Sunday, January 11, 2009

Sunday Thoughts

The talks at church today were all centered around The Character of Christ...

It was a wonderful sacrament meeting . I hardly realized that the time was coming to a close until the bishop stood up to conclude the meeting...I love those kind of days!




My dear friends, Heather and Rob Merrill both gave the talks--


(from Heather's)

“ Perhaps the greatest indicator of character is the capacity to recognize and appropriately respond to other people who are experiencing the very challenge or adversity that is most immediately and forcefully pressing upon us. Character is revealed, for example , in the power to discern the sufferings of other people when we ourselves are suffering; in the ability to detect the hunger of others when we are hungry; and in the power to reach out and extend compassion for the spiritual agony of others when we are in the midst of our own spiritual distress. Thus, character is demonstrated by looking and reaching outward when the nature and instinctive response is to be self-absorbed and turn inward. If such a capacity is indeed the ultimate criterion of moral character, then the Savior of the world is the perfect example of such a consistent and charitable .” Elder Bednar


from Rob's:

"For those who are discouraged by their circumstances and are therefore tempted to feel they cannot serve the Lord this day, I make you two promises. Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the Lord this day with your whole heart. Your circumstances may not be improved in all the ways which you desire. But you will have been given new strength to carry your burdens and new confidence that when your burdens become too heavy, the Lord, whom you have served, will carry what you cannot. He knows how. He prepared long ago. He suffered your infirmities and your sorrows when He was in the flesh so that He would know how to succor you. The other promise I make to you is that by choosing to serve Him this day, you will feel His love and grow to love Him more.

I appreciated the reminder that when we serve others, we tend to forget about our own trials and the burdens that we're carrying...Some of the best times in my life have been when through my service to others, I have been a tool in Heavenly Father's hands.

**Do you agree?




6 comments:

  1. thanks for my dose of religion today as our church was cancelled due to weather. i'm sure you saw pics on my blog... totally agree with the above statements. you really DO forget about your own issues when you are serving others. thanks!

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  2. we HAD church today, but your messages seemed to be more in tune with me than what i heard in church. it was good to be with the others, though and mingle with the members and take the sacrament.
    i totally agree that when we serve others especially when we are suffering we learn Christ-like service.
    i feel very blessed tonight to have the blessings that i have- especially the knowledge of the gospel. thanks for the recap of today's talks-on that note--- let's hope for a good week-

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  3. I completely agree. Thank you for sharing uplifting messages centered on Christ. That's so nice for a Sunday. And the best part is that they apply every day of the year. I think it is really interesting that the tendency is to withdraw inside of ourselves when we are feeling frustrated and discouraged. Our trials cause us to feel alienated from those around us. I don't know why that is. But if we reach out to someone in need (even our children or spouse) it is really healing.
    Great post!

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  4. I totally agree! I think most of us have a testimony of service and even a desire to serve, but we don't look for ways to serve when we are experiencing trials of our own. I think that we will really be onto something and really change once we get to the point where even when we are low-down in life we still desire to help others up.

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  5. How I wish I could have been there. Rob and Heather are excellent speakers and knowing and loving them makes it all the more inspiring!

    Amen. (to everything you said and they said).

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  6. Beautiful thoughts, Shannon. That first quote especially made me feel chastened, I am too prone to turn inward. And the second one was so hopeful!

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