Delight in Being Obedient
In 1990 our family was delighted to know that we were going to have a new baby.
We already had 3 year old Emily and one year old Amanda. The day came that we took
our little girls to my parents home and went to the hospital to have our baby boy Jacob.
As a mother, I was excited and also worried to have a new baby when Amanda was only
15 months old, but when we got our new little baby home we were thrilled. He was so
much fun! He was a delight! I remember holding him and thinking that it was different
to have a little boy and it felt special in a wonderful way.
Jim, my husband, had broken his foot in a baseball game, so he was home in a
cast with Jacob sleeping on his chest. I remember looking at that picture in my mind and
knowing that the bond between them was strong and always would be. Seeing Amanda
climb into Jacobs baby swing and fall asleep, watching Emily carry him and then
Amanda trying to carry him, staying up late and rocking him to sleep are all vivid
memories in my mind.
When Jacob was 2 months old, he died of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
We were devastated. How could life go on? How could this happen to us? What about
all the little league games? Pinewood derby’s? Hunting trips with dad?
After Jacob, we had 2 more girls. Each one brought delight into our home. We
tried and tried to get pregnant for years and couldn’t. Finally, I was pregnant again. We
knew it was a girl on the ultrasound. At 24 weeks into the pregnancy, I couldn’t feel the
baby move. We went to the doctor and found out our baby Natalie was gone. It was
another sad time for our family. We buried our little girl by our baby boy. One last
pregnancy, at age 39 and Carly came into our family. What a delight!
Why would I share this story when our topic is on “delight in being obedient?”
Every Christmas Eve, our family writes letters to Jacob and Natalie to put in a special
white Christmas stocking. In our letters we give them a gift. A gift of ourselves. A
promise to work on something through the next year that would make Jacob and Natalie
happy. It is usually a gift of obedience. As we read our letters each year from the
previous year it helps us to see what we need to work on. I have written about scripture
study and personal prayer many times and I know that my goals will help me see Jacob
and Natalie again someday. Obedience is a delight when we do it because we know that
it does make our lives easier and it will help us to one day be reunited with our loved
ones and our Savior. As my 16 year old Amanda said, “Keeping the commandments and
living by the standards of our church doesn’t seem restrictive to me. It helps me, it
doesn’t hurt me.”
Copyright © 2006 Brigham Young University, Women's Conference. All Rights Reserved.
References and ideas to help us have “delight in being obedient.”
*
I made a scrapbook page for each of my 5 daughters to thank them
for their obedience. I expressed ways that I noticed how they were
obedient at that time in their life. It was a positive reinforcement for
them to know that their mom noticed when they made good choices.
* Use the internet (lds.org) to find ideas on obedience. Use these ideas
in your family home evenings.
* Write in your children’s journals and in your husbands’ journal when
you want to express ways that you noticed how they were obedient.
Express to them what a delight they are to you.
* One of our favorite family songs is found in the Children’s Songbook
p. 160. It is called “Choose the Right Way”
There’s a right way to live and be happy
It is choosing the right every day
I am learning the teachings of Jesus
They will help me and show me the way
Choose the right way, and be happy, I must always choose
the right
Through the gospel I learn to be prayerful
To have faith, to repent, to obey
And I know if I live by His teachings
I will truly be happy each day.
*
*
In April 1995 General Conference Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley said,
“Now is a time do what is right, regardless of the consequences
that might follow. It is a time to be found keeping the
commandments. It is a season to reach out with kindness and
love to those who need help. It is a time to be considerate and
good, decent and courteous toward one another. In other words,
to become more Christlike.”
Talk about how the prophet wants us to be obedient and how he
wants us to live by the 9 B’s. Sing a song about the 9 B’s to the
tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, little star.
Be grate (twinkle) ful be (twinkle) smart be involved (little
star) be clean (how I) be true (wonder) be positive (what you
are) be humble (up a) be still (bove the) be prayerful (world so
high) these (like a) are the (diamond) 9 (in the) B’s (sky) 1,2
(twinkle) 3,4 (twinkle) 5,6 (little) 7 (star) 8 (how I) 9 (wonder)
ways to be (what you are)
Copyright © 2006 Brigham Young University, Women's Conference. All Rights Reserved.