An Effective Teacher

 

 

The funny thing about learning in this life is that you don’t know what you don’t know. You might be dancing through life thinking you know what’s up, and then bam! God says, “Lesson time.” Now you know what you didn’t know, often what you never even thought you needed to know. Sometimes, learning something new is great, like when you go to class and discover a new math concept or fresh insight in Sunday school. Other times it’s embarrassing. For example, when you think you have life figured out, then you are forced to examine your perspective. You get humbled. I didn’t know what chronic pain felt like, I didn’t know how debilitating it is, and I didn’t realize how depressing it can be. I didn’t see other people’s pain. 

I wasn’t very patient.

 Now I do, now I am.

All my life, I have done whatever I put my mind to do. If I wanted to run, I ran. If I wanted to stay up late and work on craft projects, I did just that. I danced and played in the snow; I worked and lived oblivious to chronic pain. I may have even believed that I was impervious to certain types of suffering.

After 40 years of a charmed life, everything started to change. While working at Kneaders cafe as a pastry chef, my hands began to tingle and would throb at night, robbing me of much-needed sleep. They would get ice cold, ache in my bones, and it took hours after I got home to get them to warm up. This pain gave way to what felt like eclectic shocks down through my arms to my elbows, and then my hands would go numb. Some people thought I was dramatic. Of course, I went to the doctor. He had me undergo expensive testing. I had carpal tunnel, but it wasn’t bad enough to warrant surgery, the doctor told me. I wondered to myself what bad enough looked like if it wasn’t what I was going through. I couldn’t do my job. Quitting kneaders was a blow to my pride. 

Now I see the misunderstood, the discouraged. 

Even though carpel tunnel stopped me from working as a pastry chef, I hoped it wouldn’t steal my ability to do my hobbies. I love to create, to work with my hands, using repetitive movements, soothing and hypnotic. I did the exercises the doctor recommended and took a lot of ibuprofen to keep up my knitting and sewing. I thought maybe one of these hobbies could be an option for work. So, I soon started sewing for a company selling Minky blankets. Because I am a social person and love working with kids, I also started working at my kids’ elementary school as an aide a couple of days a week. 

I see those who are trying so hard.

Again, I found myself in a similar predicament as before. Sitting sewing blankets for hours seemed to take its toll; my hands would go numb and ache. When winter weather came, standing outside all day on the playground had the same effect as working with the cold dough at Kneaders. Even though I dressed like an Eskimo, my feet and hands would get so icy the tips of my finger and toes changed color. None of this was normal, and the other aides weren’t having these same issues. 

Now I know the pain, the invisible weariness others have faced. 

After quitting my aide job and drastically cutting down on my sewing piece work, I started to feel a little better until I didn’t. One night, I woke to pain in my right foot, and when I tried to step down on it, it felt like stepping on glass. The following day I discovered it was swollen and hot on the inside and to the touch.  My left-hand middle knuckle burned angrily and looked red and chaffed. At first, I thought a spider had bitten me in two places, odd places, but I had no other explanation. These strange new symptoms were not like the carpal tunnel pains I’d experienced before. I took Benedryl, hoping I had an allergic reaction. No change. I went to the doctor, who proceeded to take what seemed to be a liter of blood for tests. Waiting for the results was torture as my swelling didn’t improve. Then to twist the knife further, my stomach churned like boulders in the spin cycle. I had headaches so unbearable I wanted to attempt medieval trephination just to relieve the pressure or release the demons, as my husband often joked when he tried to cheer me up.

Sitting in my room watching TV, trying to distract myself from my pit of despair, I received the fateful phone call. “We have your test results. It looks like you have Rheumatoid Arthritis. We can’t help you anymore. You need to see a specialist. Some of your symptoms are still a mystery, but maybe a rheumatologist can figure those out too.” It takes months to get an appointment with a specialist. My symptoms got worse. I felt like a dark, scratchy heavy blanket was over me, suffocating me. I thought to myself that this has to be a mistake. I’ve always been healthy, active, strong! What is could be happening to me and why? 

