Svithe church review

Today was a good church day.

Matt and I were called to attend the Marriage and Family Relations class for 8 weeks during the Sunday School time. We have a great teacher and great class, so it's been interesting. Today's topic was Anger. Well, that's what the teacher said the topic was. Now that I look at the student manual online, it was actually Responding to Challenges in Marriage. But we mainly talked about anger.

This is my interpretation of the lesson:

Anger is a choice; we are not victims of our emotions. No one makes us mad. No one forces us to experience feelings of bitter hatred. Were this not the case, we would never be able to gain charity nor could we have true agency. Contention and anger are of the Devil; charity is the pure love of Christ. The two cannot coexist within us. We must gain charity toward our spouses and respond with patience and love when challenges arise.

Amen.

I taught in Relief Society. The lesson today was out of the Joseph Smith Manual and was on Repentance. I felt it was a good lesson. Previously, when I taught in other wards, I would write out a complete lesson outline. I felt this unnecessary today when using the book. I just had tons of notes in my margins and tried to follow the class and spirit more closely.

Here are the quotes I liked best from the lesson and a few of my thoughts:

"If you wish to go where God is, you must be like God, or possess the principles which God possesses, for if we are not drawing towards God in principle, we are going from Him and drawing towards the devil...Search your hearts, and see if you are like God. I have searched mine, and feel to repent of all my sins."

• It's kind of like we're walking the wrong way on those airport moving walkways. God on one end and Satan on the other. We have to continually move and work to make our way to God. If we stop moving our feet, we don't stay in place; we move toward the devil. The moment we stop trying to become like God, we slip up and make mistakes that draw us closer to the devil.
  

“Repentance is a thing that cannot be trifled with every day. Daily transgression and daily repentance is not that which is pleasing in the sight of God.”

• This kind of caught me off guard at first. Don't we need to repent daily? Despite our best efforts we will sin. But that's not what it's referring to. We shouldn't keep repeating the same sins and repenting for the same sins day after day. If that is the case, we are not truly repenting. When we repent we forsake the sin. Give it up. Change. We don't say, "Sorry Lord, I know it was wrong to get mad and yell. Please forgive me." and then 10 min. later go yell at our spouse or children. That is what we can't trifle with. That is unpleasing to God.
  

"Let us this very day begin anew, and now say, with all our hearts, we will forsake our sins and be righteous.”

• When we choose to repent and forsake our sins it's like pulling weeds from a garden. You must replace the weeds with good things or the weeds will come back, often more plentiful than before. Even if we plant good seeds we have to continually be on the look out for those pesky weeds that pop up. We can't just give up bad things. We need to seek out behaviors and thoughts that will help us become more like God. Today is a new day. No matter what we did yesterday, today is a new day. Don't be a victim of past behavior. Choose to move forward with God's help.
  

So here's my challenge to us all. Search your heart and begin anew. Get out a piece of paper and write: "things I need to start doing" in one column and "things I need to stop doing" in another. When you're finished, burn, shred, or rip up the paper of the things you need to stop doing. Physically and symbolically rid yourself of those things. Obviously this symbol means nothing if you don't actually repent, so by all means, repent. Keep the list of things you need to do in a place where you will see it often and try to become more like the Lord each day.