Filling our Buckets, RS Lesson, November 6, 2011

Our presidency message was given by Sister Jill Koudelka who provided a summary.

We took a spin the old bucket analogy, and talking about how we need to fill other peoples buckets, but we can't fill others without having something in ours, yet filling others' buckets helps fill our own bucket.

We discussed that we as women of the church ARE the buckets, but what makes up a bucket, and how we need to make a strong sturdy, useful bucket.

Parts of the bucket:
walls/ sides
bottom
handle

To me the walls or sides are equal to our knowledge/testimony...then we read about Knowledge in the Bible Dictionary and in D&C 130:18-19.

Bottom = Faith / hope... then read the first paragraph of the Faith part in the Bible Dictionary.
Faith in our Savior, for because of him ALL things are possible
Faith in our Father in Heaven that he knows best and it is by His time and Love all things are possible
Faith in ourselves that we are never alone.
Obedience gives our faith strength. Obedience and covenants makes the bottom of our bucket solid and strong.

Handle= I likened to our agency... what do we do with it all... The action part of the gospel. As a woman you are always in situations where you serve, you can keep all of you bucket to yourself, but use that handle and do something with it. Handles are also something to hang on to....hang on to the Savior and his promises... and show Charity.

I ended with how we as a Presidency truly care about each sister, and how we try to plan each activity, lesson etc., to help strengthen your buckets so that the sisters can do the hard things they are asked to do. We have a few sisters who are disappearing for Relief Society and we want them to feel that it is a good place to be.. that we just want to help strengthen them.

That we are a society of relief... what do you need relief from...let us know what your bucket needs..."That we may all sit down in Heaven together",  page 25 from the Daughters in My Kingdom book we just handed out.

Forget Me Not

"It is my prayer and blessing that you will never forget that you are truly precious daughters in God’s kingdom."

Missionary Efforts, Joint RS/Priesthood Lesson, September 18, 2011

Our stake president, President Smith, spoke to a combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting about the missionary opportunities we have available to us online.

"Mormon.org is a missionary site intended to provide information about our faith. By creating a profile, you can share your feelings about your faith, shed light on who we are as a people and demystify our most commonly misunderstood beliefs. Mormon.org is not a social media site."

Mormon.org is a wonderful, easy, non-threatening way to share the gospel.  So many of us, and our young people in general, spend a great deal of time online.  Whether it's email, blogging or Facebook, many of us have phones that are connected to the internet, and we already have an online presence.

Creating a profile at mormon.org is very easy.  You can have it as private or as public as you would like.  The website states:
"A profile is your opportunity to share your beliefs and experiences in the gospel with those who are not of our faith. With the help of our profile creation wizard, we will walk you through the steps of creating your own page, uploading your photo, writing about yourself, and answering questions about the gospel that will help others better understand our beliefs."

 Many of you will have seen videos and profiles from mormon.org.  There are ads on television, billboards in Times Square in New York City, links on youtube.  It is an effective way of sharing our beliefs with people and showing them that we are really, truly ordinary people just like they are.

Along with your profile, you have an opportunity to answer gospel questions and share your testimony.

President Smith encouraged each of us to create our own profiles.  Then, he suggested that we link to those profiles from our blogs, from Facebook or even post a signature in our emails that invites people to view our profile on mormon.org.

Establishing a Christ-Centered Home, RS Lesson, August 28, 2011

Our Teaching for Our Times Lesson was taken from Elder Richard J. Maynes' talk in April General Conference titled, Establishing a Christ-Centered Home and taught by Sister Valerie Cleverly.

Living in a family is central to Heavenly Father's plan, it is central to our gospel understanding.
From an early age, we teach our children that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them when we teach them "I am a Child of God". We need to teach them what that song means.

We need to point out those tender mercies to our children; we need to show them that daily experiences and simple things like sunsets come from Heavenly Father, they aren't just coincidences.

D&C 130:2
And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.

Families are eternal.  Our happiness is not part of Satan's plan.  He knows our eternal happiness lies within our families.

