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| November 6 - Patience |
Today's meditation is (from Living a Sacred Life):
Today I notice where I need more patience and let the spirit of Autumn, of the unknown, help me let go.
Wow. Hmmm.... Well, I could definitely use more patience. I've learned to be more patient in some things, but I'm still having trouble with others.
I'm most definitely impatient when I'm waiting to go somewhere I'm excited about, or waiting for someone to come over or meet me that I'm excited to see. Lots of impatience there. Often when my mom is on her way here I'll call a couple of times to see where she is so I know when to expect her (she lives over an hour away). If anyone takes longer than I expected them to arrive, I'll call and see when they'll be here. I wish I didn't feel the need to do that.
One thing I've learned over the past year, from being involved in my church, is to trust the Lord in everything. I wonder how I could apply this to patience? With these specific examples, I'm not sure how to apply it. The Lord will help if we ask, and if it is His will to help. Prayer works wonders in just about every aspect of life, why not this? I suppose, if I'm being impatient I can study the scriptures, or just read them. I quite often get very engrossed in them, though I am having a little trouble getting engrossed in Leviticus (not sure I spelled that right), as I had trouble with Exodus in the part where they are building the tabernacle (the altar will be one and a half cubits by one cubit, the curtains will have fifty rings in them, this is how big to make eleven curtains, and how big to make these curtains... and explained at least twice!), Those were some pretty boring chapters! But, believe it or not, I actually really liked Genesis. It was boring in some points (this guy begat these four people and this guy begat this guy, and he begat this guy.....), but it was interesting to read all the stories I've heard about.
See, I have never read the Bible. I didn't grow up going to church, so I don't know much about what happens in is, other than the few stories people talk about a lot. So I'm reading the bible cover-to-cover. I'm determined that I will read the WHOLE thing. I've already read The Book of Mormon all the way through once, and now I'm going for it again. It is recommended in my church to read from the Book of Mormon every day, even if it is just a couple of verses. I read two chapters from the Bible and two chapters from The Book of Mormon every morning as soon as I get up. Sometimes I nod off while I'm reading, but I'm determined, so I read it. I'm enjoying reading it every morning; it is a wonderful start to the day. Morning prayer, then reading. My day doesn't feel right when I don't read first thing in the morning. For a little while I'm not going to be reading from the bible though. My church has General Conference every six months, where the Presidency of the church and the Apostles give talks on various subjects relating to different aspects of our lives being full of the gospel and its truths. The month following conference comes the conference issue of our church magazine, The Ensign. It has every talk from General Conference printed in it so that we can have a copy of what was said, and those who could not watch or listen have a way to know what was said in conference. So I'm reading from this issue of the Ensign and the Book of Mormon every morning until I've finished reading all the talks.
Strangely enough, my reading in the Ensign this morning was about the blessings received by following the promptings of the Holy Spirit, which I can apply to patience. The Spirit will listen to our prayers and help us to know of patience, if we ask sincerely. The Spirit will teach us about any positive thing though its gentle promptings, that still small voice that encourages you to do something you wouldn't think of doing otherwise. The urge to call a friend when it turns out they are having a bad day, the urge to go a different way home to find out that there was a bad accident on your regular way home. The urge to do something nice for someone when the thing they need most is to know that someone cares. All these things are promptings of the Spirit, and will lead to numerous blessings when we listen to what it says. Blessings for us, and blessings for those we help though the promptings. The Spirit is the voice of the will of God in our lives. It lets us know what God desires of us, whether it is to be patient or not, and who to help when they need it. The Spirit is a wonderful gift we receive at baptism in my church. You can feel it without baptism, but confirmation gives us the gift of having the Spirit always in our lives to guide and comfort us. It is the most wonderful gift you can receive.
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Posted by WillowPhenix on 2009-11-06 10:23:43 | Rating: | Views: 5
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