Mark this with a gold star. For the first time in my church history, I have been asked to talk in August. He said he liked to prepare ahead, any topic will be ok, you choose. That's waaaayyyyy tooo looonnnggg for someone like me. I've come up with three topics I feel passionately about it and then rejected. How am I suppose to pull a talk together having all that time to do it? I'm a fly by the seat of your pants kinda of person. Ask me five minutes before a lesson (been there done that), and I can stand up and rattle on. Seriously! Give me a few weeks, and I lose steam. Several months, and I'm prostrate with confusion. If I flub, I think I will blame him for too much time.
My rejects: well, a favorite principle of mine is President Kimball's talks on delayed blessings and delayed punishments. And I guess the corollary to that is that promised blessings often come differently than we anticipate. Rejected because frankly I have been there done that to death.
So my second topic was something I also feel strongly about. We are supposed to be joyful. And lately it seems everyone including church members drone on and on about the last days, the bad days, really focus on the bad stuff. It's depressing for anyone, and esp for those who struggle with guilt and unhappiness to begin with. But again that's a topic I have even covered here before. Recently, during a conversation with my sister about our current family situation, I declared I'm done with the negative waves in our family pond. I refuse to toss anything in the pond but good rocks. So that passion has been directed toward action not talk.
So now I am left with what is hands down my favorite kind of talk and lesson, historical context. I adore it when someone takes the time to say here are ways that will help you understand scriptures better, Christ's parables better, why the NT and BOM apostles responded so differently to the Savior's teachings. But that's a personal preference.
I have until August, any ideas here?
I have a soft spot for your third topic. Besides, you can't fail if you talk about the Savior. I love learning more about personal application of the scriptures and how to understand them better. You will rock it. Haha...my son just read your post and said, "I would just write it on the calendar and then not think about it until the night before." Yah. He's learned from professional procrastinators. Thanks for your post. You opened up a fun discussion over here. hugs~
ReplyDeleteI like your son's approach lol
DeleteI heard someone say that you can never give a bad talk about Joseph Smith. The Spirit is always so strong when you talk about all he has done for our dispensation.
ReplyDeleteGood point Christy. I can't go wrong with that one. Thx
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