Every day we should try and live a Christ-like life.  Would we change things if we knew the Savior was listening or visiting?

How do we have a Christ-centered home?  We do the basics:
1. Family Prayer
2. Family Home Evening
3. Scripture Study

Other things we can do:
1. Put up pictures of the Savior and the temple not only in your home, but in your children's rooms as well.
2. Play good music: hymns and primary songs.
3. Posters: My Gospel Standards or Mormonads

Children notice and remember. While everyone is responsible for the family, parents bear the brunt of responsibility.  Our children see what is important to us. Children echo and value what is important to us.

By Small and Simple Things, RS Lesson, August 8, 2011

Our president's message was shared by Sister Kerri Vannucci.

Alma 37:6-7
Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.  And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

D&C 52:14
And again, I will give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived; for Satan is abroad in the land, and he goeth forth deceiving the nations—

We all have a liahona, a pattern; we have the scriptures.

Like King Naaman, who thought that washing in a river to be cured of leprosy was too simple and beneath him, we are often looking for the big things, not the small things or the small means.

We need to remember the tender mercies of the Lord; those small things that happen.  We need to remember:

D&C 64:33
Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

Elder David A. Bednar spoke at Women's Conference in May of this year, of the small and simple things that we do and used the example of a drip irrigation system to illustrate the importance of consistency in seemingly small and simple things.  The simple things we do are like those irrigation drips, they slowly fill us up and slow and steady is the best way.

Sister Vannucci asked us, "What are the small and simple things we do everyday?"

Smile
Pray
Be a cheerleader, be happy in your family
Pretend you're happy even when you're not!
Service
Sometimes you just endure with a smile

But, each of those things not only helps to build us up, it helps build up our families and those around us.  Like Elder Bednar said, "I believe many, if not all, of the most satisfying and memorable accomplishments in our homes, in the Church, in our jobs and professions, and in our communities will be the product of this important spiritual pattern—of simple and small things.  Brothers and sisters, we should find great comfort in the fact that ordinary people who faithfully, diligently, and consistently do simple things that are right before God will bring forth extraordinary results."

LDS Women Are Incredible - RS Lesson, July 24, 2011

This lesson was based on Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk titled, LDS Women Are Incredible, given at General Conference this past April and was taught by Sister Valerie Cleverly.

Sister Cleverly asked each of us to raise our hands if we had negative thoughts about ourselves.  She then asked us to do the same for positive thoughts.  It was interesting to note that hands went up more quickly for negative thoughts than for positive.

It is important for us to celebrate the good things about ourselves.  Sister Cleverly shared Elder Cook's story about the young woman's purse that was found by her YW leaders.  She asked us what was in our purses and had sisters share the things they found in their purses that showed something positive about themselves.  It was delightful to see what was shared.

She shared this thought from Elder Cook, "Our women are not incredible because they have managed to avoid the difficulties of life—quite the opposite. They are incredible because of the way they face the trials of life. Despite the challenges and tests life has to offer—from marriage or lack of marriage, children’s choices, poor health, lack of opportunities, and many other problems—they remain remarkably strong and immovable and true to the faith."

Spiritual Preparedness

Our stake president, President Smith, spoke in Sacrament Meeting today.  He said:

With the Boise Temple closing for renovations and the Meridian Temple not yet under construction, we have a trek of our own to make 2 hours east to the Twin Falls temple.

We have an opportunity to sacrifice to attend the house of the Lord.

Do what it takes to qualify for a recommend.

Do what it takes to use that recommend and attend the temple.

If we commit ourselves, we will be blessed.

Missionary Work - RS Lesson, May 22, 2011

This week's lesson was on Missionary Work and was given by Sister Pam Bitsch.

What if you had something you really liked (like the gospel) that was a great blessing in your life. Wouldn't that be really stingy of you to not share it with your neighbor?

