Work and Personal Responsibility

Work and Personal Responsibility

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve bldg so let me catch you all up to speed. For starters, lets go over what we discussed last week. Last week we had our discussion on Teaching Modesty and Virtue in our Home by Gaye Page. Briefly, she starts off by reading from the scriptures, Moroni 9:9 – “And notwithstanding this great abomination of the Lamanites, it doth not exceed that of our people in Moriantum. For behold, many of the daughters of the Lamanites have they taken prisoners; and after depriving them of that which was most dear and precious above all things.”

Elder Packer says that it is our responsibility to teach our children about chastity and virtue, not the responsibility of schools and teachers. They need to be learning these values at home. Easier said than done. When do you think Virtue means? Julie Barlow said, “When you’re vitreous you have the spirit with you.” Debbie Adams says, when we have virtue, are actions are in our thoughts and in our daily lives and the activities we engage in…“Actions in our thoughts and in our daily activities.” Virtue is having moral excellent, it makes are our action right and our thinking righteous and also in how we speak and dress. The way one dresses is how one will behave and speak especially to others says Beth Maranto. A good example of that as Beth continues, is the issue with the pants being worn down around their hips by boys and how this fad really started in the prisons and in gangs and is now looked upon at being the “cool way to dress” and how many of the parents are ok with it. They allow their children to dress like that. Many schools have had to impose a dress code of making boys wear belts to hold up their pants if they are caught wearing their pants around their hips. This is not a positive influence for our children to be following let alone having parents supporting it.

As things happen in our society, we become desensitize to it and begin to accept so the time to teach our children is when they are young. This is not an easy task. Let’s read D&C 93:40-43. Our children get influences about everything around them and we have to be sensitive as to how we approach the subject. Bunnie Kantro brought up a situation with her granddaughters. Her daughter does not go to church and is married and has different standards than her husband. Bunnie brought her granddaughter to church and they were not dress in the “church standards” and Bunnie was worried that people might say something to her or to her grandchildren. Her concerns are real about how people would be judging her and her granddaughters, which is why the Lord has instructed us to not to judge anyone. Just because we live a life that is different from other, does not make us better than them. Even people in church are in different places in their life. It’s important that we love everybody and not be so concerned of where they are in their life. Just because we are raising our children in the church doesn’t guarantee that they will accept it. Just because we have temple marriages, doesn’t mean that our spouses are living within the gospel plan. There are sisters who are even married outside of the church, which creates challenges in the family with the different level of standards. It’s important that we love each of our brothers and sisters and not judge them but accept them and become their friend as well as being a positive influence upon their life, rather than judging them and making them feel bad or different or like they are not one of God’s children. As noted before, we are all in different stages in our lives and we all have different challenges that we need to overcome and those challenges are different for all of us. What challenges one needs to grow from is a lot different than the challenges that another person needs to grow from or the challenges that our children need to learn from. While teaching our children our about virtue and modesty, we all must remember that we are all God’s children and no matter where we are, he loves us no matter what and is a patience Heavenly Father. He wants us to become like him, which includes loving others.

Now, on to this weeks lesson. This week lesson was on ”Work and Personal Responsibility”, lesson 27 and Beth Maranto is now the new teacher for this week. Work! We’ve all done it at some point in our life. Our Heavenly Father gave to Adam and Eve this world for them to take care, to work. The Lord said to Adam, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” Genesis 3:19. Adam and Eve worked the land for provide for their own needs and the needs of their children (Moses 5:1). Our Heavenly Father worked too. He worked to provide us with this earth. He created the seas and the land, the stars, the heavens and the animals and creatures living on land and in the seas. This is the Eternal Principle. The Lord commanded us that we are to work. A prophet of God has said, “Work is to be reenthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership” (Heber J. Grant, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Heber J. Grant [2002], 115).

What are some of the family responsibility? We must teach our children about work. As parents work together to provide for the welfare of their children, so must the children be taught to do the same! One day, they will be doing the same thing. Children should have chores to do around the house. This helps them to become responsible. It also helps them with achieving self-esteem. It gives us self worth as Cindy W. was saying. We must praise them for their success no matter how small it is.

The Lord is not pleased with those who chose to be lazy or idle. He said, “the idler shall not have place in the church, except he repent and mend his ways (D&C 75:29). He also commanded, “Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer” (D&C 42:42).

From the time of Adam until now, the Lord and prophets had told us to be independent and self-sustaining and not be idle or burden ourselves among others. And when our relatives need help such as our parents, we must be able to help them out. It is important that we keep our lives in balance. Too much work is not good for us. We must learn how to balance our live with work, recreations and rest. It’s important that we obey the Sabbath day. This day of rest allows our body to rest in all areas, the mind, the physical and the soul. It’s important also, that we have a hobby.

There are many blessings that come from work. In 2 Nephi 2:25, “Men are, that they might have joy”. Work is the key to having a full joy in the plan of our Heavenly Father. One day, we will return to him.

Having the privilege to work is a great gift. There are many people who choose not to work. They choose to be idle and do as little as possible while others have a lot on their plate. We need to remember that whatever our trial is, it is a trial that our Heavenly Father has given us and he has given us our trials because he knows that we can handle it. Linda Scharf said that she knew a woman whose husband had die, then her house burned down and she was raising 7 children on her own. And she told her children that while most families have a mommy and a daddy, they have been blessed with just a mommy right because Heavenly Father knows that they all can handle it, creating a positive attitude among her family. While her trial is different from many of ours, it is a trial that Heavenly Father had given to her. Attitude is everything. Being a good worker and having ethic in our work is what our Heavenly Father wants. He will bless us in the end for our good works. So on that note, please feel free to share your thoughts with us on this discussion. We would love to hear from you. You just might uplift someone who may need to read about your experiences. Next week our lesson is on Service, Lesson 28 and will be taught to us by Bunnie Kantro. Thanks for joining me, until next time…

Kelly