A Conference and a Thought

Someone asked me yesterday, on this blog, where I got the Celestial Education video (thank-you, Andrea, by the way, because when I looked at your comment I was able to see your website and I am seriously considering signing up for one of your groups!)  I borrowed the movie from a friend, but I looked it up and it looks like you can purchase it here.  It's a 3 hour lecture.  I really liked that it opened my eyes to some things I hadn't considered, but I think are very important in how I educate my children.  She does share some personal revelation and sort of suggests that it might be true for everyone.  I disagreed with this, but I liked her points and I thought the video was worth watching. 

I don't have very much time to say much today, but as I've been pondering on world culture and gospel culture and the gospel in it's fullness, I read this in Arm the Children that I wanted to share because it gave me some food for thought:

"We should be showing our own members what is wrong with the culture surrounding us instead of letting them slip into it.  Such teaching is our duty, particularly with our young people.  I know that many young people, and many adults, too, think at the bottom of their souls that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, and I can tell you from personal experience that that grass is made of plastic, which is why it holds its color so well and doesn't need any watering.  We must not let our members yearn for what they imagine to be the greater freedom outside.  There is no greater freedom outside --- there is only wilderness: wilderness and violence and despair."

And just in case I was thinking that this didn't apply to me since I already know the grass is made of plastic, he goes on to say this:

"There is a great deal of sloth in our modern life.  There is a great deal of passivity --- and most passivity is sloth.  Sloth is perhaps the most common sin.  Sloth exists all the time when, as Christians, we are not making the best possible use of our time.  If we have chosen to look at a good program on television, good! But if we are just sitting idly in front of the television and watching whatever is happening there, that is sloth....We have to be careful of activities that require minimum intellectual effort and give us an excuse for really doing nothing.  Every moment of our lives, we should be asking ourselves, 'Am I  doing at this moment the best I can?'"

The more I try to do this, the more I realize that I have a long way to go,  but I don't feel discouraged (at least not often!).  I know my Savior died for me because He knew I would never make it on my own.  I know that the test is in my progress - not on how far I am on the road to perfection (thank goodness!)   I am working to know Him better and in helping my children know Him.  That's what matters!  I'm so thankful for the peace I feel despite my faults.  That's why I'm here after all, to learn to overcome those slothful, prideful tendencies of mine and to see the real.  Good thing I have 5 little blessings that remind me of the real everyday.