The last time we had a priesthood session was in April 2019 – last April we had a special session for all adults and youth of the church (not primary children).
Some of you might wish you could go back to 2019 as you look at your life since then but if you look carefully I am confident that you will find ways that the Lord has been helping you grow in this time of challenge.
Four lessons I hope we have all learned
- The home is the center of faith and worship
- The power and blessings if the priesthood are available to you and your family in your own home.
- How do you think it affected your family to see you administer the sacrament in your home?
- We all need our homes to be places of serenity and security.
- You commitment to make your home your primary sanctuary of worship should never end.
- We need each other
- This is one I really felt – I desperately need help from the ward to reach my family.
- Our common trial had the potential to draw us all together as never before.
- Your priesthood quorum is meant for more than just a meeting
- That’s one I have known long before Covid-19.
- We hear Jesus Christ better when we are still
- Some stillness was forced on us during the pandemic but we can choose to maintain some stillness after it is over.
Difficult trials often provide opportunities to grow that would not have come in any other way.
My dear brothers, I testify that He has been, and is, indeed leading us along, as we seek to hear Him. He wants us to grow and to learn, even through—perhaps especially through—adversity.
Adversity is a great teacher. What have you learned in the past two years that you always want to remember? Your answers will be unique to you, but may I suggest four lessons I hope we have all learned and will never forget.
If I thought about it I wonder what I would identify having learned in the last two years.
Often when the Lord warns us about the perils of the last days, He counsels thus: “Stand ye in holy places, and be not moved.” These “holy places” certainly include the Lord’s temples and meetinghouses. But as our ability to gather in these places has been restricted in varying degrees, we have learned that one of the holiest of places on earth is the home—yes, even your home.
Even when the home is messed up it is a holy place—just one in need of renovation.
You may feel that there is still more you need to do to make your home truly a sanctuary of faith. If so, please do it! If you are married, counsel with your wife as your equal partner in this crucial work. There are few pursuits more important than this. Between now and the time the Lord comes again, we all need our homes to be places of serenity and security.
Attitudes and actions that invite the Spirit will increase the holiness of your home. Equally certain is the fact that holiness will vanish if there is anything in your behavior or environment that offends the Holy Spirit, for then “the heavens withdraw themselves.”
It isn’t accidental (even if it wasn’t directly a result of this) that virtually all of my prayers in the home ask for us to feel peace.
God wants us to work together and help each other. That is why He sends us to earth in families and organizes us into wards and stakes. That is why He asks us to serve and minister to each other. That is why He asks us to live in the world but not be of the world. We can accomplish so much more together than we can alone. God’s plan of happiness would be frustrated if His children remained isolated one from another.
I have come to the conclusion that making people be or feel isolated is one of Satan’s most powerful tools.
If you know of anyone who is alone, reach out—even if you feel alone too! You do not need to have a reason or a message or business to transact. Just say hello and show your love.
During the pandemic, Sunday quorum meetings were canceled for a time. Some quorums are now able to meet virtually. Nevertheless, the work that the Lord has given to priesthood quorums was never meant to be confined to a meeting. Meetings are only a small part of what a quorum is meant for and what it can do.
Are we actually doing the work outside the meeting?
We live in a time prophesied long ago, when “all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people.” That was true before the pandemic, and it will be true after. Commotion in the world will continue to increase. In contrast, the voice of the Lord is not “a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but … it [is] a still voice of perfect mildness, [like] a whisper, and it [pierces] even to the very soul.” In order to hear this still voice, you too must be still!
For a time, the pandemic has canceled activities that would normally fill our lives. Soon we may be able to choose to fill that time again with the noise and commotion of the world. Or we can use our time to hear the voice of the Lord whispering His guidance, comfort, and peace. Quiet time is sacred time—time that will facilitate personal revelation and instill peace.
Discipline yourself to have time alone and with your loved ones. Open your heart to God in prayer. Take time to immerse yourself in the scriptures and worship in the temple.
I’ve always been conscious to try not to get caught up in commotion but i still need to keep vigilant.
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