March is the birthday month of our organization. I hope everyone is considering reviewing a part of our Relief Society history as your celebration.<\/p>\n
Mormon Times is publishing an article, written by me, each week of this month (March 2011), commemorating the Relief Society. I hope you\u2019ll take a look. Starting last week, the articles will be both on-line as well as in the Deseret News.<\/p>\n
Now, on a completely different note\u2026I just had a thought:<\/p>\n
Have you ever sat in on a Relief Society lesson, where an interesting discussion was beginning, but cut short because of time? Or maybe someone made a comment that made you feel uncomfortable, but you didn\u2019t know how to respond? And of course, as you continued thinking about it during the week, you came up with the perfect (most loving) response, but of course, it was too late.<\/p>\n
Well, here\u2019s my thought. Granted, it doesn\u2019t happen very often, but sometimes Sundays are rigid, rushed, and maybe too progressive of our time. Sometimes there\u2019s just not enough time to get your visiting done (I didn\u2019t say visiting teaching, just general visiting).<\/p>\n
What if we were able to continue that \u201ccut-short\u201d conversation the next Sunday? Maybe the teacher could be notified and work it into her lesson. Or maybe, a group of interested sisters could get together during the week to continue the discussion.<\/p>\n
If there is anyone who tends to think slowly, like I do, then these options give us more time to think things through, enjoy the chat, not feel rushed or pressured, and even allow us to share of one another a little more.<\/p>\n
What would happen if, in our Relief Societies, we shook things up a little bit, occasionally? I\u2019m not thinking radical changes. I\u2019m thinking changes that ultimately bring us closer together, reveal character, invite shared history, that sort of thing. <\/p>\n
Instead of teachers standing up and giving us a prepared speech, what if a teacher didn\u2019t prepare a lesson at all, but opened up a specific topic and let us teach each other? What if the teacher promoted randomness for forty minutes? <\/p>\n
I remember once upon a time, for a RS lesson, we passed around a baby blanket. Whose ever lap this blanket landed on, they were expected to bear their testimony, or at least share their thoughts. What an idea! Total randomness. What if a sister was given the opportunity to vent, or share a trial she\u2019s going through. Would it work if the other sisters offered insight, experience, scriptural strength? <\/p>\n
Actually, that\u2019s where sisters can fail one another. A judgment is passed and offenses fly. What if sisters were immune to hurt feelings, and we actually learned to rely on one another in an open, nonthreatening atmosphere? It can happen, I\u2019ve seen it. But I\u2019ve also seen it backfire.<\/p>\n
Anyway, it would be an interesting experiment\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
March is the birthday month of our organization. I hope everyone is considering reviewing a part of our Relief Society history as your celebration. Mormon Times is publishing an article, written by me, each week of this month (March 2011), commemorating the Relief Society. I hope you\u2019ll take a look. Starting last week, the articles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[425,484],"tags":[629,148,77],"class_list":["post-2637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-relief-society-challenge-ideas","tag-history","tag-rs-lessons","tag-unity"],"yoast_head":"\n