I now know the confusion and the struggle of a health crisis. The guilt of the toll on the family budget medical visits take. I know the heavy depression that can look like laziness to someone who doesn’t know.

I prayed every night for relief. My family put my name in the temple. With my rheumatologist appointment four months away, Heavenly Father heard my prayers, as He always does. A woman I served with at church had already learned the life lessons I was in the process of learning, so she saw what no one else could, what I kept hidden so as not to burden anyone. My friend saw what was invisible. She knew. She reached out to me and got me an appointment at a clinic where she had connections. The following week I was diagnosed with three autoimmune conditions, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, and Sjogren’s disease. Soon I began to emerge from the heavy blanket of depression that I felt held under slowly peeling back. Medication, supplements, and strategic lifestyle changes eased each symptom. Not gone, but eased. 

I know now and have empathy for those whose burdens are heavy, so they need allowances, and I can make room for them.

Someone saw me, so now my eyes are open. I’ve learned how to go slowly, appreciate each step I take, and respect each step others take.

Now I know what I didn’t realize I needed to. Pain is an effective teacher.

Repenting is an Opportunity to Learn

 This semester for one of my classes I have been writing an argumentative paper turned in and graded in

 three parts. This week I had the opportunity to rewrite the first part for a new grade. 

This is huge! 

It is a huge favor that my teacher did for the class because it means she has to reread all of our papers!

 Huge pain for her and huge sacrifice of her time and effort! The grade on my paper didn't fail me so I

 could've easily not done the rewrite, but in doing so I learned so much, and because I did it the next 

part of the paper has been so much easier to write. I am so glad I was afforded this chance. 

Why am I telling you all this? 

Well, it just got me thinking about the Come Follow Me study this week. Our Heavenly Father wants us

 to repent, not to make us feel like garbage, not to make us feel less than others 

(as if others are perfect lol, but we make ourselves think that sometimes, right?!), 

but to give us the opportunity to learn and do better. 

Because as the beautiful Maya Angelou says,"...when you know better, do better."

And that is the point of this life right? To do better each day, to grow and become something better, to 

become Goddesses and Gods ourselves!

So I'll try to swallow my pride and repent, I'll try to do better. 

Sometimes I even fail and have to repent for not repenting or seeing my pride and that's ok!

I might not get to rewrite my life but I do get a fresh start when I repent, I do get to have a smoother 

'next part' where I can learn from the past and not make the same mistakes.

Begin With Love

Oh my goodness friends! There is so much depth to the four gospels! I’ve just spent

the last 6 weeks being immersed in it and Wow, Wow that’s all I can say! AND…

I am not even finished!

This week we learned a lot about the Last Supper and the time Jesus spent teaching

while walking to the Garden of Gethsemene. Jesus focused his attention on teaching

and preparing his disciples for his departure from them. 

He spent A LOT of time telling them how much he loved them.

This touched me so much.

He wanted them to be able to share that love.

In John 13 Christ washes his disciple’s feet, they don’t want him to because that is

something reserved for the lowest of the low servants to do but Christ teaches them

13:16 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he

that is sent greater than he that sent him.” then in the next verse we learn “If ye know

these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” Verse 17 reminds me of Galatians 6:9 “And

let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” 

I imagine it is very hard to be Bishop but I also know it is hard to be a nursery leader.

It can often feel like babysitting and not someone edifying anyone’s spirit let alone your

own. But… if you are happy in your service knowing that one calling isn’t bigger or

better than another then you can “be not weary in well doing.” As we are taught

in D&C 64:33 "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation

of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."

Think about it if someone didn’t take care of and love those babies what would the

bishop do, would he be able to do his job, would the parents be able to listen in their

Sunday school classes or teach one, would the teacher of the adults be able to be

heard if there were a bunch of babies crawling and playing with toys in the room?

