Lesson for January 8,2017

Today our lesson was given by Suzy Sullivan, our Relief Society president on a message by the First Presidency on “Change.” Suzy wrote CHANGE on the board. Joan Jensen said it reminds her to repent. Barbara Aldridge said that change is the only constant. Change yourself is another constant that many of us are trying to do, especially to make ourselves better. The path of discipleship is slow and one step at a time. Elder Maxwell said that Jesus said to come to him and he would show us our weaknesses so we can become better. The more you understand Christ the more you understand some of the things you need to do. We can be helped in our individual lives by asking the Lord in prayer. “What Lack I Yet” a talk by ?? who took his text from from Matthew 19:16-22 where Jesus repeated the 10 Commandments, but then told the young man that what he yet lacked, the young man should give all he had to the poor and follow Christ. But the young man had great possessions and went away sorrowing. Giving up all of his possessions was too hard. Sometimes when the Lord tell us to do something, we don’t want to work on that thing and we resist our personalized challenge. Next in the story in Matthew, Jesus said that a rich man should hardly enter heaven.His disciples asked if that is impossible, but Jesus said that all things are possible to God. That it is like a camel getting through the eye of the needle (a gate in Jerusalem where a camel has to kneel down to get through), so a rich man would have to humble himself to be saved. Maybe the one thing you are pushing to the back burner is the one you should work on. With the Lord’s help all things are possible. Start with one thing and that will lead to a shift and then the next thing will lead to another shift. Suzy had some suggestions from an article she read: Start small: repeat a tiny habit daily and don’t ask too much of yourself at once. Focus on repeating the habit daily and don’t worry about how effective you are. Focus on one habit at a time and when it is automatic, then focus on another one. Remove barriers: Have everything you need on hand and keep them readily available. Write down your goals. Get up early. Do what you want to do early in the day. Tell someone else what your goal is. Build new routines around existing ones--trigger new ones with old ones.Some habits can go together. From the New Era magazine some seminary students gave some ways they change habits, including the following: Change one habit. Substitute wholesome things Quit bad habits for the right reasons Ask someone to help Pray for help Write goals and post them somewhere you can see them Stay away from tempting situations Believe in yourself Work, work, work--don’t give up Sometimes you need professional help Set up a reward system You might need to forget yourself and focus on someone else Turn to your bishop or family for more ideas Elder Neal A. Maxwell told us “Jesus Instructs us that we are to come unto Him. However, when we strive to come unto Him, we come to see how He will then make our weaknesses better known to us, sometimes painfully, in order to help us to progress. Christ even promises us that He will make some weaknesses into strengths.” Being accountable to someone else, such as family or using an app on the phone or a calendar where we can write down what we’ve done and feel good about ourselves. Many families are in crisis, so getting professional help is key to finding ways to make lives work better. Remember that sometimes we go through phases where we are strong and some where we need to just survive. Recognizing where we are in this spectrum can help us know what we need to do and know that when we do the best we can, it is enough. Maybe we need to ask for help or not come down on ourselves. Suzy says that when she says her prayers in the morning she makes goals with Heavenly Father and that makes her accountable. Then in the evening she can go to Heavenly Father and ask for help meeting goals the next day or thank Him for helping her that day.