I have a new calling in the Primary and to my shock just 2 days later I found out that the Primary Presidency was talking in Sacrament meeting the following Sunday (today). Eeeeeek! But like I like to do, I am posting it here so I can refer to it later when I need a pick me up. When I need to be reminded of the Lord's will vs. mine.
The talk that I was asked to base my talk off of is “Getting
Back On Track” by Larry Sidwell. He
spoke of his faithful ancestors who accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They decided to move where all the rest of
the early Saints were only to be met by many hardships, as most of the early Saints
did. But they did not faulter and kept
pushing forward. It wasn’t until a
tragic death in his family, that of his great grandfather, did someone fall
away from the church. Brother Sidwell’s grandfather
stopped going to church after his father died, which led to a possible
generation of Sidwell’s being denied the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Many years passed and this grandfather’s son married a woman
who very much disliked the church. However,
when they started to have children it became clear that Brother Sidwell’s
mother desperately needed breaks. A
grandmother, who was a faithful member of the church, gladly took the children
every Wednesday so that Brother Sidwell’s mother could have a break and so that
her grandchildren could go to Primary.
For a year she faithfully did this as the children fell in
love with Primary. Soon, however, grandma
became sick and could no longer take the children to Primary. Brother Sidwell’s mother never would have continued
to take her children, because of her dislike of the church, but the children
begged and begged until she finally gave in.
But in no way was she just dropping them off! She lived too far away to drop them off, go home,
and then come back. Plus she didn’t
fully trust the Mormons. So she stayed
every Wednesday and sat in the back of the chapel with her arms folded, not
happy to be there. But instead of her
obvious public display deterring the Primary teachers from loving her, it did
just the opposite. They showered her
with attention. Little did she know that
sitting in the back of the chapel week after week, as Brother Sidwell said, “my
mother learned the simple truths of the gospel from loving sisters who
magnified their callings. The Holy Ghost
pricked her heart.”
As I was reading this part of his talk, I couldn’t help but
think of my own life. When my parents
had their children, they weren’t active in the church at the beginning. But my mom would tell us, as we got older,
that when we did go it was all because of us kids. Because we begged to be there. I look at my own children and their
dedication to Family Home Evening. If it
gets later into the week and we haven’t had FHE yet, it never fails that they
are the ones making sure it happens by constantly reminding me that we haven’t had
it yet. All of our children can feel the
Spirit and they yearn for the experiences that come with it. Let us not take that precious desire away
from them.
Brother Sidwell went on to talk of how the Primary teacher’s
love for is mother led to her baptism.
His father followed and soon they were sealed in the SLC temple that his
Great, Great Grandfather had faithfully helped build so many years before.
This talk is certainly geared toward the Primary
teachers. Your calling is great. You are the ones guiding our little
ones. Some of these children have
already been taught many of the things you discuss in class. But there are some that live in homes where Christ’s
name is rarely used. You may be the only
pathway to our Lord and Savior at this point in their lives. Please know how very important your calling
is.
Brother Sidwell’s talk can be heard in many other way as
well, though. It can be heard through the
ears of a single sister or brother here today who faithfully comes to church
every week even though life did not turn out the way they hoped and dreamed it
would. Who unknowingly shows those
around them that life goes on and it can be beautiful in different ways. It can be heard through the ears of a lonely
widow who is the neighborhood grandma or grandpa to all those children not related
to him or her. They play in your yards as you ask about their
lives, unknowingly letting them know that they are loved by you. Not realizing that the attention that you are
giving these children might be the only positive attention that the young children
will receive that day. Brother Sidwell’s
story can be heard through the ears of the youth of this church who are trying
their hardest to be the good examples that their friends at school need them to be because their friends and peers
struggle with being kind to others.
Maybe because people in their own homes aren’t kind to them. Or maybe their peer’s family is doing the
best they can with what they have been taught but being a teenager is just
plain hard sometimes! Maybe the youth
will listen to Brother Sidwell’s story and have just a little more strength to continue
to love their peers and to be patient with them as they struggle to figure
things out for themselves. We are all
these Primary teachers that brother Sidwell spoke of in one way or
another.
I have 3 Primary songs that I have consistently sang to my
babies. My favorite Primary song is I
WONDER WHEN HE COMES AGAIN so that has always been sung in the ears of my
little ones. But when that song is over
and they needed more attention I always sang TEACH ME TO WALK IN THE LIGHT and I
AM A CHILD OF GOD. It has been no
different with Baby Boy. One day I was
singing, “I am a child of God and He has sent me here. Has given me an earthly home with parents
kind and dear.” I had to stop as I was
getting chocked up internalizing the significance in those words to Baby Boy. He wasn’t sent to our family in a
traditional way. It was not ideal for
his little body to come the way he did but none the less he was sent to us at
this time in his life as well as ours. He
is a special baby and we love him so very much.
I have no idea what the future holds but I do know this: Right now is
the time to love him. Right now is the
time to love ALL of those around us.
Right now is the time to be those “primary teacher” that Brother Siwell
spoke of. Whether it be to a foster
child, to your friends at school, your nieces and nephews, your neighborhood
grandchildren or you actual Primary children.
Just be those “Primary teachers” that Brother Sidwell spoke of. I want to end with what he ended his talk
on.
He said, “Somewhere within the stewardship of each of us is
someone who needs our help and encouragement.
I was a four year old child when my Primary teacher touched my
heart. My mother was an adult when the
sisters in the Primary reached out to her.
There are undoubtedly many more stories like mine, where a Latter-day
Saint magnifying his or her calling unknowingly becomes an instrument in the
Lord’s hands, making it possible for others to receive the Lord’s
blessings. They may not yet have been
recognized, but the Lord knows, the mother knows, the four-year-old child
knows, and his descendants know what those Primary sisters did for them. May we all magnify our callings, love thosevgsxgfxc
we serve, and allow the Lord to bring
about powerful changes through our efforts.”
And since I got a new camera and haircut, well, here ya go!
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