Also at 18 months, children are in a stage of huge language development, and YOU

dear nursery leader get to aid in teaching that child the language of the gospel; LOVE.

In John 13:34 Jesus gives a new commandment. Not only to do unto others as you’d

have done unto you but to LOVE as he does. He said, “A new commandment I give

unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

Doesn’t it seem that these go hand in hand?

I feel like if I love my brothers and sisters, in my home, in my ward, in my neighborhood,

on the road, wherever; then I can simply serve with no pride of position just love, and

I can be happy doing it. Have you ever been served by someone happy to serve you?

Doesn’t it just feel like heaven? I have a friend who often says when she is serving

someone who is apprehensive to be served “Don’t deny me blessings, I want to serve

you!” and I actually believe she does.

Today I have a challenge for you.

Begin with love. When you come across anyone stranger of familiar think of them as

your Heavenly sibling, a child of God, then serve them. This could mean a smile, this

could mean not saying idiot in your head when they cut you off, this could mean an

extra hug or story at bedtime, or listening to a teenager rant about something they’re

figuring out.

I think you might find there are more ways to love and serve than you previously thought.

I know I have as I’ve given myself this challenge, so I say this in the name of

Jesus Christ Amen.

P.S. I realize this post has a lot of Church of Jesus Christ lingo, I'm sorry. If you would

like to know more about it here is a link to the Church's website.

And here is a link to find missionaries who can teach you more and answer

specific questions you might have.

Pride vs Humility

 Hi Friends,

Wow, this week’s study was so good and I had the hardest time pinning down one idea…

We read in Matthew 21-24; JST Matt; Mark 11-13; Luke 19-21; John 13-18.

What stuck out to me though was the contrast between the attitudes of the

Pharisees in Matthew 23:25-28 and Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10.

The Pharisees were people who have had access to the prophecies of Jesus Christ’s coming from the prophets of the Old Testament and are supposed to be the leaders and teachers of Jerusalem but they are blind to the gospel. We learned in previous chapters that the Pharisees would “tempt” or try to trick Jesus into going against the scriptures by asking tricky questions and they were never successful but still refused to accept him. Jesus was to them a challenge of the status quo. They didn’t want to make the effort to change, they didn’t want to let go of their authority and power.

Contrast them with Zacchaeus, a publican, the Jews thought publicans had forfeited their claim as Abraham’s chosen offspring, and Zacchaeus was the chief publican.

In Matthew 23:25-28  Christ uses the comparison of a cup and platter that are clean on the outside but dirty within and a ‘whited sepulcher’(a tomb painted white to look clean while a dead body decayed inside) to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

Why these comparisons?

I think of the idea that people need to eat and drink for nourishment, that is how we grow and keep our bodies and minds healthy and progressing but if our cups and plates are dirty within then what we eat and drink is not pure and therefore not good for us. Just like spiritually if what we take in or have in us is not pure then our spirits aren't pure and progressing. And the whited sepulcher is how they tried to look good or play the part on the outside but their thoughts or beliefs had decayed or become corrupted. They were like the barren fig tree Jesus taught about in Matthew 21:17-22, they were supposed to bear fruit but they didn’t and as the second son in the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21:28-32 he willingly accepted the charge but didn’t fulfill his agreement. 

In Luke 19:1-10 We learn of Zacchaeus who was the chief publican and rich. He was a good man and even gave half of his goods to the poor and made “fourfold” restitution, basically, Zacchaeus went above and beyond even the law of Moses. The day we learn of him he is trying to see Jesus, he was a small man so it was hard in the crowd to get to Jesus so he had to climb a tree! When Jesus saw Zacchaeus in the tree, he told him to come down so they could go to Zacchaeus’ house in verse 6 it says “And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.” He was like the first son in the parable of the two sons, he was humble, repentant, and ready to serve.

Notice the difference?

