Today I got to teach Elder's Quorum. It was fairly intimidating. I told Tamisha that I think I would rather give a talk!
The lesson was on Elder Holland's talk from this last General Conference called "The Lamb of God" https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2019/04/28holland?lang=eng
I found it interesting to think about offering a sacrificial lamb. The Israelite's were told to offer the first born of the flock as a way of repenting of their sins. I'm sure there is much more involved in this as I did a little research and found there were several sacrifices that they did. But in sacrificing a lamb they would not be able to do this very often or they wouldn't have any sheep left. Compare that with today and we can offer our broken heart and contrite spirit every day.
A comment was made that made me really think about the broken heart part. I think the opposite of a broken heart is a hardened heart. I feel having a hard heart has a lot to do with Pride. I found a Christian blogger that posted on how to tell if you have a hard heart.
The first point he made is you don't feel like talking to anyone. This is more then just talking about the weather. It's being able to be vulnerable and really talk about what is going on with you in your life. The second is not wanting to take anyone's advice. All of his points really go together along the lines of feeling you are better than others and not wanting to communicate with them.
As Elder Holland continues with his talk he talks about the sacrament and how as we sit there trying to humble ourselves we should also think about those around us. I feel this is a great way to help keep our hearts soft. Not by comparing our situation and thinking how much greater we are then they are but by really thinking of them and helping them where we can. Service is a great way to come to God as well. When we are in the service of our fellow beings we are only in the service of God. And when we do it unto the least of our brethren we do it onto Him.
The last few thoughts I had from this lesson come from His Apostolic Plea. What an interesting phrase that we should all take note of. He's not just asking or warning but pleading with us as an Apostle of the Lord. I asked my quorum members how we can make our church services more reverent and reduce the clamor. I jokingly said my baby is the loudest and disrupts the meeting the most. One thought that came to me after is we saw a family one of our first weeks in the new ward that both parents were on their phones during sacrament meeting playing games or something and both of their kids were also on their phones on social media or something. So reverence does not always mean silence. Several quorum members also commented on this. One talked about his time in a singles ward how everyone was deathly silent. Others talked about reverence children. Above all I think we all need to try to be listening to what is being said, both our physical ears and our spiritual ears. As we do this our meetings will become better.
