Knowledge – An Attribute of Christ
Sean
and I grew up in Snohomish Washington on opposite sides of the Snohomish
valley. We were in the same stake but went to different high schools and met in
different church buildings. We met in the summer of 2001 at our stake youth
conference when I asked Sean to dance. We’re both motor mouths and had endless
things to talk about so we became instant friends, soon best friends and eventually
we started dating and were high school sweethearts.
Growing
up in Washington, I imagine, is a lot different than growing up in Utah. Our
stake had five different high schools in it. Here in Utah you can have five
stakes in one high school. In my graduating class there were only four members
out nearly 400. Being Mormon is something that makes you different and stand
out. I was the only member of the church that several of my fellow classmates
and friends knew. I was their soul impression of the church. Being a member of
the church also instantly bonds people together when there aren’t many members
around.
In
high school I loved any and all church sponsored activities. Stake dances were
a so fun. Each stake held one each month. And we’d go to different stake’s
dances on different weekends just so we could see our friends. Through these
activities I met four awesome girls. We called ourselves the “Lively Fively.”
We were loud, sang a lot, wore matching lime green hats and argyle socks,
converse and bright red lipstick.
…
Sean
served in the Peru Lima East Mission while I went to a junior college in
Washington, then attended BYU-Idaho and also studied at a university in Chile. I
had the opportunity to travel a bit while living in South America. I visited
and climbed Machu Picchu in Peru, something Sean was never able to do even though
he lived in the country for two years. Six months after Sean returned home we
were married in the Seattle temple. That was truly one of the happiest days of
my life. I feel blessed everyday because Sean is my husband!
Sean
and I earned our Bachelor’s degrees at BYU-Idaho. I studied Child Development
and Sean studied Accounting. We absolutely loved Rexburg and BYU-Idaho. We left
Rexburg with two bachelor’s degrees and two babies.
After
school, Sean got a job auditing for the Department of Defense with the D.C.A.A.
Sean knew someone, who knew someone in Albuquerque and he was hired. So we
moved to Albuquerque New Mexico and lived there for two years. It was a great
experience. We didn’t know a single person in the state when we moved there and
we had never been there before. We just found an apartment online and went. We
had the most amazing ward and instantly we felt like we had family.
In
2012, Sean transferred to the Salt Lake office and we moved into an apartment
in West Jordan. While living in West Jordan our last two children were born. In
the summer of 2013 we decided it was time to buy our first home. We bid on
several homes but we kept getting out bid. Finally, we got a counter offer but
we got a strong impression that we weren’t supposed to buy a house at that
time. So we moved within the complex to a bigger apartment. Shortly after that
our complex was formed into its own branch. That’s right, a branch in the middle
of the Salt Lake valley. We loved it! Sean served as the second counselor in the Branch
Presidency when the branch was first formed. When he was extended the calling
we knew that’s why we weren’t supposed to move. The Lord had plans for us.
After a year, Sean was released. Literally, the week Sean got released, he got
the impression that we should come check out Tooele.
We
moved into our home just last month. In our eight years of marriage we’ve lived
in four states in seven different places. We’re so sick of moving! So I hope
you guys like us because we’re going to be around for a long time! We’re
already been put to work too. Last week I was called as the first counselor in
the Young Women’s Presidency and Sean was called to teach the CTR 4 class.
…
We have four children. Our oldest is
Lexi who is almost seven and will be a second grader at Copper Canyon in the
fall. Lexi is an awesome speller and has an amazing memory. Since she was
little she’d preferred dresses to pants. When Lexi was born after 32 hours of
labor and a c-section delivery, I instantly learned that parenthood is full of
surprises!
Our
second child is Avery. She just turned five and will be in kindergarten this
fall, something she’s been looking forward to for a long time. Avery is our
free spirited child. She marches to the beat of her own drum. She’s our only
child without blue eyes and the only left handed person in our family. She is
the only kid we’ve ever lost at a store and the only one to have broken a bone.
We lots of interesting stories to share because of her.
