Comments for LDS Blogs

Comment on Parenthood as a Career by Terrie Lynn Bittner

Terrie Lynn Bittner — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:33:45 +0000

Thank you! I know many parents who manage a writing career, but I’m not good at juggling a lot of things. I did it from four to six A.M. so I wouldn’t take time away from my family, but once I started homeschooling them, I needed that time for preparation. Since I couldn’t effectively juggle so many things, I set my priorities. Of course, I know a few great moms who juggle homeschooling and writing with very large families, and never take time from their children, so it’s an individual thing, I guess. The important thing is that when it’s time to cut something, we don’t cut family time. We have to know ourselves and our own capabilities and have our priorities firmly in place.

Comment on Parenthood as a Career by Terrie Lynn Bittner

Terrie Lynn Bittner — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:29:13 +0000

Jonathan, thank you for your comments. I homeschooled my children and it’s great to see the first generations of homeschoolers growing up and showing their wisdom. I love that you’re already giving thought to the type of parent you want to be–it’s the best way to be sure you’ll do it well.

Comment on Parenthood as a Career by Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:22:53 +0000

I really appreciated your blog. I’m not a parent yet, and will not be for a little while, but reading this blog made me even more excited to be a parent.
I plan on going to law school, and if I don’t end making the bar I want to work for the FBI, and both professions are fairly time consuming. But this article helped me to find inspiration and give me ideas on how to keep up with parenting skills, how to make time count, and how to do it in a way that is best for my family.
I was raised in a homeschool family, so I am definitely an advocate for that route and plan on homeschooling my own kids, but I especially appreciated the comments about learning and going into depth. Public schools seem to be degrading in quality every year, and if we want our children to be truly educated, we are going to need to create a home-based learning atmosphere, even if we do not go all the way and start homeschooling. Family discussions and discussing books after they’re read will solidify and sink down into children’s hearts the eternal principles taught in many classic books, books like the Virginian that are fun and exciting even for rowdy boys but that teach great morals, courage, and how to stick up for yourself.
As well, teaching skills such as independent thought, analytical thinking, and problem solving is vitally important in this day and age. If the rising generation is supposed to be a leader generation, we need to build our children into the great leaders now. We need to instill in them a sense of liberty and greatness, integrity, wisdom, courage, virtue and diplomacy, and give them the tools to carve out a life in an increasingly dangerous world.
Even more so, I loved your ideas about multi-tasking, and your over-all exhortations to just take time for the family, to make it more than just something you do after you are home from work. Obviously we are all too aware of the adversary’s attacks on the family, and if we don’t make time to protect and build up the family it falls. But if the family falls so does freedom and civilization, if you take the warnings present in “1984″ and “Brave New World” seriously.
So thank you for your blog. It did not fall upon deaf ears, and I will definitely remember this as I take my place in the parenting world.

Comment on Parenthood as a Career by CAL

CAL — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:29:41 +0000

I wonder why people think that parenthood is unchallenging. I am not yet a parent (and still single,) but most parents I have spoken with would disagree. I do understand why people may say that parenthood is not intellectually challenging, however. Certain activities like cooking food or cleaning the bathroom may seem rather mindless, but while I am in college, I enjoy cleaning my apartment more than doing homework. (Granted, I may become bored of cleaning if I was to do it all day, but right now, I would rather be a busy homemaker than a busy college student.) This article rings home to me. I am attending college and preparing for a possible career because I know I may need to support myself and perhaps my family one day, but my dream career is to be a wife and a mother. The suggestions in this blog make that career seem more exciting!
I appreciate your article. Another way that I feel a personal connection is that you are a writer and you put your career on hold for your children. I also want to be a writer. But your article has strengthened my conviction of the importance of being a wife and a mother over having a career.

Comment on The Gift of Wisdom by AK Blogger

AK Blogger — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:05:21 +0000

Growing up in a family of intellectuals and being the only one in my family to remain faithful to the church, this is a problem that has destroyed the testimonies of my well meaning but very educated family members.

Their testimony begins by the witness of the spirit in their youth and as they grow in the gospel and are given so many precious truths and blessed with a incredible depth of understanding, they begin to lean more on that understanding instead of their faith. But slowly as more and more questions arise, and as they get further away from the spirit, the answers stop coming. They take this to mean that the gospel is not complete and they cannot have faith in it without a perfect knowledge of his kingdom. (Alma 32:21)

But if we do as we are told in Alma 32:26-34, we will live Gods commandments according to our faith and not a perfect understanding of his kingdom. By doing so, we plant a seed according to our faith and watch it grow and bring forth good fruit, and only after the trial of our faith can we receive the testimony and knowledge concerning that commandment or gospel principle, and our faith is dormant and our minds are opened.

