Forgiving Others

Hi Sisters,

I've had several people ask for links to some of my resources for my talk on forgiving others.  The subject has really affected me and I've been enjoying studying more about it and letting it really sink in.  I feel like this principle is the essence of being Christlike and a key to peace no matter our circumstances.  I've really felt the spirit as I've studied this.

When preparing my talk, I approached the subject with the questions: WHY should we forgive others, WHEN should we forgive others, and HOW can we forgive others.

Here are the articles I used in my talk.

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/01/choosing-to-forgive?lang=eng&query=forgive+others

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/the-merciful-obtain-mercy?lang=eng

http://www.lds.org/ensign/1991/06/of-you-it-is-required-to-forgive?lang=eng

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1987/10/balm-of-gilead?lang=eng




These are articles I have found since giving my talk as I have studied more about it.

http://www.lds.org/ensign/1993/04/the-forgiving-heart?lang=eng&query=forgive+others

http://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/forgiveness-fills-hearts-with-love?lang=eng

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2003/04/forgiveness-will-change-bitterness-to-love?lang=eng&query=forgive+others

Sister Spotlight: Regan Clements

I’ve enjoyed getting to know Regan (pronounced like the president) since she has moved into our ward.  Regan is from Dallas, Tx and in 2003 moved to Fruita when her mother remarried. In her youth, Regan enjoyed softball and sports.   She really loved being a part of FFA (future farmers of America) and even became a chapter officer.  She’s stayed involved with contacts she made from FFA.  She also learned valuable leadership skills.  Regan loves horses and was able to spend summers on Glade Park riding and caring for her relatives horses.  Regan loves crocheting and is working on several projects.  She loves how she can make useful things at the same time as relaxing and enjoying herself.  

Regan met Roger at a VICA (skills USA) state competition in Colorado Springs.  They were both waiting to be interviewed to be state officers.  While waiting, they started talking and became friends. They exchanged phone numbers but lost contact for about 5 months.  One day Regan was looking through her contacts and saw she had written down Roger’s birthday and it was approaching.  She thought she’d call him and wish him a happy birthday.  They started talking on the phone again and visiting each other and they fell in love.

Regan is the mother of three kids, Clarence (age 4), Abigail (age 2) and Braden

(3 months).  I have so much admiration for her caring for three little ones so close in age.  She said it’s a juggling act and she’s still trying to figure it out.  She was recently sick and just when she was getting in a groove, everything was thrown off.

Regan works from home as a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant.  She’s been doing this for about a year.  She loves that it’s something she can do from home, she interacts with other adults, and it brings in some extra income. Regan would love to eventually take her business to the next level and become a director.  When the kids are older she’d like to finish her bachelor’s degree, maybe in Mass Communicans. Roger is currently in school studying business management.  He has about a year left before he gets his degree and he hopes to open his own collision and auto repair business.

Regan was familiar with the church when she married Roger, but it wasn’t until Clarance with born that she started to investigate seriously.  They were living in Limon, Co at the time and Regan said the missionaries were often in their home for dinner and visits.  Regan was casual at first with the missionaries and kept her distance from the church.  Her family had expressed concern about her marrying a Mormon and she worried that it could cause a rift in her family if she became a member.  She also really appreciated Roger not pushing the church on her, making it so she could investigate on her own terms.  The missionaries started sharing spiritual messages and eventually invited her to hear the discussions.  She had so many questions and was able to open up and really talk with the missionaries. Things started to piece together for her as she learned more and she was baptized in December of 2009.  After her baptism, Regan and Roger were able to be sealed in the temple.

Regan finds strength in knowing that her family can be together after this life.  She also finds strength in trying to do what’s right and making her home a sacred place.  Knowing that she can still be with Roger and the kids in the afterlife, gives her perspective and peace. She also loves being a visiting teacher.  She likes how she can get to know sisters in the ward that she may not have normally been close to.  

I was able to visit Regan the morning after Braedon was born and she was beautiful, happy and social. I found that amazing and so far off from my post birth experiences. I’m so glad to have Regan and her family in our ward.

