Kids These Days

Kids These Days

I gotta say that I was scared by, and yet sadly identified with the article I just read on teens and honesty. It looks as though good old-fashioned integrity is going the way of the dinosaur.

If corporate executives are already comfortable cooking the books and tanking their companies just so they can max out their personal bonuses, what are the kids of the future going to stoop to?

Prophetic Guidance for Our Uncertain Times

Prophetic Guidance for Our Uncertain Times

There are times when I forget just how true the Church is, and just how inspired our prophets are. I thank God for reminders like the one I just received, and which I quote below.

I came across this link on Facebook that one of my friends shared. I quote below from The Dimmick's blog, with a link to the original article.

"This talk was given by Ezra Taft Benson in 1977. Then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles then later becoming Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he warns us of socialism sneaking into our government. He warns about redistribution of wealth and socializing health care. He warns that “they pull down what is above and they never raise what is below.” “You are not here to be a parasite or a freeloader. The price you pay for something for nothing may be more than you can afford.” It is broken up into two parts."

Part 1 of 2



Part 2 of 2



"The full text of this speech can be found here."

http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6162 starting at the sub-title “Socialism–a Philosophy Incompatible with Man’s Liberty”.

Entitled to Happiness?

Entitled to Happiness?

For whatever reason, I tend to get a topic stuck in my head and everything that happens for a period of time seems to reiterate that topic again and again. I don't know if that is just me and my one-track-minded self, or if others experience that same phenomenon.

So, last week I wrote about my experience in Primary and the curse of entitlement that is controlling much of our current and future generations' thoughts and actions. Yet again today, the senior primary kids showed me just how prevalent this curse is becoming. I also was able to see in my own life how I'm just as guilty as they are, and how important it is for me to be living my very best so that I can be more receptive to the Spirit and know what is most important to teach them.

I had prepared for singing time today by practicing some fun pioneer primary songs on the guitar. The junior primary did great and had a fun time singing and learning the songs. They seem to respond well to changes of pace that keep their short attention spans interested for longer.

Senior primary was shaping up to be a good experience as well, but they were a bit more obnoxious about the fun songs than the younger kids. It quickly got to the point where I knew that continuing on with the singing time as planned was not going to be an effective teaching tool. The kids were more interested in goofing off with their friends and classmates and being disrespectful of my time than really getting anything out of the experience.

I had a scripture come to mind that I shared with them. Alma 41:10 states that, "wickedness never was happiness." I embarked on a discussion of this verse, the history behind it and what it means for each of us today. We talked about how wickedness is not just the really bad people or really bad things we can do, but that it is anything that drives away the Spirit and prevents us from being truly happy. We talked about how our example affects others, especially how our bad example and poor choices can affect the Spirit's ability to influence others around us.

We also spent a little time talking about the first part of verse 10 where the wicked cannot be restored to a state of happiness in the resurrection. Our choices, even the small white lies or the occasional moments of irreverence, can lead us to not being able to be as receptive to the Holy Ghost; and thus will ultimately keep us from experiencing the kind of happiness that is beyond description.

Satan's efforts to fill our lives with counterfeit happinesses are so precise and so abundant that being able to tell the difference between excitement and joy is growing harder and harder to do. We are becoming so accustomed to the constancy of the counterfeits that we've started lowering our standards as to what we'll accept as a good time. I know. I'm definitely one who likes to not have to put too much effort into having a good time, even if that means putting up with some of the junk that gets woven into generally decent entertainment. The problem is that I know some of these things are stealing away my desires to put effort into the things that bring the most happiness. I truly believe that one of Satan's ultimate goals is to create enough distractions of innumerable variety that, by the time we realize what has happened, we've occupied our entire existence with things that have simply pacified and lulled us away into carnal security.

In other words, Satan is doing his best to convince us that we are entitled to happiness; and the worst part is that his version of happiness is one that will ultimately lead to our eternal misery. 1 Nephi 2:25 states that, "men are that they might have joy (emphasis added)." Joy of the nature and magnitude which the Lord describes is a possibility, not a right. We are invited to use our agency to discover that joy, but it can only be obtained through the pattern that God has shown.

It is my hope that you and I can fight through the mess of Satan's counterfeit happiness and secure for ourselves and our children a death grip on the joy set aside for the saints. And I mean death grip; for if we aren't willing to sacrifice everything, even our own lives if necessary, to find and hold onto that joy, then we'll be selling our inheritance for nothing more than a "mess of pottage."

The Curse of Entitlement

The Curse of Entitlement

It's been quite a little while since I wrote last, and that post was not even my own writing. Being busy tends to be something that makes putting off what's most important that much easier. And not that I rank blogging as part of the "most important" group. It simply tends to be one of the many things that takes lower priority when life gets hectic.

So, what I really wanted to write about actually happened last Sunday while I was helping out in the junior primary during sharing time. As could be expected, the kids were all restless and hungry (having church during the lunch hour makes for many a hungry child… and adult). I was substituting for the chorister who was out sick, which I didn't mind at all. I thoroughly enjoy being with the kids.

One young boy in the older class of kids was being particularly rowdy and despondent to calls to reverence. After I got through with the singing time I stole back to his class and sat next to him and his friends. By this time he was actually laying on the floor and aimlessly kicking the chairs in front of him. So, I thought I would distract him a little and see if I couldn't rationalize him into even mild obedience.

I quietly started talking to him and asking him different questions that would hopefully play into my master plan. He was taken a little by surprise at first, probably since most adults that talk to him are more interested in his immediate silence and conformity than what he likes to do. He seemed to enjoy the unique nature of our conversation and obliged me with meaningful responses.

I eventually was able to ask him why he wasn't paying attention to the different lessons and activities during sharing time. His answer prompted deep reflection on my part and has inspired this post. He said that he didn't like to pay attention or participate in the activities because, "Church isn't fun." I probably should have expected such an answer from him, or any other kid for that matter, and not thought anything of it. Instead, after asking him a little more about what he meant, I got the deep impression that he had no motivation to expect anything else out of life than fun. If it wasn't fun, why would anyone want to do it?

As I thought about what he said I realized that his attitude is a classic example of what is wrong with how we view life and what our way of life has come to instill in us. From 6 year-olds all the way up to retirees, this attitude of being entitled to nothing but fun and ease is rotting away the foundation of critical, time-honored values. Values like gaining enjoyment from an honest day's work, or working hard for anything of real value, are eroding away with the onslaught of marketing messages claiming that happiness and enjoyment are found in the purchasing of goods and services meant to make our lives easier and more fun.

I know that I'm not a unique or solitary voice in proclaiming these woes, but there still seems to be so little happening to remedy the situation. That's because we are a society of consumers, ever convinced that happiness is just one purchase away. Our government is keenly aware of this, evidenced by President Bush's comments after the World Trade Center bombings that we should go on and live as normally as possible, going to movies and doing all the things that make America great.

Understand that I am definitely not against fun or entertainment in any way. We all need opportunities to relax and unwind. But when our lives are consumed by those things, then we've gone way past what fun and entertainment were intended for.

So, what are the possible remedies? Well, that is something that I will be addressing in the next couple of posts. Suffice it to say, for now, that we need to be focused on the why so much more than ever before, because that is what must be driving every last decision we make. It is key to our success in life and the hereafter. How we teach the why to our kids will be the ultimate test of our resolve in living the why.