the story about the lady falling away, a line stood out to me this time that didn't before, "the associations with her friends provided a new feeling of being liked, and so her occasional resolutions to repent seemed less and less important".
this line really kind of scared me. often i think of sin in terms of consciously rebelling simply because i want something. like a rebellious kid. but this train of thought was more alarming, to think of not really loving the lord. like, not caring if i am close to him or not.
i think the real battle is exactly that. if satan can get us to forget the atonement, to not pray, to cut off our ties and love to heavenly father, sin becomes a seemingly natural thing.
love is always the answer. god is love. the way we love him is by loving others.
"you and i can expect a nearly continuous opportunity to help..."
its so important to establish patterns and "we really need to make plans which are not only wishes, but covenants." i was teaching clara this week how to pinkie promise and what it means. now as i think about it. the whole point isn't to say you will do something and then do it because you should. but to fulfill promises because of our pure love to those we make them to.
I loved this one! It really hit me just how important it is to teach righteous doctrines while children are still young. LIke he said, by strengthening them when they are young, they don't need to be rescued when they are older, and can go help others come back to the fold. I also liked the idea of how to treat children when they do something good, and then when they do something bad. Encourage them and praise them if they do something good, and remember not to rebuke them or reject them if they do something bad. That makes them vulnerable to satan. Anyway that was the jist I got from it. It's great!!
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