We talked about how missionary work has been an essential part of the gospel since the days of Adam, who first taught the gospel to his children and then as they became more numerous, missionary work was necessary. After the Savior established His church, missionary work was necessary to take the gospel first to the Jews and then, after His death, to the Gentiles. When the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith, one of the first things he did, under the direction of Jesus Christ, was to send out missionaries to many parts of the world.

We have been told in the scriptures that the gospel must be taken to all of Father's children in all parts of the world before He comes again. As we see the increased uses of technology in the world and in the Church, we can see how all people, everywhere, are being prepared to receive the gospel. We talked about how we can personally take part in that preparation by sharing our testimonies and personal experiences in the gospel with our friends and also people we don't know via the social media, Mormon Messages, the Church's web sites, etc.

But in the end, the prophets have told us that people list as the number one reason they become interested in the Church is that they have a personal relationship with someone who is a member living their religion. We have something many people in the world are looking for. If they are kept from the truth only because they know not where to find it, then it is our responsibility to show them where it is.

Girls Camp Humanitation Project...Please help.

Bling! Bling! Bling!

The Young Women in the Nampa East Stake are in need of "bling" for a service project they are doing at Girl's Camp next month. Last year we decorated baseball hats for the Shriner's Hospital in Salt Lake. We used buttons, beads, gems, fabric paint, ribbon, etc. Our efforts were so appreciated that they have requested that we do it again.

If you have any "bling" you would like to donate, please contact Margo Kelly, our Ward Camp Director or Sara Otto from the2nd Ward.  Sister Otto will pick up donations if necessary, or you can give them to your Sister Kelly..

LDS Women are Incredible! General Conference 4/2/11

Elder Quentin L. Cook, Quorum of the 12 Apostles, April 2, 2011 General Conference

The Lords Law of Health - RS Lesson, March 13, 2011

This lesson was about the Lord's Law of Health, Section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants, by Sister Pam Bitsch who provided this summary.

We started out by reviewing the history of this section as told by Pres. Ezra Taft Benson in April conference 1983. The brethren came from miles around to attend the "School of the Prophets" where Joseph Smith instructed them in things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. In the absence of a temple, the meetings were held in a room in the home of Bishop Newel K. Whitney. After breakfast, the brethren would meet together in this room where they would light up their pipes and smoke while discussing the gospel. Then when the pipes had gone out, they would take a large chew of tobacco. The Prophet would find himself in a large cloud of smoke. This, and the complaints of his wife at having to clean the floor, led him to inquire of the Lord relating to this and the Lord gave him the revelation known as the Word of Wisdom.

We went on the talk about this being a "principle" and not a hard and fast set of rules. Yes, many things are spelled out as to what we should put into our bodies and should not, but not everything is listed. How could it be? We need to be in touch with the Spirit and think about the principle of this revelation and relate it to the things we eat. Science, in our day, has borne out the proof of the things which Joseph Smith received. In his time, no one would have guessed that smoking or chewing tobacco or drinking tea and coffee could be bad for your health. The Word of Wisdom does not specifically say "tea and coffee", but not to use "hot drinks". Brigham Young said that hot drinks referenced tea and coffee -- and those were the drinks of that day. Sometimes today we will see studies saying that drinking tea and coffee are good for one. But we should know that following the Lord's counsel will always lead us to the best thing and not following the counsel of man. It also does not say to not use caffeine, but science in our day has shown us that caffeine has many bad side effects, too. There must be wisdom in the things we partake of. God gave us a body to house our spirits. It becomes a temple for our spirits and we need to care for it the best we can. Another thing Brigham Young commented about was resting to renew our strength and not to try to do "two days work in one" by using stimulants and drugs to keep ourselves going when we are tired.

We made a point of looking at the promises associated with keeping the Word of Wisdom, "to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint" and to have "great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures" made available to us. These are certainly wonderful promises and something we should all be striving to obtain.

I am so grateful to know that I have a Heavenly Father who cares about me so much that He even has revealed things that help me keep my body healthy. It is so hard to increase one's spirituality when you don't feel good so I know that God is helping us have the ability to have our good health and a healthy spirit work together for our good.

