Alma 38:12 (excerpt)

…And also see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love.

I remember, as a youth, being taught this verse more than a few times - always, it seems, from a sexual perspective. I can understand why, I suppose: one of the chief purposes of the young adult program these days seems to be to usher the young people of the Church into adulthood with their virginity still intact. Still, this heavy-handed, one-sided interpretation of the verse has left little mental room for other nuances or shades of meaning in it. Lust is certainly meant to be included, but the verse says ‘passions,’ not passion. So what else is there?

Passion means a strong feeling or emotion. When someone is passionate, they are intensely emotional. This means that fear, anger, rage, despair, grief - even happiness, laughter, joy - all ought to be bridled. When we give way to intense emotion, we often allow ourselves to do things we would otherwise consider a bad idea, and the still small voice of the Spirit is crowded out. Even worse, we are sometimes able to convince ourselves that we ‘couldn’t help it,’ that we couldn’t resist the pull of these feelings, or that they made us do it - as though our emotions have some sort of intelligence and can use it to take control of us.

A still less often mentioned interpretation concerns passions as meaning hobbies. Anything that interests us enough that we pour time, money, and energy into it needs to be considered, evaluated, and if we must confess that it is a passion, bridled.

So what does it mean to bridle our passions? A bridle, of course, is a piece of equipment worn by a horse, and is meant to control and direct it. It is not meant to destroy the horse, to repress or imprison it, nor is it meant to torture, punish or starve it. By bridling a horse you certainly are not pretending that it is not there, or ignoring it. The analogy is clear: our passions are important to us, to who we are. We need them, but they must be controlled, and given direction, or we will be ‘carried away’ with them - often to our misfortune. Controlled, their strength will serve us, lending us their power in answer to our needs. They must be controlled, however, or strong emotion and too-deep involvement in our pastimes will run roughshod over the gentle, quiet feelings of love and peace that are integral to a happy home and a happy self.

Proverbs 3:5-6

5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Funny how those old Seminary Scripture Mastery verses stick with you.

Food for thought:

• Read all imperative verbs in these two verses as commandments. How does that change your perception of these scriptures?
• What does it mean to ‘acknowledge him?’

D&C 31:9

 Be patient in afflictions, revile not against those that revile. Govern your house in meekness, and be steadfast.

I think I should make several copies of this verse and post it around the house. Perhaps put it on t-shirts for the boys?

Food for thought:

• What does it mean to govern in meekness?
• What qualities are we commanded to employ?
• How does ‘revile not against those that revile’ come into play as a parent?

Daniel 1:12-16

12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.

13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.

14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.

15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.

16 Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.

When my son Thomas was younger, I bought a box of Berry Berry Kix to use as his finger food. Every time I poured a handful of it onto the tray of his highchair, he grabbed the red pieces first, cramming them into his mouth excitedly. Once the red pieces were gone, he moved on to the purple ones, and only after he could see no more would he begin to eat the plain, uncolored pieces. When he got a little older and I allowed him to self-feed pieces of fruits and vegetables, I saw the same greedy grab for the brightest of them. Children naturally crave the healthy foods - fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy products - that are best for them. When presented with an assortment of foods, they instinctively select the brightly colored fruits and vegetables that are so good for them. Food manufacturers capitalize on this impulse by adding bright, artificial colors to their processed foods - how ironic that (at least at first) when children beg for brightly colored cereals, snacks, and sweets they are actually asking for fruits! Repeated exposure to fatty, sweetened, and highly processed food, of course, can and will deaden the desire for healthy foods, and soon kids beg for the bright stuff for the sake of that sugar rush.

We’ve made a concerted effort to improve the quality of the food in our home - especially where our children are concerned. Most people know what constitutes a healthy diet - they just choose to eat other things. With our kids, we have the opportunity to teach them better eating habits than we were taught - we can buy them Lucky Charms, or we can teach them to eat rice, and oatmeal with fruit. To a child who is not fed fruit snacks, raisins are a great treat. If they are not fed chips and candy, oranges and strawberries remain sweet. Natural foods, wholesome and filling, will remain our children’s idea of perfect food if we do not teach them otherwise. I take great pleasure in the fact that when his grandmother took him out to eat on a recent visit, Thomas didn’t beg for ice cream or soda - he asked for orange juice.

Some things healthy kids love to eat:

• plain yogurt
• unsweetened applesauce
• apples, bananas, melon
• raisins
• shredded wheat
• carrots (steamed for kids who can’t chew really hard stuff yet)
• bite-sized fruit (grapes, strawberries, small orange sections)
• unsweetened cereals, rice, oatmeal
• milk
• squash
• cottage cheese
• peas and corn
• plain cream cheese
• wheat bread
• natural peanut butter (no extra oils or sugars)
• fruit juices
• honey

Now, doesn’t that sound delicious?

Alma 37:6

Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

Food for thought:

• How does this relate to me? To my interactions with my spouse, my children, and others?
• What is something small in my daily life that I can change or do or remember that has a larger impact?
• What does this scripture say about my long-term priorities? Where should my focus be?

Hello there, and welcome. My name is Beth,* and I’ve started this blog in the hopes that keeping it will help me to remember the goals that I’ve set for myself and my family. I always have such wonderful plans and ideas for us, but they seem to get lost in the day to day shuffle. When I take the time to read and think about them, I get excited and re-energized - in other words, I find I do better with frequent reminders.

And, now, a little bit about me: I’m a stay at home mom with two small boys; Thomas, 3, and James, 1. My husband, Paul, works very hard and I feel fortunate that we can live comfortably on one income. To be perfectly honest, I’m sure that a lot of that has more to do with the way we spend our money than the amount that we get. I see so many of our friends, both the husband and the wife working, and for what? A new bedroom set, or a more expensive car? We had a couple and their small son over for dinner last week, and the wife mentioned that they try not to hold their son too much because he “might get used to it,” and then he would be unhappy at daycare because they don’t have enough people to hold the babies more than absolutely necessary. Isn’t that terribly sad?

That reminds me: I need to go hug my babies now.

*Beth is not my real name. No one named in this blog will be named by their actual names. I know it doesn’t really matter, but I’ve always thought it was polite to give readers notice of that sort of thing.