Comfort Eating Dangers

Four times now, that I know of, my husband has been served "tea" in rehab.  Before he was eating I talked to the dietician and pointed out that coffee and tea were not an option because of religious reasons.  I told her we are Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and she said, "Oh, how about pork...?"

He has been suffering through the soft menu, eating it even without enjoying it.  Think squishy baby food, formed into fake "waffles" and patties.  Syrup and gravy are fine, but salt-less and he liberally uses the Mrs. Dash provided and all the pepper, trying to make things taste.  Pureed spinach and pureed broccoli and peas...no salad yet, nothing to chew or choke on.

I have mentioned my TEA CONCERN to the nurse, to another nurse, to the meal delivery girl. This morning I am putting a sign up, with copies to dietician, one on his door, by his bed, everywhere I can think!  As I was looking for a good quote from lds.org, I found this ENSIGN article, and was stunned.  Not sure how I missed it last October.

I am guilty.  Need to work on this.  Loved the insight.

Light The World Honoring the Sabbath

My mom is the best example.  For the last 18 days she has consequently blogged of her experiences following the #lighttheworld project as seen here https://www.mormon.org/?cid=HP_FR_25-11-2016_dMIS_fmorg_xLIDyL1-A_ 

I haven't been reading her blog every day, so I had to play catch-up, this Sabbath morning. 

John leaves for a church meeting at 6 am, so we are awake early.  After he leaves I spend the time emailing my weekly letter to our missionary son, and briefly see what my long-distance family is doing.  We aren't in the habit of phone calls (we have an awesome brother-in-law who chats daily with his parents & siblings. DAILY!  I admire that), or visiting as often as I wish. 

Geography is a challenge if face-to-face communication is your love language preference.  Skpye is ok, but feels like an appointment, a little stiff.  Maybe it is the hugging I miss with the contact.  I crave the physical reassurance and communication of love through touch. 

A once-a-week check in with our spiritual selves, an assessment of our spiritual well-being and health makes sense.  I believe the Old Testament teaching that the Lord made it a holy day.  He sanctified it.  Our "keeping the sabbath day holy" is up to us, how we interpret that.  It will still be a holy day, with or without us.  The old Blue Laws that enforced store closures and alcohol sales on Sunday am have slowly been dismissed.  It has turned into a big shopping day, chore day, networking day, and even a work day for many.  And I will say right here, I am thankful for the emergency workers, doctors, nurses, police and firemen and their sacrifice to work all week.)

I have a memory of attempting to persuade my dad that my doing the dishes was breaking the Sabbath.  He pointed me back to "Honor they father and thy mother..." and there may have been some ox in the mud references.  I did the dishes.

Over the years I have tried different things, including no sewing, no painting, no school homework, no fun novel reading (just scriptures), no tv, newspapers, no facebook, no friends, no restaurants, and probably too long of indulgent napping.  The exceptions have been specific, for example, watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional live the first Sunday of December ever year, or supporting family reunion restaurant gathering for non-member family (I would do anything for Great Grandma Billie).

It has been more productive to think of the yes-we-can-do instead of the no-don't-even-think-about-it restrictions for the day.

Do go to a worship service of choice.
Do spend time with family and learning about ancestors.
Do support good friends in achievements.
Do celebrate holidays!
Do community service.
Do rest from the craziness of all the other day responsibilities and burdens.
Do find time to pray and ponder life.
Do spend time remembering and renewing commitments and promises.
Do simplify and lessen the burdens of others. (Sometimes that means paper plates and less elaborate meals!)

I like to think of the Sabbath as a day to get back in touch with what God wants me to do.  I try to plan what my priorities should be for the week, to seek counsel on troubles and concerns, to brainstorm for solutions.  It is a good day to ask Heavenly Father for help.  Loving the Sabbath leaves me with a feeling of love, peace, joy, gratitude, and kind, swelling and warm feelings.  And that touch of grace makes my week flow better.

Resilience is a Good Word

"Sometimes we may ask God for success, and He gives us physical and mental stamina. We might plead for prosperity, and we receive enlarged perspective and increased patience, or we petition for growth and are blessed with the gift of grace. He may bestow upon us conviction and confidence as we strive to achieve worthy goals. And when we plead for relief from physical, mental, and spiritual difficulties, He may increase our resolve and resilience."  -Elder David A. Bednar, "The Windows of Heaven"

Dream Time & INVITATION

Most mornings we wake up by 5 am, sometimes as early as 4, to get ready for our busy day. I teach Bible Study Class (Old Testament this year "Daily Seminary" to 10 regularly attending teenagers). They come early for hot chocolate and sit around our dinning room table and talk, then troop down the stairs to the basement where I have tables set up for them to gather around. We sing a hymn in our croaky morning voices, they take turns each school day of one of them praying and giving a short devotional, and then the time is mine to teach them.

