April 24, 2016 - Sunday in Nauvoo

This was a very quiet and restful Sabbath day.  After our morning devotional and our prayers, we prepared for the day.  Since it was such a beautiful morning we decided to walked over to the Stake Center for our Sacrament Meeting.  We got there a little past 7:00am and, upon arriving, there was a flurry of excitement.  Apparently the wards meeting in the building are not taking on the cleaning assignments, so we saw several senior missionaries collecting trash, filling empty paper dispensers, and vacuuming the floors.  Probably not the best sight for Sabbath day observance.... Interesting...

Our Sacrament Meeting went well, as did our other meetings at the Visitor's Center.  We walked home in a very mild low 70's temperature and broke our fast with our favorite Sunday breakfast for dinner.  It was a nice opportunity for a nap this afternoon before our district meeting at the Singer's home.  They are the on-site leaders for the summer Pageant programs.  We enjoyed meeting with them and our new district members.  In all, we have four senior couples in the district.

We got home from the district meeting at about 8:00pm.  I have been thinking about this one question brought up at the district meeting; "what is the one thing that would help make this mission more effective?"...

I think that could pertain to about anything we might consider;  like what would help our family, our ward, our country, and/or our mission be more effective? - I think it would have to be the efforts and the ways we exercise communication.  How we relate to each other and how we communicate our thoughts and feelings and our desires to do better and to be a little better.  I, for one, sometimes have a hard time, "feeling like communicating".  It is not an easy thing to do.  One might make a statement and think they have communicated until they find out the others took away a totally different meaning.

I have always enjoyed Elder Neal A. Maxwell's insights on any Gospel subject.  In the process of pondering this question tonight as I sat here blogging, I had to look up his thoughts from his book "And These Things Shall Give Thee Experience".  I have copied some of the wonderful message here;

Elder Neal A. Maxwell

“Communication, of course, needs to take careful account of the realities of our mortal relationships in order to avoid errors.

“William Edward Norris said:

“If your lips can keep from slips,

Five things observe with care:

To whom you speak; of whom you speak;

And how, and when, and where.

 

“We must be prudent and discreet and yet be willing to communicate, for true brotherhood is such that our friends and families will blow away the chaff in our communications—and do so with the breath of kindness.

“Thus one of the biggest blocks to Christian communication is that we are so afraid of being misunderstood. So, when in doubt, we withhold. Yet Paul said to speak the truth in love; we can then take the chance. We worry (and understandably so) that some communications will only produce more distance. But silence is very risky, too. …

“Usually, when we do not know somebody, it is difficult for us to trust them, and this becomes a restraint upon communication and growth. Opening the windows of the soul helps us to build healthy relationships. But if those windows are always closed or the blinds are drawn, it is difficult to help; one simply does not know what is needed” (All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, 81–82).

 I can't help but think how some forms of communication can lead to discouragement.  Misunderstandings or interpretations of what we hear can often lead us to question basic relationships and beliefs.  Elder Maxwell pretty much summed up how quickly discouragement can spread when he taught us;

“Just as doubt, despair, and desensitization go together, so do faith, hope, and charity. The latter, however, must be carefully and constantly nurtured, whereas despair, like dandelions, needs so little encouragement to sprout and spread. Despair comes so naturally to the natural man!”
― Neal A. Maxwell

And we know about dandelions here in Nauvoo!  Even though these plants were, at one time, Cambry Anna's favorite "flower", they take over our yard here in Nauvoo!  The neighbors mowed their lawns yesterday and today, and I mow ours on our Monday P-days.  The dandelions spring back up almost within a few hours after I cut them down, and they multiply incredibly fast!  

So, our challenge is, and especially my challenge, is to be a better communicator!  It is needed at every level of our lives as we work on how we can better treat others, through our thoughts, that lead to our words, and ultimately, to our actions.