When I began my journey into parenthood in 2005, I wanted to create a mission statement or goal for myself. I pondered over this idea for a few months and one day, I felt prompted with what I should strive for. I needed to prepare my children to launch from my home as competent individuals who knew and loved the Lord. As I discussed this idea with the Spirit, the word MTC came to my mind and that it should be my standard and example. It gave me specific ideas about what we would do in my home. I shared this idea that our home needed to be an MTC and that we need to train our children to launch with my husband and we began to pattern our home after the MTC.
In October 2012, President Thomas S. Monson announced that the ages men and women could serve missions would be lowered to 18 for our young men and 19 for our young women. I was floored! My sons both turn eighteen during their senior years, my daughters turn nineteen in the summer right after they graduate high school. If they choose, each of my children has the option to serve a mission right out of high school. They need to be prepared to launch. I felt a confirmation of what I had felt I should do earlier and I felt that I had been given direction seven years earlier to create a culture that would benefit my children.
This week in class we were given two talks that develop this theme of what preparation we should do in our homes to prepare ourselves to launch. The first that I read was, "Leadership with a small "L" by President Kim B. Clark. He teaches, "It is leadership with a small “L”—the kind of leadership that builds and lifts and inspires through kindness and love and unselfish devotion to the Lord and His work. It is the kind of leadership that we need at every level of every kind of organization in the world and in every ward and stake in the Church. It is the kind of leadership you will need to build an eternal family." He teaches about how we need to pattern our service and leadership style on the Savior and gives us three principles to guide us: lead by example, lead with vision and lead with love.
Then we read a great talk by Elder Bednar that falls right in line with my prompting, "BYU Idaho - A Disciple Preparation Center". There is so much good insight and information on how to create a place that prepares individuals to serve our Heavenly Father and become disciple of Jesus Christ. He teaches that, "A disciple of Christ is one who is following and learning to be like Christ—learning to think, to feel, and to act as He does. He or she is striving to gain “. . . the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Becoming a true disciple of the Savior and following His ways are the most demanding learning objectives we can ever strive to achieve. No other discipline compares with His curriculum in either requirements or rewards. Discipleship demands the total transformation of a person by putting off the natural man and becoming a saint through the Atonement of Christ the Lord (see Mosiah 3:19). A disciple is one who loves the Lord and serves Him with all of his or her heart, might, mind, and strength."
In October 2012, President Thomas S. Monson announced that the ages men and women could serve missions would be lowered to 18 for our young men and 19 for our young women. I was floored! My sons both turn eighteen during their senior years, my daughters turn nineteen in the summer right after they graduate high school. If they choose, each of my children has the option to serve a mission right out of high school. They need to be prepared to launch. I felt a confirmation of what I had felt I should do earlier and I felt that I had been given direction seven years earlier to create a culture that would benefit my children.
This week in class we were given two talks that develop this theme of what preparation we should do in our homes to prepare ourselves to launch. The first that I read was, "Leadership with a small "L" by President Kim B. Clark. He teaches, "It is leadership with a small “L”—the kind of leadership that builds and lifts and inspires through kindness and love and unselfish devotion to the Lord and His work. It is the kind of leadership that we need at every level of every kind of organization in the world and in every ward and stake in the Church. It is the kind of leadership you will need to build an eternal family." He teaches about how we need to pattern our service and leadership style on the Savior and gives us three principles to guide us: lead by example, lead with vision and lead with love.
Then we read a great talk by Elder Bednar that falls right in line with my prompting, "BYU Idaho - A Disciple Preparation Center". There is so much good insight and information on how to create a place that prepares individuals to serve our Heavenly Father and become disciple of Jesus Christ. He teaches that, "A disciple of Christ is one who is following and learning to be like Christ—learning to think, to feel, and to act as He does. He or she is striving to gain “. . . the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Becoming a true disciple of the Savior and following His ways are the most demanding learning objectives we can ever strive to achieve. No other discipline compares with His curriculum in either requirements or rewards. Discipleship demands the total transformation of a person by putting off the natural man and becoming a saint through the Atonement of Christ the Lord (see Mosiah 3:19). A disciple is one who loves the Lord and serves Him with all of his or her heart, might, mind, and strength."
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