123. Preparing Spiritually for General Conference -- Great ideas! I'm going to do it this time!

This morning I read a blog I follow called "The Small Seed", and it has great ideas for preparing for our General Conference, which is in just 2 days!  Saturday and Sunday, April 5th and 6th.  This morning I went to a session in the St. George Temple to help prepare myself to be teachable and in tune.

I may condense this some, but her ideas are great if you'd like to use any of them.  I have added highlights of my own -- Pal

It can be found at  http://www.thesmallseed.com/  

General Conference: Take 2   (Her title)   

 (I feel like this means we should take time out of our busy schedules to refill our "spiritual cups".  I plan to watch all of it, including -- as a woman -- the Priesthood Conference here at home while my husband goes with our son and grandsons. -- Pal's comment!)

                 What a blessing to look forward to in the next few days ! ! !

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 06:11 AM PDT

Over the past few weeks I've heard from some of you regarding a post I wrote about my church's semi-annual General Conference. Well believe it or not, 6 months have passed and I'm looking forward to another conference this weekend.  General Conference has become a type of spiritual New Years for me, and I can't wait.  (What a great way to describe it!  -- Pal)

Some of you have asked about what I do to prepare (sorry I wasn't very specific in my last post, to be honest it's nothing special so I felt silly writing it out!), so for those of you who wanted more details, this post is for you!

Just don't have too high of expectations ok?

Here goes:

1- Take out a piece of paper. I usually just use a quarter sheet, but here I used a half sheet with a sharpie so it shows up easier. I put something on the top, like General Conference and the date. Rocket science I know. Step one done.

2- Do a little spiritual self-assessment. This is where I take out my figurative spiritual scale and caliper to determine where I am and where I want to be spiritually. For me it always helps to start with prayer, and then think through some questions like: Am I currently able to feel God's love in my life? Do I think of others more than myself? What is out of line in my life spiritually? Am I seeking spiritual direction as a wife/mother/blogger/etc?

3- Write down questions that you want answered during General Conference. Here I think of specific questions I want answered, or how I want to improve from step 2, and then write it down! I like to write them in question form rather than as statements (i.e. "How can I be more selfless" instead of "I want to be more selfless") as it seems to help me more easily recognize answers.

Two areas that I love to focus my questions on are: 1) How can I develop spiritually in my current roles and responsibilities (for me right now a wife, mother, friend, blogger, co-worker etc.), and 2) What Christ-like attributes do I most need to work on right now (think faith, virtue, meekness, diligence, obedience, service, patience, etc)?

4- Pray. I know I've already mentioned this a few times, but it's worth mentioning again. Praying over my goals invites God into the process, and let's be honest, He knows way more about both our potential and shortcomings than even we do. Sometimes I'm prompted to write down additional questions, or sometimes my focus is turned from something I originally wrote.

5- Write "To-Do". At the bottom of my paper I like to write "To-Do" simply to remind me to take notes of things I feel prompted to do while listening to the conference. These promptings can be anything from reaching out to someone, memorize a scripture that was quoted, re-read one of the talks, or one from October "prepare earlier with things for Tillie Rose to do during Conference!"  (Lizzy's 2 year old daughter)

5- Enjoy Conference! and write down thoughts and promptings, both regarding questions and To-Do's. During conference I don't try to write down everything I hear (I can always go back after and re-read!). I instead try to focus on the answers to my questions and what I need to do.

6- After the Conference, compile the notes and questions into one document. Usually the week after Conference I try to sit down and make one document that combines my questions, to-do's, notes and answers all together. If there seemed to be a theme of the conference for me I also write that at the top of my page (last year when I was pregnant with the twins my theme was "The Future Is As Bright As Your Faith).

So in the end it looks something like this:

General Conference April 2014: Theme
Questions:
- How can I be more loving to Dave?
  --Answer 1
  --Answer 2
-What Christlike Attribute should I focus on?
 -- Answer 1

To-Do:
- Call my mom
-

7- Print out the document and keep it where you can use it! I like to print mine out in a quarter sheet, laminate it and use it as a bookmark for my scriptures (as you can see in this picture from my prior post). It helps me refer to it often and remember what I'm working on.

As I just reread through what I wrote, I still feel silly for typing it all out as it's nothing special! But maybe that's why this is working for me, it isn't complicated and helps me focus for the next 6 months. Also I get it if this idea totally doesn't work for you--you may prefer to listen and soak it all in without the hassle of notes and homework! If it doesn't, just do what works for you!

More than anything, if you choose to watch the conference I hope you enjoy it. Along with all my notes, I'm also planning on plenty of time to cuddle with these three. (Here she had a picture of her husband and 2 small twins -- which I didn't post.  Go to her blog to see the picture!  www.thesmallseed.com)  (and Tillie Rose of course), enjoy a Belgian waffle bar (maybe a new tradition?!) and sleeping in (oh wait, I still have kids!).

xo,

Lizzy

---------------------------------(Back to Pal)

Lizzy writes about 2 or 3 times a week, and I enjoy reading about her time in life, which is very busy with one 2 year old girl, and girl twins about 7 or 8 months old.  I had my first 4 children in less than 5 years, and then had around 2 to 3 years between 5 other children.  The oldest was 18 when child # 9 was born to us.  BUSY YEARS!  To those of you in those years -- They do pass!  Then come the early empty nest years, the time you are able to go on couple missions, and then the later years such as we are now in -- middle to late 70's and 80's!  Some of the blessings at this time of life is seeing what good and noble people our children, and grandchildren have become, and great grandchildren are becoming.  Seeing grandchildren go on missions, writing to them regularly, etc. are all part of the "Lord's Paydays" which we have experienced, and are continuing to enjoy!  

I may not write until after Conference -- so I hope you all enjoy watching and listening to it!  It is the Word of the Lord to us TODAY!