Thank you to Cynthia Werner for filling in to teach Sunday's lesson What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be? Elder Lynn G. Robbins gave wonderful direction on how we can develop Christlike attributes: "To become as He is, we must also do the things He did: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do' (3 Nephi 7:21). "
"To be and to do are inseparable. As interdependent doctrines they reinforce and promote each other. Faith inspires one to pray, for example, and prayer in turn strengthens one's faith.
"Many of us create to do lists to remind us of things we want to accomplish. But people rarely have to be lists. Why? To do's are activities or events can be checked off the list when done. To be, however, is never done. You can't earn checkmarks with to be's."
"Because be begets do and is the motive behind do, teaching be will improve behavior more effectively than focusing on do will improve behavior."
"When children misbehave, let's say when they quarrel with each other, we often misdirect our discipline on what they did, or the quarreling we observed. But the do-their behavior-is only a symptom of the unseen motive in their hearts. We might ask ourselves, 'what attributes, if understood by the child, would correct this behavior in the future? Being patient and forgiving when annoyed? Loving and being a peacemaker? Taking personal responsibility for one's actions and not blaming?'"
"Through discipline the child learns of consequences. In such moments it is helpful to turn negatives into positives. If the child confesses to a wrong, praise the courage it took to confess. Ask the child what he or she learned from the mistake or misdeed, which gives you, and more important, the Spirit an opportunity to touch and teach the child. When we teach children doctrine by the Spirit, that doctrine has the power to change their very nature-be-over time."
"The most important way to teach to be is to be the kind of parents to our children that our Father in Heaven is to us. He is the one perfect parent, and He has shared with us His parenting manual-the scriptures."
I am grateful for the scriptures and the messages from conference that give us the instruction that we need to be the people that may reach our potential. I am grateful for prayer and the opportunity that I have to compare my to do and to be lists to recognize where improvements need to be made. I am grateful for the atonement, which allows me let go of the to do's that may be holding me back from reaching my potential.
