Our summer vacation has been just that. A summer vacation. We are at Wolfcreek with cousins, good food and ranger rides. All are a little sleep deprived but happy.
Highlights from this week:
Rodeos. Maeser and Scout participated in Mutton Bustin'. Scout prefers to never ride again. Maeser rode well and qualified for the finals on Saturday. (3 days is not enough time to forget about your last ride.) Though Maeser said he was determined to ride, his fears caught up with him in the corral and he climbed off the sheep before the gates opened. Still happy for him and hope he has fun memories of the times he rode before.
Moose. We've seen them (or him) several times while being at the cabin.
Badgers. Dan is running like crazy. He ran for 3 hours on the trails and ran into a clan of them.
Allergies. They've never been worse. I think I could overdose on Benedryl and still have itchy eyes.
Sunday School. A good teacher has prepared in advance. A great teacher can facilitate a conversation and still get through the material prepared, or hit the most important points without holding up the other meetings in the block. Yesterday, our teacher lead a discussion about the trials of our day, specifically abundance. Having everything we need is having an abundance. Compared with opulence (an excess or wasteful amount) or even scarcity (having to do without, despite desperate need in some cases).
I don't know if it was the way the teacher asked questions, arranged the seating so we sat along three walls of the room, or the familiarity of participants, but the discussion was inclusive and thought provoking. I understand I live in an enviable (or abhorrent) lifestyle of abundance. Most people I associate with and know do as well. Many, who do not have physical needs, forget God and don't counsel or depend on Him. We don't need him as desperately. But when we find we are in need, physically/spiritually or emotionally, we then pour out our hearts to Him with earnest desire to be heard, or pleading for the blessings we feel we lack.
Missionaries always have greater success in poorer areas than in affluent neighbourhoods. Dan pointed out that many of us would take our chances with abundance rather than scarcity as our lot in life. Abundance is not only convenient but comfortable. Matt 19:24 describes how difficult it is for a rich man to enter heaven "... it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a richman to enter into the kingdom of God." Why? Why would abundance keep a man from God? It is a distraction from what is most important. Can you have an abundance and still seek God's will? I hope so.
From my personal study, I know that God blesses us and then expects great things in return. So what does one need to do that their blessing won't keep them from God? D&C 58:25: Counsel with the Lord. D7C 58:27: Be anxiously engaged in a good cause, do many things of your own free will. D&C 112:10 Be thou humble and the Lord they God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers. (Counseling with the Lord.)
I think I too would choose abundance over scarcity, and hope that I don't need to be compelled by need to seek God, but to seek Him for the desire to return to Him one day.
A new baby. Spencer and Caitlin welcomed a new healthy baby girl into this World.
Jeremiah. Jeremiah shared a small portion of his testimony, yes that is what is was, with me this week. He, as most of us should be doing, is still seeking to know himself and God. I hope to be as searching as himself, and grow closer to the Being I know as my Creator and Father. Let's not snuff out that desire to learn, grow and be willing to change. Change is inevitable and the one constant in our lives.
Love, Amy
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