Relief Society Lesson

Warning, this post is not a family or project update. It's not that entertaining, it's about circumcision. It's my religious thoughts. Read at your own risk.

I taught Relief Society today. For those of you not familiar with LDS lingo, the Relief Society is the organization of women in the church. This organization is primarily responsible for aiding members in increasing their faith and personal righteousness, strengthening families and serving the Lord and His children (pretty broad purpose, and I like it). We meet for an hour every week, customarily on Sunday after the main service. About 30 minutes of that hour is spent on a lesson, which is assigned by church headquarters. Every RS throughout the world teaches the exact same lesson on exactly the same day. So if you're travelling, and you go to a different congregation, you'll never miss a lesson. It's pretty fantastic.

One of my jobs in the organization is to teach the lesson once a month. This week's lesson was on covenants, and more specifically the Abrahamic covenant. I found the subject material fascinating. Honestly, I find all the lessons fascinating and spiritually filling. I never have enough time to teach all the great stuff I find. Even this week after judiciously crossing out the parts of my lesson that were less important (or perhaps slightly redundant) to leave time for the really important stuff, I still didn't have enough time. So I am left with this bottled up feeling of wanting to teach something I loved, but having no venue for the teaching. So, my readers, I have chosen this blog as my outlet. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

In my lesson we got through the part of 'what specific promises did God make to Abraham and Abraham to God?' (I found this to be very helpful in organizing my understanding of the Abrahamic covenant) and 'as children of Abraham, how does this covenant translate to our situation?' Much of the covenant is found in Genesis 17.

So the part of the lesson I didn't get to is about circumcision, of which I've never really understood the importance.

Genesis 17:10,11, "This is my ^acovenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be ^bcircumcised. And ye shall ^acircumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a ^btoken of the ^ccovenant betwixt me and you."

So it seems that circumcision was a sign of the covenant. The reminder of the promises you've made to God and He to you.

Verse 13 "He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an ^aeverlasting covenant." The line that I loved was "my covenant shall be in your flesh". So the covenant was written on their bodies, where they couldn't forget it. But couldn't they have tattooed themselves? Why cut reproductive organs? This probably seemed drastic to Abraham's camp, who were all circumcised that same day with Abraham. From the LDS Old Testament Institute Manual I found an answer which satisfied me. I quote it here:

“The Abrahamic covenant makes frequent reference to one’s seed. The organ of the body that produces seed and brings about physical birth is the organ on which the token of the covenant was made."

It especially makes sense in thinking about the Law of Moses, which was so much about the physical representations of the spiritual laws. The covenant was written in their flesh, on the part of their bodies which pertained to a hefty portion of the covenant.

But under the new law that Christ established during His mortal ministry (He fulfilled the Law of Moses) circumcision was no longer required. However, they continue to reference it a lot in the New Testament, saying that now God requires a circumcision of the heart, and that this was the point all along. So what is circumcision of the heart? More from the Old Testament manual:

"The organ of spiritual rebirth, is the heart. In many places the Lord speaks of true circumcision as being the circumcision of the heart. The heart that is “circumcised” is one that loves God and is obedient to the Spirit. The “uncircumcised in heart” are wicked, proud, and rebellious.”

So there is a correlation between circumcision under the old law, and loving God and obedience to the Spirit under the new law.

The Lord said in Genesis 17: 14 "And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be ^acut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant."

So following our deductive reasoning, I think it's safe to say that being disobedient and not loving God means we are breaking our covenants, breaking the Abrahamic covenant, and forfeiting the blessings that covenant affords: salvation and exaltation being the most important.

Jeremiah prophesies of change of the token. Jeremiah 31: 31,33

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a ^anew ^bcovenant with the house of ^cIsrael, and with the house of Judah: But this shall be the ^acovenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my ^blaw in their inward parts, and write it in their ^chearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."

So the questions I would've discussed with my class, and I've been asking myself, and now I ask you, are these:

Is the law written in your inward parts? The token of the old law was imprinted on the people; is the new token as imprinted in the people? in you?

How does being the Lord's covenant people influence your actions, how you present yourself?

My answers are for myself to ponder on.

If you're still reading you deserve a cookie.

