It's About Love

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“Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.”

The Family: A Proclamation to the World 

When we hear a single young woman (not necessarily a teen girl) becomes pregnant, we also find out that there are many voices that surround her, giving their opinions about what to do. That young woman feels pressure from differing views: raise the baby on her own, expect the father to be involved, give the baby up for adoption, or even to have an abortion.

What’s the LDS Church’s position? From a January 2008 Ensign article, Why Adoption? we have Rebecca M. Taylor’s view:

“A primary reason the Church supports adoption is that children who are adopted by temple-worthy Latter-day Saint couples can be sealed to their adoptive parents. The sealing ordinance is the capstone ordinance in the Church, and its blessings are present in this life as well as in the next. As President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) declared, children who are born in the covenant—and, by extension, those who are sealed to their parents in the temple—‘have claims upon the blessings of the gospel beyond what those not so born are entitled to receive. They may receive a greater guidance, a greater protection, a greater inspiration from the Spirit of the Lord; and then there is no power that can take them away from their parents.’

“Fred Riley, commissioner of LDS Family Services, says that although adoption is rarely discussed in Church meetings, it is a profound gospel principle. He points out that when the prophet Elijah restored the sealing keys, these keys encompassed adoption. And one of the ways in which Jesus Christ is our Father is through adoption, for we become His sons and His daughters when we are adopted into the family of Christ.”

Despite the emotional pain that’s involved in adoption, one thing is certain: it is about love.

The love of that giving birth mother, willing to give up her precious newborn to give the baby what’s needed-a family. And the love of brand new parents, willing to bring to that new bundle all that they have, including a temple sealing.

That’s true love.

As always we welcome your comments.

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Monday 6 June, click here.

Give It Your Best

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"By small and simple things

are great things

brought to pass."

 Alma 37:6

I just discovered a new place to help the Church. You know how they have different links for different places: preparedness, twelve step programs, genealogy?

Well, the new place is called The Vineyard. This web site provides access to volunteer service opportunities for the LDS Church.  You sign up as a volunteer to help with anything to do with the Church publications. You get a login name, the same one you use for Church business will do. If you don’t have a Church login, just get in touch with your membership clerk in your ward and then follow instructions.

The Vineyard offers plenty to do. The opportunities found there are comprised of hundreds of thousands of very small tasks. Collaborating as a group to complete these tasks, anyone can help further the work of the Church.

One is to prepare Church content to share with the world. The Church has thousands of documents that need to be evaluated before they can be sent to people worldwide. Your participation will allow many more people to find and enjoy the gospel messages that God has provided to Church leaders.

Another activity to choose is to tag videos or pictures sent by contributors.

I just signed up to do some translating. I’ll be part of a team and given pieces to translate that then I’ll present to the rest of the group, and they’ll make corrections or allow it to go on.

I think is very interesting and exhilarating to be able to help in a way I can.

So go ahead and check out this new website, and share it with your friends and neighbors.

As always, we welcome your comments.

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Wednesday, 9 March, please click here.
image from http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/

Personal Touch

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In today's Personal Touch interview, Rebecca Cressman talks to Jill. Dr. Jill C. Manning is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist who specializes in research and clinical work related to pornography and its impact on marriages and families. She is a former Social Science Fellow at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., and as a result of her research was invited to testify before a Senate sub-committee about the harms of pornography on families. She has been featured in various television and radio programs, and is the author of numerous academic journal articles, as well as the book entitled What's the Big Deal about Pornography: A Guide for the Internet Generation and the recent talk CD entitled Let's Talk about the Elephant in the Room: How LDS Women Can Protect Families from Pornography. Clinically, she has worked for LDS Family Services, as well as in hospital, private practice, school, and residential treatment settings. She currently resides in Denver, Colorado with her husband and daughter.
Web: http://www.drjillcmanning.com/

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In the book ‘The Screwtape Letters,’ author C.S. Lewis shows us how the devils work with humanity by sharing the one-sided correspondence between Screwtape and Wormwood, two of Satan’s minions. In the following excerpts, keep in mind that the ‘enemy’ is God, and notice how they try to entice and seduce the human’s senses, to perdition:

"But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,

"The humans live in time but our Enemy destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time which they call the Present… Our business is to get them away from the eternal, and from the Present.

"Mere excess in food is much less valuable than delicacy. Its chief use is as a kind of artillery preparation for attacks on chastity.

