"Owning Your Personal Testimony"

Do it myself! What child doesn't say at one point or other to his or her parent, "Mommy, I want to do it myself." As parents it is hard to see a less that perfect paper turned in for school or a child with his shoes on the wrong feet. But perhaps there is much value to be learned in teaching children independence. Channeled properly, this desire to be self-reliant has long-lasting effects...particularly when it come to personal testimony..

Personal testimony. We need to experience the personal witness on our own. Reading the experience of others, or the revelation given to them, can never give us a comprehensive view of our condition and true relation to God. Knowledge of these things can only be obtained by experience through the ordinances of God set forth for that purpose. (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 Vols. 6:50)

Drinking Upstream: Elder F. Burton Howard once related a lesson on the importance of getting your own testimony that he learned from a member of the First Presidency. "On one occasion I was with President Marion G. Romney. He spoke to a large gathering of young people. Afterwards, a returned missionary came up to shake his hand. As he did, he said, "President Romney, when I was a missionary I had a question that no one knew the answer to. Let me take advantage of your time for a moment and ask you." He then asked a rather complicated question, the answer to which could have been found in the scriptures.

President Romney listened attentively for a few moments and then replied, "That is a very good question. When you find the answer, let me know, will you please?" As we left the hall he commented to me, obviously referring to the young man and his question, "My father taught me as a boy that when I wanted a drink I should go to where the spring flowed out of the ground and not downstream where the cattle had been muddying the water. He'll be better off if he finds the answer for himself."

But how easy it is to find someone else with the answers to our questions. How many want to know the mysteries of God without studying the scriptures? How many ask the Lord to do things which they should do for themselves? They forget there is no spiritual attainment without effort. The attitudes we sometimes develop in the world can be spiritually fatal if applied to such things as repentance or eternal marriage or keeping the commandments. Think of the consequences, for example, of asking, "Must I serve a mission?" compared to asking, "Can I serve a mission?" (F Burton Howard)

The lesson of LET. President Harold B. Lee once gave a sermon on the word let. "Let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed in all diligence." (D&C 107:99) President Packer reminds us that missionaries have to want to thirst to learn. He observes that hundreds of times, it says "ask" in the scriptures. "Ask,and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." (Luke 11:9) The most important things a missionary must learn is learned alone. Some things that cannot be taught must be learned says President Packer. When he was in the military, he carried a Church-owned pocket-size Book of Mormon. It was khaki in color and he read it and became acquainted with hit. It was lonesome and he did not understand much. He is glad that he had to earn his knowledge of that great book. (A Call to Faith, June 27, 2007)

Church History Story: When the 23-year old HEber J. Grant was installed as president of the Tooele Stake, he told the Saints he believed the gospel was true. President Joseph F. Smith, a counselor in the First Presidency inquired, "Heber, you said you believe the gospel with all your heart, ...but you did not bear your testimony that you know it is true. Don't you know absolutely that this gospel is true?"

Heber answered, "I do not." Joseph F. Smith then turned to John Taylor, the President of the Church and said, "I am in favor of undoing this afternoon what we did this morning. I do not think any man should preside over a stake who has not a perfect and abiding knowledge of the divinity of this work." President Taylor replied, "Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, (Heber) knows it just as well as you do. The only thing that he does not know is that he does know it. "

Within a few weeks that testimony was realized, and young Heber J. Grant shed tears of gratitude for the perfect, abiding, and absolute testimony that came into his life. (Heber J. Grant, Gospel Standards and Elder Callister General Conference October 2007 talk)

Family Experience: One day when Jenny was a little girl, she leaned over to her mother in Fast and Testimony meeting and asked "are you going to bury your testimony, Mommy?" What a great lesson from the mouth of a 4 year old...let's not bury our testimony, but let's share it often with our family and in our wards.

Questions:

1. How can you acquire your own testimony?

2. Why is it important to "own" your testimony?

3. What is the significance of the story told by President Romney about pure water upstream from where the cows drink?

4. Share your testimony in Family Home Evening. "A testimony is to be found in the bearing of a testimony (as taught by President Boyd K. Packer).

The Law of Tithing

The Law of Tithing: A great blessing of membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Doctrine: Our purpose here on earth is to gain eternal life. We belong to Heavenly Father's family and if we prove ourselves in this life, we can life with Him again.

