Thoughts from Sacrament Meeting

Today we attended sacrament meeting in the Papago ward where the hubby had the opportunity to confirm his great-niece and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost. For some reason as he said to her "receive the Holy Ghost" the words really hit me. What a great blessing I have to be able to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost in my life. I wonder, do I make an effort each day to "receive" him and all the blessings that he can bring to me? Often I take this gift for granted or fail to conduct myself in the way necessary to be influenced by him. I need to make having the spirit with me a priority each day. (I thought it was interesting that one year ago today I was also pondering on the importance of the Holy Ghost).

The talks in the meeting today were on charity. Two of the speakers were young men and it was interesting to hear their thoughts on charity and the individuals in their lives who are charitable. The last talk was about gossip and how charity is the cure for gossip. As members of the church, we are in a battle with Satan. All of the other members of the church (and a lot of other individuals) are fighting on our side in this battle. When we gossip about or bash others we are weakening our own defenses. Her analogy made me think about the concept of "friendly fire". In a war sometimes people are injured or killed by weapons being fired by their own comrades. I have always thought that "friendly fire" was a bad choice of words for this situation. How can something that hurts you ever be considered friendly? I think too many of us today are involved in way too many incidents of "friendly fire". We think it is funny or harmless to make sarcastic or derogatory comments about other people in the name of entertainment. I see this a lot with today's youth, but they are definitely not the only ones who have a problem with this. I like to think that I have a quick wit. Sarcasm is one of my specialties. I like to be funny, but sometimes I find myself aiming my humor gun at people. Something that I have always taught my children not to do as in "You don't point guns at people!". I need to think about what I say, even just to be funny, and who my "friendly fire" might hit and what damage it might cause.

Today I am grateful for

opportunities for my children to give service.
a husband, son, and son-in-law who hold the priesthood and are worthy to participate in priesthood ordinances.
the gift of the Holy Ghost.
dinner as a family (minus one).

One year ago today - Potluck at the Park, An Interesting Source for Inspiration.