"Choose Ye this Day to Serve the Lord"

My mom recently made me aware of a talk given by Julie B. Beck at BYU's Women's Conference back in April. It is very powerful and inspiring. I could not find a text copy of the talk, so I have put a link to the video on my sidebar under "Inspiring Articles". Here are the quotes and teachings I found inspiring:

"Taking care of our posterity takes precedence over all other things."

"The vision of our family is the vision of our purpose before the Lord"

"All priesthood power has order, boundaries, and limits to its use. But in our personal lives we are only limited by our faithfulness and desires to acheive that ability to receive that spirit to function in our lives."

"The ability to seek, receive, and act on personal revelation is the most important skill we can acquire in this life. When we have that spirit we can walk with God. We can know and discern and make proper choices... Education is wonderful, but being able to feel the Lord's power and spirit upon us is the ultimate education we can acheive. With that we have power and influence. Without it we will not be able to navigate in this life. The adversary will pick us off one by one."

How do we choose to walk with the Lord and how do we do this?
Know our responsibilities and how to fulfill them:

• Increased faith and personal righteousness
• Stronger homes and families ("Women are like a lioness at the gate, the home. Whatever happens in that home and family happens because she cares about it and it matters to her.")
• Women support each other

Prioritze ("When our priorities are out of order we lose power.") Sister Beck's system for priortizing:

1. Essential- ("If I don't take care of these things, the blessings of eternal life will not be mine nor the blessings of my family.")

• Revelation- Knowing the mind/will of God. (Increased through reading scriptures, personal prayer, time to ponder, sincere fasting).
• Making & Keeping Covenants. (sacrament/weekly repentance, temple attendance, sharing the Gospel, service).

2. Necessary- (What is necessary to create an environment where the Spirit of the Lord is present? Making a home.)

• Making a house of order (cleaning/homemaking/family meals)
• Smiling/being happy
• FHE/family time to teach children to walk uprightly
• D/C 25:5- Support husband, vs. 10- value things important for family. Not wordly things.
• Self reliance (temporal self reliance leads to greater spiritual self reliance)
• Loving one another

3. Nice to Do- (Crafts/hobbies/recreational reading/movies/lunches with friends/travel)

• "When our priorites are on that list, and our time is devoted to those things, then our priorties are out of order and we lose power."

A mother works many shifts (morning, afternoon, night). Ask self, "Where do I need to be at the top of my game?". Safegauard the "afternoon shift" when everyone comes home tired, hungry, needy, and less loveable (including ourselves). They are also more teachable and more grateful. Don't expend energy on other two shifts.

Using a paperback Book of Mormon, write three questions on first blank page:

1. Who am I?
2. Whare are my responsibilities in the House of Israel?
3. How do I fulfill my resonsibilities?

As you read, write the answers in the blank pages at the back of the book.