Ponderize Week 1

This will be our first family blog entry dedicated to PONDERIZING!  We have accepted the challenge from General Conference 2015 to choose a scripture each week to ponder and memorize and apply it to our lives.  We will each add our ponderizing thoughts about our chosen scripture to this record.  We're new at this, so on our first attempts we might be a little rough!  Nevertheless, we began with this beautiful scripture, which has been posted in our kitchen all week long:

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Trey:

"This scripture makes me think of Jesus and Mama because I like them so much."

Oh, this face!!!!

Courtney:

This scripture makes me think of Lehi's dream where Lehi was lost in a dark and dreary waste and a man bade Lehi follow him, so that he could lead him to the tree of life. If we trust Heavenly Father, like the man in Lehi's dream, he will lead us to eternal happiness.

Beautiful Coco making music on the ukulele...some song about roadkill???

Avery:

I think that the thing that distinguishes this scripture from other scriptures that tell us to trust the Lord is that it makes a either/or distinction between trusting in God and trusting what we already know.  I think that that is important to remember that our understanding is imperfect and that God is all-knowing.

The second part of this scripture reminded me of a lesson that Dad often gives in Deacons at church called the Bifocals lesson.  This lesson is basically about four scriptures arranged so that each occupies one part of a drawing of a bifocal.  The scriptures help us to remember how we should see the Lord.  The two scriptures in the bottom lenses tell us that we should try to see the Lord's hand in our lives.  This scripture also supports this idea, as well as adding that 'he shall direct thy paths,' meaning that he will send the Spirit to help us to distinguish right from wrong.

Master photo bomber Avery, becoming the main subject of the photo he was "bombing!"

Chase:

"Now we have a world where people are confused," and when I am confused I usually try to come up with an explanation for the thing that confuses me.  This makes sense, except that by definition if I am confused I don't know the correct explanation.  Instead, I need to "trust in the Lord" and "lean not unto [my] own understanding."  God always knows exactly what is going on when I am confused, because, first of all, he created the universe and knows every tiny detail of every particle in it, and secondly, he has a plan for me and knows exactly what is confusing me and why.  When I am confused, instead of making up my own explanation, I should instead go to Heavenly Father for His explanation.

Another lesson I got out of Proverbs 3:5-6 is that I need to "trust in the Lord with all [my] heart."  To me, trusting in the Lord with all my heart means to work with all my strength, with love for Heavenly Father and recognizing His love for me, to be who Heavenly Father wants me to be.

This is Chase voluntarily helping me fold the laundry on a day he knew I was tired and didn't want to tackle the task on my own.  I think he is doing a pretty good job of being who the Lord wants him to be!

Dad: 

I have learned over the years how much easier it is to rely on the Lord for direction and guidance on those parts of life where there is no clear understanding.  Some things we do know and can learn, but when it comes to our foreordained mission, I am reliant so very much on Him to help me be inspired to recognize when and where I need to act.  Furthermore, there so much in the universe we do not understand, that there is no shortage of things we can seek His guidance on.  

My favorite and best guy!

Mom:

Well, I'm old, so I have had a lot of years to figure out whether or not I really do trust in the Lord with all my heart. :)  I have had experiences in my life in which I wondered if God's plan for me was any good, whether He even remembered me or knew I was here!  I remember at times thinking that my life was so far off course from what I had expected and what I had wanted, that surely I was living someone else's life.  I was faithful to my testimony of Christ, however, so I had to watch for God's hand in my life and trust that He really was leading me where I needed to go.  Over time, as I have been obedient and faithful, the lessons have become more clear and my understanding has increased.  And because I have repeated this process so many times, I can now say with confidence that I really do trust the Lord with all my heart.

Isn't it amazing and wonderful to have someone so perfect, so full of light and intelligence, so loving and kind, to whom we can look and surrender our complete trust?  We know we are imperfect, we know others around us are imperfect, and that our lives and our thoughts and our knowledge are full of errors.  But, we have a glorious way of correcting those errors and finding truth, and that is through trusting the Lord with all of our hearts, believing that he will direct our paths.  My gratitude for this is without bounds.

Got my haircut this week...shorter than it has been for probably 30 years!  And I did have to trust in God to do it, because if I had hated it, I would need faith that my body, created in His image, would grow my hair long again, just as it was designed to do.  Otherwise, I would have been too scared to do it.  Haha!

And THIS is why I trust in God's plan for me...because it includes moments like this which I treasure with all of my heart.  I love these funny little squirts that God gave us!