Susan Owen Leadership

 Susan Gustafson taught the YW (over Zoom) today.  She talked about being a Christlike leader.  She asked them to consider how they would feel if they went on an unfamiliar hike at night with only a flashlight...and needing to lead others.  Would they feel confident?  What if you had to go on this same hike at night but you followed a guide that had been on this trail hundreds of times?  What if you went on the trail with the guide numerous times, then would you feel confident to lead others?

She shared an experience from Stephen Owen, former General Young Men's president.  At age 12, he went hunting with his dad.  One morning, at 3 AM, they saddled their horses and went to the trail.  He felt nervous.  It was dark and he wasn't sure where they were going.  But his dad reassured him that everything would be okay.  And it was.  Years later, he brought his dad back to this area and they went to a spot called Windy Ridge.  He felt a little nervous, but again his dad led them safely there.  He recounts:  
"Finally we made it to the top of Windy. The view was exhilarating, and the overwhelming feeling I had was that I wanted to come back—not for me this time but for my wife and my children. I wanted them to experience what I had experienced.

Over the years, I’ve had many opportunities to lead my sons and other young men to mountaintops, just as my father led me. These experiences have prompted me to ponder what it means to lead—and what it means to follow."

Christ, of course, is both the greatest leader and the greatest follower.  Christ possesses every attribute of the best leaders.  

Susan had us read several verses of scripture that talk about attributes that good leaders have:  John 13:1-6, Jarom 1:7, D&C 121:34-46, D &C 101:42, 3 Nephi 18:16, and 3 Nephi 27:  21, 27.  She also read a quote from President Nelson about good leaders.

He said (paraphrased) that good leaders:

*Set an example

*are humble

*possess spiritual strength

*are loyal and expect loyalty

*delegate

*unify

*love

*possess knowledge

Listening to that list, I possess some of those attributes but I still need to work on some of them!  (Susan was very kind and said that these young women were blessed to be led by a wonderful leader, called to serve them at this time, and that one of the greatest attributes I possess is love.  And the love part is true.  I deeply love the young women.  I deeply love the Lord.  I have felt a lot lately that I'm not qualified, that I don't know how to handle the challenges we are all facing right now.  Despite my efforts, only about half of the young women attend at all.  It makes me so sad.  I'm not sure how to change it, but it makes me SO sad.  And looking through the list, I definitely have several areas of weakness.)

I am so grateful for great leaders.  President Nelson is an outstanding leader.  Bishop Carlson was an amazing leader.  Bishop Harding is a great leader.  Chris John and Shelly Estes were great YW leaders when I was a girl.  President Gilliland and President Stevens (in the stake presidency when I was a teenager) were great leaders.  Sheri Dew was a leader that I felt changed my life.  Elder Holland is a great leader--as are each of the apostles.   This church is full of dedicated, devoted men and women who are great leaders because they follow Christ.  I want to be the best leader I can be, and as Susan and Brother Owen pointed out, the best way to do that is to become ever more like Jesus Christ.

Healing Gratitude Nelson

 President Nelson gave a short message of hope and healing.  It focused on the power of gratitude.  I wept as I listened.  I wept because I was touched by his message but also because I recognized a need for repentance.  I have not been as grateful as I should have been.  I have so much, and I'm going to try to do better at recognizing, remembering and expressing thanks for all that I have.

Here are President Nelson's words so that I can always remember and can come back and reread.

