Meeting Reminder

We are going to go ahead with our meeting this Thursday at 8:00 Mountain Standard Time.  If you are already familiar with the LDS church's new "family tree" you can either come and help us learn, or not worry about coming this month.  We may continue again next month with another meeting.  If so, it will be on May 30th, the last Thursday in May.  I will send out another reminder when it gets closer to let you know if that will work for me or not.  I am also going to be posting some thoughts or good articles I have come across that would be helpful to us in our mothering. Let me know if you have ideas as well.

Next Meeting Thursday, April 18 at 8:00 Mountain Time.

Our next meeting will be held on April 18 at 8:00.  The subject will be "Family History" and we will be learning about how to use the new "Family Tree" that the church is going to replace new.familysearch.org with. I am interested in learning about this myself and look forward to being with you that night

"Mentoring Mothers"

“Mentoring Mothers”

 Taught on February 27, 2013

My experience vs. Reality - Recently, in visiting with a close friend, I came to the realization that much of what I know about life and mothering came through the wonderful mentoring of my own mother.  One ways we look at the word mentor is thinking of an actual teacher using words to help us through life, but in this lesson I am going to talk about it in a different way.  Some of the synonyms for the word mentor are: role model, example, ensample.  To mentor is to show the way. 

Jesus Christ is our true mentor - There are three important reasons the Savior came to the earth

a.    Get a Body

b.    Atone for our sins & weaknesses

c.    Set an example for us to follow

Hymns that teach about Christ as our example are “Come Follow Me,” and “How Great the Wisdom and the Love,” where it says “He marked the path and led the way.”

The following link leads us to a wonderful list of scriptures that teach us about Christ and his example to us.  https://www.lds.org/scriptures/tg/jesus-christ-exemplar?lang=eng .

Many times in scripture the Savior is referred to as a shepherd or “The Good Shepherd.” Sheep Herders herd their sheep from behind, but shepherds always lead their sheep showing them where to go.

This scripture teaches us about 2 different shepherds. 

 2 ^aFeed the ^bflock of God which is among you, taking the ^coversight thereof, not by constraint, but ^dwillingly; not for ^efilthy ^flucre, but of a ready mind;

 3 Neither as being ^alords over God’s heritage, but being ^bensamples to the flock.

 4 And when the chief ^aShepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a ^bcrown of ^cglory that fadeth not away.

In the hymn “Dear to the heart of the Shepherd,” there is a line that describes the kind of shepherd we are asked to be in the previous scripture.  It says, “Make us thy true undershepherds.”  In other words, we have been asked to be part of the great work of the “Good or Chief Shepherd” by being His undershepards.  One of the greatest ways we do this is through our example.

There is famous quote by Ralph Waldo Emmerson that says, “Your actions speak so loudly, I can’t hear what you are saying.” I believe this statement to be true and that when our actions are different from the things we profess; it is our actions that will make the greatest impression on those surrounding us, especially our children. 

In a General Conference talk given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks, he said, “The most powerful teaching of children is by the example of their parents ” (Elder Oaks Talk – Protect the Children Oct 2012). Our children are watching us constantly to see how we live life. 

Testimony Verses Conversion-As I listened to the October 2012 General Conference, a theme began to form in my mind.  I felt that many of the talks went along with the theme, “Testimony verses Conversion.”  Elder Bendar spoke on this directly, but many others spoke of the importance of not just having a testimony, but actually “acting” on that testimony in our daily lives so as to become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In the end it will not be enough just to  “say” or “know” the gospel is true, but it is actually about “becoming” like the Savior by “doing” or “acting” upon the things we know are true.  I believe that as we “do” and “act” upon the things we know are true, our children will see us, and learn many of the most important things they will ever learn in their lives. 