Principle: "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." (D&C 130:20-21)

Law: Tithing means one-tenth and the Lord has commanded us to give a tenth of our increase, which is understood to mean our income.

History of Tithing: An ancient law. For example, Abraham paid tithes of all he possessed. (Genesis 14:20, Alma 13:15) His grandson Jacob vowed to the Lord "Of all thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee." (Genesis 28:22)

Biblical Applications: Elijah the Tishbite was instructed to arise and go to Zaraphath and there he would find a widow woman commanded to give him food and lodging. When he came to the gate of the city, he met her and asked for water to drink and as she was going to fetch it he called after her asking for a morsel of bread. She answered that she did not have a cake, but just a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse. She said she was going to bake that little bit for her and her son and then die. Elijah responded, "fear not; go and do as thou has said, but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son." He promised her that the barrel of meal would not waste and the cruse of oil would not fail until the day that the Lord sent rain. Some time later, her son fell sick and he died. The woman asked Elijah to save him and even rebuked him by asking if he had come to slay her son. Calling upon the Lord, the boy was healed. "And the woman said to Elijah, now by this I know that thou art a man of God and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth!"
(1 Kings 17)

This wonderful chapter can be compared to the story of Sariah in the Book of Mormon with her murmuring. (1 Nephi 5:1-8) The great lesson however is that we are to trust in the Lord and the blessings will be beyond what you expect. Is this not the great lesson of tithing.

Another great lesson about tithing is found in Mark 12:41-44.

"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.

And there came a certain poor widow, and she three in two mites, which make a farthing.

And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:

For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."

Inspired question: Does this not teach you about what the Savior notices? He knows each of us. Our desires, our thoughts, our generosity, and our sacrifice.

Blessings of Tithing:

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

Will a man rob God. Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that they may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:7-10)

Blessings of the temple: Tithing is one of commandments that qualifies us for temple worship. When asked whether members of the Church could be baptized for the dead if they had not paid their tithing, President John Taylor (third prophet of the Church) answered "A man who has not paid his tithing is unfit to be baptized for his dead...If a man has not faith enough to attend to these little things, he has not faith enough to save himself and his friends."

Like the pioneers, the obedient payment of tithing fortifies our faith and that faith sustains us through the trials, tribulations and sorrows in our life's journeys. (Elder Robert D. Hales)

Heavenly Father wants all His children to have the blessings of tithing. Far too often parents neglect to teach their children to live this law because their donation would only amount to pennies. Without a testimony of tithing, children become vulnerable to the distractions and temptations that come to today's teens. President Lorenzo Snow said: "Teach the children to pay tithing, so that it may be perpetually observed. If we observe this law, no matter what our enemies may do, the Lord will preserve us."

Missionary experience. Two missionaries visited a very poor family. It could have been in Guyana or any of the third world countries. The family's home was made of pressboard and sticks, with a dirt floor and no electricity or beds. Each evening the father, a farm laborer, spent his entire day's wages on groceries for dinner. Departing from their humble home, the senior companion thought to himself, "The law of tithing will surely be a stumbling block to this family. Perhaps we shouldn't bring it up for a while." Literally moments later, the junior companion, who had grown up in similar circumstances in his own country, voiced his own thoughts out loud. "I know the principle of tithing is not normally taught during our next lesson, buit can we please teach it the next time we visit? They need to know about tithing nwo because they need the help and the blessing of the Lord so much."

Personal Experience. As young married students in Chicago, Illinois in 1976, we learned that we were expecting our second child. We did not have any savings. We did not have an income. We did know that hospitals charged $1600 for normal deliveries in 1976. (Today it would be over $10,000). We also had faith. We knew the Lord would bless our efforts. Just that week, we received a one time government rebate for all poverty-level families in the U.S. of $160. We paid our tithing and then we opened up an account in a nearby bank. We secured jobs caring for children of working parents that travelled to the Caribbean for a vacation. Soon we had saved $1600 after having paid the tithing and then the housesitting jobs stopped. We had the needed funds for the birth of our baby. The rest of our substance was from student loans. This has always been a powerful lesson to us on the importance of paying tithing even when you could not see the end in sight.

Questions:

What are the blessings of paying tithing?

