Update...
Brad is done with 1 week of school. He reports spending 30% more time away from the family but learning 60% less. He is happy it will only last 13 more weeks.
Amy is super mommy. Handing 3 kids all alone. Plus she's setting up the apartment and establishing a comfortable and functioning living condition as well as handling all finances and everything else. All without WiFi mind you.
Isaac is having a hard time adjusting to ANOTHER new place to live. He doesn't like bathroom fans, (too loud and scary). He is smarter and even more amazing but he also can't help pushing Luke's buttons.
Luke is evolving like crazy. He not only follows and copies Isaac but he is being more and more successful and forming his own opinions and conversations. He is really most impressive when he starts to talk your ear off. He face planted into the TV stand and has a scarred and bruised face. He likes to see Isaac get in trouble and he just may over react to bullying just to get Isaac into more trouble.
Jonas has learned to cry and scream. However in the middle of the day, if he's very very well rested and fed then he turns back into the perfect angel baby who just wants to gurgle and smile at you for hours and hours. He regularly sits in his bumbo chair, bouncer, and high chair.
Amy was called as the 2nd counselor in the Primary presidency.
Brad was called as Youth Sunday School teacher.
We both give talks next month in Sacrament meeting.
Brad's (my) lesson for next week is about how to recognize Heavenly Father's hand in your life.
So what's the difference between the spiritual gift of discernment of spirits and being quick to observe?
Which is the greatest attribute?
Answer.
Mormon was "quick to observe" as a child. Observe both means obedience and the ability to see.
This attribute enables Mormon to compile the Book of Mormon. Amazing.
With this gift he was able to quickly identify and calculate all of the things that the Lord was accomplishing in the world around him. He saw the Lord's hand in all things and drew connections. He was able to easily discover grand conclusions into the attributes of God and he learned how our God works with his children on earth. The definition involving obedience an vision are not two definitions but one. One with this gift is rewarded by his knowledge to gain a greater testimony of the greatness of God. This will make them QUICK to obedience to God's commandment and anytime you become more like God you come close to Him and therefore appreciate his view. If I am outside and God is inside then literally coming unto Him will allow me the view inside the house. Being gifted to observe means then that you see as God sees and therefore you see all that God has done in your life, the lives of others, and all throughout the creation of all the world around you.
The gift of discerning spirits is not just the ability to discern what is good and what is bad. It includes what is a good spirit and what is a bad spirit. This is a good talent to have because we are truly surrounded by spirits all the time. However, this is not the greatness of the gift. In a much deeper use of the gift of discernment of spirit you gain the potential to discern the evil intentions and designs of the spirits of the living. You will be able to see the intentions of the spirit of those who are around you. This will enable you to not be fooled or deceived by them. You will also be quick to identify the evil intentions in your own spirit by which many are deceived. Lying to yourself will not be so easy. But pushing even further into the abilities of this gift is the very tricky subtle ability of spotting the goodness of others. Seeing their hidden talents and goodness can enable you to turn them in a direction in which they themselves can discover these hidden premortal characteristics. And this gift can finally be used to detect the goodness in yourself. You can discover the purpose of your life, and the abilities and talents you exercised in the premortal existence which were meant to aid you in accomplishing your duties here on earth.
And so as the gift of being quick to observe enables one to see all that God is doing on the earth, the gift of discernment enables one to see all of the hidden and subtle things that only God knows about his children.
The gift of discernment is greater.
We should all first strive to gain this first gift of being able to observe. And after that, if inspired we might ask for the gift of discernment and if granted we might begin to perform a great and marvelous work in serving the children of men.
Elder Bednar talks about how you have to be chosen if you are to receive the first gift. He calls it the ability to recognize the Lord's "tender mercies." You cannot be chosen until you have chosen the Lord and your heart is no longer on the things of this world.
What is the latest example of proof that the Lord's hand has influence your life?
Hopefully you don't have to think back more than 1 or 2 days to identify it. Elder Eyering set the example for us by writing down EVERY DAY of his life what evidence he saw that the Lord was blessing his family.
Here's my latest evidence of the Lord's hand.
I participated in a lottery in order to decide which day I would give my Grand Rounds presentation. It will officially be the grand and final project that will complete my formal education. It is hard and difficult but yet culminates in perfect freedom once the task is complete.
I drew the number 7.
7 weeks after the first Tuesday in February will be my date of presentation.
I looked it up and read, March 25th. It made me laugh. That is a very ironic date for me personally.
It is the same day that I finally took Amy out on a date. It is the same day that I proposed to her a couple years later. And of course it is the same day that the Ring of Power was destroyed.
I immediately laughed to myself. "Oh man." So Grand Rounds is like the wicked ring of power and when it's over then I'm freed from Sauron the evil Optometry school.
If this seems irreverent to you then you have to realize that God doesn't only exist in church. God knows me and knows that the Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite stories and so if I receive an ironic timely "coincidence" like this then I must properly apply it as a special note that my Heavenly Father is not only mindful of me but that he knows me personally, so well that he knows what will make me laugh. He knows what will catch my attention. I now have a greater testimony that Heavenly father knows his children. He knows their joys, and what makes them laugh. I'm not saying that Heavenly Father told a joke which He thought was funny, but which He knew that I would think to be funny, and He would then be able to observe my joy. And even if this joy is small and brief, only a quick laugh at an ironic coincidence is not too insignificant to God. Therefore if He in all His greatness spends time just to make me laugh then how great must be His love for me?
As you look for signs that God is involved in your life, don't look to Lord of the Ring references. If you like Calvin and Hobbes, or the Cowboys, or Mozart, or Hello Kitty, then be on the look out for anything that you know will strike you and grab your attention.
"Faithfulness, obedience, and humility invite tender mercies into our lives, and it is often the Lord’s timing that enables us to recognize and treasure these important blessings."
