March 2015 VT Message - The Attributes of Christ: Long-Suffering & Patient

Here are a few handouts for you, and the full Visiting Teaching Message can be found {HERE} XoXo

This is two to a page, click {HERE} 

Sized 4x6 in cream {HERE}

...and in white, sized 4x6 {HERE}

The Parable of the Chinese Bamboo Tree

One of my favorites:)

The Parable of the Chinese Bamboo Tree 

"In everything you do in your family, keep in mind the miracle of the Chinese bamboo tree. After the seed for this amazing tree is planted, you see nothing, absolutely nothing, for four years except for a tiny shoot coming out of a bulb. During those four years, all the growth is underground in a massive, fibrous root structure that spreads deep and wide in the earth. But then in the the fifth year the Chinese bamboo tree grows up to eighty feet!

Many things in family life are like the Chinese bamboo tree. You work and you invest time and effort, and you do everything you can possibly do to nurture growth, and sometimes you don't see anything for weeks, months, or even years. But if you're patient and keep working and nurturing, that "fifth year" will come, and you will be astonished at the growth and change you see taking place.

 Patience is faith in action. Patience is emotional diligence. It's the willingness to suffer inside so that others can grow. It reveals love. It gives birth to understanding."

From The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen R. Covey (pp. 22-23)

Sometimes

Sometimes it is better to be kind than right. We do not need an intelligent mind that speaks, but a patient heart that listens.

{customizable printable available HERE}

Patience

"When you're tempted to lose patience with someone, think how patient God has been with you all the time."

{source}

Timing

"Faith in God includes faith in His timing."

~Neal A. Maxwell~ 

Additional designs HERE

Patience & Waiting

“Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting. We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we want them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come.”

Joseph F. Smith

(From HERE}

Expect

Expect to have your hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again.

Waiting Upon the Lord - Robert D. Hales

‎"Too often we pray for patience but we really want it right now. We may not know how or when answers to our prayers will come but I promise you they will come. Do not give up on the Lord, His blessings are Eternal."

(Robert D. Hales, from 'Waiting Upon the Lord', General Conference, October 2011)

Oh, Patience

"Patience is the level of endurance your character can take before negativity"

~Anon

One Day

“Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself... 'How did I get through all of that?”

Anon?

Yield the Greatest Advantage

This is a quote that I think I should commit to memory:)

“Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6). Thus, every time you try your faith—that is, act in worthiness on an impression—you will receive the confirming evidence of the Spirit. As you walk to the boundary of your understanding into the twilight of uncertainty, exercising faith, you will be led to find solutions you would not obtain otherwise. With even your strongest faith, God will not always reward you immediately according to your desires. Rather, God will respond with what in His eternal plan is best for you, when it will yield the greatest advantage. Be thankful that sometimes God lets you struggle for a long time before that answer comes. That causes your faith to increase and your character to grow."

'The Transforming Power of Faith and Character', Elder Richard G. Scott, Ensign, Nov. 2010)

The Season

"Be calm. Be patient. Be happy with the season you are now in...Life ought to be enjoyed at every stage of our experience"

---Jeffrey R.Holland

Timetables

Elder Neal A. Maxwell linked patience and faith together when he taught:

“Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best—better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than His”.
(“Patience,” Ensign, Oct. 1980, 28).

The Chinese Bamboo Tree: A Parable for Parents

I just read this a couple of days ago, here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

"In everything you do in your family, keep in mind the miracle of the Chinese bamboo tree. After the seed for this amazing tree is planted, you see nothing, absolutely nothing, for four years except for a tiny shoot coming out of a bulb. During those four years, all the growth is underground in a massive, fibrous root structure that spreads deep and wide in the earth. But then in the the fifth year the Chinese bamboo tree grows up to eighty feet!

"Many things in family life are like the Chinese bamboo tree. You work and you invest time and effort, and you do everything you can possibly do to nurture growth, and sometimes you don't see anything for weeks, months, or even years. But if you're patient and keep working and nurturing, that "fifth year" will come, and you will be astonished at the growth and change you see taking place.

