Chatting with a sister that I home teach last night, she said something deeply profound. Their family's attendance at church has been spotty lately, and the excuse that's causing all the grief is a sports tournament that one of their daughters is involved in. The dad excused his attendance, trying to explain to his wife that these tournaments would help them get money for their kids for college and scholarships down the road. Her comment to her husband is, "Are you suggesting that's something Heavenly Father can't provide for us?" She was willing to put off the possibility of her children having these extracurricular honors and trust in God to make up the difference in the long run.
I was so proud of her.
We depend upon God to make ends meet, and what he expects of us is but a small fraction of what we are given all the time. Ironically the tournament they attended they ended up losing. I thought about how you always hear about the team that goes to the tournament and because such and such didn't go due to some Sunday activity, the team lost... that's always the fear... anyhow... yet in this case, they lost with the person losing the benefit of having their spiritual lamps filled up.
Anyhow it seems to be more and more the expectation placed upon parents--or maybe I'm just noticing it now that I have kids that could participate in them--that the children be off playing some sports tournament for the glory of glories.
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
One year, our oldest son had quite a number of gymnastics tournaments scheduled for Sundays. After discussing it as a family, we talked to the coach about our son missing the Sunday tournaments. The coach told us flat out that if our son missed the tournaments, he was not welcome at practice and was off the team. After I tried very calmly to explain our religious convictions, the coach replied, "He has his whole life to go to church. He only has a few years to be a competitive gymnast." That conversation, along with a few other factors, led our son to quit the team, by his own decision. Since that time, I have often marveled at his conviction to do what he believes is right. I wasn't that strong as a young man.
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The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
There were a few years when our boys used to point out to us the LDS pro ball players who did their thing on Sundays. A particular 70 had for years made a big deal of some of these pros, and with our bishop's concurrence and cosignature I wrote him a letter advising him of the lousy example those guys were setting for my kids, and suggessted he quit singing praises of them "sabbath breakers". It was decades ago and I don't remember much of the reply, but our bishop described it as "mealy mouthed". That particular 70 went down in disgrace and early retirement on another issue. But I still get irked when I hear praises of sabbath breaking pros over the pulpit. Also, I recall being told by my branch president that if I participated in Sunday sports I would not be able to get a tempel recommend.
Hey roper, I have a couple of amazing teenage girls. It gives me great hope to hear of such great young men in a world of confusion, addiction, and strife. Thanks for sharing that.
Jason, you can still be in touch with your manly man self and appreciate the beauty of that classic film and the music!
It is one of those timeless pieces that you come away feeling as if you were part of the story... and that is good literature and good art. Too bad there is not much like that being made these days.
It goes right in there with films like Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music, Lawrence of Arabia, Camelot, The Great Escape, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the original Willy Wonka... And several of those films are deemed suitable for Sunday watching...
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I can handle most of those movies Cat but I just can't handle the Fiddler on the Roof. The songs just play over and over and over in my head. Drives me crazy!!!! Errr crazier than I already am!!!!
Now for some reason I've got the music from Footloose running through my head!!!!!!! Argh!!!!!!!!!!! Death to Kevin Bacon and his infernal game!!!!!! All hail the Oracle of Bacon!!!!
