Picture from here.
She is an incredible woman, who has lived an incredible life and done incredible things.
And she's quiet & humble about it.
So today, it was her turn to teach the lesson. When we walked in, guess what the centerpiece on the table in front of the room was?
Yes- a surf board!
And remember, we live in Oklahoma. Kind of knew it was going to be a good lesson right off. So, of course, I have to share--especially since someone went home early from church today and missed it.
(You know who you are. We missed you!)
She started the lesson talking about the surf board.
She had a plaque to go with it that said, "You can't control the waves, but you can learn how to sur."
There was some brief discussion about the missing "f," but little known to us flatlanders, surf is referred to as sur in some places.
She reeled the converstion right back onto topic and started in.
She talked about how in surfing, if you allow the waves to hit you sideways, you'll get knocked off and the things under the water that are making the waves (coral) will beat you up. So, you want to hit the waves head on. You'll be able to stay on your board.
(Please forgive me on this next part--I've never surfed & might mess up the details a bit.)
She said that after you row out and it is time to catch the wave, you kind of do a push up on the board, then stand up & lean forward. She talked about how it is a bit disconcerting to lean be leaning forward & a bit down. (Kind of similar to leaning forward when skiing downhill.) She also said that to slow down, you just lean back.
She talked about how we have to have hope to do anything. Hope that the food you are going to put in your mouth will taste good, hope that (and now I am making these next ones up because I can't remember the exact examples) your car will start, hope that the sun will shine tomorrow.
She talked about how hope is the only way we can face our adversities head on and not get toppled off our boards.
Her analogy was "hope to anchor our souls."
She used the following scripture, Ether 12:4:
4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
(This is from the Book of Mormon, which you can read online if you 'd like right here.)
Her main points were:
-peace comes through hope
-to choose hope is to choose Christ
-to choose hope is to choose love.
She also talked about how in our lives, we have a thought, followed by a feeling, and then a behavior follows.
She talked to us about what a blessing those feelings are (good and bad) and what we can learn from them. Also, we can choose our behavior. We can choose how we will deal with the waves.
It was an awesome lesson with some very special personal stories shared by her and some of our RS sisters. There was a beautiful spirit to the meeting. There were a lot more details that I can't add here.
So, I am thinking that it would be wonderful for every Sunday to start with a surf board.
(Relief Society is the women's organization in my church. The woman who gave the lesson today is in charge of our congregation's group. On Sunday's we meet for for about an hour for a spiritual message and sisterhood. The Relief Society is the largest organization for women in the world -I believe. If you would like to know more about it, go here.)
Thank you for the lesson and yes I know I didn't come, so thank you (again). It was a lovely reminder. Reminders are good.
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