"there are other, and more indirect, methods of using a man's sexuality to his undoing. And, by the way, they are not only efficient, but delightful; the unhappiness produced is of a very lasting and exquisite kind,"

I’m sure you wonder why I’m quoting from this book. Today’s newsletter touches on pornography. I’m not trying to write a treatise on the subject, I’ll leave that to others, but I wanted to show how the devil and his minions work on us. I’m sure nobody started out going to peep shows, or watching forbidden movies. I’m sure it took time; how much I don’t know, but enough that the devil’s workers got hold of them. I leave you with this scripture from the Book of Mormon:

"And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell." 2 Nephi 28:21

As always, we welcome your comments.

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Monday, 31 January, please click here.

Sorrow and Triumph

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What comes to your mind when you see the colors red and green? What if you add white? Personally, I think of some country flags. To name a few: Algeria, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon and Mexico share those colors.

But we’re not talking about flags today. Universally, red and green are considered the colors of Christmas. Let me share how that came to be.

In the 14th century the Catholic church would put out ‘miracle plays,’ which were plays they used to teach people about religion. Since the majority of the people that attended those events were illiterate, they used props to teach.

One of those props was the paradise tree or ‘paradiesbaum’, which was used to teach about Adam and Eve, and the Fall. Since the plays were done mostly in December, in the middle of winter, there were no apple trees to use, so they replaced them with evergreens and hung apples from them. From that simple act our Christmas tree tradition was born.

Even if most people accept red and green as traditional Christmas colors, their meaning is widespread.

Red symbolizes the blood that Christ shed for all of us.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11)

“Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.” (Hebrews 13:12)

Green represents everlasting life, brought to us by His infinite sacrifice.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

White stands for purity.

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." (Psalms 51:7)

http://www.sxc.hu/

The purpose of all this was to use the colors as reminders of Christ to any who wished to celebrate the birth of the Son of God. It’s my hope that we can keep them in our hearts and remember to teach our children the reason why we decorate our homes the way we do.

Sources: here, here and here.

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Wednesday, 8 December, please click here.

Personal Touch

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Today in our Personal Touch with Rebecca Cressman segment she talks to Laura. Laura F. Willes has always loved history. The Salt Lake City native holds a degree in American Studies from the University of Minnesota and has published two books that trace the history of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Minnesota and California, Minnesota Mormons and Community of Faith. Her latest publication, Christmas with the Prophets, looks back at how former presidents of the LDS Church celebrated Christmas. Through anecdotes, poetry, and personal histories, the book shares Christmas traditions of LDS prophets from Joseph Smith to Thomas S. Monson. Laura has been an early-morning seminary teacher, Gospel Doctrine teacher, and stake Relief Society president, and she served a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with her husband, Mark, as he presided over the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. She and her husband are the parents of five children and grandparents of twenty.




http://www.sugardoodle.net/sdclipart/

 Isn’t this time of year great for singing our praises to the Lord? And unless we actually are part of a singing group, like a church, seminary, or institute choir, we don’t think about it until the bishop stands in testimony meeting and asks for volunteers to be part of the Christmas program, for the ward or stake.

I don’t have a good singing voice. I don’t have a singing voice at all. Please, don’t try to convince me that I do, or that I’m kidding myself, because people that know me and sit next to me when we sing in church know that I tell the truth. It’s one of those things that were not part of the original package. You have no idea how much I admire those people that can stand in front of a small group, or a big group of people, and just belt it out.

I think it’s such a great talent to have. I feel very glad when I hear my children sing, simply because they got their good singing voices from my husband. I feel so much tenderness when I hear him sing. He has many accomplishments, but when he sings, he touches me deeply.

If you can sing, don’t hide it, share it with others. In my opinion, it’s one of the best gifts to give to the Savior.

To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Monday, 29 November, please click here.

Cherish Now

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http://www.bing.com/

 How do you remember Conference weekends from your childhood (if you are LDS)? Were they inspiring, or forgettable? Marie Ricks from House of Order has written her story “They Made a Big Deal of It.” She remembers her growing up in a big family, and how wonderful it was to get ready for Conference, and how her mom prepared a special dinner for the occasion.




http://search.aol.com/

 Sometimes we have great articles sent to us, but the author chooses to remain anonymous. That’s the case for the following article entitled “My White Temple Bag.” It is a very personal account of an experience lived by the narrator. We should all be so blessed to be asked like this every once in a while.




http://www.ldsces.org/

 Isn’t trying to be like Jesus a goal that most of us should have? In this article “Sitting Down in Heaven Together,” written by Alison P. for LDS blogs, she talks about Lucy Mack Smith, and her desire to “cherish one another, watch over one another, and comfort one another… that we may all sit down in heaven together.” It feels a lot like something a Relief Society sister might say.


To view a copy of the Neighborhood News for Wednesday, 29 September, please click here.