(Students using shield of faith to keep firey darts of Satan=mini-marshmallows--from harming them.)

The next 10 days is Spring Break. No school= no seminary=I-will-miss-the-students= sleeping in-which-I-am-thrilled-about.

Today, Saturday, Suzanna has a field trip to NYC to see Phantom, so John had to drive her over to the high school by 5:15. AM. My body on my usual schedule needed to use the facilities (have I ever used the word "toilet" in this blog?).

But then back to bed. John came back, warmed up my rice bags in the microwave so my toes were warm, I tossed around trying to get comfortable, and finally went back to sleep.

And dreamed: I was in high school, just moved, and joined a Christian after school club, since there was no LDS seminary class to go to. Things were going well, I was making friends, until we were on a field trip and I waved to some Mormon Missionaries (Elders, in their white shirts & ties) and the girl next to me asked me why I would do that. I told her I was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and she freaked "You mean Mormons? They aren't Christian. You do NOT belong in this club!" I told her I was looking for a group of teenagers who obeyed the commandments in the Old Testament, who believed in the teachings of Christ in the New Testament, and told her I loved Christ and wanted to be more like Him and to know Him. I asked her to give me a chance to explain how The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, helped me know Him better. The teacher in charge of the club went one by one through the students and let them vote to see if I could stay in the club or not. The girl beside me said she felt so betrayed, she couldn't believe she had let me be her friend and wished that I had said something right away. She shook her head and left. The teacher kept going through the other students. Some didn't care if I stayed or not until an African American guy said "I don't know what to think!" I told him with tears streaming down my face that I didn't want them to be prejudiced against me for my religion, the way we shouldn't pre-judge anyone for who or what they are... And he nodded, knowing what I meant. I woke up wanting to explain and show the club who I was, why I wanted them to give me a chance to explain what I believed.

Today is an amazing day for us: General Conference! Starting at noon Maryland time LIVE STREAM, for two hours, with a two hour break, then again at 4pm-6pm and then again tomorrow for four hours (plus Tabernacle Choir singing for half an hour starting at 11:30 am) we get to listen to talks, counsel and advice from President Thomas S. Monson, the man who believe is a prophet. 12 men we sustain as apostles of Christ will also speak. At least one woman from one of the general presidencies (Relief Society for women 18+ years, or Young Women 12-18 years, or Primary children 18 months-12 years) will also speak.

Sometimes there are visual aids, or short film clips. There are always beautiful flower arrangements inside the Conference Center displayed around the pulpit.

And guaranteed, Christ will be mentioned. He will be sung for, testified of, His scriptures will be quoted and applications made to our modern lives. His words will be heard.

I know it. I have felt it. My heart swells with memories and I am full of faith that today will echo those experiences. I have been spiritually fed at General Conferences in the past. It is worth the 8 hours of sacrificed weekend time.

And it is open to the public. Available to the world.

You can find out for yourself, live, TODAY and TOMORROW while it is being broadcast, or you can read/listen to archived past conferences.

We invite the world to know, and see for yourself. And then judge, with knowledge.

Info-Graph

I like visuals. Here is a good, official one, I saw bigger (I need to learn how she did this-I tried and kept making it fuzzy) on Stay-at-home-Artist blog:

Source happily given here!

Impressed

In stake conference adult session last night a sister from the young single adult ward sang. She is studying at the Peabody. I don't think I have ever heard such a spectacular solo at Church, seriously. Amazing voice, "I Need Thee Every Hour" with an seemingly endless supply of air (I couldn't tell when she was breathing.) I kept thinking that it is a blessing that she is single, able to study, able to develop this amazing talent and bless the lives of others. She made a comment last stake conference about the need to live the law of chastity as a young unmarried adult, how her classmates think she is so old fashioned but she feels it is part of being faithful to future spouse, being clean now she is being faithful, living the law of chastity LDS members believe. She is one of my real-life heroes.

Copy Good Ideas Freely

A family in our stake takes a picture each time they finish reading The Book of Mormon. So here we are!