Feeling the Spirit Every Day

[Guest]

This may seem like a no-brainer to many of you, but I thought it was quite insightful.  I could just start out with my idea, but I like the story behind it.  So, here's the story.

I was working on Bear's (my deacon) Duty to God award with him.  As we went over a particular topic I asked a probing question that caused him to respond

Quote

I don't know if I have a testimony.  I'm not sure if I've ever felt the Spirit.

Well, that's two for two.  My two oldest boys both have told me that.  I was about to open my mouth to say roughly the same thing that I had said to my older son that seemed to help him.  But my mouth was stopped.

Instead, I found myself asking

Quote

What do you do on a daily basis that will invite the Spirit into your life?  How much time do you spend on games and computers and fluff books?  Do you think you're going to feel the Spirit during those activities?

He agreed that he spent too much time on them.  But he didn't know what he could do to bring the Spirit into his life.  He already reads the Scriptures every day and prays on his own and with the family.  And we have FHE about every week.  And as parents we try to do what we can to show love and tell inspiring stories and bear testimony, etc  Indeed, what more can HE do?

Here's what I suggested:

1) Stop reading scriptures at night.  You read it.  You feel the Spirit.  You go to sleep.  You forget by morning.
2) Read them in the morning, coupled with prayer so you can feel the Spirit as you are planning your day.
3) When planning your day, plan something that will fulfill one of the missions of the Church.  -- For this, I included the fourth mission (service).
4) Start with something easy and add something every so often.  Then switch things out as you go, so you're stretching yourself.
5) Be sure that you are putting your heart into it.  Remember this is not just a "checklist" of good deeds.  It is your efforts to feel the Spirit and commune with the Lord.

Basically, it was my way of saying,"You can't just expect to stumble onto the Spirit.  You have to seek Him out."

As you fill your day with activities that invite the Spirit into your life, you will feel it more and have your testimony strengthened.

I thought it might help some others.  And I'd appreciate any feedback.  Is there something you'd add to the list?  Do you see anything you'd modify?

 

Edited August 1, 2016 by Guest

[Sunday21]

7 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

This may seem like a no-brainer to many of you, but I thought it was quite insightful.  I could just start out with my idea, but I like the story behind it.  So, here's the story.

I was working on Bear's (my deacon) Duty to God award with him.  As we went over a particular topic I asked a probing question that caused him to respond

Well, that's two for two.  My two oldest boys both have told me that.  I was about to open my mouth to say roughly the same thing that I had said to my older son that seemed to help him.  But my mouth was stopped.

Instead, I found myself asking

He agreed that he spent too much time on them.  But he didn't know what he could do to bring the Spirit into his life.  He already reads the Scriptures every day and prays on his own and with the family.  And we have FHE about every week.  And as parents we try to do what we can to show love and tell inspiring stories and bear testimony, etc  Indeed, what more can HE do?

Here's what I suggested:

1) Stop reading scriptures at night.  You read it.  You feel the Spirit.  You go to sleep.  You forget by morning.
2) Read them in the morning, coupled with prayer so you can feel the Spirit as you are planning your day.
3) When planning your day, plan something that will fulfill one of the missions of the Church.  -- For this, I included the fourth mission (service).
4) Start with something easy and add something every so often.  Then switch things out as you go, so you're stretching yourself.
5) Be sure that you are putting your heart into it.  Remember this is not just a "checklist" of good deeds.  It is your efforts to feel the Spirit and commune with the Lord.

Basically, it was my way of saying,"You can't just expect to stumble onto the Spirit.  You have to seek Him out."

As you fill your day with activities that invite the Spirit into your life, you will feel it more and have your testimony strengthened.

I thought it might help some others.  And I'd appreciate any feedback.  Is there something you'd add to the list?  Do you see anything you'd modify?

 

I started reading scriptures morning for about 15 minutes for the reasons you stated. I also read at night when I am more awake and I have more time.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

I started reading scriptures morning for about 15 minutes for the reasons you stated. I also read at night when I am more awake and I have more time.

Yeah, I was thinking about that.  And I'd agree there is nothing wrong with it.  Part of Bear's problem is that he stays up so late at night, that he doesn't wake up in time for much of our morning activities.

But yes, if he were to get on the proper schedule and still have a problem sleeping some nights, there would be nothing wrong with that.

[NeedleinA]

54 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

As you fill your day with activities that invite the Spirit into your life, you will feel it more and have your testimony strengthened.

What a great father Carb and great counsel too!
I have a son who is Bear age too. With him and his younger brother, actual scripture reading easily turns to glazed over eyes and their minds wandering else where. We have had to help supplement the scriptures with more kid friendly illustrated scriptures: (this is the PDF file, we have a couple of hard copies)

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/35666_eng.pdf

Also with animated BOM videos and using a lot more Mormon Channel videos. 
We are at about a 50/50 mix kid friendly/adult level studying. 

The boys never miss service either. They always leave with a "we feel good inside" comment or two. 

[Guest]

On 8/1/2016 at 9:58 PM, NeedleinA said:

I have a son who is Bear age too.

I guess I should clarify.  My son's nickname is "Bear".  He's almost a teacher, thus almost has his First Class, Star, and Life rank all at once.  He has completed most of the requirements for all three ranks.  But he has had some trouble with getting a board of review and scoutmaster conference.

Edited August 3, 2016 by Guest

[zil]

I have no idea whether this would help someone the age of a teacher, but I once went through the book of Ether and made a pseudo genealogy / kingdom-inheritance chart so I could keep all the names straight.  That made the book more interesting to me.  (Of course around the same time I also read Lehi In The Desert/The World Of The Jaredites/There Were Jaredites by Hugh Nibley, which I thought was the easiest of his books I've read so far, very interesting, and gave me a lot of backdrop and color for the story portion of the Book of Mormon - not sure teens would go for that.)