The Pharisees were prideful of their position and heritage, fake, insincere, and impure. Zacchaeus who was thought by the Pharisees to be the lowest of the low, thought to be impure, excommunicated from his religion was actually pure, humble, and ready to learn from Jesus. Despite being hated by his peers he rose to the challenge Christ gave him to “Come Follow Me.”

I imagine it would have been very hard for both the Pharisees and Zacchaeus to follow Christ, it would have taken a lot of effort. The Pharisees never gave themselves the chance to see what Christ had to offer them but Zacchaeus did as we see in verse 9 “And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.” 

We learn from a talk by Scott D. Whiting, “In order to see real progress, you will need to put in sustained effort. Much like climbing a mountain requires preparation before and endurance and perseverance during ascent, so too will this journey require real effort and sacrifice. True Christianity, in which we strive to become like our Master, has always required our best efforts.”

I echo Elder Whiting that if we humbly make efforts we truly can follow Jesus Christ and learn and progress.

In the name of Jesus Christ Amen

Growth Through Christ

 Hello Friends!

I am here again to share with you what I have learned this week from my New Testament class.

I am given several chapters of the four gospels to read and study. If you are familiar with the four gospels you know that they repeat a lot of the same scenarios but from different apostles perspectives and written to different audiences. At different times in my life, one gospels perspective has spoken to me more than others.

In Matthew 19:16-22 and Mark 10:17-2 tells us about the young rich man who came running to ask how to have eternal life. I like the visual of him running because it seems to me that he really wants to know the answer. Christ then tells him the commandments which this young man already does. He sounds like a good man, right?

Is good, good enough?

So the young man tells Christ that he has lived the commandments his entire life and in Matthew19:20 he uses the phrasing, “...what lack I yet?” 

I like this phrasing because it is such a good question to ask yourself every day, what lack I yet? 

Jesus’ response in Matthew “...If thou wilt be perfect,” reminds me of his teaching in the sermon on the mount to be perfect meaning to strive every day to become something better than today to work towards being complete.

So Christ tells the young man to go and sell everything he has and “...come and follow me.”

The young man is sad and went away. You may have the impression that he doesn’t do what Jesus asked of him but I like to imagine that he is like me and is sometimes just slow to understand or maybe wasn’t really ready yet but eventually came around. It is implied in both Matthew and Mark that his inability to give up his riches was his stumbling block.

All growth requires sacrifice. 

So we have to ask ourselves what is my stumbling block? Is it pride, faithlessness, laziness, etc? Then we must replace that stumbling block with a building block or in other words a Christlike attribute. 

In our most recent General Conference Elder Scott D. Whiting spoke of completing a Christlike attribute activity that can be found in chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. This is something I am doing along with studying the four gospels in my New Testament class.

My focus has been on faith but I am finding that as I work on my faith that I am repenting more and noticing where my pride has halted my progress towards becoming like Christ. 

President Nelson explained it perfectly in his 2019 April talk We Can Do Better and Be Better

“When we choose to repent, we choose to change! We allow the Savior to transform us into the best version of ourselves. We choose to grow spiritually and receive joy--the joy of redemption in Him. When we choose to repent, we choose to become more like Jesus Christ! 

Friends I know that through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can find answers to the question “What lack I yet?” and become something more.

In the name of Jesus Christ Amen

Sometimes my learning excites me and sometimes it humbles me.                                          Getting humbled doesn't always feel exciting but the results really are.                                    This week I was reminded of how I went through a healing process and it built my testimony once I understood why I had to go through it.  

