Monday Meditation - Entrusted Talents

Matthew 25:14-30 Parable of the Entrusted Talents

The lord entrusts one servant with 5 talents, one servant with 2 talents and to another 1 talent. He then travels away. When he returns, the first servant has increased his talents to 10. The second servant increased his to 4. The third servant decided to just hold onto his 1 talent and has no gain when the lord returns. The first and second servants were rewarded to be "ruler over many things" and to "enter thou into the joy of my lord." The third servant was chastised for not being like the lord who would "reap where I sowed now and gather where I have not strawed." This third servant's talent was taken away and he was cast into outer darkness.



Thoughts/Interpretation/Application

In the past as I've read this parable, I've always applied it to the talents we are blessed with and that we need to use and develop them for the Lord's service.

But as I studied this recently, the thought occurred to me that it also applies to my children that the Lord has entrusted to me. If I cherish them, they will grow to be of benefit to His kingdom. They will also marry and raise their own children up to Him, thereby increasing what I was entrusted with. We also have the potential if we live righteously to have more children entrusted to us in the celestial kingdom.



As I pondered this more, I realized there are quite a few things that this applies to.

Revelation - if we don't use and cherish the revelations we receive, we won't be blessed with more and the ability to receive those revelations will be taken away.

Our Home - We would really like to have a home with a basement, which would be a bigger home. The thought occurs to me that if we don't take care of the home we have now, keeping it in order, and use it as we can for His service, then why would he entrust us with more?

Our Callings - We need to serve where He has placed us and try to magnify that calling. He will then bless us with more - of course, there is the "where much is given, much is required" saying too.

Monday Meditation - Moses 1:39

Moses 1:39 - Behold this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

"Hence we see the complete unselfishness of our Father in Heaven. His whole work and glory is to bring eternal life and happiness to his children. Should not our whole purpose in life, therefore, be made up of righteous service one to another? If not, how can we ever hope to be as he is?"
Marion G. Romney, General Conference, Oct 1981.

At TOFW in October, I made the note from S. Michael Wilcox "Worship is imitation - if we worship Christ, we will stive to imitate Him."

My thoughts/application -
Heavenly Father's efforts are to return us to Him. If we worship him and therefore are trying to imitate Him, everything we do should be in an effort to bring ourselves, our children, our families and the rest of His children back to Him.

2010 FHE Lesson Schedule

As I've mentioned before, we have a rotation for FHE lessons.
1st Monday = Love; 2nd Monday = Me; 3rd Monday = Princess1; 4th Monday = Primary Program songs; 5th Monday = Special Activity

In 2011 (can you believe that's in less than 1 year now?), Princess2 will become a Sunbeam. As a Sunbeam, she'll start giving talks in Primary. So we are going to add her to our FHE lesson rotation in 2010 so she gets used to presenting before she starts Sunbeams. We also decided we needed to be more organized, with a purpose for each FHE lesson.

The new 2010 FHE Lesson rotation is:
1st Monday = Love = 1st Presidency Message in Friend magazine
2nd Monday = Me = Monthly Theme from Primary Outline
3rd Monday = Princess1 = Scripture Story
4th Monday = Princess2 = Scripture Story
5th Monday = special lesson or practice Primary music

We have decided what those scripture story lessons will be for the whole year.

1/18 Adam and Eve
1/25 Enoch
2/15 Noah
2/22 Abraham
3/15 Isaac and Rebekah
3/22 Jacob
3/29 (5th Monday) Story of Easter
4/19 Joseph
4/26 Baby Moses
5/17 Moses and Pharaoh
5/24 Ten Commandments
6/21 Joshua
6/28 Samson
7/19 Ruth and Naomi
7/26 Samuel
8/16 David and Goliath
8/23 Solomon
9/20 Elijah
9/27 Elisha
10/18 Jonah
10/25 Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego
11/15 Daniel
11/22 Esther
12/20 Birth of Jesus
12/27 Job

2010 Posts

I've been wanting to do posts here for a while. Life just keeps getting in the way, including the death of my dad. I miss him a lot and I've been surprised at how I've reacted to him passing. Some of it has been a pleasant surprise - I'm not lying in my bed wracked with tears all day every day, although I do have my moments. But another surprise has been a lack of energy - mourning him seems to zap all my strength at times. So I'm tired a lot, but I'm not sleeping less (or more).

