The Time is Now

I was taking an afternoon nap just now, because I haven't been getting a lot of sleep with school starting and the kids having a cold. The dream I had during my nap was...really interesting.

I was in the house and had just woken up (in my dream), and for some reason Lydia and George were the only ones awake in the house. And I heard Justin saying how proud he was of me for cleaning the house while he was gone, but I was so confused, because I had been "sleeping". When I got up (still in the dream), I realized that I didn't feel tired at all, that I really had cleaned, and the whole house had so much light and felt so much brighter.

When I woke up for real from the dream the immediate inundation of tiredness was so different from the feeling of just weightlessness I'd just been feeling. I guess I didn't realize how completely drained and exhausted I've felt lately.

When I was set apart to be a Relief Society Instructor, I was told that I would be able to accomplish the things that I desired more easily as I serve God in the home. That came to my mind just now well as I was pondering this dream. I think that all of the light in my dream - the brightness that was all throughout the house - might not have literally been sunlight.

It feel like it was the Light of Christ in our home taking the weight off of everything. It says in the scriptures that when the people of Alma had burdens too great that the Lord was able to remove their burdens from them, and that they were able to "bear their burdens with ease". I have the feeling that this is the same kind of miracle. I have the opportunity to lighten my burdens by serving the Lord in my home. I want to feel that feeling again - that joyous, weightless brightness. And I think God was telling me that now is the time.

A Church of Love

I have a few friends who are either homosexual or have decided to take up the banner in defending their cause. They ironically claim that the church is exclusive and hateful by lashing out in their own hateful ways.

It makes me so sad. The church is a church of love. Everything it does is because of the pure love of Christ.

But why are the children of a gay person not allowed to get baptized or hold the priesthood?

This is the most recent in a slew of attacks issued by acquaintances. It is my personal belief that the reason is love. It doesn't make sense to them, but take a step back and look at our whole reason for being on this earth: family.

The family unit is the singlemost important unit in this temporal frame. It makes perfect sense to me that God would give instruction to his Prophet to protect it as much as possible in a world that increasingly tries to tear families apart.

In that sense it becomes clear that making a child wait until they're an adult to be baptized or receive the priesthood is not an act of exclusion and hate - but an act meant to protect the wholeness of their family situation. It is meant to strengthen family ties, not ravage them. It is because of love.

This life is such a small part of eternity. It may seem difficult to have to wait for eternal ordinances once a child realizes they are good and true, but if the cost is alienating family...one half of who they are, I understand why God wants them to wait a few years. It's for their protection and the protection of the family.

I wanted to write my thoughts on this subject down before I forget it. I've been forgetting a lot of things lately...

New Calling, New Blessing

Yesterday I was called as a Relief Society Instructor and was also set apart. It was a good blessing. There were a few lines that really stuck out to me.

One part said that as I serve God in the home, I would have more time for my interests and personal hobbies as well as more time to be a good mother and wife.

It also said I touch some people and that my example would help them.

That's all I really remember, but I don't want to forget it, so there it is.