      In John 9 we learn of a man who was born blind and it was thought that he or his parents must have sinned for him to have this malady. So Christ healed him and I find it interesting that as he healed him he was teaching the people at the same time. He says while spitting on the ground and making a clay, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." then He put the clay on the man's eyes and tells him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam and when he came back he could see. A blind man lives in darkness, before knowing Christ we live in darkness. When Christ came He brought the light. The man didn't question Christ when he put spit on clay on his eyes or question why that pool he just had faith. When we have faith and allow Christ's light to reach us we too can be healed.                                                                                                                                                                                                  Last year I started showing symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus, I got very stressed about this, googling my symptoms and worrying, and worst of all despairing. It was a long road of pain and I will spare you all the details but when I began to have faith that I could be healed I began to be healed. I was able to find the right doctors (yes it took multiple) to help me. I am not cured, there is no known cure right now but I am living well.                                                                                                                                                            Later in the same chapter (John 9), the newly seeing man has been getting hassled by the Pharisees and they don't believe that he really was born blind and then healed and they want proof. All the man can tell them is that a man named Jesus healed him and he says, "If this man were not of God, he could do nothing." and they cast him out so Christ comes and teaches him who He is and teaches the Pharisees of their spiritual blindness.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Similarly, I was healed of a physical malady but because of said malady I was humbled first and I learned more of who my Savior is and how He heals and teaches me daily. Obviously, I am a work in progress as we all are but each day I can repent of my spiritual blindness and be teachable so that I can feel the light of Christ.      

In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

A Framework for Change

Hi Friends I am back again sharing what I've been learning this week.

 Again I am so excited to share especially since it combines my New Testament class, my Come Follow Me study and my parenting class. 

First in my New Testament class we studied Matthew 5-7 which is the sermon on the mount and Jesus Christ felt that the things he taught there were so important that he taught them again after his resurrection to the people in the Americas. 

We learn about Christ's time in the Americas in the Book of Mormon in the 3rd book of Nephi comprising chapters 12-14. 

So many good scriptures and principles to talk about, I was really having a hard time pinning down what I wanted to focus on for this post but then my parenting class helped me to see what I personally needed to focus on so hopefully it can help you too.  

In my parenting class we learned that focusing on applications such as lists of things to do only help us become something more if we first focus on the doctrine, then we learn the priciples and then can start using applications that support the doctrine and principles.

I chose to focus on the doctrine of the atonement of Christ to help me have a better relationship with my husband which would therefore help us to be better parents. I used the Sermon on the Mount scriptures from the Bible and Book of Mormon.

If we understand the doctrine of the atonement of Christ we would know that without it

repentance and forgiveness wouldn’t be possible. So if we want to be one as a couple we

need to be at-one with Christ. The principles: faith, humility, repentance, charity, and

forgiveness is a way of connecting to the Savior’s atonement.

I made a diagram to illustrate how to work from a doctrine through to applications.

3 Nephi 12:24, “Go thy way unto thy brother, and first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I will receive you.” and 25, “Agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him, lest at any time he shall get thee, and thou shalt be cast into prison.”(Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1982, p.432) These verses fit very well into the framework of Christ’s atonement as we go to our ‘brother’ or in this context our spouse with full purpose of heart or in other words humbly/willing to reconcile and having faith in Christ’s atonement for forgiveness.

Verse 25 can seem like you are meant to be a pushover but if you check the footnote for ‘Agree’ you’ll see that it sends you to the same verse in Matthew 5:25(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1979, p.1193) where the footnote says, “Quickly have kind thoughts for, or be well disposed toward. TG Communication; Disputations.” Verse 25 with the footnote is a great starting point of applications for the principles we are focusing on. Remember why you loved this person in the first place and do it right away so that the bad feelings don’t turn into contempt. Verse 25 also reminds me of the anecdote that anger poisons the offended more than it poisons the offender which I have personally found to be true and that poisonous feeling can really feel like a prison. 

By focusing on the doctrines and principles of the the Atonement of Christ I will look for evidence of Christ atonement in my regular scripture study. This will help me kept it at the forefront of my mind because what we give our time to becomes our thoughts. This is different than my previous approach because before I am usually just reading or “studying” the scriptures with the intent to check it off the list as something good I have done, but this way I will actually become someone who can bless my family eternally. My changes will be internal because having a good relationship with my husband isn’t a thing I can do it’s a person I need to be; a humble and loving wife.  My hope is that my changes will inspire more growth and then that will affect the life of my family as well.

This I say in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.