(photo taken by Sally DeFord)

I.  Many of you know that I lived in San Francisco for a good number of years.  I went there for Latin Ballroom dance auditions after college and ended up staying.  I had to get a solid 9-5 job to pay for my dresses and coaches and worked downtown.  Joe and I met at the San Francisco airport after 5 years of me living in San Francisco.  We conversed on the plane on our way out of town (40A&40B) and we both lived in the city not more than 15 minutes away from each other.  We were sealed in the Oakland temple and we lived in San Francisco after we were married.  After buying a house here in Grand Junction, Joe had work in South Africa, and then a contract back in the Bay Area. Phoenix was born in the East Bay.  

So the Bay Area is dear to my heart. I love San Francisco.  Why am I telling you this.?   With all the arts, culture and delicious food of the Bay Area, there are also the negatives--in every place there are positives and negatives.  One of those negatives is as Bishop Dean Davies talked about in this past April General Conf (2013).  I’ll read:

“On October 17, 1989, while driving home after work, I was approaching a stop light at the intersection of Market and Beale Streets in San Francisco, California. At that moment I felt the car shake and thought, “I must have a flat tire.” As the car continued to shake, I noticed a bus quite close to me and thought, “That bus just hit me!” Then the car shook more and more, and I thought, “I must have four flat tires!” But it wasn’t flat tires or the bus—it was a powerful earthquake! As I stopped at the red light, there were ripples in the pavement like waves of the sea rolling down Market Street. In front of me a tall office building was swaying from side to side, and bricks began falling from an older building to my left as the earth continued to shake.

The Loma Prieta earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay Area at 5:04 p.m. that day and left as many as 12,000 people homeless.

The earthquake caused severe damage in the San Francisco Bay Area, most notably on unstable soil in San Francisco and Oakland. In San Francisco, the Marina District had been “built on a landfill made of a mixture of sand, dirt, rubble, … and other materials containing a high percentage of groundwater. Some of the fill was rubble dumped into San Francisco Bay after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.”1

Bishop Davies continues,"In about 1915, apartment buildings were erected on the landfill. In the 1989 earthquake, the water-saturated unconsolidated mud, sand, and rubble converted to a liquid-like mass, causing the buildings to collapse. The buildings were not built on a sure foundation.”

I felt a small earthquake while living in San Francisco but nothing like this earthquake.  And a little more about the Marina district.  While I was a young professional living and working in San Francisco, the Marina district’s Safeway was voted as a top spot for singles/ a dating pick up hot spot.  Its ironic to me that this district is likely still foundationally weak because the rents and properties there were very expensive (I don't know that much other than structural reinforcement was done after the 1989 earthquake).  I would guess that properties and rentals are still very expensive in the Marina district eventhough the soil and land is of  questionable integrity.

Bishop Davies continues and talks about Helamen...

“The Nephite prophet Helaman gave unmistakable clarity to the importance of building our lives on a sure foundation, even the foundation of Jesus Christ: “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall” (Helaman 5:12).”

Contrast the Marina district to the Oakland Temple in the East Bay.  Oakland has some rough parts but lets talk about the temple and where temples are built:

Bishop Davies states, “In the development of modern-day temples, careful attention is given to the design, engineering, and use of building materials. Thorough testing of the soils and geology takes place on the site where a temple will be built. Studies of wind, rain, and changes in the weather for the area are considered so that the completed temple can withstand not only storms and climate common to an area, but the temple is designed and positioned to withstand the unexpected earthquakes, typhoons, floods, and other natural calamities that may occur. In many temples, concrete or steel piles are driven deep into the earth to anchor the temple foundation.”

Bishop Davies says, “Brothers and sisters, none of us would knowingly construct our homes, places of work, or sacred houses of worship on sand or rubble or without appropriate plans and materials. Let us accept the Savior’s invitation to come unto Him. Let us build our lives upon a safe and a sure foundation. “

II.  Discussion:

How do we anchor our lives to the sure foundation of our Savior and His Atonement?  

Bishop Davies gives some great insight into prayer, scripture study and the importance of the sacrament as an ordinance in our lives in the above referenced April 2013 Conference address.  He also references the Sermon on the Mount and the wise man who built his house upon a rock.  (Matthew 7:22-27).

III.  Now another layer...

What are the benefits of anchoring our lives to the foundation of Christ and his Atonement?  

Lesson #9 from Teachings of Lorenzo Snow:  Sacred Family Relationships.

Why is family important?  What are our connections to each other?  are they trivial or otherwise?