Of Things that Matter Most - RS Lesson, March 6, 2011

Sister Christine Breshears gave the lesson taken from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's General Conference talk of October, 2010 titled, Of Things that Matter Most.

President Uchtodorf reminds us that "when stress levels rise, when distress appears, when tragedy strikes, too often we attempt to keep up the same frantic pace or even accelerate, thinking somehow that the more rushed our pace, the better off we will be". How many of us judge our self worth as a mother, wife, grandmother, etc. by the length of our TO DO list? The wise "resist the temptation to get caught up in the frantic rush of everyday life".

How can we stay focused on what matter most?
Elder Oaks gave a wonderful talk several years where he taught us that "we have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best". Remember this Good, Better, and Best talk? When we have decisions to make regarding how to spend our time and efforts, we can ask ourselves "What is the best use of my time?" Again President Uchtdorf reminds us that we "would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most". All of our circumstances are different, we need to evaluate ourselves (not the woman next to us) and decide what Heavenly Father expects of us.

So what are the Basics?
President Uchtdorf tells us that four key relationships are the basics of things that matter most. As we improve one relationship, the other relationships are strengthened.

1) Relationship with Heavenly Father - This relationship is nourished as we learn of Him and of His Son, Jesus Christ. As we keep His commandments, pray daily, study the scriptures, attend the temple, and spend meaningful time alone with Him our relationship with Him is strengthened.
2) Relationship with our Families - This bond is strengthened as we spend time together by doing simple things - family dinner, family home evening, etc. These are activities that don't require money as we are giving of our time. In fact President Uchtdorf says that love within a family is spelled T-I-M-E. He tells us that spending time together is the "key for harmony at home". Sounds like a great promise to me!
3) Relationship with our Fellowman - we develop relationships with others one person at a time. As we share our time and talents with others, we develop lasting relationships with those in our ward and neighborhoods. Visiting teaching provides us the opportunity to develop new relationships. We may find missionary opportunities also as we reach out to those around us.
4) Relationship with Ourselves - We need to remember that we our children of a Heavenly Father and we are of divine worth to Him. Let us focus on our strengths and not criticize and belittle ourselves.

One final reminder by President Uchtdorf " If life and its rushed pace and many stresses have made it difficult for you to feel like rejoicing, then perhaps now is a good time to refocus on what matters most."

RS Birthday Dinner, March 1, 2011

We enjoyed a wonderful evening to honor the organization of Relief Society.

After a delicious dinner we were privileged to hear from Sister Rodriguez, first counselor in the Stake Relief Society presidency.

Sister Rodriguez spoke about the legacy of Relief Society.  Relief Society has provided so much for women over the years and for many has been a blessing and influence.

She quoted Sister Julie B. Beck, who said, "the purpose of Relief Society, as established by the Lord, is to organize, teach, and inspire His daughters to prepare them for the blessings of eternal life. I would like to say that again. The purpose of Relief Society, as established by the Lord, is to organize, teach, and inspire His daughters to prepare them for the blessings of eternal life."

The sisters are organized under the priesthood and in the manner of the priesthood.  The Prophet Joseph said, "that the Society of Sisters might provoke the brethren to good works in looking to the wants of the poor—searching after objects of charity, and in administering to their wants—to assist by correcting the morals and strengthening the virtues of the community."


Relief Society is to strengthen families.  We need to focus and come closer to the Savior.

Our challenge is to see what we can do to let the light of Relief Society shine in us.  There is no other organization like Relief Society.  We need to reach out.

Sister Vannucci closed the evening with this statement:  "As Satan grows stronger, Heavenly Father needs us to be strong and focus on what is right and to strengthen each other."

Ward Conference - RS Lesson, February 27, 2011

Our 9th Ward Conference was on Sunday and we were privileged to hear from our Stake President who spoke to the Relief Society in addition to being the main speaker in Sacrament Meeting.

The Ward Conference theme was "Stand Ye in Holy Places" from D&C 87:8.

