No TV: day 2

This might be an easy thing to say, given today is only day two on the television fast but I have to be honest...going without television is really not that big a deal.

After the Young Women's activity at church tonight I shared my television fast with a few of the girls. It would be putting it mildly to say they freaked out. "What do you do all day?!" was one question. An easy reply given I work the majority of that time.

With comments like, "I can't live without Idol!" and "But Glee starts tomorrow!" I can appreciate their intent to watch the shows they like, but the only thing it did for me was fuel my fire. I am really, very intent on making this 30 days a good thing, not just the 30 days I spend without television. I gave them a little warning that I might pass on the challenge to them sometime in the not so distant future...they seemed a little frightened.

At our joint Young Women/Young Men activity the youth recorded their very own Mormon Messages. If you've never seen a Mormon Message (you haven't been paying very good attention to my blog because I posted a really great one here a few weeks ago) you can find them on The Mormon Channel. We encouraged the kids to write something meaningful, that would help others in their pursuits to choose the right, and boy did they do a great job!

The leaders did not just stand in the wings watching all this magic happen, we put on our own Mormon Message about making the right decisions. I played the angel (you know, the one sitting on your shoulder) and got to wear this awesome white dress my mom made me when I needed to play Cleopatra for a school presentation. Maybe when we get the videos up I'll share a few here. We'll see.

Last night I started reading the Book of Mormon from the very beginning (again) and just one chapter in I had a little moment with Lehi. Do you ever just feel exhausted when you pray? No? Really? Am I the only one? I can't be the only one. Sometimes it just feels like there is so much going on and so much I need help from the Lord with that my own prayers become very overwhelming.

So last night I was reading in 1 Nephi 1:7 "And it came to pass that he returned to his own house at Jerusalem; and he cast himself upon his bed, being overcome with the Spirit and the things which he had seen." For years I have thought How can I be the only person that gets overwhelmed by their own prayers? And as it turns out, I'm not! I realize the Lord appeared to Lehi and showed him many thing and his experience far outweighs mine, but he was so overwhelmed he had to take a nap! That is huge.

Now I also realize that it was during this nap that Lehi saw a great vision and that is big...BIGGER than any overwhelming feeling I might have because of my own trials. But I believe that there is purpose in every single thing that is written in the Book of Mormon, otherwise it would not be there! So a simple scripture in one of the most commonly read chapters in the Book of Mormon helped me related to Lehi and his need to take a nap.

Life can get very overwhelming, even without Heavenly Father appearing as a pillar of fire and showing you many (many) things. But the lesson to be learned is not that Lehi took a nap, but that after his nap he got up, taught his family what he had learned and moved them into the wilderness because the Lord told him to.

Bravo Lehi, bravo!