Latest projects

So, Axel is getting ready for kindergarten, and one of the things he needs to bring is a blanket with his name on it. Well I wanted to make him something special to snuggle with at school that would maybe feel like a mama's hug. So I told him to look through my fabric and pick out anything he wanted and I'd make him a blanket out of it. Well, he picked out some plain, boring fabric that I really didn't like. So I got out some cool boyish design fabric. He hated all of it. He's very decisive. So I said, pick something else. I hated the other fabric he picked too. So I said, "Let's go to the fabric store and you can pick out whatever you want and we'll make it." At the fabric store, I told him he could pick any fabric he wanted in a certain area. It was the quilting section, and I like almost everything in there. He headed for the blue and white plaid. "Could I have this?" Mayday! Mayday! How could he pick the one ugly fabric? But then I said, let's look at some more. I said, what about this robot fabric? No. How about this frog fabric? No. How about this skull fabric? (I was reaching.) No. How about this red and white stripe? Yes. Hallelujah! Look this fabric has others that coordinate with it. We decided on 6 fabrics that he really liked, and I didn't think were hideous. We decided on a quilt pattern, I made it. He stayed by the machine a lot, very excited and loving the progress, giving me lots of encouragement.

He loves it, and I got to use my new quilting foot for the first time!

And I made some dresses for the girls. I know, they're a little big, but they'll fit next year too... and maybe the year after that. The greatest part of the dresses is that the top orange fabric is actually an old yucky Tshirt of Paul's that had paint splatters on it, and there were just enough clean spots for me to make the bodices out of it. I love upcycling!

Why are Mormons so funny?

Converse with children

In a family home evening lesson Paul asked Maggie, "When Mom asks you to do something, what should you do?"

"Clean up."
I feel like it's all I ever say to them, and that confirmed it.
"Mom, tell me a story about when you were a princess." She's the only one in the world that thinks I'm the kind of person that would be a princess. It's kind of sweet.
While I was upholstering Axel said, "Mom, all you do is work, work, work. Don't you ever take a lunch?" Axel says all kinds of funny things for a five year old. I think it's because he reads.
"I thought Maggie was right behind me, and to my surprise, she was gone!"
Original was said 'org-inal' for a long time, because he learned what it meant from reading and didn't get the pronunciation right. "Mom who was the org-inal owner of the van?"
Paul is so tickled that Axel reads, he is giving him books to read that he loved when he was a kid. Then quizzes him.
"Hey Axel, are all the giants in The BFG nice?"
"Well not all of them. Actually they're really bad."

"Why are they bad?"
"I can't tell you. It's too terrible."
"Is it because they eat children?"
"Yes! How did you know?"
Now that I think of it, the other book he really likes is Robinson Crusoe. Maybe we should lay off the books where people are eating other people.

Tonight for dinner, I really didn't want to make or eat anything. Isn't that unfair that when I don't feel like eating, it's still my job to cook. We'd had whole wheat pancakes for breakfast with nectarines and mangoes. For lunch a big spinach salad, and fruit for snacks. (My kids are awesome eaters! It makes me love them soooooo much.) I was supposed to make Thai Chicken stir fry for dinner, but just really didn't want to. So I suggested that we go to the grocery store and pick out some ice cream for dinner. Paul and the children agreed it was a good idea. Because it was on a great sale, we got two: peanut butter cup and strawberries and cream. It was a very satisfying day. All natural, full fat.

I love saying to the children at the grocery store, "Look very closely at the label and make sure it doesn't say low-fat on it. We only buy the high fat." I especially love it if we are next to someone who is obsessing over the 100 calorie yogurt vs. the 90 calorie. Come on, if you lift that yogurt one more time, you'll burn those 10 calories, sister. Related: "See, that jello says 'no sugar'. In our family we eat real sugar, look for that jello." Big jock passing by gave Axel an encouraging, all-American smile. "Yeah! Eat the real stuff, Buddy." Thank you football-guy.

This pic is for my cousin Brenda, who wants a belly picture. This one was taken by Maggie, when she was playing with the camera. Her height makes the picture so much better.

And yes, there are still 4 more months of growing to do. I know, it's amazing.

My vision, realized.

Before.

Notice how damaged and scratched the wood is.

Strip all fabric, 1/2 inch cardboard strips, and batting.

Tape off, so just the wood shows.

Sand, chemically strip (with a toothbrush, people), stain, rub-on polyurethane.

Cut out all the fabric pieces.

