Avoiding the appearance of evil
Last week was stake conference, and it's basically where instead of going to regular church services, the entire stake (usually about 3,000 members, though not all go) meets at the same building and the church leaders of many levels speak, but I never go to stake conference. To be honest, it's was like 2 hours of sticking myself in the eye with a fork, and then add on 2 little kids, yeah no thanks, I'll just hang out here. So as usual, I didn't go to stake conference last week. So that night I was chatting with a friend and we were talking about church and how our individual services were that day, and I mentioned that it was stake conference and that I didn't go. Sp he went on to tell me the benefits of going where we are supposed to go, stake conference, etc. and attending all my meetings, which to be honest, I usually don't, or do with boredom and irritation. As of last week, I was going to church out of obedience, I went because I was supposed to, and don't get me wrong, I also went because I have a lot of friends there and many single moms or women that come by themselves with their kids, and it's difficult and overwhelming, so I go to be their friend and make them feel welcome and help them with their kids. So usually for church I would hang out in the hallways, talking to people, making friends with them, helping with their kids, changing diapers, etc. But when he asked if I left church each week feeling spiritually fed, I stopped, and thought, no, not at all actually. And he said to go to church just to fill a seat is almost torturous, and I thought "yeah that sounds about right." But I'm trying to grow spiritually and I've already learned much from him so when he's telling me that it would be to my eternal benefit to pay attention in church more and go to my classes I listen. So with that said I went to church yesterday with a different mind set. I set my alarm for earlier than usual, I woke up my kids nicely, no screaming to get ready for church, we made it on timeish, we sat in the chapel, and I listened to the speakers. Honestly, it was amazing. I sat there thinking "how much have I missed by not engaging in church before this?" My son had my iPad during sacrament meeting so I couldnt take notes then but afterwards I sat in the foyer and wrote down what I could remember.
One thing I have noticed in the minimal amount of time that I've spent paying attention in Sacrament meeting is that I really like when all the speakers have the same topic. Sometimes the wards don't coordinate the speakers like that and it's just really difficult for me to follow when there are 2-3 different topics covered in one meeting. My new ward has so far done the speakers that way, one topic for all speakers, and I really appreciate that. One thing that's really interesting about where I live that I've never really noticed before is all the people in the "entertainment" business. That's not code for anything crazy, but all the stories of struggling actors and singers, and even the successful ones, there are many in my ward. Both of the speakers yesterday are in the "biz" and so it was just really interesting to hear how their perspective differs from my own, even though we all go to "work" everyday. On a side note, one amazing lesson learned from one of the speakers was not what she said, but what she did. In her talk she said that she has a music studio and that that's what she does for a living. And putting 2 and 2 together, to live where I live is exceptionally expensive, so to be a musician with your own music studio and to be able to make enough money to support yourself with that means that you are incredibly successful as an artist and surely very accomplished as a musician. So after sacrament meeting I took my kids to primary, and sure enough she comes walking in, I tell her she did a great job, she says thanks but that she has to hurry because she's the primary pianist and classes are starting. I just kind of watched her walk away and thought, here is probably a world class pianist and makes money and is in entertainment, and yet she plays the piano for primary in our little ward. It would be so easy for a person of her social status and talents to think that playing the piano for a bunch of little kids is way beneath her, that she's better than that, but she doesn't believe that at all. She serves with a good attitude and I'm grateful for her example, "it's not where you serve, but how you serve."
The topic of sacrament meeting was "Avoiding the appearance of evil." The first guy who spoke was youngerish mid 30's, works in entertainment, new to the ward as of a few months ago, and served a mission to the Philippines. He started his talk mostly addressing the youth, and even though I'm not super young, I thought that it was quite poignant. He said that you are creating yourself, whether you want to or not. Basically that we will create an identity on purpose or on accident, we will either become who we want to become or we will become a reaction to those around us. So he said that it is so very important to be very involved in our own self creation. He said that a motto in his industry is "fake it til you make it" with the example of people coming to town and wearing the aura of entertainment success. They will wear the nice clothes, drive the nice cars even when they can't afford it, they will wear the jewelry, attend the events, rub elbows, make the appearances, and basically have the attitude of "I'm a movie star" and they will act the part until they really are movie stars. He says he's seen that many many times, and the attitude that those people have really works to their advantage. So his point isn't to go out and live contrary to gospel principles to be successful financially, but his point was, decide who you want to be ahead of time, and do the things that that person would do, and eventually you will become the person that you want to be. On underlying theme of his talk was identity, who you are, and who you want to be. He said that it's important to choose who you want to do, and it's so very important to choose your friends wisely. He told the story of a movie premier that he went to because he was very good friends with the director. While he was there he met with one of the men who invested in the movie, they were talking about how they knew the people there and it came out that the director was highly trusted by the investor and because the speaker was his friend, the investor trusted him as well. While they were talking the investor pointed out 3 other guys in the crowd, and said "you see all them, we were all poor together, we all stayed friends and now we are all millionaires together." His point was that your friends are very influential in your life, they can build you up or tear you down, so choose wisely. It was amazing.