"THE HEALING POWER OF GRATITUDE By President Russell M. Nelson President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints As a doctor I know the value of good therapy. So, dear friends, may I prescribe two activities to help us experience the healing power of gratitude. During my 96 years of life, I have seen a Great Depression, a world war, the rise of terrorism, hunger, and poverty throughout the world. I have also witnessed the advent of space travel, the internet, medical advancements galore, and countless other discoveries that delight me. Prior to my ministry, I was a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon and spent many hours in operating rooms. As a surgical resident, I was one of the research team that developed the first heart-lung machine to be used in a human open-heart operation.1 Subsequently, I had the privilege of helping to save lives of hundreds of patients, and, sadly, I watched other patients die despite my best efforts. As a man of science and as a man of faith, the current worldwide pandemic has been of great concern to me. As a man of science, I appreciate the critical need to prevent the spread of infection. I also honor the devoted service of health care professionals and grieve for the many whose lives have been upended by COVID-19. As a man of faith, however, I view the current pandemic as only one of many ills that plague our world, including hate, civil unrest, racism, violence, dishonesty, and lack of civility. Skilled scientists and researchers are laboring diligently to develop and distribute a vaccine against the coronavirus. But there is no medication or operation that can fix the many spiritual woes and maladies that we face. There is, however, a remedy—one that may seem surprising—because it flies in the face of our natural intuitions. Nevertheless, its effects have been validated by scientists as well as men and women of faith. I am referring to the healing power of gratitude. The book of Psalms is filled with admonitions to express gratitude. Here are just three of them: “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.”2 “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good.”3 “Come before his presence with thanksgiving.”4 Jesus Christ frequently expressed gratitude. Before raising Lazarus from the dead, before miraculously multiplying loaves and fishes, and before passing the cup to His disciples at the Last Supper, the Savior prayed and gave thanks to God. No wonder the Apostle Paul later declared, “In every thing give thanks.”5 Over my nine and a half decades of life, I have concluded that counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems. No matter our situation, showing gratitude for our privileges is a fast-acting and longlasting spiritual prescription. Does gratitude spare us from sorrow, sadness, grief, and pain? No, but it does soothe our feelings. It provides us with a greater perspective on the very purpose and joy of life. Nearly 16 years ago my wife Dantzel and I were sitting on the sofa holding hands while we watched television. Suddenly, she collapsed. Despite being well trained to treat the very thing that ended her life, I could not save my own wife. Dantzel and I were blessed with nine daughters and one son. Tragically, I have lost two of those daughters to cancer. No parent is prepared to lose a child. And yet, despite these and other difficult experiences, I am incredibly, eternally grateful for so very many things. I am grateful to God for the nearly 60 years Dantzel and I shared together, for a lifetime of love and joy and cherished memories. And I thank Him for my wife Wendy, whom I met after Dantzel’s passing. She now fills my life with joy. I am grateful to God for the years I had with my two departed daughters. This father’s heart melts when I see attributes of those girls in the precious faces of their children and grandchildren. We can all give thanks for the beauties of the earth and the majesty of the heavens that give us an inkling of the vastness of eternity. We can give thanks for the gift of life, for our amazing bodies and minds that allow us to grow and learn. We can give thanks for art, literature, and music that nurture our souls. We can give thanks for the opportunity to repent, start over, make amends, and build character. We can give thanks for our families, friends, and loved ones. We can give thanks for the opportunity to help, cherish, and serve one another, which makes life so much more meaningful. We can even give thanks for our trials, from which we learn things we would not know otherwise. Most of all, we can give thanks unto God, the Father of our spirits, which makes us all brothers and sisters—one great global family. As a doctor, I know the value of good therapy. So, dear friends, may I prescribe two activities to help us experience the healing power of gratitude. First, I invite you—just for the next seven days—to turn social media into your own personal gratitude journal. Post every day about what you are grateful for, whom you are grateful for, and why you are grateful. At the end of seven days, see if you feel happier and more at peace. Use the hashtag #GiveThanks. Working together, we can flood social media with a wave of gratitude that reaches the four corners of the earth. Perhaps this will fulfill, in part, the promise God gave to Father Abraham, that through his descendants “all families of the earth [shall] be blessed.”6 Second, let us unite in thanking God through daily prayer. Jesus Christ taught His disciples to pray by first expressing gratitude to God and then petitioning Him for the things we need. Prayer brings forth miracles. In that spirit, I would now like to offer a prayer for the world and everyone in it. As I pray, I hope you will feel inspired to do the same, pouring out your heart in gratitude for the countless blessings God has given you and petitioning Him to heal our hearts, our families, our societies, and the world at large. Our Father in Heaven, as fellow passengers on Thy planet earth, we humbly pray unto Thee. We thank Thee for life and all that sustains life. We thank Thee for the beauties of the earth, for order in the universe, the planets, stars, and all things of eternal significance. We thank Thee for Thy laws that protect and guide us. We thank Thee for Thy mercy and loving watchcare. We thank Thee for our families and loved ones who fill our lives with joy. We are grateful for all who are striving to combat the COVID pandemic. Please bless them with protection and inspiration. Wilt Thou help us end this virus that has plagued so many of Thy children. We thank Thee for the leaders of nations and others who strive to lift us. We pray for relief from political strife. Wilt Thou bless us with a healing spirit that unites us despite our differences. Wilt Thou also help us repent from selfishness, unkindness, pride, and prejudice of any kind so that we can better serve and love one another as brothers and sisters and as Thy grateful children. We love Thee, our dear Father, and pray for Thy blessings upon us in the name of Thy Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, amen. May God bless you and your loved ones."

LESSONS LEARNED:  Be grateful.  Express sincere gratitude in prayer, in social media, to those I love.

Repent of the sin of ingratitude.  

Follow the prophet.

Gratitude brings hope and healing.

Revelation is REAL!! 

