It's Been A While!

It has been a while since I have written on this blog! This month the visit teaching message was you get to choose from all of the wonderful conference talks. I love this one, but it is so hard to choose, since they are all great!

The one I have chose to share is: "Respect and Reverence" given by: Margaret S. Lifferth. She spoke of teaching respect and reverence by example and with love. I believe this is so important. In the world today it seems like we have lost some of that respect for others, ourselves and for our Father in Heaven. It is really sad to see the lack on respect that we see. Respect is defined as having high regard, to be courteous in expression, to want to please. If we have respect for others then we know that they are important, we treat them with kindness and love. I love the sang, "The Golden Rule: Do Unto Others, As You Would Have Others, Do To You". Ways we can show respect are: Speak to others with kindness, especially our elders. Do not cut down or degrade others. Be aware of how the things we do, effect those around us. I think respect is lost a lot of times because of the selfishness of people. We also need to have respect for property. I always try to teach my children when they are playing with someone elses toys, that they be careful with those toys. Because if someone was playing with their stuff they would would want them to be careful too. Next is respect for ourselves. This one is so important, because if we do not respect ourselves then it is much harder to respect anything else. We need to realize that we are children of our Heavenly Father. That we are divine. To have respect for ourselves we need to treat our bodies like they are a temple of God. Because they are the temple of our spirits. By not marking up our bodies, not in taking things which are harmful, eating right, and getting the exercise and sleep our bodies need we are showing respect for ourselves. Lastly, is to have respect for our Father in Heaven. We can show respect for him by how we respect ourselves and others. Also, by showing reverence towards our Father in Heaven. In Sister Lifferth's talk she quoted a song from the Children's Song book: "Rev'rence is more than just quietly sitting: It's thinking of Father above, A feeling I get when I think of his blessings. I'm rev'rent, for rev'rence is love." We are reverent because we love our Heavenly Father.

So how do we teach reverence? By example and with love! I love how Sister Lifferth says, "...if reverence is rooted in love, so its the teaching of it... So begin early and have reasonable expectations." I also loved how she said, "...love those in your class. Often the child who is the most disruptive needs your love the most." She also goes on to quote President Packer: "While we may not see an immediate miraculous transformation, as surely as the Lord lives, a quit one will take place. The spiritual power in the lives of each member and in the Church will increase. The Lord will pour out his Spirit upon us more abundantly. We will be less troubled, less confused. We will find revealed answers to personal and family problems." I also believe that if everyone respected those around them, then it would solve most of our worlds problems!