I have a great plan for 2010 - let's see if I can do it. The biggest thought that keeps coming is a Monday Meditation where I will share a scriptural thought/interpretation/application. Not sure if it will happen every Monday but that's my ideal. I'm going to test out creating my posts and having them appear at a later date so I don't restrict myself to having time and remembering what I wanted to say on Monday to only Mondays.

So keep checking the blog and PLEASE add your comments. I'm open to others sharing their ideas here - let me know you want to "guest post" and we'll get it set up to do that. We're working on defining our 2010 goals today so hopefully I'll be able to post my goals in the near future.

Happy 2010. Keep an eye out for my next post which will be our 2010 FHE Schedule. Yeah!

WFMW - Seat Belt Drills

This past weekend, I took the girls and headed out of town to visit friends. While out and about, someone was having trouble buckling up. I made a comment to my friend about seat belt drills and she said What? I decided then that was my topic for today's Works for Me Wednesday!

A few weeks ago, I got really frustrated at Princess1. She would get into the van first and go towards her seat. I would then put Princess2 in her harness car seat and climb out of the back of the van to get into my seat, buckle up and turn on the van. Then before driving, I would check to see if Princess1 was buckled. No. Many times. Finally I threatened that if she couldn't get her seat belt on in the time it took me to get Princess2 in her seat and me into mine we would do seat belt drills.

She didn't take me seriously. The next day we were leaving Princess1's piano lesson. But she didn't get her seat belt on. So I turned off the van and climbed out. I undid Princess2's harness and sent both girls back to the entrance to the piano studio and we started all over again. I promised them that if Princess1 couldn't get her seat belt on before I was done with Princess2's harness, we would be doing it again.

Wow! Princess1 really does know how to buckle a seat belt. And now she can do it quickly. We haven't had to do another seat belt drill, but we've had to be reminded a few times as an encouragement.

So seat belt drills work for me! Maybe they'll work for you.

WFMW - Disinfecting the House/Don't share germs

Updated: I keep updating this list as more tips come to mind or someone shares some.

With all the flu variations going around and schools closing, I have been pondering disinfecting my house. I've had friends make the comment for years when a little one was sick "I've just finished disinfecting my house". This past week I've been asking what that means to several friends. I thought I'd share their tips and mine on disinfecting the house and preventing the sharing of germs - even though I don't do all of them but I think about it.

1. Use a Clorox wipe to wipe all lightswitches and doorknobs. Also wipe telephones, remotes, Wii remotes, television buttons, front of VCR, etc. More things to wipe down - refrigerator handles, oven door handle, microwave buttons, faucet handles, cabinet handles, toilet handle, thermostat. Do this at least every other day.

2. Wash hand towels every day; give each person their own hand towel.

3. Replace hand towels in bathroom with paper towels.

4. Replace toothbrush/toothbrush head after illness; or run through dishwasher to disinfect.

5. Change clothes and wash hands immediately after getting home from school or event with lots of other people.

6. Wash pillowcases several times a week and immediately after being ill; wash sheets once a week and immediately after illness.

7. Spray all surfaces with Lysol every other day if not ill, every day if ill.

8. Wipe down hard surfaces with Clorox wipes every other day if not ill, every day if ill.

9. Spray Oust for 10 seconds in each room every other day if not ill, every day if ill.

10. Don't share drinks with others.

11. Cough/sneeze into inside of elbow or into kleenex; throw kleenex away instead of piling beside bed (I personally NEVER do this :) ); wash hands after sneezing or coughing.

12. Wash hands often.

13. Don't touch face.

14. Don't forget to wipe down the computer keyboard and mouse plus lamp switches.

15. Give each kid their own tube of toothpaste instead of sharing.

Do you have any additional tips/suggestions to add to this list?

For other tips today, enjoy Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family!

WFMW - Whose is Who's

I apologize for any grammatical error in my title - especially to my mom. I'm tired and I just don't want to think about it any more. And so that I don't have to remember to do this post on Wednesday, I'm doing my Works for Me Wednesday post today.

So for my tip this week, it's primarily about towels.

My daughters share a bathroom and, within the bathroom, a towel rod. They both love Princess and TinkerBell so they have Princess and Tinkerbell towels. For the longest time, I could never remember who's towel I hung up on which side of the towel rod. Finally, I came up with this idea. Princess1 is left-handed and Princess2 is right-handed. So, Princess1's towel gets hung on the left side of the bar and Princess2's towel is on the right side. Now I never have to remember who gets Princess this week and which one has Tink, or if they are both using the same style.

This tip may not work if your kids have the same hand preference, but it Works for Me!