June fifth Sunday lessons

For our fifth Sunday, we discussed family and viewed a video from the Church about creating good homes and families. There are several really great videos that the Church has made available to watch. One idea was to use the videos as a discussion generator in family home evening. There are enough there for several family home evenings. Sacrament meeting was about freedom, and some comments made me [Laura] think about some things. I am grateful to live in a country founded on the principles of religious freedom, freedom of speech, and other freedoms. I had to pause to think what those freedoms meant to me. There are some obvious ones: I work at a job that I qualify for because of the education I received because of the education system in this country. I can vote as I see fit. I can live where I please. I can go where I want. I can say what I want, unless I’m on an airplane or in an airport. I can belong to a religion that I choose and believe as I see fit. There are several reasons I am especially grateful for religious freedom. Because I have freedom TO believe in my religion, I have freedom FROM many harmful or debilitating things: I have freedom from wondering or worrying about what the plan is for my life. I have freedom from the health problems that come from smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol or drug abuse or eating harmful substances. I have freedom from the problems that come from having sexual relations outside of marriage. One of the greatest freedoms I have is freedom from fear. I have freedom from the fear of death and that I will be alone after death. I have freedom from the fear of being caught doing something unlawful. I also am free from loneliness or the fear that I will be alone in old age. I know I cannot control what happens in the world, but I am grateful I have some control over my life and that control comes because of the freedoms I enjoy. God bless America.