An Attitude of Being

The Beatitudes

This morning I had the privilege of being taught what the Beatitudes (found in Matt 5) were all about by seven teenagers. Each of my students drew a piece of paper with a beatitude on it and followed these simple instructions: Read through the verse, make a poster representing the beatitude, be prepared to teach the other members of the class about the beatitude.  Tell us what it means, how the poster represents it, and give an example of how you think it will lead you to greater happiness. They had 15 minutes to prepare.

I was impressed with the effort they were putting into the project.  One student even commented on how quiet it was in the room (a rarity for my class!) We worked, occasionally passed materials to each other, and munched on our Pop tarts (important brain food for creativity.) Finally, the time was up and we were ready to teach.

There is something special about seminary and teenagers who attend seminary.  One minute they are having a conversation that seems to be going no where and the next minute they are focused and presenting Beatitudes in a way that touches your heart.  Each poster was different, each student gave us insights into what Christ was trying to teach, and each personality was evident from their work.  I loved it!

Peacemaker

Hunger & Thirst for Righteousness

Meek

Pure in Heart

Mourn

Poor in Spirit

Persecuted and Reviled

Merciful

In footnote a for Matt 5:3 we learn that 'beatitude' means 'to be fortunate,' 'to be happy,' 'to be blessed.' I felt all of those things this morning. I am finally starting to understand why Christ would teach the Beatitudes to the people on the mount, He truly wants all of us to feel fortunate, happy, and blessed.  

We used simple formulas in the margins of our scriptures to help us remember the attitude we need to have and the corresponding blessing that comes with it like: PS = KH (Poor in Spirit = Kingdom of Heaven).  I have a new formula I want to write in my scriptures: True Happiness = a be attitude = an attitude of being.

What is an attitude of being? It is the willingness to be: poor in spirit, mournful, meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted for righteousness, and reviled by men and still find happiness though it all.  It is being the example of the attitude we want to see in others. 

I shared a quote from Charles Swindoll this morning.  I would like to share part of it in this post:
"I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.  And so it is with you... WE are in charge of our Attitudes."

My challenge to the class was to pick two beatitudes that they felt they needed to work on and try to use them in a missionary moment.  Have an attitude of being and share it with others.  We are bringing happiness to the world one beatitude at a time!

God Puts People In Our Lives

I am one of those people that gets a thought stuck in my head and it stays there, mulling around, tormenting me to think about it. It requires that I stop and dedicate some time to the thought and work it out before I can let go.  I don't usually mind it too much, except when I am super busy and the thought keeps popping up reminding me that I need to finish what I started.

Today I am dedicating this post to the most recent thought that has been floating around in my head: God puts people in our lives.  It was a topic that was discussed in my seminary class and although the purpose of the discussion was fulfilled, for me personally, I have felt like there was more for me to learn.  I have been thinking about this since Friday morning and if I want to be productive in my other endeavors this week, I think it is time to finish what I started.   

My need to know more started with the verses in Matthew 10:1-11:

 1 And when he had ^acalled unto him his ^btwelve disciples, he gave them ^cpower against ^dunclean spirits, to cast them out, and to ^eheal all manner of ^fsickness and all manner of disease.

 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

 3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the ^apublican; James the son of Alphæus, and Lebbæus, whose surname was Thaddæus;

 4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also ^abetrayed him.

 5 These twelve Jesus ^asent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the ^bSamaritans enter ye not:

 6 But go rather to the ^alost ^bsheep of the house of Israel.

 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven ^ais at hand.

 8 ^aHeal the sick, cleanse the ^blepers, raise the dead, ^ccast out devils:^dfreely ye have received, freely ^egive.

 9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your ^apurses,

 10 Nor ^ascrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is ^bworthy of his ^cmeat.

 11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall ^aenter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.

Basically Christ is saying, "Do what you have seen me do and tell the world my story."

It sounds so simple, yet it is one of the areas that many Christians struggle with.  Sharing the gospel can be intimidating and can conjure up fears of rejection, embarrassment, and inadequacy.  These are strong emotions that have the power to make us shrink back and pull away from those we are supposed to be reaching out to.  I know because I have experienced them personally and even though I love my Savior, I have let these emotions control my actions in a negative manner.  Sadly, there have been many time when I should have opened my mouth, but instead the fear of such strong emotions clamped my mouth shut.

I know from previous experience that God doesn't ask us to do something without giving us a plan and the support we need to make it happen.  The twelve apostles had witnessed Christ do the very things He was asking them to do.  He was their mentor. Who is the mentor that God has put in my life?

