Last week was our ward conference and we were taught in Sunday School by president Dean Condie Jensen. He used to be the stake young men’s president so I got to know him a little more than I would have otherwise because I got to see him monthly at the round tables and work with him a little as young men’s president in our ward. Before being the stake young men’s president he was the mission president over Jakarta, Indonesia when the huge tsunami struck in May of 2006. I’ve been very blessed to be able to rub shoulders in a small way with this great man.
Anyway, he taught in sunday school and challenged everyone there to pick one thing to focus on from the list of qualities and attributes mentioned in D&C 4. I choose patience and Amber choose “an eye single to His glory”. As part of my focus on patience I am studying all of the scriptures on patience from the topical guide as suggested by Robert C. Oaks in his talk, “The Power of Patience“
Here are the four things that Elder Robert C. Oaks challenges me to do:
Read each of the scriptures in the Topical Guide listed under the topic “patience” and then ponder Christ’s patient examples.
Evaluate ourselves to determine where we stand on the patience continuum. How much more patience do we need to become more Christlike? This self-assessment is difficult. We might ask our spouse or another family member to help us.
Become sensitive to the examples of patience and of impatience that occur around us every day. We should strive to emulate those individuals we consider to be patient.
Recommit each day to become more patient, and be certain to keep our selected family member involved in our patience project.
This sounds like a great deal of work, but to achieve any worthwhile goal requires hard work. And overcoming the natural man and working to become more Christlike in our patience is a most appropriate objective. I pray that we will pursue this path with diligence and dedication.
I’m out of time this morning. I’ll have to continue more tomorrow.