Eli is our only boy. He doesn’t realize yet
that he’s out numbered. He’s two and a half. He loves cars, animals, his baby
sister and being outside. He enjoys playing in the dirt and rocks in our
unfinished yard.
Ruby
will be six months old tomorrow. She is the best baby, the perfect fourth
child. She’s happy all the time and is content being held or just laying on the
floor watching her siblings play.
…
I’m a stay at home mom. I love taking
pictures of my children, blogging, trying new recipes, eating anything with
chocolate in it, reading, playing board games, going on walks and spending time
with family and friends. Sean has an obsession with hats, he loves flags and
maps and geography. Sean taught himself how to play the ukulele through YouTube
videos. He loves music. He also loves sports. His teams are the Seattle
Mariners, the Seahawks and BYU.
…
I
was born in Long Beach California. My only sibling, a brother named Ryan, was
born 16 months after me. Not long after that we moved to central Washington
where my mom is from and my parents were divorced. My mom needed a fresh start
so we moved to western Washington a little north east of Seattle.
My
biological father was in my life, off and on, until I was 12. Then I saw him
once when I was 15. After that I didn’t see him again for another 11 years and
I didn’t talk to him most of those years either. No one ever knew where he was.
He basically wrote himself out of mine and Ryan’s lives. He never grew up and
never took responsibility for himself or his family. His life is a story of so
much potential wasted and poor decisions and their sad consequences.
But
you don’t need to feel sorry for me because I have dad and his name is Donn.
Donn met my mom through work when I was five. They dated for five years before
they were married. Their dates consisted of taking me and Ryan out to eat. A
few years after they were married, and after many, many lessons with several
sets of missionaries, Donn was baptized. Later my parents were sealed in the
temple and eventually I was sealed to them. An eternal family was something I
had been hoping for as long as I can remember.
Donn
proved to be the biggest blessing to our family. He has flourished in the
gospel. He has served in many capacities including the ward High Priest Group
Leader, as a counselor in the Bishopric for five years and now on the Stake
High Council. He has brought so much love to our home; he is a great example
and the best dad!
…
Sean’s parents are both from Utah-
Tremonton and Provo. They met while serving in the Eastern States Mission. They moved to Washington early in their
marriage for a temporary job but they never left. Sean is the fourth of six
children. He grew up in a happy home that was filled with the gospel and lots
of love. Sean’s parents struggled to get by though their kids never knew it. They
lived in a modest three bedroom home so my father-in-law created a fourth
bedroom in the garage and that’s where Sean slept most of his life, which
proved to be ideal since Sean had a garage band in high school. He and several
of his friends in the ward created a ska band. Ska is like punk rock with
horns.
During Sean’s freshman year of high
school his mom was diagnosed with cancer. She beat it and went into remission
for a few years but it came back during Sean’s senior year. Sean’s mom passed
away the week before he graduated from high school and two weeks before his
sister’s wedding. Losing his mom at such a young age was very difficult. But
because of that trial Sean’s family is closer and his faith is stronger. Sean
attributes much of faith to the example of his mother and the strengthen he
received from the Lord during those hard times.
…
We all know that bearing our testimony
brings the Spirit. So, I’d like to begin my talk by bearing my testimony. I
would like to invite the Spirit to be with me now. I know that God lives and
that He loves us. We are His children. I believe in the Plan of Salvation. I
know it to be true. I know that it brings happiness and peace. I know that families
are the most important thing. Everything we do should be centered in Christ and
focused on the family. I know that Christ came to this earth. He lived among
men and taught them and all of us how to live so that we may return to our
Father in Heaven. I believe that the scriptures are the words of God given
through his prophets.
…
I’d like to speak about knowledge.
Knowledge is an attribute of Christ. When we talk of Christ we often talk of
His love and compassion, His unwavering faith. We speak of His patience, His
humility and His obedience to the Father. Sometimes we forget about his
knowledge and wisdom. Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven are geniuses!
Everything on earth, even our very own bodies testify that the Father
and the Son are brilliant and they had a perfectly laid out plan for
this earth and us with perfect laws. Their intelligence is all encompassing.
