Patient, Long Suffering, Temperate - I need work

Wow, I am going back in time today with some thoughts and it really aged me. Hard to say this, 18 years ago I was 19 years old and - actually, almost exactly 18 years ago I received my mission call so maybe it was more like a little over 18 years ago. Anyway, I had either just turned 19 or was about to turn 19 and I received a letter from Elder Fontano. That would be Jim who was serving in the Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission. It was a letter that was a great inspiration to me as it opened my eyes to some things that were important in life. Jim closed the letter and as he did in each of his letters home he included a scriptural reference. I don't think I had ever looked up one of his scriptural references but I felt prompted to do so. I found my scriptures and opened up to Alma 7:23-24 and read:

23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.
24 And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.

The entire experience from the letter through to these verses were exactly what I needed at that time. I will never forget the Spirit that I felt that day while I sat at the little round table in the corner of the kitchen of our house on Telegraph Street in Carson City. I caught fire that day and for the first time had a strong desire to read the Book of Mormon. I hated reading so I avoided reading the scriptures as much as possible to that point. It all changed and I found myself feasting upon the words of Christ. I will forever be grateful for an older brother who wrote a letter.

I have loved these verses since that day in 1992. I read them often as a missionary and actually carried the letter in my scriptures for my entire mission and would look at it often too. Anytime that I find myself in Alma 7 I think about that experience and I think about the impact of these verses on my life. I don't know that I have any one favorite scripture but these verses rank right up there with my favorites. Today my scripture reading was in Alma 7 and I knew what I needed to write about in the blog.

I have tried and hope to live my life in accordance with the instruction Alma gives here. I don't do a very good job of it. Funny that I read this earlier today and then spent the rest of the day realizing just how far off I am and how much work there is yet to do. I had a rough time with the kids tonight and immediately began thinking about patience and long suffering and being temperate in all things. Those are some tough requirements and I don't do a very good job most days. It makes me realize how much I need the Savior and His atonement in my life and how grateful I am for Him.

Everybody is healthy at the moment so that is very nice. Andy did not get sick at all and hopefully he will not. Jack was on fire this morning and ready to get back to school, that was nice. We all had a good day and that is always more enjoyable.

I did want to put in a picture or two of Jack. I put together some stars for the Little Brick House. They are big stars and I had to put together each piece of it. Each point of the star was fastened to the next using wing nuts, bolts and washers. Jack got involved in the process and had to organize the three items. Here is a picture of his rows.



As I was putting it together he looked at the pattern I was following and then adjusted his rows to follow that pattern. Sorry, this is interesting because it is one of those sensory things. I just found it funny that on his own he determined to first organize the rows and then make these adjustments per pattern.



Well, that is all for today. We got the Stars together and will take them in tomorrow. Happy that the kids went down without a problem tonight. Grateful for the day and for everyone being healthy.