Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

Last month I convinced myself that I needed to go to the store on Sunday. I know...I should be better at not doing that sort of thing but I wasn't and I had a very humbling experience. As I was leaving with a cart load of "essentials" the missionaries(who knew they worked Albertson's parking lot???) came walking up to me.

They started with the usual introduction; Hi, we're missionaries of the....Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?(a... well. I'm a Temple worker and I teach the Gospel Doctrine class). I was mortified. I stumbled on with something about the ox in the mire, compounding my sin with another sin (lying). I swore I'd never, ever, shop again on Sunday. I'd like to say I've kept that promise....

Today I was talking with my brother about the topic. I realized I needed to gain a testimony about this principle. So I did a little research and came up with the following.

And who knew? There are some pretty awesome blessings for those who choose to keep the sabbath day holy.

How Do We Keep the Sabbath Day Holy?

The Lord asks us, first, to sanctify the Sabbath day. In a revelation given to Joseph Smith in 1831, the Lord commanded the Saints to go to the house of prayer and offer up their sacraments, rest from their labors, and pay their devotions to the Most High (see D&C 59:9–12).

Second, he asks us to rest from daily work. This means we should perform no labor that would keep us from giving our full attention to spiritual matters. The Lord told the Israelites, “Thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle” (Exodus 20:10). Our prophets have told us that we should not shop, hunt, fish, attend sports events, or participate in similar activities on that day.

Elder Spencer W. Kimball cautioned, however, that if we merely lounge about doing nothing on the Sabbath, we are not keeping the day holy. The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts. (See The Miracle of Forgiveness, pp. 96–97.)

What kinds of things may we do on the Sabbath?

The Lord has told us to prepare only simple foods on that day, keeping the purpose of the Sabbath in mind (see D&C 59:13). The prophet Isaiah suggested that we should turn away from doing our own pleasure and should “call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable” (Isaiah 58:13). We should do righteous things. We keep the Sabbath day holy by—

1. Attending Church meetings.
2. Reading the scriptures and the words of our Church leaders.
3. Visiting the sick, the aged, and our loved ones.
4. Listening to uplifting music and singing hymns.
5. Praying to our Heavenly Father with praise and thanksgiving.
6. Performing Church service that we have been assigned to do.
7. Preparing family history records and personal histories.
8. Telling faith-promoting stories and bearing our testimony to family members and sharing spiritual experiences with them.
9. Writing letters to loved ones.
10. Fasting with a purpose.
11. Sharing time with children and others in the home.
In deciding what other activities we should properly engage in on the Sabbath, we should ask ourselves: Will it uplift and inspire me?
There may be times when we are required to work on the Sabbath. We should avoid this whenever possible, but when it is absolutely necessary, we should still maintain the spirit of Sabbath worship in our hearts as much as possible.

Blessings for Observing the Sabbath

If we honor the Sabbath day, we may receive great spiritual and temporal blessings. The Lord has said that if we keep the Sabbath day with thanksgiving and cheerful hearts, we will be full of joy. He has promised:
“The fulness of the earth is yours, … whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards;
“Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart;
“Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul” (D&C 59:16–19).

Remembering

Today is the 8th year that we have been without Taylor.

The flowers we place each year dry up or our eaten by the deer, visitors become less and less. I wonder at times if we are the only ones who remember him?

But the other day I received an e-mail from Becs(his cousin) who thinks of him often. I discovered that a friend goes to the cemetery every year on the anniversary of his death. A woman in my neighborhood said she would be thinking of us this week. I love when someone tells me a story about him....I love knowing that he remains in the thoughts and hearts of others.

I found a list of the wonderful remembrance ideas that other parents have used on the anniversary day of their child's death.

Some of these ideas take a lot of planning months in advance, but others can be done easily in minutes or hours with very little effort. I submit this list for all those who have lost a loved one and are looking for additional ways to honor and remember them.

1. Create a scholarship and present it on that day. This can be for a school or an organization that is meaningful to you. There are always children who need a financial helping hand. Make sure that you clear this in advance with the officials who may need to set up a time of day and organize a gathering for the presentation.

2. Take flowers, toys, etc. to other kids in a hospital. It can be hard to revisit a place where your child may have spent much time, but it can also be very healing. Donate money or memorial gifts to a hospital, church or children's group.

3. Make a memory stepping stone with your child's name and add trinkets. This can be done as a family project and set in a place where you can see it year `round.

4. Give away something that belonged to your child, and include the story of why that item is going to a certain person or place. It can become a source of comfort to know that something of your child's will be cherished by another.

5. Make your child's clothes into something else. One family I know made pillows to sleep on for each of their other children. Other ideas are to create a quilt or stuffed toy to cuddle. Customize the items by including your child's picture or name and special dates.

6. Have a T-shirt made with your child's picture on it and wkar it all that day. Make T-shirts for other family members, too.

7. Buy something your child would have liked-not to give away, but to keep as a memento for the day.

8. Make scrapbooks or fill frames with pictures of your child. Buy a hope chest or armoire or shadow box and store in them the most precious things that belonged to your child.

9. Decorate something (a cabinet or library shelves) at your child's school. Customize it with his or her name and significant dates.

10. Do the unveiling of the marker with friends or have a foot marker made. Spend time sitting in the cemetery, arranging new things on the grave or leaving flowers. Make a grave blanket or spread his or her cremains in a ceremony on that day.