Some notes from President Smith's remarks:

We need to make the places we're in, as holy as we can.
When the spirit is present, ordinary places can become holy because of the spirit of the Lord.
The power of the priesthood is real  God is aware of each of us and He wants to be able to reach and touch us wherever we happen to be.  We need to be receptive and ready to feel that spirit.

If we take the time to make a holy place wherever we are, the spirit will visit us.

1. If we make scripture study as a daily part of our lives, the Lord will speak to us daily. President Smith referenced a talk given by Elder David A. Bednar at a Feb 4, 2007 BYU Fireside titled, "A Reservoir of Living Water".

Read the Book of Mormon cover to cover and you will gain a testimony.
Study by Topic and you will gain knowledge.
Search the scriptures and you will gain understanding.

2. Prayer.

Pray constantly (3 Nephi 18:18)
Prayer gives us strength and communication with our maker.  Who better to go to to ask, "How do I make my home a holy place?".

You need to be in holy places more often.  As you attend the temple regularly the spirit will attend you when you are outside the temple and will become familiar to you.  What is "often"?    "Often" is personal.  President Waite, the Boise Temple president, encourages weekly attendance. 

Work and Personal Responsibility - RS Lesson, February 20, 2011

This month's lesson was on Work and Personal Responsibility given by Sister Pam Bitsch, who provided the lesson summary.

We first talked about the principle of working being eternal. We first see evidence of God's work in the scriptures as the creation is described. Then we know that Adam was commanded to work so that by the sweat of his brow he could sustain his life and his family. We know Adam and Eve also taught their children to work. Jesus said that He was here to do the work of His Father. All kinds of work are required to get through life and are necessary and good. It is so important in the home to teach children how to work.

I assembled a panel of "experts" to talk to us about how they did and are teaching their children to work.

First was Priscilla Koudelka. Her family is grown but she said that they always worked together with their children and taught them to work. They have a farm so it was essential for everyone to help out. She said if should could do anything different, she would yell less. But at the same time she was yelling from the house to the kids on the banks of the canal out on the farm so I'm pretty sure that was the only way to make her voice reach that far.

Then was a new sister in our ward, Laurel Nicolayson. (Hope I spelled that right.) She has a 14 month old son whom she is teaching how to work by allowing him to help her to things like vacuuming. He loves to do that so she holds him and lets him put his hand on hers as they push the vacuum cleaner. It's much more efficient to do it herself, but she lets him help because that teaches him how to work.

Our last sister was Maryann McRoberts. She has raised a big family and several members of her extended family. She had lots of young children close together so she said it was essential to their survival for her to get organized. She made a chart that spelled out in detail what the requirements were for doing the job in each room of the house. Each child was assigned a room as their job and they had to do all the things associated with that job before they could go out and play. She told them that passing off their job was their "ticket out of the house" so they all learned to work and get the job done so they could play. Now that they are adults with children of their own, they continue to know how to work hard. Teaching children how to work and provide for their own needs will be a blessing to them for as long as they live.

I was also very privileged that same day to teach singing in the Primary and I loved every minute of it. Your who teach Primary have a stewardship that is priceless beyond measure.

Choose Ye This Day to Serve the Lord - RS Lesson, February 6, 2011

Sister Kerri Vannucci shared a message from Sister Julie B. Beck's 2010 Women's Conference talk. Which you can watch in its entirety here. You can read/print the written transcript here.


"Sisters, you are each like the lioness at the gate. This means that there has to be some prioritizing…when our priorities are out of order, we lose power. If we need power and influence to carry out our mission, then our priorities have to be straight… how important it is to safeguard that home, that family, to have that kind of power. We discussed that nothing really powerful happens in a home or a family if the lioness doesn’t care about it or invest in it. To move the Lord’s work forward, we have to have a powerful faith, a strong faith. We need stronger families and homes and we are to seek out and help those who are in need."