In
Doctrine and Covenants 88:118 the Lord commanded, “Seek learning, even by study
and also by faith.” We are to seek knowledge, especially spiritual
knowledge. The word “seek” is a verb, meaning it’s an action word. It means to
“attempt to find something or to attempt or desire to obtain or achieve
something.” We should seek knowledge from the ultimate textbook or guidebook, the
scriptures! We have been counseled over and over and over again by the
prophets to study the scriptures every day. Notice that I said study not
read and I said every day.
President
Ezra Taft Benson said: “We should make daily study of the scriptures a lifetime
pursuit. … The most important [thing] you can do … is to immerse
yourselves in the scriptures. Search them diligently. … Learn the doctrine.
Master the principles. … You must … see that … searching the scriptures is
not a burden laid upon [us] by the Lord, but a marvelous blessing and
opportunity.”
…
Here’s
a question to ponder. Are we as well versed in gospel truths as we are in our
studies, careers, hobbies, sports, or our texts and tweets? Do we actively seek
to find answers to our questions by feasting on the scriptures and the
teachings of the prophets? Do we seek the confirmation of the Spirit?
…
The
importance of gaining knowledge is an eternal principle. The Prophet Joseph
Smith “loved knowledge for its righteous power.” He said: “Knowledge is
necessary to life and godliness. … Hear, all ye brethren, this grand key: knowledge
is the power of God unto salvation.” Knowledge is power!
Joseph
Smith also declared, “It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance”
(D&C 131:6). He added, “The principle of knowledge is the principle of
salvation … and every one that does not obtain knowledge sufficient to be
saved will be condemned.”
…
So
it is essential that we diligently and daily seek to increase our knowledge of
the gospel. We must strive to everyday be a little bit smarter and more
knowledgeable about the gospel. Abraham Lincoln said, “I don’t think much of a
man no wiser today than he was yesterday.”
It can seem an overwhelming task to learn
something new each day but we need to remember the Lord’s pattern which we find
in the Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi 28:30, “For behold, thus saith the Lord God:
I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon
precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who
hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall
learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them
that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which
they have.”
Much
of my knowledge of the gospel has come through study and much of it has come
through personal revelation and answers to prayers. The Lord likes to give many
small answers to our questions over a period of time. Revelation is like a
little package of light, the more we get the more we see and understand.
Elder
Richard G. Scott taught in the October 1993 General Conference, “As you seek
spiritual knowledge, search for principles. Carefully separate them from
the detail used to explain them. Principles are concentrated truth, packaged
for application to a wide variety of circumstances. A true principle makes
decisions clear even under the most confusing and compelling circumstances. It
is worth great effort to organize the truth we gather to simple statements of
principle. I have tried to do that with gaining spiritual knowledge.” Elder
Scott teaches us that to acquire spiritual knowledge and to obey it with
wisdom, one must: 1) In humility, seek divine light. 2) Exercise faith in Jesus
Christ. 3) Hearken to His counsel. And 4) Keep His commandments... As spiritual
knowledge unfolds, it must be understood, valued, obeyed, remembered, and
expanded.
…
In
the October 2012 General Conference, Sister Ann Dibb taught, “All truth and
knowledge is important, but amidst the constant distractions of our daily
lives, we must especially pay attention to increasing our gospel knowledge so
we can understand how to apply gospel principles to our lives. As our gospel
knowledge increases, we will begin to feel confident in our testimonies and be
able to state, “I know it.””
…
Right
now I’m a mom with very young children. It is primarily mine and my husband’s
responsibility to teach our children. Proverbs 22:6 reads, “Train up a child in
the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
The
Family, A Proclamation to the World declares: “Parents have a sacred duty to
rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical
and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another,
observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.
Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God
for the discharge of these obligations.”
So
how do we teach our children to love and serve one another and observe the
commandments of God???
We teach them in our homes through daily
family scripture study. It’s not enough to just read the scriptures together.
It’s important that we teach our children about what we’re reading. For
our family that means using paper dolls or action figures or our bodies to act
out the stories. We sing primary songs about the scriptures and the people in
them. We read from the scriptures as well as the illustrated picture scriptures.