From President Lorenzo Snow:

1. "The Lord] has shown us that if we are faithful we will associate with each other in an immortal and glorious state; that those connections formed here, that are of the most enduring character, shall exist in eternity.5The associations that are formed here, will be possessed by [us] in the eternal worlds.". President Snow further talks of the following:

• The importance of the family, and our connections to each other (here's my plug for visiting teaching...a carry over from Sally Deford's last week lesson; )).

• He encourages us to honor our marriages-- nurture a oneness of feeling which encourages love and kindness in our home.
  

• He addresses that if you haven’t met your match or don’t have the children in the numbers you now desire that it will be made up to you in the next life.  He cites the example of his sister Eliza Snow:

“My sister Eliza R. Snow, I believe, was just as good a woman as any Latter-day Saint woman that ever lived, and she lived in an unmarried state until she was beyond the condition of raising a family. … I cannot for one moment imagine that she will lose a single thing on that account. It will be made up to her in the other life...”

• President Snow says that children learn best from good examples and when parents seek inspiration.  Rhetorical question here:  Anchoring our lives to a sure foundation can help us in our homes.

2.  “See that the little, trifling misunderstandings in domestic concerns do not poison your happiness.” (page 131)

?  How do we avoid poison/ offense?  How do you reconcile it?  

For me it takes lots of prayer, seeking personal revelation, and pondering the Savior’s life, teachings and atonement and then I need the balm of time.

3.  "The same forms of relationship here will still exist beyond the veil; the ties here formed will grow stronger in the other life which is to come. And the Latter-day Saints feel an assurance, because God has given it unto them.6"

See also, one of my personal faves-- Doc& Cov 130:2:  “And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.”

How can we be examples and prepare to associate with each other in eternity?  What will you do?  What can you share?

IV.  Conclusion:  I think how we treat each other in our own homes, what we build and how our foundations are built is key.  What’s the ending to our individual stories?  I don’t know.  I always hope for a happy ending when I’m reading.  I hope we can always improve upon ourselves and grow in love and service.  I’ll cling to that and to the Doctrine and Covenants 130:2.  I also strongly believe that if we fortify our foundation on Christ and his atonement, then we will have the personal revelation needed in our lives to help those that we love-- our families and each other.    

Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Christy Huffaker-Bernat

Homemade Laundry Soup

A Sister in the Ward posted this recipe on our facebook group.  She makes it once a year or so as part of their food supply.

 

Homemade laundry soap recipe:

1 box Purex Softening Crystals (optional. I don't use because I make my own softener)
1 Box of Washing Soda
1 Box of Borax
3 Bars of Fels-naptha Soap
... 2 Tubs of Oxy Clean (generic is fine)
2 Cups Baking Soda

Slice bars of Fels into chunks and add (with a scoop of Oxy Clean) into a food processor or blender to grind till mostly smooth. Add all ingredients into a large tub (outside. powder can waft a bit). Mix well with large spoon. Add to gallon sized Ziplock bags or whatever storage devices you prefer. (I like large glass jars, but my mom just leaves it in a Tupperware tub all mixed.)

TADA. That's it. Easy peasy.

 

You can get everything on this list at Wal-Mart for around $30.

Looking ahead to financial security

Posted by: Sherry Ficklin

When I first joined the church I met a family who took the edict "Don't spend money you don't have" very literally. As a young married couple they'd lived with his family until they'd saved enough cash to purchase a small plot of land and shortly after began construction on their first home. Years passed and (since they did all the work themselves as they had the cash to do so) they slowly chipped away at finishing that home. Children came and more years passed. When their youngest (of five) was born they added a small addition and still had many rooms with unfinished walls, plywood floors, and bare bulb lights. But recently I spoke to the wife, and she was so happy to tell me that on their twentieth wedding anniversary, they finished the last room in their now two story, six bedroom home. All with never having any debt, at all. No mortgage. No loans. No Home Dept credit cards.

That, while wonderful, is completely out of my depth, and probably yours too.

We try to be financially responsible and to live within our means. But most of us have car loans, mortgages, and even student loans that we pay on every month.

This year, I've decided to take some small steps to help move my family closer to true fiscal solvency. That is, zero debt. Will it happen this year?
No.
No way on earth.
But I'm going to make the effort to take steps in the right direction at very least. After lots of research and consideration, I've come up with a plan. And I wanted to share it with any of you looking to do the same thing.

1) The first plan for the new year is to add to my savings.
You may or may not have any savings at all. Every situation is different. And most of us can't afford to drop large chunks of cash each month. So I'm going to try this.