In theory, you could try to keep a similar chart for the Book of Mormon...  (Of course, someone else has probably already done it and you could download it.  Nevermind, move along, nothing to see here.)

[NeedleinA]

6 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

I guess I should clarify.  My son's nickname is "Bear".  He's almost a teacher, thus almost has his First Class, Star, and Life rand all at once.  He has completed most of the requirements for all three ranks.  But he has had some trouble with getting a board of review and scoutmaster conference.

You know when I first read that I thought, Carb's kids have all kinds of unique cool names. Then I ducked out put my kids to bed, returned and my brain went off to Bear Cub Scout stuff. Duh... my bad. 

[Guest]

Pour your heart out in repentance. I find myself feeling the spirit the most when I'm seeking the atonement.

[Guest]

On 8/1/2016 at 10:07 PM, zil said:

I have no idea whether this would help someone the age of a teacher, but I once went through the book of Ether and made a pseudo genealogy / kingdom-inheritance chart so I could keep all the names straight.  That made the book more interesting to me.  (Of course around the same time I also read Lehi In The Desert/The World Of The Jaredites/There Were Jaredites by Hugh Nibley, which I thought was the easiest of his books I've read so far, very interesting, and gave me a lot of backdrop and color for the story portion of the Book of Mormon - not sure teens would go for that.)

In theory, you could try to keep a similar chart for the Book of Mormon...  (Of course, someone else has probably already done it and you could download it.  Nevermind, move along, nothing to see here.)

I could suggest it to him.  Actually, I think this would make for a great family activity.

[zil]

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

I could suggest it to him.  Actually, I think this would make for a great family activity.

FYI, you'll need a diagramming-type app and a big monitor or a really big piece of paper.

And I did one for the various lands mentioned in the final battles in the book of Ether - not like a map (since they don't always give good directions), but just a blob for each land, and if they give even vague directions, I adjust the blobs accordingly, and with lines for all the "Shiz chased Coriantumr here", and then "Coriantumr chased Shiz back there", etc.  So I had a sort of visual of them chasing each other all over the place.

I also started one for the whole Book of Mormon (minus Ether) but something clearly distracted me as it stops at Lamoni and Helaman.

(If anyone wants, I could put them out as PDFs (but you'll need serious zooming to read them).)

[Guest]

12 hours ago, zil said:

(If anyone wants, I could put them out as PDFs (but you'll need serious zooming to read them).)

That'd be cool.

[zil]

24 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

That'd be cool.

I has made a note in my bullet journal and will do that this afternoon when I get back to the computer that has them on it.  FYI, I'll put them in PDF format, but they're in XMind format (a freeware mind mapping / flow charting type app that's pretty cool, and cheaper than Visio ).

[FogCity]

Great advice about reading the scriptures earlier in the day.  When time allows, sometimes the first thing I do when getting to work before checking emails, or voice messages is spend 5-15 minutes reading the scriptures.  Often, I have found that those few minutes reading help shape the rest of my workday and help inspire me to make wiser decisions.  And of course many times I get to caught up in the grind and don't take the time. 

One of the missionaries I served with bore his testimony that one of his goals was to have some sort of a spiritual experience every day.  That always stayed with me as a great goal to have.   

[Sunday21]

Someone on this .net recommended beginning prayers by bearing testimony. This procedure has really worked for me. Having a picture of Jesus in the bedroom is important to me and useful for those who stay up past their bedtimes!

Edited August 3, 2016 by Sunday21

[zil]

OK, @Carborendum, I have the files available for download.  Here are the options:

1) You can pick individual PDFs to download (the pages are tabloid size: 11x17)

2) Or download a zip of all three PDFs

3) Or download the original XMind files.  You'll need XMind, which is free: http://www.xmind.net/

There are notes on some of the people/places and XMind won't print those (and I don't remember them much), so if you want to see what the notes say, you'll need XMind.  The colors of the lines may have meaning, and some of the people have icons on them in an effort to quickly identify them as good guys or bad guys, but the options in XMind weren't always ideal, so it may not be clear...

Remember, they're worth every penny you paid for them.

[Ironhold]

Between the sheer amount of head trauma I've taken and everything I've dealt with in life, from a mental standpoint I'm pretty well a mess. There are days where I really can't feel much of anything at all, and the pretty hardcore level of sleep deprivation I often find myself against isn't helping. I actually had to tell a member of the bishopric one day not to call on me for on-the-spot testimonies or spiritual thoughts because there are times when I'm just that numb spiritually and emotionally. 

In that sense, I can understand people who say that they can't feel anything... but then find myself wondering just what their situation is that's causing it. 

[UtahTexan]

Good post about reading the Scriptures

 

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Ironhold said:

Between the sheer amount of head trauma I've taken and everything I've dealt with in life, from a mental standpoint I'm pretty well a mess. There are days where I really can't feel much of anything at all, and the pretty hardcore level of sleep deprivation I often find myself against isn't helping. I actually had to tell a member of the bishopric one day not to call on me for on-the-spot testimonies or spiritual thoughts because there are times when I'm just that numb spiritually and emotionally. 

In that sense, I can understand people who say that they can't feel anything... but then find myself wondering just what their situation is that's causing it. 

Yup, I've been there for different reasons.  And I completely understand how you feel.  Thank fully for me, I was eventually able to work myself out of it eventually.  It still comes back sometimes.  But it is manageable.  I'm sorry you will probably continue to deal with it for a while at least.

But most of my kids don't have that same problem, especially not this one.  It was just a matter of getting him to recognize the Spirit and let him understand how to seek that guidance out.