And we talk about the scripture stories over and over and over again. And then
we talk about them some more! And I ask my children questions.
And
know that sometimes it can take a long time to see that your children are
understanding and learning from what you’re reading or what you’re teaching
them. The key is to remain constant. It’s important to be patient. Good habits
are the soul’s muscles. The more you use them, the stronger they grow.
…
This
year we decided that we’d start reading the Book of Mormon together as a
family. We try to read a column a day. This week we’re going to be finishing
the First Book of Nephi. It will take years for us to finish the entire book at
the pace we’re going and that’s okay.
Children
are like sponges, they soak up everything. They are so curious and full of
questions. They want to learn about everything! Aristotle said, “All men by
nature desire knowledge.” While our children are young, it’s the ideal time to
teach them to know and love the gospel.
This
year we also decided to let Lexi and Avery take turns in the teaching rotation
for Family Home Evening. It’s been fun helping them plan their lessons and
watching them teach. It’s becoming clear that they are learning and enjoy the
gospel.
…
Elder
Boyd K. Packer said, “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and
behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior
quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.” A knowledge and
understanding of the gospel will soften hearts and improve attitudes. Plato
said, “The ultimate aim of education is the training of character.”
If
I want my family to have a knowledge and love of the gospel, I first have to
teach them the gospel! And in order for me to be able to teach it, I first have
to know it myself. Even though, I often feel like I have no time for myself, it
is important that I make time to daily study the gospel and have a spiritual
experience. Sometimes this means staying up late reading my scriptures,
sometimes I listen to conference talks while getting ready in the morning,
sometimes my children and I will watch videos on lds.org or listen to primary
songs together.
…
We
can receive eternal life and salvation from knowing the only true God and Jesus
Christ, whom he has sent. Many believe that there is a God, many say that they
know there is a God, but many do not act like they know God. There is a
great difference in believing or knowing that there is a God and in knowing
God. When we claim that we know God, it bears great responsibility, and an
apostle has given us information to check our knowledge of God. The apostle
John said:
“And
hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith,
I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not
in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected:
hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought
himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”
…
I
think it’s also important to mention that knowledge of none religious things is
important too. President Hinckley repeatedly stressed the importance of
education. He wisely counseled the youth. So listen up youth. “The pattern of
study you establish during your formal schooling will in large measure affect
your lifelong thirst for knowledge. You must get all of the education that you
possibly can. … Sacrifice anything that is needed to be sacrificed to qualify
yourselves to do the work of [this] world. … Train your minds and hands to
become an influence for good as you go forward with your lives.”
President
Thomas S. Monson said to the sisters: “Often the future is unknown; therefore,
it behooves us to prepare for uncertainties. … I urge you to pursue your education
and learn marketable skills so that, should such a situation arise, you are
prepared to provide.”
Abraham
Lincoln said, “Whatever you are, be a good one.” It’s important that we strive
to continually learn and improve ourselves in whatever roles we have. I’m a mom
so for me that means that I’m learning knew crafts and activities to share with
my children. I’m constantly finding new books that I can read with my children.
I’m trying to figure out how to teach my girls to read, write and do math. I
work on finding new affordable and delicious meals to prepare for my family. My
children are all unique and have different needs so I always am looking for
ways to help them individually grow and learn.
I hope that each of us will cultivate
a love of learning throughout our lifetimes. It has been said that after we die
our knowledge is the only thing that we will be able to take with us. If we are
to someday be Gods and Goddess of our own worlds, we’re going to need to know a
few things first!
I’d like to close my talk with a poem.
Its author is unknown. “Learn enthusiasm from youth – young people possess it in
abundance. Learn wisdom from the mature – they have experienced much. Learn
understanding from God – He knows the end from the beginning. Learn integrity
from oneself – let your conscience be your guide.”
It is my prayer that I have been an
instrument for the Lord and that through the Spirit you have been inspired and
edified. I say these things in the name of the Almighty, our Savior and Redeemer.
Jesus Christ. Amen.
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