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Browsing Tag: ponder

Church,Family,Parenting

Bringing Conference to My Family

posted on : June 4, 2018 posted by : Somethingsihavelearned 0 Comment

When my children were younger they would usually listen to General Conference but they didn’t read the Ensign or New Era conference issues and study the talks.  One of the things I found helpful to bring the talks to them was to type up quotes and post them in my kitchen.  As I would read the talks I would mark quotes or ideas I thought would be good to post.  Every week, sometimes even longer if I didn’t have my life together (frequently) or if there was a quote I particularly liked, I would flip through the conference issue and find the things I marked and choose another quote.  I typed and printed it and then posted it in the kitchen, and since I had already marked the quotes, this only took a few minutes.  At one point I realized there were so many good quotes that I started doing two and put them in different areas of the kitchen.  When one of my daughters was a teenager she told me that she really liked having those quotes posted and she read them frequently, it helped her in her life, and that she even tried to memorize them.  I also hoped that it positively influenced some of my children who were struggling, and it was a way of preaching without preaching.  The funny thing is that I think I benefited the most from the quotes.  I would read and reread them as I worked in the kitchen and the words sank deeply into my heart and I was able to ponder on them.  I frequently thought about how I could implement the ideas and thoughts into my life, and some of the promises I clung to and still do.  This has been an easy and simple way to bring conference to my family.

Children,Parenting

Teaching Correct Principles

posted on : January 29, 2018 posted by : Somethingsihavelearned 0 Comment

Joseph Smith once said “Teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves.” I had heard this statement many times pondered about it when some of my children were making choices that I didn’t like.  I felt like I had taught them to do good and be good yet they were still making unwise choices and I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.  Maybe I hadn’t set a good enough example or maybe I hadn’t taught clearly enough important principles to guide their lives by or maybe I just hadn’t taught them in the right way or taught them enough.  I prayed and pondered and stewed over it for several years and then one day while I was driving and thinking about it the thought came into my head “Teach them correct principles and then they get to choose.”  I had been interpreting the quote the wrong way.  I had always thought it meant “teach them correct principles and then they will choose to do right.”  What an eye opener and game changer.  Yes, I could probably teach more clearly and be a better example but as I continued to do my best to teach good principles to live their lives by I was doing all I could.  The rest was and is up to them.