Strenghtening Families - Joint RS/Priesthood Lesson, January 30, 2011

For our fifth Sunday combined Priesthood/RS Meeting, we spent the first 10 minutes or so learning about the ward website and some of the features that make it helpful in planning family activities, etc.  You can find the ward website here, click under the word "tools".   If you don't already have an lds.org account, you can set one up very easily.  You just need your membership number, which you can get from Brother Yancey if you don't know it.

After the website lesson, the bishop spoke about strengthening families and we watched this short video message.


Several people shared some experiences about those who influenced each of them as youth.  Bishop Hansen told us that as a ward, we need to reinforce what is taught in the home and at home we need to reinforce what is learned at church.

"If you live the Gospel principles, it will set you free."

We never know how we might influence another.  When the youth know that their leaders love them, it makes all the difference.

Fasting - RS Lesson, January 16, 2011

Lesson 25, Fasting, given by Pam Bitsch.

Isaiah 58 has such a beautiful discussion about fasting and fast offerings that I pretty much spent the whole time going through the first 12 verses of that chapter. Most of the thoughts came from a podcast that I downloaded from the BYU Speeches website where I found some of the smart BYU professors talking about this. So I'll just kind of go through what we talked about. In the first verse, the Lord tells Isaiah to tell the people what they are doing wrong.

In verse two, He says that the people pray and do the ordinances, but they are still lacking something. The attitude is just not right. They say we have fasted and we have afflicted our souls, God can't you see how we have done that? And He says to them that they are working on the Sabbath day and doing things for their own pleasure.

In the days of Israel, a Fast Day was always a Sabbath. I don't know if it was the end of the end (Saturday) which they were observing as the Sabbath or another day. In the early days of the Church, Fast Day was held on a Thursday and was re-instituted as a way of helping the poor and less fortunate. The fast offerings were generally paid by actually donating the food that the family would have eaten, rather than money. A meeting was held in conjunction with fast day and that got to be difficult because of people working. So in December of 1856, Fast Day was changed to be the first Sunday of each month, and that is still observed today.

But going on with Isaiah verse 4 he says that the people make a lot of strife about how they are fasting (they're talking a lot about how hungry they are) and that they can't do anything else because they are fasting. (Like the son can't help his mother because he's fasting.) And God says, is this the fast that I have chosen for you to make a big deal out of it and to bow down your head as a bullrush? Bullrushes are a hollow reed-like plant with a thin cell wall. It bruises easily and then just falls over.

In verse 6 the Lord says that the fast He has chosen is to loose the bands of wickedness (it gives you strength to do the right thing), to undo the heavy burden (either yours or someone else's because you pray for them or give them food, etc.) Verse 7 goes on in the same vein, that you help the poor and unfortunate, cover the naked and don't hide yourself from your relatives. Isaiah explains this whole thing as a "cause and effect" situation. First he tells them that they aren't fasting correctly. Then he tells them how they are doing it wrong. Next he explains how they should do it right. And then in verses 8 - 12 he tells them what the rewards are of proper fasting and offering.

"Thy light shall break for as the morning and thy health spring forth speedily." "Thy righteousness shall go before thee" (like a shield which protects you in the front) and "the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward" (rearward). So the Lord essentially says "I've got your back" and will protect you from the unseen things which will come up behind you. Then comes this wonderful promise in verse 9. "Then shalt thou call, and the Lord will answer; thou shalt cry and he shall say, Here I am." If you don't put other people down (with a yoke) or shake your finger at them scornfully or speak vanity, this blessing is promised as part of the fast.

Pres. Kimball and all the prophets have told us to give a generous fast offering. Not just the cost of the 2 meals, but more, much more.I can personally testify that the Lord blesses us when we give a generous offering. Isaiah says if we draw out our souls to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then "shall our light rise in obscurity, and our darkness be as the noonday." That means even the dark moments of our live won't be very dark because of Him. In verse 11, He will guide us continually, satisfy our souls in drought and make fat our bones. In the scriptural sense, to be "fat" is a good thing. "Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."

In verse 12 it appears that this proper fasting will also bless our posterity and be a foundation to them. Maybe it will repair relationships - "thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."

