Sacred Moments

Recently my Mother-in Law asked us to share what we think it means to be holy and to share a time we felt close to the Savior.  We decided to use it as a family night activity.  Before we mail our responses off to her, I want to record some of them.

Ruby:
I felt the Holy Ghost really strongly this summer while I was at girls' camp.  It was the very last night which was the testimony meeting night and it was a very special experience for me.  I felt really peaceful.  I felt really happy.  I felt safe.  I felt loved.

Brandon:
Lately in seminary I have been learning about the plan of salvation and the three degrees or kingdoms of glory.  When you wanted to know our personal definitions of holiness, I thought about what I have been learning in seminary.  I thought of the requirements to get into the celestial kingdom.  My definition of holiness is living the standard of the celestial kingdom.  The standards that stood out to me are listed in Coctrine and Covenants 76:50-70

An experience I have had recently, has brought me closer to my Savior.  This experience occurred this morning after seminary.  During seminary we learned more about the celestial kingdom.  When I got home I did my personal study.  As I said my prayer, I reflected on all that I had learned and was overwhelmed with the Spirit.  I now know that I can become better and be clean because of what my Savior did for me. 

Sarajoy:

 

 

Daisy:

 

 

 

Nathan:

A time I felt the Spirit, or in other words a place I feel the Spirit is up on my week long scout camp that I have participated with for 5 years.  It's called Timberline.  It's not your usual merit badge scout camp.  Here we train boys for leadership and stuff like that.  On the Friday night that we are up there, all the staff and the participants go up into the woods, to a spot that overlooks the entire valley.  Here we all open special letters that our parents wrote us and have a private testimony meeting.  It is the place I have felt the Spirit the strongest and continue to feel each year that I attend.  I love it and I love the Spirit and the gospel.

 

Simon:

 

 

Dallin:

Last week I came home from work and Sulley was still napping on his bed.  I sat down next to him and watched his breathing, and I touched him along his back and put my fingers through his hair.  I was trying to gently wake him from his nap so he would go to bed on time.  As I sat nearby, touching his little body, I turned on his little stuffed seahorse that plays lullabies.  The peaceful music and quiet breathing reminded me of other experiences with my children that were splendid and happy.  Usually these experiences are precariously brief-it seems like if you make one wrong move, the good feelings will be gone.  I am learning to choose to recognize the splendid moments when they come and enjoy them while they last and accept them how they come.  These moments are holy to me--I feel peace, gentleness, love, and contentment.  They are momentary, and sometimes I recofnize that I felt the Holy Ghost after the moment passes, but I feel it again when I think of it again.  This is what happened with Sulley.  I remembered other experiences in the very moment I was feeling peaceful with Sulley and his seahorse.  The Spirit rested upon me and that moment was enough; it was simple and holy.

 

Sarah:

What does it mean to be holy?

To be clean, to be at peace, to feel unity with God, a thinness of the veil. 

 

The more years I live, the more I understand and experience the sacredness of motherhood.  The process of the creation of life becomes ever more spiritual and holy.  I am gaining a testimony of the truth that my relationship with Dallin is the closest thing to Godhood that I can experience in this life. 

The sacrifice and suffering I experience as I have carried and borne my children is sacred because it is symbolic of my Savior's suffering for me that I can be "born again".  And the veil is truly thin when those little ones first enter the world and begin life with our family. 

There are sacred moments as a mother when I remember or recognize the divinity in my children.  I know I could have these more often if I would remember to slow down and pay attention.  They are so delightful!

When I feel prompted to call someone or help someone and I act, I feel an incredible joyful unity with the Lord.

When I stop and take in the miracles and beauty that abound in nature, I am filled with awe and consumed by His love.

In darkness, weariness, pain, or anguish; when I am hurt or feel empty, I know I can turn to Him in gratitude  and He will fill me.

I guess the truth is, every moment of our lives is sacred.  It may take more courage, discipline, or diligence to appreciate each sacred moment, but as wee choose to make the effort, we will more fully experience holiness.