11. Have a balloon send-off on that day, or use butterflies or birds or even a kite. On the balloons, you can write special messages or insert flower seeds that will scatter.

12. Go to the library and read grief books. Take a box of tissues and pretend you have a cold.

13. Cook your child's favorite meal or eat at his or her favorite restaurant.

14. Have a star named after your child (www.starregistry.com) or support other memorials. An example is The Southport Lighthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (www.griefwarehouse.org/southportlight.html)

15. Have a sketch, a portrait or a sculpture of your child done by a professional. Or, have a doll made in the likeness of your child. Many parents are happy with these lookalikes.

16. Have a piece of jewelry made with your child's name or picture on it. An inexpensive option is to make it yourself, using alphabet beads and a small picture of your child.

17. Get a temporary tattoo with your child's name or a special image that reminds you of your child.

18. Give everyone a ribbon on that day and tell them what it's for. If your child died of cancer, a gold ribbon is traditional to mark that disease.

19. Donate blood or platelets on that day. There is always a need for blood products. If you child needed them, what better way to remember him or her than by giving some back.

20. Light a candle, say a prayer. This can be done in the privacy of your home, in solitude, or in a public place such as a church or a park.

21. Hold an annual charity event, i.e., a golf tournament or charity race/walk. This can be very time consuming, so enlist lots of help for this choice. The rewards culminate on the big day.

22. Get involved in a cause, volunteering your time and efforts toward something that is already established. There are annual stamp campaigns, food pantries and many children's charities that could use a helping hand.

23. Adopt a child for a day and do what you would have done with your child. My child loved the movies and eating at fast food restaurants. Other children may enjoy boating or theme parks-whatever fun is available.

24. Start or update a web page for your child. Many children become known because their web pages are shared by their parents.

25. Compose a poem or song and send it to everyone you know. This is a beautiful way to share a loving tribute to a child.

26. Plant a tree or a bush or a flower garden in memory of your child. This can be done on your property or at your child's school.

27. Watch videos of your child if you have them.

28. Reread all the cards, notes and letters you saved from the days after your child died. Write notes to those whose messages especially touched you.

29. Reach out to a newly bereaved parent. Think of things you wish someone had said to you, or be prepared to just listen to them talk. It is the best gift you can give.

30. Ask others to write down a memory or impression of your child. Read them aloud at a gathering such an open house or at a party for all your child's friends. Set up a remembrance table with some of your child's special things.

31. Have a new family picture done, but include a large picture of your child or an object that reminds you of your child.


Whatever it is that you choose to do on that day, be prepared to lead the way in talking about your child. For it is in planning something special that you can create good memories and happy times on a day that seems to bring much sadness. May the day give you some peace.

Life Long Learning

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises -
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
And with the grace of an adult, not the
Grief of a child
And you learn to build your own roads today
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain
For your plans
After a while you learn that even sunshine
Burns if you get too much
So you plant your own garden and decorate
Your own soul - instead of waiting for
Someone to bring you flowers,
And you learn that you really can endure,
That you really are special,
And that you really do have a worth,
So live to learn and know yourself,
In doing so you will learn to live.

Blessed Day!

Today is graduation day for Justin. I am so pleased with his perseverance in obtaining this goal. It has been a long and expensive journey for their family.

All of our children have made this journey at their own expense and hardship.

I can't begin to express the joy it gives me....I have told them from the beginning that school does not end without the college diploma. I am pleased that they allowed me my indulgence.

I hope that they will choose to continue learning their entire life. I believe that education is the great equalizer. Challenging yourself to learn and grow. Promising that you'll never allow yourself to become stagnant.

You will never be too old to learn something new. For instance:

Before you can learn the trees, you have to learn

The language of the trees.

That's done indoors,

Out of a book, which now you think of it

Is one of the transformations of a tree.

The words themselves are a delight to learn,

You might be in a foreign land of terms

Like samara, capsule, drupe, legume and pome,

Where bark is papery, plated, warty or smooth.
But best of all are the words that shape the leaves

–Orbicular, cordate, cleft and reniform –

And their venation–

palmate and parallel –

And tips –

acute, truncate, auriculate.

Sufficiently provided, you may now

Go forth to the forests and the shady streets

To see how the chaos of experience

Answers to catalogue and category.

Confusedly. The leaves of a single tree

May differ among themselves

more than they do From other species,

so you have to find,

All blandly says the book,

"an average leaf."

Example,

the catalpa in the book

Sprays out its leaves in whorls of three Around the stem;

the one in front of you

But rarely does, or somewhat, or almost;

Maybe it's not catalpa?

Dreadful doubt.

It may be weeks before you see an elm

Fanlike in form,

a spruce that pyramids,

A sweetgum spiring up in steeple shape.

Still, pedetemtim as Lucretious says,

Little by little,

you do start to learn;

And learn as well, maybe,

what language does

And how it does it,

cutting across the world
Not always at the joints,

competing with

Experience

while cooperating with

Experience,

and keeping an obstinate

Intransigence,

uncanny, of its own.

Think finally about the secret will

Pretending obedience to Nature,

but Invidiously distinguishing everywhere,

Dividing up the world to conquer it.

And think also how funny knowledge is:

You may succeed in learning many trees

And calling off their names as you go by,

But their comprehensive silence stays the same.
Howard Nemerov

So much to learn-so much power in knowledge, in words! It's magical.

I have been blessed with the most amazing children-they are a gift to me and a gift to this world. They bring magic to my life.

I'm over the moon