It's called the 52 week savings plan and if followed, will boost your savings by over $1300.00.

2) I'm going to focus on building a junk silver stockpile.
Many people are intimidated by the thought of collecting gold and silver, but there is a very easy way to do it. The best way I've found is 'junk' silver. For example, quarters and nickles minted before 1965 are 0.9 ounces of pure silver. At the current value, that brings the value of 40 1964 or older quarters to well over $300. So before you cash in your change, look through your money and see what you have.
Also, I keep all my scraps of copper pipe, old pennies, and various bits of metals. I recently cleaned up after a friend's bathroom remodel and took the scrap pipe to the junk yard. I turned it in for over fifty dollars! Not too shabby, right?
If it's gold you want to stockpile I highly recommend hitting those yard sales and estate sales in the warmer months. Anything stamped (and be sure it is stamped) can be valuable. Just be sure you are getting it for a good deal. An example of this is last year when an estate sale sold my friend a stack of what they considered 'costume jewelry" for $20. Many of the pieces inside were 14k gold and worth far more than what she paid.

In the event of inflation, where paper money becomes less and less valuable, things like jewelry and coins are easily verifiable money storage.

3) Last but not least, I'm going to devote myself more to couponing and bartering for goods. There are many local barter sites online and places like freecycle.com where you can pick up or trade for things you might need.
As for clipping coupons, there are shows that might lead you to believe you can get three hundred dollars worth of soda for a nickle. I've never had that kind of success(?). But I can say, I save about fifty dollars a week on groceries when I'm taking the time to clip those coupons and use them wisely. It's time consuming, but it's worth it.
For example, I haven't paid a penny for shampoo, toothpaste, soap, or shaving cream in over a year, and I still have a LOT of it on my stockpile.


So what are you doing to help move your family toward financial freedom? I'd love to hear other thoughts and ideas!

5th Sunday Lesson: Preparing Talks and Bearing Testimony

We had a great 5th Sunday lesson on preparing talks and bearing testimony. As a latter-day Saint, chances are that you will be giving talks and bearing testimony your whole life long.  Sister Gustavson and Brother DeFord taught some good skills to help us all be better at giving talks and bearing testimony.  The great news is the more we do it, the better we will become and the spirit will always be there to deliver our message.

Sister Gustavson:  Preparing a talk

Sister Gustavson had a great checklist she handed out and asked us to mark the things that we should do when preparing a talk.  There were also some things we should try to avoid doing on the list so it was tricky.  She quotes examples and advice from our church leaders regarding these points.

Try to always do these when planning a talk:

1. Prayerfully prepare: The Lord will help you prepare.  He can also put your mind at ease and help you not be afraid.  The spirit can bring personal experiences to your mind.

2. Relate faith-promoting experiences: using examples of the gospel in our lives can help people understand it better.  Also, each person is so unique that this helps every talk be different (instead of copy and pasted quotes and stories).

3. Teach the doctrines of the Gospel: Luckily whoever asked you to give a talk will also probably give you a gospel doctrine to speak about.

4. Use the scriptures.

When preparing a talk, try to avoid the following:

1. Having the congregation turn to certain  scriptural passages.

2. Making self-deprecating comments.  This means, don't belittle or undervalue yourself.  An example of this could be that you admit that you tried your hardest to get out of giving the talk or this certain subject was perfect for you because you are a miserable failure at the  principle, etc.  Be nice to yourself.

3. Reading lengthy stories or quotes.

4. Singing words from a hymn.

5. Soliciting comments or verbal responses from the audience.

6. Speaking on speculative or controversial topics (i.e. politics or non doctrinal church folklore).

7. Talking as long as you want

8. Using visual aids.


Sister Gustavsen gave three important points to remember when giving a talk.

1. Prepare thoroughly
2. Present humbly
3. Let the spirit touch the hearts of the congregation

****************************************

Brother DeFord: Bearing Testimony

Brother DeFord started his lesson by quoting from the church handbook regarding testimony meeting. He highlighted a few things that help improve our testimony meeting, like keeping testimonies brief so that more people have time to bear their  testimony and using your own faith promoting experiences.  There is not a specific script you need to say when bearing a testimony, you can even bear testimony of one gospel principle that you know to be true.


