Happy Birthday to Bridget. She's officially 5 now, so she can start Kindergarten in the fall. We love our spunky, cute and sweet little Bridget!
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We had tickets to two plays this week: The Time Machine at the Jewel Theater at Hale; and Kiss Me Kate at Centerpoint Theater. We took Ori and Yuna to the first (no picture) and Nick and Caitlyn to the 2nd. We wanted to take someone to Kiss Me Kate who was familiar with the lead. Ben Lowell played Fred Grahm; Ben was our next door neighbor (before he was married) in Bountiful. We didn't wait around to see Ben, but we caught up with his brother Jonathon and his wife. They have 5 children. His older sister Sarah has 9. Fred Graham,also known as Petruchio,is an egotistical but likable actor who directs and stars in a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew with his ex-wife, Lilli Vanessi, quoted from the Internet. Neither Nick nor Caitlyn was familiar with the show beforehand, and they both looked confused, as if they were wondering what in the world was happening. It was kind of interesting. Poor Effie had a fall while on the Lagoon trail with her family, and (I think) Dan's family. This is following clean-up. She had gravel and dirt in her gums and lip. She looks like she survived it but I'm sure it wasn't fun.
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I feel like I have been on the spot every week at church for a while. Not the two weeks we were in Lake Powell, of course. Today I taught a Sunday School lesson on prayer. Our bishop decided to have the gospel doctrine teachers handle the 5th Sunday lessons when they occur. I'm not sure I like that decision since otherwise I might get a short break. Our lesson was on "the language of prayer." More and more our youth and primary children are being asked to pray in Sacrament Meeting. The bishop wants us as adults to set an example of how to speak in a worshipful, reverent manner when we are speaking with diety. I talked about how, when we pray, we are in essence attempting to enter into the presence of God. How would we act and speak in His presence? Of course, the most important thing is to pray. President Oaks says in his talk "The Language of Prayer,"
"I am sure that our Heavenly Father, who loves all of His children, hears and answers all prayers, however phrased. If he is offended in connection with prayers, it is likely to be by their absence, not their phraseology."The emphasis on the talk was praying in public; but a question came up: How can we attempt to grow closer to Heavenly Father and make a true connection with Him if we're talking in uncomfortable and unfamiliar language. I think the consensus was that we speak in the language of prayer because that's the example of our Savior and also many of the prophets in the scriptures (and in prayers in General Conference). We do it to show our reverence, love and respect for our God. But, again, the important thing is to pray and to express our gratitude and love for Heavenly Father and our Savior as well as importuning them for the things we are in need of.
I also talked a little about making our prayers in Sacrament Meeting and other public places, simple, heartfelt and sincere. I also suggested our prayers be short but stated that that was my opinion.
After the lesson, an elderly gentleman in our ward said that he remembered in the old days how, as a priest, he and his buddies (sitting on the back row of the chapel after taking care of the sacrament) would make bets as to how long the closing prayer would be. He said that one particular sabbath the bet was on. 5 minutes; 10 minutes; 15 minutes. They all lost. The closing prayer was 20 minutes long! I'm glad we've come along way and moved away from the 20 minute closing prayer. 😁
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