On Wednesday evening I was ordained a high priest by dad. That was a peaceful and powerful experience. In that ordination and blessing it was made clear that experiences I have had in my life have prepared me for what I am asked to do now. President Heap then set me apart as a high counselor and echoed some of those same things. It was a special evening.
School started on Tuesday. Things went pretty well for my first week. I think there is much for me to learn and it is going to take a lot of work this year. I love the kids and enjoy my time with them. There is an exceeding plenty of communication and I am going to have to get used to a plethora of emails every day. I am not used to the amount of email communication that is hitting me and it can be a bit overwhelming. I had two days where things went pretty well. The third day was a bit rough and I found that I wasn’t happy with my level of preparation so I made some adjustments on Thursday evening and went in to Friday with a much better plan. It was a great day. I am geared up for Monday and have a better feel for what needs to be accomplished each day. I guess like Hannibal from the A-team, I also love it when a plan comes together.
I was reminded of a few different experiences this week as I prepared to speak. The topic was Elder Renlunds talk from April conference titled Abound with Blessings. In the talk he uses the analogy of a large amount of wood with kindling, tinder, and fuel wood that are ready to catch fire. A match is required to light the fire before it can provide heat. This he compares to the blessings the Lord has ready to bestow upon us. We have to strike the match and light the fire which Elder Renlund refers to as activation energy. It is through acting in faith that we obtain blessings from God. We do not earn the blessing because the small amount of activation energy or faith we expend pales in comparison to the blessing received. I was reminded of a letter I received from Jim some 27 years ago. He was serving as a missionary. I was of missionary age but had not done anything towards that effort. The letter was spirit filled and was exactly what I needed at that time. Jim loved to include scriptural verses at the end of his letters. That was cool but I didn’t really look them up because that would require effort to find my scriptures, figure out which book it was in and then navigate through chapters and verses to find the right one. Most times I struggled to understand it anyway. Well, true to form Jim included The reference in my letter. It was Alma 7:23-24. This time I acted, I found my scriptures, I opened up to Alma 7 and read the verses. This activation effort was like putting the match to the wood pile. I started reading the Book of Mormon and felt the power of it. It was always there but I would not activate the energy required to receive the blessing. I will ever be grateful for that letter and for choosing to act. It has been a great blessing in my life as I continue to sup from its pages and activate the energy required to receive it.
Well, that about covers it. Grateful for new things this week and grateful for reminders of old things that have blessed my life.
