Lesson for August 17, 2014

Today our lesson was about being in the world, but not of it . It was given by Megan Miller. Our teacher asked about what makes us a peculiar people. We think we are different. We have a fullness of the gospel. We are centered on family. We have been purchased and need to be humble, so we are a treasured gift because we follow Jesus Christ. We value other religions. We do work for the dead. We have covenants and ordinances. We have a lay ministry. We have standards that are different from the world. We value work. We are striving to be like Christ. Megan asked how keeping the Sabbath day holy has changed us. Laura Card said she never did work or homework on Sunday all through her master’s and PhD and kept the Sabbath for church work and family and everything fell into place. Amy Young said that she thinks that by going to church and taking the sacrament keeps us on track for the rest of the week. Sueann Harding and her husband went camping one weekend and her sister said to bring her Sunday clothes. They went to a little ward and it turned out to be a singles ward. So the family passed the sacrament and said the prayers and it was very spiritual. Barbara Aldridge said her husband wears Sunday clothes even when he has to work at a grungy job on Sundays. Vira Bahr said we should think of what we can do on the Sabbath and not what we can’t do on the Sabbath, so we can give direction to our families. Megan said her family turned dressing up for Sunday into dressing up as scripture characters and the kids loved it. It really is based on each of us and the spirit we bring into the Sabbath. Shanacy said each family is different and needs to decide on how they are going to keep the Sabbath day holy and how we honor the Sabbath. Megan went through the pamphlet “For the Strength of Youth” and found all the parts of the lesson. It said to prepare during the week to keep the Sabbath day holy. Emily Campbell grew up in a Jewish community on Long Island and noticed all the little picky rules and loopholes. She learned that it is the spirit of the law and not the minutia. Switching to the Word of Wisdom we learn that we need to keep our bodies and minds clean. If we do what we should, we will be healthier. Young sister Harker said her husband is a physician and he said if everyone kept the Word of Wisdom he would be out of a job. Another sister said that keeping the Word of Wisdom while growing up outside Utah helped her stay healthy while she watched other girls have health problems. Elder Uchtdorf said that sometimes the benefits of keeping the commandments are not apparent until later. The Lord will give us what we need when we need it. Sister Bahr said that when she learned about the Word of Wisdom before she was baptized, she realized what a blessing it is as she has grown older. You can see in society how debilitating these broken commandments are. Sister Cantrell said that if we obey the law, we will receive benefits, even if we do have some health problems, over the long haul. Sister Campbell said we have to realize that we live in a terrestrial world, so there are many things that can go wrong for us. Spencer W. Kimball was under anesthesia and heard an orderly swear and use the name of the Lord in vain. President Kimball said he loves that person more than anything in the world and the man apologized. The last is to dress modestly. In the pamphlet, it says never lower our standards or use special occasions to justify. We dress modestly because of who we are, not because of what others will think or do. Elder Earl Tingey said he went to Ghana and told him what the church and what we could do for them and an official said we don’t have anything better than others. Then he pulled out the pamphlet and the official was amazed that our youth would adhere. Why do we do all these principles? These are good things to think about. It comes from who we are and we show that by how we live. We are not better, except that the Lord has asked us to be better.