So I have been asked to teach Relief Society on Sunday and since it's the presidency message, they've given me free reign to talk about whatever I want to. WARNING: Anyone reading this from my ward, BEWARE! It contains spoilers!
I've decided to give my lesson on the importance of controlling our thoughts. This is a topic that gets a lot of attention in Priesthood meetings but is very rarely taught to women. I think this is because it is generally assumed that we have less problems with sexual transgressions. Be that as it may, I think that controlling our thoughts is about more than controlling physical desires. It is also about not being judgmental, maintaining a healthy optimism, and pondering spiritual things. It is about the state of our soul for "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." I feel very strongly about this topic and I'm really excited to teach about it.
I have lots of things I want to draw from in a very short amount of time. The umph behind the message comes from Elder Packer's talk "Worthy Music, Worthy Thoughts" and (my all-time favorite) Elder Holland's talk "The Tongue of Angels". I am seriously considering beginning with a clip from Star Trek: The Next Generation in which the thoughts of the enterprise crew shape the reality around them. Does anyone think that would be blasphemous? It's very pertinent and the clip I would show is very short.
Mostly, I wanted to put up this post to see if anyone out there has ideas, stories, or pertinent talks they could share with me. Why do you think it is important to control our thoughts? And how do you accomplish it?
Friday, September 5, 2008
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2 comments:
I think the great thing about trying to control your thoughts is the realization that you can do so. I think a lot of people think you just think what you think, and you can control what you say, but you can't control what you think. But it's important to realize how far our agency reaches, and that we are able to control our thoughts.
I don't have any particular experiences to share, but I am sad I will not be able to be there for your lesson. I always love your lessons. You are a very good teacher.
I think also as mormon women, controlling out thoughts is really important. Certainly if there are any sexual things or whatever, but I think for us women, the greatest thing that we let Satan get us thinking is that we are not good enough, and so we should not try. We have the power to stop thinking that, to take hold of our noble birthright, and to tell Satan to get out, that he has no place in our heads. We can be strong, and we can be confident, and with a mix of humility, we can be the perfect servants of the Lord.
Thank you so much, Jennie. I actually read your comment in your lesson, it was so good. And I'm glad you got me thinking along those lines because most of the discussion was geared towards self esteem, which I had not anticipated.
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