I decided to do a little research on what it means to be a mentor.  A mentor is a guide or teacher.  Someone who will challenge you to grow and take on big challenges.  As I look back on my life I see that the Lord has put many mentors in my life.  My first mentor was my mother, then came teachers, friends, classmates, etc. 

As I have matured I have become more aware that a mentor doesn't necessarily mean that you see each other in a teacher/student setting.  A mentor can be found in each person I meet.  Everyone has something to teach me. There are people that I have not actually been introduced to that have taught me some of the lessons that have stuck with me throughout my life.  

I remember reading a parenting book and the author had written a story about how she would use the term 'gentlemen' when she addressed her sons.  Her thought was that she would call them by the term in which she wanted them to be. I loved that thought and chose to do the same with my own sons.  Almost twenty-one years later and her influence is still felt in my home.  

In another instance, I remember seeing a young woman who seemed to exude class.  Her countenance was bright and her composure was flawless.  Oh how I longed to be like her!  I am forty-five now and I am still working on being like that young woman. She has no idea of the influence she had on me that day, but I strive to be like her every day of my life.

What does it add to being a mentor when you are doing it for Christ?  The Christian faith spreads person-to-person.  It grows deep in mentor-disciple relationships.  Every young Christian needs a mature believer to show him/her how to live like Christ.  It means doing what we have seen Him do and telling others His story through our own actions, thoughts, and words.  It means guiding others through challenges that could only be accomplished with God's help. 

Just as God puts people in our lives to teach us, he also provides us with someone to teach.  Like Christ and his apostles, God prepares us, then He pushes us out of the nest and gives us opportunities to serve others.  Someone is looking up to us and watching Jesus work in our lives.  Someone is hoping that we will bring them the hope that they seek, the healing that the long for, and the love that they need.    

Just as every person has the potential to be a mentor to us, each person also presents us with the opportunity to be the mentor.  The goal is to leave each person we come in contact with a sense of their worth.  It is important that each person knows that they are loved and that they are worth the effort to get to know.  I cannot tell you how many times a smile from someone has helped lift my spirits.  The fact that someone took the time to make eye contact and brighten my day can mean a lot on those really tough days.

Studying the mentor/disciple relationship has given me the desire to be better at both.  Finding the balance between teacher, yet still a student, can be difficult at times.  I know that I am still a work in progress.  The way I see it, as long as God is putting both mentors and students in my life it shows me that He believes in me.  He is giving me the chance to seek Him out in each person that I meet.   He is active in my life. And He is showing me the ultimate example of a what a mentor should be. What an awesome God we have!

Reaching Out

It's been a while since I've sat down and put my thoughts in a blog post.  Life has a way of keeping me busy, which is probably a good thing, since it keeps me out of trouble! I am truly blessed with work! Work at home, the bookstore, and especially with seminary.  I am surrounded by good people who inspire me everyday.  

This blog post is inspired by my seminary peeps.  They are seven young men and women who come to learn about the gospel for an hour and a half in the morning every other day.  They keep me on my toes and make me want to be a better teacher and example for them.  

Our area of study this year is the New Testament.  We are digging deep into the scriptures to learn more about how to be more like our Savior and to be the best disciples we can.  Recently the lesson was on being called to be fisher's of men.  A challenge was thrown out to my class that we would strive to have 100 missionary moments.  I don't know why it needs to be 100 moments, it just sounded like a good goal, and it is the number of fish beads that I had to help us keep track of our progress.

During the lesson we watched the following video:

  
I couldn't believe it! A member of the First Presidency giving us permission to use social media and electronics to share the gospel, it seemed like the perfect fit for a class full of teenagers!  My class accepted the challenge and so began the discussion on ways we could use social media to reach out to people.  

I chose to use my blog as a way to share the gospel.  I don't know how many people will find it useful, but if even one person finds something that brings them closer to God than it is a success.

I opened this post expressing my busyness (is that a real word?).  While thinking of what I wanted to share in this post I realized that I needed to dedicate more of my time to sharing the gospel.  It's great to be busy, but is what I am busy with more important than sharing the gospel?  

I came across this scripture while I was preparing one of my lessons:

"Wherefore, settle this in your hearts, that ye will do the things which I shall teach, and command you." JST Luke 14:28

Ouch! I seem to have my priorities mixed up.  It got me thinking that what I am busy with says a lot about where my heart is. Although the things I am keeping busy with are good, I needed a little redirection to help me remember that sharing the gospel is important too and this scripture and the class challenge have put me back on track.  

I am looking forward to hearing about all the missionary moments my class will have.  They have already begun sharing some of their stories in class and I am so impressed with their willingness to open their mouths and share their beliefs.  They are great examples to me!

There is no doubt in my mind that we can do this, 100 missionary moments for 8 disciples, is definitely doable!  It is on!!