Comment on Orson F. Whitney: Mormon Apostle, Poet and Historian by Delbert H Hall Sr

Delbert H Hall Sr — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:27:34 +0000

In my comment earlier today, I discovered that I was mistaken. My grandfather, Helon Henry Tracy, did mention Orson F Whitney in his journal. His journal entry for Saturday, May 27, 1882, includes the following: “… In the evening 10 or 12 of the bretheren came in to Derby among them was O F Whitney editor of the “Star” … Sunday May 28 Attended meeting the forenoon at the Athenaum Hall (at which Henry spoke) … In the afternoon speakers were .. and Bro O F Whitney of the Millenial Star office.”

Comment on Orson F. Whitney: Mormon Apostle, Poet and Historian by Delbert H Hall Sr

Delbert H Hall Sr — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:33:24 +0000

I first thought of looking up “Orson F. Whitney” on the web while, as usual, singing hymns from the LDS hymn book every morning. I have always loved hymn #37, “The Wintry Day, Descending to Its Close,” the text written by him and music by Edward P Kimball. Your web site, short and sweet, opened my eyes to the possibility that my grandfather, Helon Henry Tracy, might have known Orson. They were both close to Lorenzo Snow. My grandfather served as Lorenzo Snow’s scribe for a season. My grandfather also served a mission in Great Briton in 1881-1882, during the same time that Orson was there. If they knew each other, unfortunately, Helon (known to his family as Henry) did not mention Orson F Whitney in his journal. Orson lived in Salt Lake City and Henry lived in the Ogden-area Mormon settlement of “Marriott.” where I was born in 1929. Although having lived in Virginia for most of my life, I still love “The wintry days … amid the vales of Deseret.”.

Comment on Why Does God Give Some People More Than Others? by Terrie Lynn Bittner

Terrie Lynn Bittner — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:06:42 +0000

Bethany, Thank you for your thoughts. I didn’t mean to suggest you could never experience emotions from your trials. We know that Nephi often suffered unhappiness, but in the end, he wrote that he had been blessed all his life. Most of us wouldn’t look at the life he’d faced, with repeated attempts on his life by his own brothers, as being a blessed or favored life. Job faced trials so severe most of us think we’d collapse under them. Every day, in modern life, people face unbearable trials. Moroni lost everyone he loved and was the only good person left in his world. He was sad, but he held on and continued his work.

We can’t choose our trials but we can choose what we’re going to do about them and how we’re going to feel about them. While it’s natural to be sad or angry, to go through the normal stages grieving, it’s not healthy to get stuck in the earlier stages, never coming out into the sun again. However, we have to choose that step. We have to one day decide, “Okay, I can’t control what’s happening, but I don’t have to spend my whole life feeling sorry for myself and I don’t have to give up trying.

Nothing in the article suggests your trials are caused by lack of effort or sin. Having lived more than half a century, I’ve experienced a wide range of trials. Some I brought on myself by my own choices, but others were caused by the choices of others and some just happened and were no one’s fault. However, regardless of the cause of the trials, we are responsible for our attitudes and the choices we make concerning those trials.

Yes, there is a happy ending for even the most trial-filled life if we endure to the end. When we look at life from an eternal perspective, we know there can be a happy ending if we keep working at it. It may not always come in this life, but this life isn’t the end. I’ve noticed, though, that even the most tried people can be happy in this life if they choose to be.

Remember this revelation given to Joseph Smith during a rough time in his life:

““And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
“The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?” (D&C 122:7–8).”

Comment on Why Does God Give Some People More Than Others? by Bethany

Bethany — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:04:55 +0000

Its really not so black and white as all that. Do you really believe there are only two options? Complain and be unhappy, or find the blessing in disguise? What if there really isn’t a blessing in a tragedy? What if its just hard? Can’t there be a third choice to choose to endure to the end?

I mean, you list three outcomes to your “lost his job” scenario…what about the man who does remain positive and STILL can’t find work? And then loses his house, and gets injured in a car accident, losing his only means for transportation and incurring thousands of dollars in debt that was covered by insurance (because he had lost his job)? What if in that accident he lost his wife or children? And then he is diagnosed with terminal cancer and dies poor and alone. Sound crazy? I’m quite sure there are people living this nightmare and worse. Life is NOT fair and some people never seem to get a break even when they remain faithful to the end. I don’t think you need to slap smiley face sticker on their pain and suffering.

Its not always “choose the right, get a happy ending” or “complain and bring more misery to yourself”. In fact, thinking in these terms puts the “fault” pf experiencing unhappy tragedies on the person themselves, even when its not justified. I have seen way too many people assume that something bad happens to someone else because they weren’t praying “hard enough” or going to the temple once a month, or having FHE regularly…instead of having compassion for the person and mourning their losses with them.

I agree that life is hard and unfair, and that we need to try to heal through our tragedies and try to find joy where we can. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be upset, angry, or sad about our misfortunes. God gave us a wide range of emotions to deal with our experiences and we can only heal by allowing ourselves to feel them and have them validated.

Comment on Mormon Institute at the University of Utah by Terrie Lynn Bittner

Terrie Lynn Bittner — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:31:22 +0000

This page has a listing of institutes and contact numbers:
http://www.lds.org/institutes

You can also ask your ward leadership where the nearest class is. Many stakes hold classes even if they don’t have a building.