18.2.3 Fast and Testimony Meeting

Usually on the first Sunday of each month, sacrament meeting is a fast and testimony meeting. . . .
After the sacrament, the bishopric member who is conducting the meeting bears a brief testimony. He then invites members to bear heartfelt testimonies and to relate faith-promoting experiences. The bishopric encourages members to keep their testimonies brief so more people may have the opportunity to participate.

It may be best to have young children learn to share their testimonies in settings such as family home evening or when giving talks in Primary until they are old enough to do so in a fast and testimony meeting without assistance from a parent, sibling, or other person. (Handbook 2: Administering the Church, 18. Meetings in the Church)

The main point of Brother DeFord's training was to offer up brief, heartfelt testimonies, based on personal experience.

Here are a few more quotes:

"Learn obedience and understanding from the plain truths of the gospel and then share them in candid, clear, and frank language and actions." Marvin J. Ashton, "Power of Plainness"


"You know this testimony is a tremendous thing, a most important thing. Any minister or priest can quote scripture and present dialogues. But not every priest or minister can bear his testimony. Don’t you sit there in your fast meeting and cheat yourself and say, “I guess I won’t bear my testimony today. I guess that wouldn’t be fair to these other members because I have had so many opportunities.” You bear your testimony. And one minute is long enough to bear it." Spencer W. Kimball

Relief Society Lesson: 2-4-12

posted by Christy:

This week we’ve been enjoying some of the bounty from my garden harvest--i.e. roasted butternut squash, Anasazi bean soup, the last of my heirloom pineapple tomatoes, banana squash soup, granny apple pie (gluten-free for my needs and apples from a local orchard-- I didn’t grow those).  Its our pre-Thanksgiving time with my mother-in-law and a nice way to enter into the month of Thanksgiving. AND without pollinators in my garden, there would be no harvest of this deliciousness! 

My thoughts come from Elder Ballard’s talk “Be Anxiously Engaged” from this past October General Conference.

 

I. Elder Ballard recalls:   

“My beloved brothers and sisters, each time I enjoy a fresh, vine-ripened tomato or eat a juicy peach right off the tree, my thoughts go back 60 years to when my father owned a small peach orchard in Holladay, Utah. He kept beehives there to pollinate the peach blossoms that would eventually grow into very large, delicious peaches. 

“Father loved his gentle honeybees and marveled at the way thousands of them working together transformed the nectar gathered from his peach blossoms into sweet, golden honey—one of nature’s most beneficial foods. In fact, nutritionists tell us it is one of the foods that includes all the substances—enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water—necessary to sustain life.”
My father always tried to involve me in his work with his hives, but I was very happy to let him tend to his bees. However, since those days, I have learned more about the highly organized beehive—a colony of about 60,000 bees. 

Honeybees are driven to pollinate, gather nectar, and condense the nectar into honey. It is their magnificent obsession imprinted into their genetic makeup by our Creator. It is estimated that to produce just one pound (0.45 kg) of honey, the average hive of 20,000 to 60,000 bees must collectively visit millions of flowers and travel the equivalent of two times around the world. Over its short lifetime of just a few weeks to four months, a single honeybee’s contribution of honey to its hive is a mere one-twelfth of one teaspoon. 

Though seemingly insignificant when compared to the total, each bee’s one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey is vital to the life of the hive. The bees depend on each other. Work that would be overwhelming for a few bees to do becomes lighter because all of the bees faithfully do their part.”

So, my figuring out how to quantify 1/12 of a teaspoon--I was filling a teaspoon with various household items like sunflower seeds and such and found that 1/12 of a teaspoon is about 1 chlorella/ spirulina tablet which is about the size of 1 redhot candy from the cake decorations area in your supermarket.  And 1 lb of honey is little over honey filling a ½ pint jar.

II.  Beehive as a symbol

“The beehive has always been an important symbol in our Church history," said Elder Ballard.  Check out the various references in Elder Ballard's talk-- the Jaredites (Ether 2:3), Brigham Young choosing the beehive as a symbol for the pioneers, the insides and exteriors of some temples and even the Conference Center podium is adorned with the beehive.

Elder Ballard continues, "All of this symbolism attests to one fact: great things are brought about and burdens are lightened through the efforts of many hands 'anxiously engaged in a good cause'” (D&C 58:27). Imagine what the millions of Latter-day Saints could accomplish in the world if we functioned like a beehive in our focused, concentrated commitment to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ."

III. Savior’s Teaching/ Pure Religion and application:

 

Elder Ballard's draws attention to the following:

The Savior taught that the first and great commandment is:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. …
“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37, 39–40).