What is the great lesson to be learned from Elijah?

What do we learn from the story of the Savior and the widow's mite?

How do you calculate tithing?

What did grandpa and grandma learn about tithing when they lived in Chicago with Joelle and were awaiting the birth of Justin?

"The Nine Society" - Gratitude

Lesson on Gratitude

In the October 2002 General Conference, Elder David B. Haight of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles taught about gratitude. He quoted the record in Luke where one day the Savior entered a village where there were ten lepers. Leprosy, that terrible....that dreaded disease....anciently, but not common today...was thought of like AIDS is in our day.

Ten lepers came to the Savior and said "Master, have mercy upon us who have that terrible ailment of leprosy."

The Savior replied: "Go visit your priest and he will take care of you." And they did. They went to see their priests and all ten were cleansed.

A short time later, one of them returned to the Savior and fell on his face and on his hands and knees, thanking the Savior for blessing him and making him well from that terrible disease.

And the Savior said to the one man, "were there not 10? What has happened to the other nine? Where are they?" (Luke 17:11-19).

Inspired question: Elder Haight then asked the poignant question - "How would you like to be part of the "nine society?" Wouldn't it be terrible to be numbered among those who failed to return and acknowledge the Savior for the blessings He had given them?

The Mystery of the Vanishing art. Grandma Polizzi often spoken of the vanishing art as the 5 J's were growing up. After much guessing and persistent pestering by the grandchildren, she finally would reveal what was the mysterious vanishing art - ironing. Young people today do not know how to iron.

Personal Thank you Notes. I personally feel that the vanishing art is that of writing "thank you" notes. We do not do this enough. While serving as bishop in Burlington, Ontario, I will never forget an experience one Sunday where Sister Linda Beatson approached me in tears following Sacrament meeting. She held in her hand a "thank you" note from Sister Jarvis, another sister in the Ward, who had been touched by the Sacrament meeting talk given by Amy Lawson, Sister Beatson's daughter. Sister Jarvis was thanking Sister Beatson for being the type of mother that would raise such a daughter.

Action Plan. Since that moment, it has been a frequent pitch of mine to students, missionaries and our own children to go and do likewise. Respond to the prompting to express gratitude for something someone does...this can be termed as random acts of kindness....when people are not expecting such a reaction, it becomes most memorable.

Example. One of our missionaries had as his trademark, the practice of leaving yellow stickie notes in bathrooms, on mirrors, on refrigerators, and on windshields with a little "thank you" note expressing appreciation for whatever the couple, the investigator, or member had done for him.

Activity:

1. Sit down and write a thank you note to a teacher, a speaker in Church, a relative or anyone who recently blessed your life.

2. Follow the counsel of President Eyring in General Conference and make a journal entry every day about some way the Lord has blessed your life.

3. Resolve today that you will not be part of the "nine society" but rather continually express gratitude to Heavenly Father for His countless blessings.

Checking Your Horse

Grandma (Hi Cutes) Robison loved horses when she was growing up. She still does. Her mom used to take her for riding lessons and she learned a type of riding called dressage. This is the finest form of horse performance. It demonstrates the communication between the rider and the horse.

The rider periodically pulls back (checks) on the reins which cause the bit in the horse's mouth to be uncomfortable to the horse. As the relationship between the rider and the horse becomes more aligned, the slightest pull or even the softest touch on the reins causes the horse to respond promptly. The result is an almost perfect posture of the horse and rider. The stature of the horse becomes magnificent.

Grandma's favorite horse was a big clydesdale named Camille. This horse could almost read her mind and would respond instantly to each command. Grandma was assigned to ride this big, clunky horse in contests. Can you imagine having a big horse often used to pull heavy wagons in a contest of grace and finess against fine quarter horses?

The relationship between horse and rider (Camille and Grandma) was so developed that they won big contests. In fact at the first dressage contest at the club where Grandma took lessons, Grandma and Camille won. Noted on the contest judges form was this comment: "hated the horse, but she did the best job."

What is the lesson that can be learned for each of us?

Can we learn to figuratively hold the bit in our mouths so that we feel the slightest little nudgings that come to us in our lives. Can we progress to the point where we are so sensitive to the Spirit that we feel the tiniest tugs that whisper to our soul and guide us in the paths we must follow?