Repentance Nelson Destruction

 I had a bit of an a-ha moment this week. It's a little bit embarrassing because I should have understood this better sooner. The scriptures often speak of prophets coming to cry repentance. It happens in several places in these chapters in Ether. For example, Ether 7:23: "And there came prophets among the people, who were sent from the Lord, prophesying that the wickedness and idolatry of the people was bringing a curse upon the land, and they should be destroyed if they did not repent." I'm not sure if it was from some old Bible movies or some of the paintings we have of scriptural events or what, but in these old times I picture the prophets as old, long-haired men shouting angrily at the people to repent or else! And I guess I always had a bit of a disconnect between my impression of ancient prophets and my love and respect for modern prophets though I have learned so many lessons from these ancient prophets and love them also. (And I don't know that I had ever really even recognized that this was the image in my mind or that there was a disparity between the two images.) So as this image of this old long haired man waving his fist in the air and shouting "repent or else" appeared in my mind, I suddenly wondered with all the wickedness of the world why President Nelson doesn't angrily tell us to repent or else. And it felt a bit ridiculous...but also I immediately recognized that he definitely DOES tell us to repent and explains the joy and blessings that come from repentance. And suddenly my image shifted. I don't know what these prophets looked like...maybe they were long-haired and wearing robes. BUT I expect that they taught in manners similar to President Nelson and President Monson and President Hinckley. I bet many of them had a twinkle in their eye and a huge smile and a chuckle. And they weren't threatening people so much as lovingly inviting and encouraging and pleading with them to make choices that would invite joy and peace and prosperity and protection in their lives. And while it is clear that at times the Lord sends storms or other challenges to humble us and teach us, most of the destruction that comes upon us when we refuse to repent comes because we destroy each other through murder and greed. I have found myself weeping as I read the Book of Mormon this year. There's so much heartache and death and destruction...and the vast majority of it was caused by people killing and destroying one another. And there is so much heartache and death and destruction today...and far too much of it is caused by people hurting and even killing one another. I know this is mostly not directly related to this challenge....but I feel certain that one of the covenant blessings of Israel is having prophets to guide, warn, love and teach. And I'm so thankful!!

Grigg Plane Crash

 Mrs. Linda Grigg was my first grade teacher.  I remember her reading aloud to us every day (and occasionally handing me the book and letting me read aloud to the class.)  I remember going on a field trip to the fire station and her daughter who was about our age came along.  I remember learning to tell time and really struggling with that.  I remember getting nearly every single word correct on spelling tests that year...missing only one...and being so proud when I got a sticker on my spelling test each week.  She was kind and she was a good teacher.  I was in first grade when I first decided I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up (along with a ballerina 😂.)

When I was about to start 6th grade, there was a terrible accident.  Mrs. Grigg and her husband had gone to Michigan.  They were flying back to Arizona on August 16, 1987, when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff.  148 of the 149 passengers were killed.  Mrs. Grigg was among them.  I was heartbroken.  I was so sad as I had loved her.  But mostly I was so sad because I knew her children and I had met her daughter.  I wondered who would care for her daughter.  From time to time, I think of her children and hope they are okay.  

LESSONS LEARNED:  Life is fragile and you never know how long you have...live life to the fullest.

Teachers can make a lifelong impact and be remembered for good or ill.  

CFM Chastening Growth

 It was a hard week.  It was parent teacher conferences which was good but tiring. But all 3 of my girls are struggling right now.  It's just a hard time.  The high school is shutting down for two weeks again due to Covid.  Covid cases are through the roof and so the governor has mandated masks throughout the whole state and no one is to have any gatherings outside of immediate household members for 2 weeks (though thankfully schools can stay open if they aren't above 15 cases and churches are exempt and can have up to 99 people attend...but all extra curricular activities have been cancelled for now--including dance at Shellie's). It looks very likely that prom and Senior Ball will be cancelled and the high school is already planning graduation and it sounds like they are leaning heavily toward a drive through graduation.  Michelle is heartbroken that so much of her senior year is being lost.   Anyway, I was feeling so disheartened.  Why does everything have to be so hard?

Then I read two Instagram posts that are helping me see things a bit differently.  Things are still hard and I still don't like it, but they gave me things to consider.

Come Follow Me with Bee wrote this:  

The Brother of Jared brings his offering of stones before the Lord. He had thought about what to do, he did his part and put in the work, and he’s now asking the Lord to bless and magnify His efforts—to do for him what he can’t do for himself.

What I find so interesting to ponder on, though, is this:
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If the Brother of Jared 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 have the faith he had, if he 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 have the faith to pierce through the veil and physically see the finger of Christ touching the stones that he offered up, would that mean that Christ’s finger wasn’t still there, touching and magnifying his efforts?

Would it just have looked like God sending down His power and the stones miraculously lighting up before his eyes?

Reading Ether 3:6 really makes it seem this way.

And it got me thinking about my own life and about all of the times where I’m trying my best and can’t quite make it there, where I feel like I’m coming up short.

