I teach the nine-year olds in Primary. They are a great class. Five awesome girls and one very smart little boy. I started out this year on the Old Testament with where everything in Mormonism starts - the Plan. The plan of salvation.
"Ohhhhnooooo, Sister Ellsworth."
"Not the Plan of Salvation!"
"I hate the Plan of Salvation!"
"I'm not even going to try to make it to heaven. It's toooo hard."
They were so stressed out. Why?
They thought it was too hard. They thought they could never make it. They thought the entire Gospel was a big yardstick and they were never going to measure up. I hate to admit it but I kind of thought this way too.
We went through the plan piece by piece and finally got to the last, the greatest, the bestest "Celestial Kingdom." This is where we all want to be. I was a little nervous. A little girl in our class was going to stand up and read the scripture on the requirements for the Celestial Kingdom.
Eeeek. I thought. Can I handle this? Can they handle this?
So she read D&C 76 in verses 50-53. "What?" "Wait a second." Where was the long list about eating vegan, plant-based foods, having your kids to bed by 7:00, going running for a half an hour each day and wearing designer ankle boots? All that had to be in there somewhere.''
But it wasn't.
Here were the requirements:
1. Believe in Jesus Christ
2. Be baptized
3. Keep the commandments SO that we can be cleansed of our sins
4. Receive the Holy Ghost
5. Overcome by faith
I asked them how many of them had a testimony of Jesus Christ. All hands up.
How many have been baptized? All hands.
How many of you try to keep the commandments? Repent when you make a mistake? All hands.
And they all had the gift of the Holy Ghost at baptism. And the fact that they are coming to Church is evidence of their faith. Eeeeasy peeesy lemon squeazy. They had ALREADY ARRIVED and they did not even know it. THEY WERE THERE. They had MET THE REQUIREMENTS. Of course there might be a bit left to overcome in life. But with faith they could do it. And so could I.
It was the Plan of Happiness after all.
"Ohhhhnooooo, Sister Ellsworth."
"Not the Plan of Salvation!"
"I hate the Plan of Salvation!"
"I'm not even going to try to make it to heaven. It's toooo hard."
They were so stressed out. Why?
They thought it was too hard. They thought they could never make it. They thought the entire Gospel was a big yardstick and they were never going to measure up. I hate to admit it but I kind of thought this way too.
We went through the plan piece by piece and finally got to the last, the greatest, the bestest "Celestial Kingdom." This is where we all want to be. I was a little nervous. A little girl in our class was going to stand up and read the scripture on the requirements for the Celestial Kingdom.
Eeeek. I thought. Can I handle this? Can they handle this?
So she read D&C 76 in verses 50-53. "What?" "Wait a second." Where was the long list about eating vegan, plant-based foods, having your kids to bed by 7:00, going running for a half an hour each day and wearing designer ankle boots? All that had to be in there somewhere.''
But it wasn't.
Here were the requirements:
1. Believe in Jesus Christ
2. Be baptized
3. Keep the commandments SO that we can be cleansed of our sins
4. Receive the Holy Ghost
5. Overcome by faith
I asked them how many of them had a testimony of Jesus Christ. All hands up.
How many have been baptized? All hands.
How many of you try to keep the commandments? Repent when you make a mistake? All hands.
And they all had the gift of the Holy Ghost at baptism. And the fact that they are coming to Church is evidence of their faith. Eeeeasy peeesy lemon squeazy. They had ALREADY ARRIVED and they did not even know it. THEY WERE THERE. They had MET THE REQUIREMENTS. Of course there might be a bit left to overcome in life. But with faith they could do it. And so could I.
Comments
Post a Comment