When I was growing up we had a weekly tradition that we called "Closure". It would take place on sunday and sort of finish off the week. What is closure? well, all 11 of us (a blended family) would gather in the living room after dinner on sunday. One by one each person was encuraged to share something they learned either that day in church, sometime over the last week, or even just their lifetime. Only if you wanted to. Once you were done, sharing would be passed to the next person. This was not a time to correct, debate, or lecture. It was simply a time to share what you had learned. Some times they were very brief, even one word. Partly because with that many teenagers you should know at least a few want to hurry up and get on with it, and also because thats just how some did it. Others would share longer thoughts.




I would like this to be a place where Closure can take place. Please share Something you have learned. If you are not an auther on the blog, but wish to share, just post what you have learned as a comment on my last post.

-Tali

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Dedicating Home

Since none of the family were able to join us when we dedicated our home, I wanted to share some thoughts about that experience.

We had long thought of dedicating our home. Typically, the church does not dedicate a building until it is paid for and, as far as I know, all churches built currently are completely paid for upon completion. That is not reasonable for our home because it would never be dedicated under that criteria. We felt there were certain things we needed to do to make the home ours before we dedicated it: i.e. hang up pictures, make our doll display, etc.

Then I read about the Chilean Earthquake. A few days before the earthquake, a mission president's wife felt impressed that they should visit all of the missionaries and dedicate their apartments and have each companionship prepare a 72 hour kit. They did this. When the earthquake struck, all missionaries were safe, their apartments were relatively undamaged, and the missionaries were calm and prepared and able to help others.

I am persuaded that Heavenly Father will respect the freedom of choice he has given us even to our own destruction. The way we tell him we want his involvement and guidance in our lives is through prayer. If we don't pray about it, it is in effect saying, "This I want to do myself without your involvement." He will respect that.

I felt strongly that I wanted his help in protecting our house come what may in the future. Don thought sometime about what he wanted blessed in the house and we discussed it together. When he said the prayer, I felt the spirit very strongly. It was a manifestation of his priesthood power which was very sweet.
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