That being said...yesterday I loved the lesson because I saw it register as they learned something they'd not thought of before. It was a lesson prompted by the Spirit so that made it even more exciting to me. The months theme is.... Prophets and Revelation. the theme had no bearing in preparation of what I taught but after it was said and done, it was right with the theme.
sometimes YW are bothered by the fact that some LDS girls really get away with things...they fool everyone...if people only knew what she is really like...she drinks/parties/wears strapless clothes/has a steady boyfriend/swears/short skirts/not even 16 and she is dating!... and on and on. They think it's unfair that they are never held accountable...no punishment/penalty. They attend Church/take the sacrament etc. etc.
This escalates to gossip/backbiting/judging/confusion and all sorts of nasty behavior on the good girls part.
Why can't they just mind their own business? Why do they say this stuff?
Even in telling them it's not right to judge etc., the it isn't fair line comes up. The bads mingle with the goods and all are treated the same.
The things I mentioned aren't hard core things but enough to agitate others. Yes, there are some hard core things they see not just with members but school peers also. And they all seem so HAPPY!! They don't seem bothered in the least by not CTR-ing. How can they act that way!
Then one day it really hit me. Instant gratification!! Today's teens live in a world of that belief. NOW. they want quick actions...reward or punishment. NOW!
Recently the power went out in our area and our son was here when that happened. He took out his phone, asked a question and immediately he got the answer of what was going on and heard that 615 places were without power and all sorts of other info. Instantly.
Righteous Rewards or Deserved Punishments...both given from choice of actions will never come swiftly. The good or the bad. They both take time and sometimes a lot of time before the harvest of the fruit, be it bitter or sweet.
These girls want instantaneous results. Not going to happen! I don't say a prayer and the answer is there at my Amen. Likewise, I might have a bad habit for a long time, that I choose to indulge and enjoy and hang onto, with no negative result for ages but yes it will come. A price will be paid.
I've been devouring the Presidents books for RS. The missing link, the puzzle piece I needed was right in the manual about President Ezra Taft Benson!
First of all...doers of wrong choices will have joy in the moment! I loved seeing light bulbs go off in minds as the dawning came. President Benson taught....
In the meantime the wicked think they are getting away with something. The Book of Mormon teaches that the wicked “have joy in their works for a season, [but] by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return” (3 Nephi 27:11).
Of course they are happy and enjoying their misconduct...evil is tasty and addictive in some degree on all levels of sin. "eat drink and be merry" "a few stripes" "call evil good" etc. etc. BUT the day of reckoning will come!
What President Benson said, just sealed the deal in teaching a truth, if absorbed will help them all of their life!! It clarified my feelings of finding something beyond "don't judge" and "the Lord looks to the heart" "Mind your own business". Those were a couple of my favorites in trying to derail fault finding of others conduct and feeling they should be punished/reprimanded/exposed.
Maybe you want to do a FHE? Or maybe I'm late coming to the dinner table and you already knew how to answer/solve this? As adults don't we sometimes question-- how can other adults be so blessed when they blah blah blah on this this this and aren't doing such and such and such and such? Now we know...it's none of our business. We have to learn to love!!!! As is!! We are all enough at this very moment!! ALL of us.
Uh-oh. am I blowing bubbles? Am I on my soapbox? perhaps. It was just so exciting to teach the girls.
President Benson was so BOLD & FRANK! He said it like it was and it was clear! (read full chapter here. It's just a short one. enjoy it!!) This was said in 1988 at April General Conference.
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God loves us; the devil hates us. God wants us to have a fulness of joy as He has. The devil wants us to be miserable as he is. God gives us commandments to bless us. The devil would have us break these commandments to curse us.
Daily, constantly, we choose by our desires, our thoughts, and our actions whether we want to be blessed or cursed, happy or miserable. One of the trials of life is that we do not usually receive immediately the full blessing for righteousness or the full cursing for wickedness. That it will come is certain, but ofttimes there is a waiting period that occurs, as was the case with Job and Joseph.
In the meantime the wicked think they are getting away with something. The Book of Mormon teaches that the wicked “have joy in their works for a season, [but] by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return” (3 Nephi 27:11).
During this testing time the righteous must continue to love God, trust in His promises, be patient, and be assured, as the poet said, that “who does God’s work will get God’s pay.” …
The great test of life is obedience to God.
The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.
The great commandment of life is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30).
May God bless us to put the first commandment first and, as a result, reap peace in this life and eternal life with a fulness of joy in the life to come.
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