lumberjacksdaughter

I forgot to say, "Thank you".

I imagined that is what it was but I wasn't positive. I knew about them. I just didn't remember their name.

Who are the sons of perdition?

I didn't know I was biting anyone's head off in particular. Sorry that you felt personally assaulted.

You know... Everyone who isn't me.

I didn't say that I cared what those people did with my money the times I gave to people on the street who were asking for help. I said that it would be great to have a "care" package available in the car to hand out. Especially if the driver of a car passing by happened to be low on cash that day. Dang. "You people" are hard to please. It was actually my 31 year old daughter's idea. I will have to get back with her and inform her that it is "cash only" when people are in need. Who knew? And while I'm at it, I will notify the food banks about this policy also! If you can't give cash, then don't bother. And the Bishop's Storehouse. I should notify them. Just give the people MONEY. It's up to them whether they buy essentials for for their family or not with it.

I guess I just have my nose out of joint (not offended - please don't throw a tyrade back at me about the idiocy of being offended) because they were talking about giving money to beggars that have signs saying "hungry" (I've handed out money many times to such people). I suggested always having a lunch sack with non parishable, nutritous food plus a drink prepared in the car to be ready to hand it out the window to such people in need, instead of money. Their instant reply to my suggestion was that those persons asking for help would more than likely just throw the food away, that it was not food that they actually wanted in the first place and that we should give them cash only and it is for them to decide what to do with it (food, liquor, drugs?). It was my first get together with the group and I had hoped that my suggestion would be met with approval.

No, I'm not talking about what non-Mormons think of us. I'm talking about what we say about ourselves. I was just at an older single adults family home evening. The seven of us were sitting around the dining room table after the potluck reading scriptures. The theme was we are nobody. We are no better than the dirt on the ground. My theory is that if we believe we are nobodies then we will behave like nobodies. Right now I assume the Lord needs champions, not nobodies. I understand that we should not be arrogant or judgemental of any other humans on the planet, no matter what their behavior or situation. I know we should not be boastful (seems like the other folks around the table were puffed up, boasting about how sincerly humble they are). I know that God created this world and everything on it and that we should acknowledge this and be full of gratitude for all our blessings all the time. Guess I just don't like being told that I am flotsam. That I own nothing and am nothing. I am a child of God. I am unique. I have unlimited potential. I am somebody.

FunkyTown, When I grow up, I want to be just like you. I think your response under the circumstance was mature and creative. I think also that you used tact and humor. And boldness can often be necessary to get a point across. Beats being offended and leaving the chapel.

Thank you, Suzie. Great advise. I believe I will move on.

Around 28 years ago we had a family member participating in the Sacrament Meeting presentation. We came very early so all our large family could sit in the front row to support our family member who was giving a talk. The bishop's young daughter (around 8 years old) took it upon herself to inform us that the front row was always reserved for her family. That bishop was quick to correct her and say that we were more than welcome to sit there. It just felt odd to sit down only to be told I needed to get up and move elsewhere. The entire center row I sat in had nobody and one purse in the middle. My own family over the years has went ahead and set in a couple different sections at times in order to welcome a single member or couple to sit next to those of us already seated. If there had been even a single member already sitting in the row where I had sat down I would have understood more. If the row in front was filled with the family holding the reservation, it would have helped if at least a couple of them had spread out in the empty row. We have done that. Sat a book or purse between our various family members to represent the ones not there yet so that it was more obvious that we would be filling up that space. Yes. I realize that inactive members should be thick skinned enough to not take offense when told they are not welcome to sit where they've already sat down, that they need to search for a vacancy elsewhere that has not already been reserved. But what if I had been a nonmember who had decided to come in to experience one of our meetings. I guess some of you would point out that the person was just not very sincere about checking out our meeting if a little thing like being told to get up and move elsewhere could discourage them. The sister who turned and informed me that I had to get up and move elsewhere could have first cordially greeted me and then tactfully explained the situation. Instead, I felt like I was at a movie theater. I'm not complaining about books, purses, a sweater, etc. holding places. If that were the case, I would have not sat down where I did and there would have been no need to tell me to get up and move elsewhere. WWJD?

I am in the middle of a divorce, really no place to legitimately call home for the time being. After leaving the home that my husband and I shared, while travelling around visiting various relatives I hadn't seen in quite awhile I attended Sacraments in eight different wards during the first eight weeks. I would try to find the meeting times in each location or show up at 9am if I couldn't. I ended up in the Seattle Samoan Ward one Sunday morning at 9am. I couldn't understand the words spoken but I certainly felt the spirit. They sang the hymns with such purity and passion! I stuck out like a sore thumb but a truly great experience! This morning I attended a ward back closer to where I started out while staying with daughters. I first sat in a chair behind the pews but realized I could not see spare hymn books so I moved up to a center bench that had only a small purse in the middle. When I sat down instead of turning and greeting me the people in the row directly in front of me informed me that that whole row was reserved for their family. I know I am wrong to have just left the chapel and left the building at that point. Just lost interest, is all. In the future I don't think I will ever tell a member that a seat in my vacinity is reserved. Now I know what it feels like if you are a little lost and unsure of where you fit in anymore.

I'm thinkin' the best way to make friends in church is also the best way to make friends outside of church. Do you want to make friends? Be friendly. Forget yourself... You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. -Dale Carnegie Politeness and consideration for others is like investing pennies and getting dollars back. -Thomas Sowell There is a destiny that makes us brothers, none goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own. -Edwin Markham Whatever genuine emotion that we express toward any other person boomerangs back on us with redoubled force. -Brian Tracy Live each day as if it were your last. Better yet, as you come in contact with other humans throughout your day, treat each and every one of them as if that day were THEIR last! -Og Mandino

It's just difficult for me to understand where she would have gotten the idea that the church has an official position which discourages listening to faith centered music that does not come from an LDS source. I sincerely would like to know if she is correct.

As my children were growing up, sometimes persons in teaching/authority positions would be giving their own opinion but present it as scriptural doctrine. We often would discuss doubts/confusion about gospel principles when this would happen. My kids had a strong sense of fairness/justice/logic so they often had a keen sense of something not being correctly presented. The gospel at it's core is fair, just and logical. My 31 year old daughter has only gospel/Christian music to play at home and in her car. Most other popular music is not uplifting or positive, she says. Last night while we were traveling in her car she mentioned that she had always been told that we should not be listening to that type of music, that it was unaceptable to be singing about Jesus and the gospel if it was not sober, respectul and church santioned. I said I am sure those people meant that music in the chapel or even in classes should be from our hymn books and if not, should be reverent. I feel that outside of the church, that to choose music that is uplifting and encouraging, even if it has a good beat, is not against gospel principles. I am not talking about "rowdy" music. Mostly it is similar to what would be called "easy listening" or "soft rock" if it were regarding other non-religious topics. Is only music sold at Deseret Books acceptable? I once took someone to a Sacrament meeting where the members "mumbled" the hymns with no enthusiasm at all. My friend afterward asked me how the church could possibly be true. If it were, he felt the people would have been singing with joy, passion and conviction, not paralyzed with boredom. Maybe that Sunday, the hymns were all the ones with the instructions to sing reverently, gently, quietly, etc. We have some wonderful hymns where the instructions are to sing fervently, exultantly, vigorously, jubilantly, etc. (those are the ones I love the most).