The Most Important Skill I Will Ever Teach John

It has sometimes been -15 degrees F here with the windchill and we have 2 feet of snow. They almost cancelled church yesterday because of the snow, but I'm glad they didn't.

It was ward conference, and I was very spiritually edified. Sometimes at church I get caught up in what people say that I think isn't exactly right, or I feel that they are not using the right teaching methods, or having the right attitude, etc. But when I focus on that, I don't usually learn anything. I usually just come away feeling upset. I'm trying to work on not being critical, but instead to remember that we are all imperfect, and we all have our weaknesses, including and especially me. And isn't it wonderful that God wants us all to be a part of His Church and Kingdom despite our imperfections?! We are all His children and He loves us. 

I learned that the word "Satan" in Hebrew actually means "stumbling block," and so when Christ told Peter, "Get thee behind me Satan," He wasn't saying Peter was the devil, but He was telling him not to be a stumbling block in His way or an obstacle to accomplishing his mission. I also was reminded that Satan is subject to God, and that he doesn't really understand God's plan. He is also subject to us. That's cool! Satan only has power in our lives when we allow him to or invite him to, but when we trust in the Lord, rely on the Atonement, and keep the commandments, we can always have the Lord's Spirit to be with us as it says in the sacrament prayers. When we keep the Holy Ghost near and active in our lives, we can conquer Satan.

Our Stake President Michael Haymond spoke to the Relief Society about the most important skill all of us can develop in our lives. I love to learn and gain new skills, and if this is the most important skill I will develop in my life, then I need to devote myself to learning it. He spoke about learning a foreign language (that's a good skill, but not the most important) and how to do so we must practice every day to communicate in this language, to speak and listen, to study the vocabulary, the grammar, and to spend time consistently on this skill. He spoke about how if you don't use a language you know, you get rusty and forget. Then he told us,

The most important skill you will ever develop in your life will be to learn and use the language of the Holy Spirit.

He quoted what Joseph Smith taught Brigham Young in a vision, that we all need to live in a way that we can keep the Holy Ghost in our lives, that we can listen to and act upon the promptings of the Holy Ghost. This is the very most important thing as mothers, as parents, as teachers, as spouses, as missionaries, etc that we can teach - to invite, to recognize and to act according to the Holy Ghost. If we will do this, then we will always go right. 

The things we must do to obtain and develop this skill after we have been baptized by the proper priesthood authority and received the gift of the Holy Ghost are basic but critical, such as

spending quiet time each day to pray, ponder, meditate and listen

attending the temple and keeping our covenants

choosing to eliminate contention in ourselves and our lives

studying the scriptures and thereby inviting personal revelation

acting upon the promptings of the Holy Ghost so that we can show the Lord we trust Him and will use what He gives us, so that He in turn will trust us and give us more revelation and promptings.

I do believe that if we learn and use the language of the Spirit, we will always have the guidance, help and direction we need. This will be the most important skill I will ever teach John to develop. And teachers have to understand to effectively teach, so this is what I want to and will practice and learn.