Make 34 yards of welting.

Sew the front pieces together with their single welting.

Working one piece at a time, put the batting on, trim.

Stretch upholstery on. Staple. Staple cardboard trim, to make nice tight corners.

Pat yourself on the back.

Repeat for back. This time, using your scrap fabric (sometimes it comes in handy to have a cupboard full of fabric I can't throw away) before the batting.

Glue on double welting.

Make cushion: cut foam, glue on batting, make cover, assemble. No pictures.

Finished.

Admire the lines.

Admire the clean fabric against the rich and smooth wood.

Stand in awe that anyone would have thrown out this gem. (Remember I pulled this out of the dumpster.)

Sit.

At this point you may be saying, "Alisha why would you upholster in bright white when you have three small children?" Well I wish I could answer, "My children don't make messes and they respect my things."

The truth is, I love love love decorating in color. Bright, bold, invigorating color. The bad thing is, my color taste changes every 3 years - I've discovered. I don't want to buy a new couch every three years. So I've decided to have white and maple wood, and walnut wood be my staples. All long term furniture will be in these, and everything else will change. A white couch and a white piano means that you can paint your wall bright without being too circusy. Now imagine bright, bold patterned pillows on that couch. Bright curtains, colorful art. You might need a few big white pieces to offset all that color.

The trouble is, how could I possibly have a white couch? I looked at many white couches, and at the upholstery fabric they used. All the ones I saw were slip covers, so you could take them off and bleach the cover. That would not work for my couch.

And then I found......

Crypton

And I fell in love. Completely waterproof, practically impossible to stain. So durable it was first only for commercial furniture (like in doctor's waiting rooms). I covered my two side chairs in crypton first, to live on it for a few months before I invested all that money. Chocolate, ketchup, boogers, all wipe off like I was wiping it off the counter. But somehow, it's soft fabric. Worth every penny. So I saved my pennies, I waited for the 50% off-home-dec JoAnn's fabric sale, I waited for the coupon that would give me 10% more percent off, and I special ordered my beautiful, snow white, indestructible crypton. Unfortunately, despite my strict rules for the couch, it's already gotten dirty, and it came clean effortlessly.

boy

We're having a boy. We're very excited. Everybody knew it was a boy. Here's his little face poking out of the shadows.

Before the ultrasound,

Axel: Mom we're having a boy because that would be fair. Two boys, two girls

Maggie: He'll come out a smiling baby boy.

That sealed the deal, the doctor confirmed it.

We've picked a name: Boone Quayle Reynolds.

He's very active.

Cruise

We went on a cruise a month ago. It was excellent. Paul and I together, bez (Ukrainian word meaning without, that is way cooler that the French 'sans') children for 9 days. Excellent company, excellent food, excellent locations.

Day 1 -driving. My husband is still cool, and funny.

Day 2 - went to church with some friends in Ft. Lauderdale to their half Haitian, creole speaking ward. Perfect start to an exotic vacation. Disembark on the cruise.

Day 3 - Day at sea. Boring.

Day 4 - Cayman Islands - snorkeling, sting ray swimming, star fish exploring.

Day 5 - Roatan, Honduras - playing with animals, tour of Roatan, beach swimming.

The twins were soooo cute.

Day 6 - Belize - cave tubing - couldn't take pictures, no water camera. Really fun.

Day 7 - Cozumel, Mexico - Mayan ruins of Tuluum

Our tour guide was showing us around. Very interesting. Educating us about the Mayan people. He told us about some of the carvings. One of a God upside down, signifying God coming down from heaven. Interesting...

I spotted a guide wearing a shirt with the words, "Mosiah tours", and sure enough he was an LDS tour guide. He gave us the Mormon version. You can see on this temple, 3 carvings. 1 signifies God the Father, 2 - Jesus, coming down from heaven, 3 - Holy Ghost, empty space.

He showed us a carving, stela, found at a different site, Izapa, which looks remarkably like Lehi's Tree of Life vision. Though, not all LDS scholars agree.

I liked it so much, I bought a replica.

We wore our swimming suits just about constantly.

This day was no exception, because the ruins are right on a cliff on the beach. The water was incredible, all week.

It was my favorite day.

Day 8 - Day at sea. REALLY boring.

Day 9 - Driving home. We super missed our kids. Hardee's Thickburgers helped take the pain away.