My own mother was a powerful example of this kind of teaching.  I am finding that a great many things that I do have come from what mom “did” even more than what she said (although my mother was a good teacher in word as well as deed.) I learned by being with her and watching her live her own life as a wife and mother.  I would like to share some of the things she did along with the lessons I learned from her actions without words so that you might understand better what I am talking about.  I tried to think of a variety of things so you can see the scope of teaching that can go on in our lives just by the things we do.

Important things my mother taught me without saying a word:

•  Riding her bicycle to the Beethoven Market because she didn’t have a car and she had 7 children – The Lord will show me a way to accomplish what I need to accomplish.
• Regularly listening to the gold scripture records while she ironed – Love of the scriptures and the Lord will help you to find ways to study them if you have the desire.
• Having FHE on the freeway exit while we waited for the tow truck to come pick us up when the axel on our car broke – Making the best of a bad situation.
• Continuing on after the death of her husband with 7 young children – Pressing forward with faith.
• Taking water color classes in later years – You can still learn new things and progress even when you are older.
• Listening to and playing many classical piano pieces – Classical music is uplifting in the home.
• Going camping – The outdoors is an inexpensive and amazing place to spend time with your family – Family time is super important.
• Not letting me take ballet lessons because the recitals were on Sundays – The Sabbath is a holy day.
• Making sack lunches every night before bed and making ALL of our breakfasts, lunches and dinners – It is important to live providently and not get into debt. Live within your means.
• Sewing many, many clothes for me – If you can’t buy it, you can probably make it and it will be just as nice.
• Mother always looked so nice and took such good care of herself – It is important to get dressed each day and take good care of myself physically
•  Job Sticks – When everyone works at the same time, you can get a lot done quickly.
• Dumping our drawers out in the middle of the room when they were messy – It is important to have a clean home environment.
• Regular Family Prayers, Family Home Evening, and Going to church each Sunday – The gospel is important to her and it is important to teach it to her children.
• Accepting callings and fulfilling them – Callings are an important part of life, we show gratitude to the Lord when we fulfill our callings.
• My mom is the friendliest person I have ever met in my entire life – People matter and there is always something interesting about each person we meet.  Don’t be afraid to reach out to others.
• Going on a Family Trip Every summer – It is important for families to spend good times together.
• Doing family history work – Our ancestors are important and we have an obligation to do their temple work in gratitude for what they have given us.
• Teaching Elementary School – Love for Heavenly Father’s little ones
• Mother loved the fact that she had a large family – Desire to multiply and the joy of posterity!
• Beautiful voice singing at funerals, church, Tab Choir, BYU opera – It is important to develop our talents and share them in any ways we can to bless others.
• When I struggled with my own weaknesses, mother was so compassionate and able to help me overcome many of them. Compassion for others.
• Pressing on as the Relief Society President after sudden blindness and by going up to the Blind School in SLC for 2 months to learn how to do daily tasks – Trusting that the Lord can help you overcome HUGE challenges

Ideas and thoughts from the others who were in attendance: (It was so long ago, I don’t remember all the comments. Sorry!)

• Mentoring can run through generations. When we do some of the things in our lives that our mothers did, it is very likely her mother did it and so on. We may not even really know the ancestor that actually began that activity or tradition.
• My mother mentored the idea for me of having great respect for the priesthood in our home as she cared for my father and encouraged him in his priesthood duties.
• My mother was never afraid to speak gospel language in our home.  The gospel was her life. Example: “It’s a tender mercy we just had!”
• Mothers can mentor bad things too, so we need to be careful about what we are mentoring to our children.
• My mother mentored her love of music.
• My mother mentored how to teach her children at home.

The last thing we talked about was that we are human, and we as mothers will always fall short, or need extra help in the child raising department.  We can help our children by pointing them to the Savior as they read his words in the scriptures, and other wonderful mentors.  These might be relatives, members of your ward or stake, and people from the past such as great ancestors, people from the scriptures, as well as great men and women in history.

I am thankful for all those who have and continue to mentor me as I move into the grand mothering stage of life! I couldn’t have done it without their wonderful examples. They surely have marked the path and led the way for me.