The second talk was the woman who is the professional pianist. She started out by saying that who you are to other people is 70% of what is seen, your appearance, 20% of what you say, and only 10% of what you do, so your appearance, or what other people see if the majority of who you are. Now this was a kick in the stomach for me, because I'm in a bit of denial about this aspect of my life right now. She talked about the story of Joseph who was sold into Egypt, who I love, and how he was so righteous to run from the temptation posed by Potiphar's wife, but he left so quickly he left his garment in her hand, and she used this garment of his to condemn him of the very evil he refused to do. It was the appearance that sent him to prison, not actually committing the sin that he was accused of. This is the reasoning that she gave for appearance being such a important aspect of our lives, not only our own physical appearance, which is important too but the way that we present ourselves and our standards and our values. She talked about the environment that we create influencing our mood and that it also portrays the kind of person we are. She used the example of her professional music studio, she says she keeps it clean and neat, with a few candles and books that she loves strategically placed to let people know exactly what kind of media she values. Another point that she made that I found interesting was what mistake we are making by indulging in inappropriate media because part of it might be good. For instance, there are a lot of movies that provide "historical" perspective, such as Schindler's List, rated R, so against the advice of the Lord to watch it, but many people rationalize watching it. She used the story of Saul, after he was commanded to conquer then destroy every living thing in a city, he conquered it and killed most of the stuff but he kept the best of the cattle, and some of the other animals, because he reasoned that it was good stuff, and he should keep it. He justified himself with that reasoning, disobey the Lord to keep the good stuff, and how many times do we do that in our life, listen to bad music, watch mad movies, because there's a good message or a good plot, etc.
Overall I'm so grateful that I chose to listen to the advice of a friend who only had my best interests in mind, even though he felt bad and like he over stepped his bounds, I'm grateful.
The topic of sacrament meeting was "Avoiding the appearance of evil." The first guy who spoke was youngerish mid 30's, works in entertainment, new to the ward as of a few months ago, and served a mission to the Philippines. He started his talk mostly addressing the youth, and even though I'm not super young, I thought that it was quite poignant. He said that you are creating yourself, whether you want to or not. Basically that we will create an identity on purpose or on accident, we will either become who we want to become or we will become a reaction to those around us. So he said that it is so very important to be very involved in our own self creation. He said that a motto in his industry is "fake it til you make it" with the example of people coming to town and wearing the aura of entertainment success. They will wear the nice clothes, drive the nice cars even when they can't afford it, they will wear the jewelry, attend the events, rub elbows, make the appearances, and basically have the attitude of "I'm a movie star" and they will act the part until they really are movie stars. He says he's seen that many many times, and the attitude that those people have really works to their advantage. So his point isn't to go out and live contrary to gospel principles to be successful financially, but his point was, decide who you want to be ahead of time, and do the things that that person would do, and eventually you will become the person that you want to be. On underlying theme of his talk was identity, who you are, and who you want to be. He said that it's important to choose who you want to do, and it's so very important to choose your friends wisely. He told the story of a movie premier that he went to because he was very good friends with the director. While he was there he met with one of the men who invested in the movie, they were talking about how they knew the people there and it came out that the director was highly trusted by the investor and because the speaker was his friend, the investor trusted him as well. While they were talking the investor pointed out 3 other guys in the crowd, and said "you see all them, we were all poor together, we all stayed friends and now we are all millionaires together." His point was that your friends are very influential in your life, they can build you up or tear you down, so choose wisely. It was amazing.
The second talk was the woman who is the professional pianist. She started out by saying that who you are to other people is 70% of what is seen, your appearance, 20% of what you say, and only 10% of what you do, so your appearance, or what other people see if the majority of who you are. Now this was a kick in the stomach for me, because I'm in a bit of denial about this aspect of my life right now. She talked about the story of Joseph who was sold into Egypt, who I love, and how he was so righteous to run from the temptation posed by Potiphar's wife, but he left so quickly he left his garment in her hand, and she used this garment of his to condemn him of the very evil he refused to do. It was the appearance that sent him to prison, not actually committing the sin that he was accused of. This is the reasoning that she gave for appearance being such a important aspect of our lives, not only our own physical appearance, which is important too but the way that we present ourselves and our standards and our values. She talked about the environment that we create influencing our mood and that it also portrays the kind of person we are. She used the example of her professional music studio, she says she keeps it clean and neat, with a few candles and books that she loves strategically placed to let people know exactly what kind of media she values. Another point that she made that I found interesting was what mistake we are making by indulging in inappropriate media because part of it might be good. For instance, there are a lot of movies that provide "historical" perspective, such as Schindler's List, rated R, so against the advice of the Lord to watch it, but many people rationalize watching it. She used the story of Saul, after he was commanded to conquer then destroy every living thing in a city, he conquered it and killed most of the stuff but he kept the best of the cattle, and some of the other animals, because he reasoned that it was good stuff, and he should keep it. He justified himself with that reasoning, disobey the Lord to keep the good stuff, and how many times do we do that in our life, listen to bad music, watch mad movies, because there's a good message or a good plot, etc.
Overall I'm so grateful that I chose to listen to the advice of a friend who only had my best interests in mind, even though he felt bad and like he over stepped his bounds, I'm grateful.
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