"The Savior’s words are simple, yet their meaning is profound and deeply significant. We are to love God and to love and care for our neighbors as ourselves. Imagine what good we can do in the world if we all join together, united as followers of Christ, anxiously and busily responding to the needs of others and serving those around us—our families, our friends, our neighbors, our fellow citizens," says Elder Ballard.  And he also said, "As the Epistle of James notes, service is the very definition of pure religion (see James 1:27).

　

IV. So, HOW DO WE BEAR ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS IN OUR EVERYDAY LIVES?

Elder Ballard said the following:

 “We read of the service Church members provide around the world and especially the humanitarian service given in times of crisis—fires and floods and hurricanes and tornadoes. These much-needed and much-appreciated emergency responses should certainly continue as a way of bearing one another’s burdens. But what about our everyday lives? What would be the cumulative effect of millions of small, compassionate acts performed daily by us because of our heartfelt Christian love for others? Over time this would have a transformative effect upon all of our Heavenly Father’s children through the extension of His love to them through us. Our troubled world needs this love of Christ today more than ever, and it will need it even more in the years ahead."

V. MY THOUGHTS:  

This is very pertinent to now with hurricane Sandy in the East hitting right here on our home soil.  And what can we do on a day to day basis?  There is power in a smile.  A kind word/ greeting has made my day on many an occasion.  A laugh/ exchange of humor has changed my attitude for a day and lightened my outlook.  And What about visiting teaching? -- While living in South Africa, I didn’t know how to help. We were living there for 6 months-- I knew it was enough time to be involved and get to know the sisters in the branch. There were real safety issues as racial tensions existed and probably still exist-- we lived there 12 years post-apartheid. Another factor was that I wasn‘t totally comfortable driving on the other side of the road at the time-- later I got really comfortable but I was not comfortable with it at that time. AND I had been told not to go into the nearby township by Joe’s boss.   I didn’t know how I could get involved, but when the RS President picked me up in her car and told me we were going to the township for visiting teaching, I felt no safety concerns. We had a nice time serving.   I needed to be shown the route and helped to serve in that time and place.   I was later able to serve on my own but I had to be shown a way.

Elder Ballard says, "These simple, daily acts of service may not seem like much in and of themselves, but when considered collectively they become just like the one-twelfth teaspoon of honey contributed by a single bee to the hive. There is power in our love for God and for His children, and when that love is tangibly manifest in millions of acts of Christian kindness, it will sweeten and nourish the world with the life-sustaining nectar of faith, hope, and charity."

VI. “?What do we need to do to become like the dedicated honeybees and have that dedication become part of our nature?”

1. Desire. Remember Christ is central. Know he is the path to eternal life-- a basic principle in most Christian religions. 

2. Take on Christlike attributes and assimilate His doctrines.  I loved Sister Burton's talk from this past October General Conference, "First Observe then Serve.”  She said, "Observing and then serving is not always convenient and doesn't always fit our own timetable.” She further stated, “Sometimes we are tempted to serve in a way that we want to serve and not necessarily in the way that is needed at the the moment. When Elder Robert D. Hales taught the principle of provident living, he shared the example of buying a gift for his wife. She asked, “Are you buying this for me or for you?” If we adapt that question to ourselves as we serve and ask, “Am I doing this for the Savior, or am I doing this for me?” 

3.  Pray for the desire to serve and then pray to be able to serve someone during your day.  Elder Ballard said,  "...In your morning prayer each new day, ask Heavenly Father to guide you to recognize an opportunity to serve one of His precious children.  Then go throughout the day with your heart full of faith and love, looking for someone to help. Stay focused, just like the honeybees focus on the flowers from which to gather nectar and pollen. If you do this, your spiritual sensitivities will be enlarged and you will discover opportunities to serve that you never before realized were possible.  President Thomas S. Monson has taught that in many instances Heavenly Father answers another person’s prayers through us—through you and me—through our kind words and deeds, through our simple acts of service and love.  And President Spencer W. Kimball said: “God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we serve each other” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball [2006], 82). 

So, may we all be like bees.  I know we are busy like bees.  May we desire to serve and increase our efforts with our 1/12th of a teaspoon contribution to the hive just like the honeybees.  It will bless all of our lives-- the recipient of service and the giver of service. 

Hugs and love, Sister Christy Huffaker-Bernat