"Patience is faith in action. Patience is emotional diligence. It's the willingness to suffer inside so that others can grow. It reveals love. It gives birth to understanding."

From The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen R. Covey (pp. 22-23)

It Doesn't Have To Be Final

Came across this quote today, and loved it:

"Our task is to become our best selves. One of God's greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final."

--Thomas S. Monson, "The Will Within," Ensign, May 1987, 67

There's also the opportunity to change, and there's always hope.

Inconsistent Discipleship

Neal A Maxwell in his book 'Men & Women of Christ' said:

"We can ease the stress caused by our inconsistency, pain through which we put ourselves repeatedly. Unfortunately, like Oliver Cowdrey, we do not always "continue as [we] commenced" (D&C 9:5). As with our wasteful automobile driving habits that consume extra energy because of quick starts and stops, so it may be with inconsistent discipleship we actually inflict costs on ourselves in the face of divine counsel."

It's hard to keep the momentum of change going sometimes isn't it. Sometimes we try to run faster that we are able, which leaves us too tired to complete the journey as we had planned. To be a consistent disciple we need to run as fast as 'the Lord' knows we need to run, and just as we would regularly service our cars, so we need those regular spiritual tune-ups too to keep our engine in tip-top condition. It's the only way we won't 'become weary and faint' on our journey.

I hope you will be full of energy today - if not physically, spiritually!

Acorns of Love

"Remembering that God does not measure time by man's calendar, that he is not in a hurry, we'll abide his time with assurance that eventually right will prevail. We'll plant acorns of love and watch the slow-growing oaks until time shall prove again that the law of the harvest is inexorable."

—Hugh B. Brown, Eternal Quest

I love this quote because it provides so much reassurance that nothing positive, or God-given, is wasted, everything is gathered, and everything is harvested, we just need to keep planting, especially those 'acorns of love'.

Setting Ourselves Free

I love this little bit from the article by Elder Holland in March 2005's Ensign on Elder Uchtdorf:

"Elder Uchtdorf’s son, Guido, remembers a German phrase his father often used when there was a problem or a difficulty in their lives. “Man könnte sichdarüber ärgern, aber man ist nicht verpflichtet dazu,”he would say, which roughly translated means, “You could be upset about it, but you are not obligated to be.” Dieter Uchtdorf feels that with agency and self-control, with the gospel of Jesus Christ and power in the priesthood, no one has to be victimized by circumstance. Terrible things can happen—and they have happened in his life—but with our hand in the hand of God, we can still chart a course that will set us free, that will eventually bring triumph. It requires courage, patience, optimism, and faith in God, but things can come out right if we stay with the task and stay in control."

Promises & Timing

I was talking with a friend the other week about God’s promises, and why some promises aren’t immediate.

You’ll remember Abraham’s promise that his seed would be as the sands of the earth, yet Sarah was not able to conceive for many many years. Then when they had Isaac he was told to sacrifice him – surely these things made him question how his promise would be fulfilled.

Then we have the example of Moses who was told that he would take the children of Israel from bondage to the promised land that took well over 40 years to be fulfilled.

There are many other examples throughout the scriptures or in church history, and I am sure in your own life too. This scripture came to mind as we talked:
“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: …. the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,….” (1 Peter 1:6 – 7)

Sometimes in the middle of the “rejoicing” sandwich there is heaviness for a season. So many blessings come from feeling heavy at times – we realize a deeper need to be closer to the Saviour; our level of gratitude when the promises is fulfilled is that much more; we have increased empathy and love for others who may struggle; we develop patience and learn how to really pray; we can feel more motivated to live the gospel in word and deed, we daily seek for joy where joy can be found; we gain that all precious eternal perspective about life; and so many more. One day we will look back and realize how precious the experience was, and thank God for it.

“For he will fulfil all his promises which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our fathers.” (Alma 37:17)

I hope you have a lovely day.