All wonderful promises. Fasting should always have a purpose and be accompanied by mighty prayer. Don't ever just go hungry again.

The Sabbath Day - RS Lesson, January 9, 2011

Lesson 24, The Sabbath Day, given by Jeanne Sayers.

What is the Sabbath Day?
In Hebrew, Sabbath means “to cease” or “to rest.” In Genesis, the Sabbath day commemorated God’s “day” of rest after the Creation. That was the point at which he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. In studying the Old Testament I think that we tend to misunderstand the Israelites in their ineptitude and lack of ability to follow commandments. But Elder Faust reminds us that these people had been slaves for generations. They had been denied individual freedom of choice for so long, that like the “slothful and unwise servant”, they DID need to be instructed in all things. So when it came to the Sabbath, they were told how far they could walk, what kind of knots they could tie, etc.

In our time, Heavenly Father has recognized our intelligence by not requiring endless restrictions. Perhaps this was done with a hope that we would catch more of the spirit of Sabbath worship rather than the letter of it. In our day, however, this pendulum of Sabbath day desecration has swung very far indeed. We stand in jeopardy of losing great blessings promised. After all, it is a test by which the Lord seeks to “prove you in all things” (D&C 98:14) to see if your devotion is complete.

When Christ came, he reaffirmed the importance of Sabbath day worship, but gave a new spirit into this part of it. He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. The Son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath Day,” and he affirmed that “it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath.” Sabbath day observance in our day is now more of a manifestation of our individual devotion and commitment rather than a requirement of civil law.

Until his resurrection, Jesus Christ and his disciples honored the 7^th day as the Sabbath, as the Jews still do today (Shabbat). However, after his resurrection, Sunday was held sacred as the Lord’s Day.

As with most commandments, the Lord gives us a promise if we obey the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. He says “that inasmuch as ye do this, the fullness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth, yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, yea all things which come of the earth.”

What SHOULD we do on the Sabbath?
“The Sabbath is a holy day in which to do worthy and holy things. Abstinence from work and recreation is important, but insufficient. The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts, and if one merely lounges about doing nothing on the Sabbath, he is breaking it. To observe it, one will be on his knees in prayer, preparing lessons, studying the gospel, meditating, visiting the ill and distressed, sleeping, reading wholesome material, and attending all the meetings of that day to which he is expected. To fail to do these proper things is a transgression on the omission side.” (Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969, pp. 96–97.)

In choosing Sabbath day activities, we should ask ourselves 3 questions:
Will it uplift and inspire me?
Does it show respect for the Lord?
Does it direct my thoughts to him?

President James E. Faust gives us three reasons why the Lord has asked us to honor the Sabbath day.
First has to do with the physical need for rest and renewing. Obviously God, who created us, would know more than we do of the limits of our physical and nervous energy and strength.
Second has to do with the regeneration and strengthening of our spiritual being. God knows that, left completely to our own devices without regular reminders of our spiritual needs, many would degenerate into the preoccupation of satisfying earthly desires and appetites. This need for physical, mental and spiritual regeneration is met in large measure by faithful observance of the Sabbath Day.
Third is the most important of the three. It has to do with obedience to commandments as an expression of our love for God. Blessed are those who need no reasons other than their love for the Savior to keep his commandments. The prophet Samuel reminds us, “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”

He goes on to remind us that the most important promise God gives us for obedience to this commandment is protection. “And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world.” If sincere Sabbath observance will help keep us unspotted from the world, don’t we want that? Don’t we want that for our children as they go out the door every day? The injunction to keep the Sabbath Day holy is a continuing covenant between God and his elect people.

Exodus 31:14, 16-17
“Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations…for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever.”

Ultimately, what is worthy or unworthy on the Sabbath day will have to be judged by each of us trying to be honest with the Lord. I know that in my own life, when I observe the Sabbath, the spirit is in my home, my week is better, my soul is better, my work is better – my life is better. I’m grateful for every covenant the Lord has made with us, including the sacredness of this one. I hope we can all either continue doing well, or try to improve on what we know is right.