(joi-fuhl life): great delight or happiness caused by a life that is exceptionally good or satisfying.
I was very blessed to be able to attend the Time Out For Life and Time Out For Women seminars with Sheri Dew and Hilary Weeks in Las Vegas this past weekend. What an amazing spiritual experience it was. I knew after the first presenter that I was meant to be there. And as Virginia Hinckley Pierce put it I know I was meant to be there because I was there.
There are so many talks that hit home directly for me. I knew that I truly needed this time out to make a few adjustments in my life. With so many wonderful presenters I came home with something from each of them that I will use to better myself as a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a friend.
I decided to record only a few here and maybe more at a later time.
Virginia Hinckley Pierce
She talked a lot about prayer. “Prayer is about a relationship with god. We get to talk to someone who knows us better than anybody.” She also went on to talk about the fact that Heavenly Father has many blessing he wants to give us but he wants us to ask. We may never know some of them if we refuse to ask for them. I also loved that she talked about teaching our children to pray and about her own mother teaching her to pray. That is the first thing our children learn about god is when they learn to pray. “If we have learned how to pray we will be ok. If our children have learned how to pray, they will be ok.” There is a lot of comfort in that saying especially as a mother who worries a lot about my children and their future as they get older.
Michael Wilcox
His talk was full of countless favorites for me. He told about his mother and how she filled his vision with god through the beauty of the world. It was her way of teaching him as a small boy. As an example he loved to bring home many different creatures as many little boys do. One day he caught a horny toad and brought it in the house. Many of us moms would very easily tell our children to take the disgusting toad outside. His mother bent down beside him, looked right into his eyes and asked “which of Heavenly Fathers creations have you brought home to show me?” What a wonderful way to look at life. This is something that I know I need to work on. I want my children to know how much I love the world and the beauty that I see in it. I am going to make a conscious effort to give remarks on my surrounding and thank god for each and every one of them so that my children will gain a greater understanding of God through the Lens of my eye.
Eye – Heart – Soul
When you say Thomas what immediately comes to your mind? Doubting Thomas. He will forever live with that stigma. Michael asked if anyone knew another story about Thomas and very few did. I was one who knew only the one. There is another story about Thomas in the bible. When Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill and was planning to go to him, his disciples pleaded with him not to go for they knew it was dangerous. The last time they had been in the area Jesus was almost stoned. Thomas was the one who said Let us go, for we will die with you. No one remembers Thomas that way. We do not say Courageous Thomas only Doubting Thomas. “The real you is you at your best not at your worst”.
Jesus was always lifting others up. He changed the names of many of his disciples into names that meant more. When Michael was a young student he had a difficulty in school. He was not very well behaved. He read the teacher comments along with his report cards from Kindergarten up to the 4th grade. They all referenced the fact that he needed a lot more growth in his actions to control himself. He received G on every report card for the citizenship side, which stood for more growth needed. He loved baseball and his favorite player was Willey Mayes. Willey would catch a ball by flipping over his baseball mitt just at the right time for the ball to fall in. Michael practiced constantly so he too could catch a ball like Willey. When he was in the 5th grade he was in class practicing moving his hands like Willey did. His teacher came up to him and said
Teacher “Mike I bet I can guess who your favorite baseball player is?”
Mike “Who?”
Teacher “Willey Mayes.”
Mike “Well yeah how did you know that?”
Teacher “Because you can catch a baseball like Willey Mayes. I’m not going to call you Mike anymore, I’m going to call you Willey.”
That year his report card had an S on every line on the citizenship side. His teacher also wrote, “Mike is a good boy”. What a difference it makes when we lift others up and see them as god would see them.
Michael wanted to learn to play chess as a youth. His favorite piece on the board was the Knight. When the match would begin he would immediately begin and lead with his knight. And inevitably he would always lose. The strongest playing piece is the Queen and only when he led with his queen did he begin to win games. God is leading with his queen. The world doesn’t always lead with the queen. The importance of women far surpasses that of men in a lot of ways. We have a huge responsibility on our shoulders. We must never feel like we do not have as big of a role as our husbands or fathers. God left two of the most important roles in our plan of salvation to women. First there was Eve and then Mary the mother of Jesus. Without these two women fulfilling their mission the plan would have never worked. I intend to hold myself up to that high of esteem and know that I as well have a very important role on this earth.
In November 2009 there is a Time Out For Women scheduled for St.George, Utah. I am very excited to attend it. It was a sacrifice for me and especially for my family leaving them for the weekend however it was definitely worth it. I also got to know some wonderful women from my ward a lot better.
