronald
A. Rasband, Oct 1, 2017
I'm sure that to most people my dad
was as ordinary as they come. He was a
very quiet man which I have mentioned in a post I created the
year that I started my blog. Even though we lived in the same house for over 30
years, talking to dad was often like pulling teeth. Most of what I had shared with the sisters was
second or third hand information from sources other than my dad. I shared a bit about my dad's upbringing and his
not having a testimony of the gospel - or perhaps it was just the church itself
that he had strayed from.
He was quite studios and a very good
student. In 1955 he'd been offered a
full scholarship to BYU but had turned it down in order to join the navy -
which he loathed. He had joined the navy
choir and had enjoyed that. The nation
was between wars and so he was never involved in active duty. I don't think he had even left the country,
but I could be wrong. Overall he really did not appreciate his time in the
service. Since he didn't talk about it,
we can only speculate about what we think it was. I think he may have found the vulgar language
and lack of ethics among many of the sailors to be upsetting.
I think my dad used Church as an
escape from the navy. One fast and
testimony meeting he remembers a girl of about ten years of age (this is one of
the few sources I have directly from my dad's own mouth) bore her testimony and
said she knew the church was true, and he thought - "If she can know, I can
know." And he devoted more time
into finding God and getting reacquainted with the LDS faith.
One night he was given permission to
go to a Church dance. There he met my
mother. They were married 14 months
later. They were married in Los Angeles
Temple and had their wedding reception in the Church in the photo I had passed
around where my father had had his picture taken 12 years before. I don't know if my dad made the connection. Probably not. I don't remember having seen
the photo until my brother Corey posted it.
Had this all come about by coincidence or by divine design?
"Our lives are like a chessboard, and the Lord moves us
from one place to another—if we are responsive to spiritual promptings. Looking
back, we can see His hand in our lives" - Ronald A. Rasband, Oct 1, 2017
I then asked the sisters:
"How many of you have ever made plans about where your life was
headed? You work so many years of your
life to stay on that path toward your goal and all of the sudden there is that
fork in the road. God may nudge you to
go one way or perhaps you believe you made that choice on your own. And one day you look over to where you could
have been and compare it to where you are on the road right now and
think: "Hey, wait a minute. I'm supposed to be over there on that
path. I don't think I like where this
path is taking me"
I asked the sisters if any would
like to share an example. When nobody
did, I continued. The next example I shared was about Diane Ellingson. I had breifly
mentioned her remarkable triumphant found here.
You can also hear her life story in her own words in a two part video
fournd here.
"Sometimes life is hard and seems unfair but you are
only defeated when you stop trying." - Diane Ellington Smith
" Most often, our good
works are known to only a few. They are, however, recorded in heaven. One day,
we will stand as a witness of our whole-souled devotion to works of
righteousness." - Ronald A. Rasband,
Oct 1, 2017
I also shared some examples about
how often when we ask for blessings, God will send us the tools we need to
acquire that blessing. I used the
example of Princess Merida from Disney/Pixar's "Brave" here.
I concluded with a poem Corey had
written which could be used to desribe almost every "ordinary"
person. His poem can be found both here
and here.
Other references for my lesson include:
Ronald A. Rasband
my comments from talk found here
Mom &Dad
dad's service in navy and awesome tribute by Corey/Cody here
Merida