And then how, in God’s mercy and grace, I receive a little more “strength beyond mine own” or something else happens/falls into place that allows me to take another step forward. I think about the times I witnessed miracles or heard of miraculous stories.

If I had the faith to pierce the veil and the eyes to see the literal hand of God in my life, what sorts of miracles would I be seeing behind the curtain? How much is Christ (or His angels) 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 and 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 involved in my life?
——
I truly believe His hand is there, touching our stones, whether we have eyes to see it or not.

And as I think about the Brother of Jared seeing Christ thereafter, I can’t help but think about how much more is in store for us as we choose to have faith in Him and ask to see Him in our lives.
——
“And never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this?

And he answered: Nay; Lord, 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦.”
(Ether 3:9-10)

(SOOO good, right?   Am I seeing Him touching the stones?  Am I even noticing that the stones are now lit?)

*********************************

Come Follow Me Daily wrote this...which was a bit of a rebuke for me:

Furious winds.
Buried in the depths of the sea.
Tossed upon the waves.
Mountain waves broke upon them.
Terrible tempests.
Buried in the deep.
For 344 days.

So many descriptions—like they were trying to paint a picture of exactly how bad it was.

My heart goes out to those Jaredite moms trying to calm babies in the middle of the night so they don’t wake up the rest of the family. Those kids with no place to run for a year. Those fathers opening the hatch, wondering if this would finally be the day their family would stop suffering, only to see blue water...again.

It reminds me of a quote I love by Kimberly Henderson:
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“I would have pulled Joseph out. Out of that pit. Out of that prison. Out of that pain. And I would have cheated nations out of the one God would use to deliver them from famine.

“I would have pulled David out. Out of Saul’s spear-throwing presence. Out of the caves he hid away in. Out of the pain of rejection. And I would have cheated Israel out of a God-hearted king.

“I would have pulled Esther out. Out of being snatched from her only family. Out of being placed in a position she never asked for. Out of the path of a vicious, power-hungry foe. And I would have cheated a people out of the woman God would use to save their very lives.”
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Following Kimberly Henderson’s line of logic, I would have pulled the Jaredites out. Out of the darkness. Out of the tempests. Out of the winds. But I would have cheated them of the force that “did never cease to blow them towards the promised land.” (Ether 6:8)
.
And I would pull you out. Out of coronavirus. Out of worry. Out of heartbreak. Out of pain. But what would it cheat you of?

“Mountains do not rise without earthquakes.” (Katherine MacKenett)
.
Trust in the Lord.
Trust in His plan.
“No pain we suffer or trial we experience is wasted.” (Elder Whitney)

So never cease to praise God (Ether 6:9), knowing that the wind will drive you towards your Promised Land.

LESSONS LEARNED:  Trials and adversity tend to our education.  They drive us toward our promised land.

Have eyes to see.  

Trust.  You have a good, good Father.  Trust Him.

Slide Show Christ

 As I look back on my days in Young Women, I have some specific memories of girls camp and a couple of activities.  And I knew/know that I had leaders that loved me and they loved the Lord.  But most of the Sunday lessons have not stayed with me.  But I do remember when I was a senior in high school.  For some reason we had our lessons in the kitchen. I think that might have been during the time we had 5 wards meeting in our building and maybe that was the only place for us to meet.  It wasn't the most conducive learning environment though. But I remember one Sunday, our leaders turned off the lights.  They played a slide show of paintings of the Savior with beautiful songs about the Savior.  I remember that the Spirit was so strong.  I remember that I knew the Savior lived and that He loved me.  I think the slide show took the entire class period and our leader (Shelly Estes, I think but it might have been one of the advisors) bore her testimony of the Savior.  It was one of my favorite lessons ever.

LESSON LEARNED:  Music and art can invite the Spirit.  

Testify of Christ.

Service Dirt Floor

 This week we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the young women organization.  It's had me thinking about my young women leaders and how they blessed my life.  And about how much I love serving in YW.  

Honestly, I don't remember very many of the lessons or activities we did in Young Women's.  But there are a few I do remember.  I remember one Christmas we adopted a family as a young women's group.  We went shopping and wrapped presents and then for one of our activities we delivered the gifts to a family.  The family lived quite a few miles away...it's possible they were in our stake, but I don't think so.  We brought them a Christmas tree and a stack of gifts.  When we arrived, they were so grateful.  I will never forget going into their living room and seeing that they had a dirt floor.  And no Christmas tree or any decorations.  I suddenly realized how much I had that I took for granted.  I was so grateful to play a small part in making their Christmas a little better and a little brighter!  I had/have so much.  

LESSONS LEARNED:  There's always something to be grateful for! 

Even when we feel like we are poor, there are always those with less than us.

It feels so good to serve others, even if the role we play is tiny!