Pay Day

I don't know about you but I get paid every two weeks on Fridays. I always look forward to that solitary day because as you know, we have a lot of needs around here. I always take a big sigh of relief as soon as I see that money has been deposited into my bank account and I busily go about paying my bills and budgeting my resources for another two weeks. Pay day is like a breath of fresh air and my stress level goes down for a little while. By the end of the two weeks I feel myself looking forward again to getting paid.

I'm thankful for my job. It provides my family with all the necessities and some wants too. I have been blessed with some success which has allowed us to purchase our home and provide our children with opportunities for growth.

I'm also lucky that I enjoy my job. I have the opportunity to work from home and travel the state of Utah talking with educators about wonderful software products that help improve the lives of children who are in the process of learning how to read and do math.

It's a good life on the whole. My income does fluctuate from year to year, but that's life. I can't complain. We have enough for our needs in a down year and we have prospered significantly in good years.

Today I want to talk a little about a different kind of pay day. This kind of pay day occurs at various times and doesn't come in the form of a bank deposit. It also doesn't come signed by a chief financial officer of a company and it certainly doesn't provide me with currency with which to purchase goods and services at local establishments. This kind of pay day comes from above and is manifested through the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost.

Let me share an experience of a spiritual pay day that happened just this last Sunday.

Sunday was the last day before school started for my six children. Like many LDS fathers, I was planning on taking time that evening to give father's blessings to each one of the kids. I always look forward to this because it has always been such a rewarding experience in the past.

This time we had a few small challenges. The first was that we lost power to our home for about 7 hours. While the power was off, we decided to take a walk up to the new Wasatch Junior High. The workers had been going 24/7 it seemed to get ready for the start of school. It was dusk and the school looked radiant and beaming ready to welcome new students. We all "ooohed" and "aaawed" at the grandeur. We were not alone. There were lots of neighborhood people out walking, running, biking and driving past the school at the same time.

After we passed the school and were headed back home, the kids started talking about receiving their father's blessings.

"I don't want a blessing." Sarah our 15 year old said. "They don't come true. I have a lot of faith and it just didn't work last year. It was the worst year of my life!"

"You don't want a blessing?" Analisa asked incredulous. "I need all the help that I can get. I can't wait to get a blessing."

"Me too!" chimed in Katherine, our 11 year old.

"A lot depends on you!" I jumped in a little irked. I struggled for a moment not to be miffed and over react to my beloved eldest daughter.

When we got home, the power had come on. "Great!" I thought. "We don't have to give blessings in the dark."

After a little while, I was able to herd all the cats, I mean children into the living room. I wanted to talk to them first, before attempting to give blessings. I don't ever want to give a blessing when we haven't properly prepared ourselves to be in tune with the spirit. I know that you have to open your soul and listen intently with your your spiritual senses in order to be able to hear a divine message.

"Free your minds." I said. "Clear your hearts. You can't hear anything or understand anything of the spirit until you're quiet inside. Don't talk. Just open up your heart and the Lord's spirit will communicate with you.

Have you ever had a conversation with a friend, but your friend never stops talking long enough to listen to anything you have to say? It can be frustrating, can't it? Well that's how the Lord feels. He is constantly trying to communicate with us, but if we don't take the time to be still and listen, how can we ever hear when he is speaking to us or what he is saying? Learn to be quiet inside.

Do you understand what the spirit feels like?"

"It feels good. You feel happy inside." Katherine replied.

"That's right."

"You want to cry sometimes." said Matthew, our eight year old.

"Yes. The spirit usually gives you feelings of peace, joy, and love. If you are not in tune with your feelings you will miss the messages that the Lord is sending."

Just then the power went off again and everyone scrambled to get flash lights and candles so that we could see again. When we all settled down I continued my lesson.

"What's the difference between a fortune teller and a priesthood holder giving a blessing?"

"A fortune teller is not telling the truth!" Analisa, our 14 year old replied. "They just want money."

"What else?"

"A priesthood holder says what Heavenly Father wants him to say." Sarah said.

"You're right. A fortune teller may tell a person the kinds of things that he or she wants to hear. They take common life experiences and make predictions that may easily come true. They also may get some of their inspiration from a bad source, from Satan. Satan will tell us anything that may deviate us from listening to Heavenly Father. He sets up a kind of false religion that tells people what they want to hear and gets them to forget about the kinds of things that the Lord wants them to hear.

A priesthood holder strives to live a life guided by the spirit. He tries to keep the commandments and be kind to his fellow man. He wants no reward for giving a blessing and he sincerely tries to prepare himself to receive inspiration on what to say to the person to whom he is giving the blessing.

Do blessings always come true immediately?"

"Of course, Dad." Joseph, our 7 year old answered with a smile.

"Well, we would like them to, but it doesn't always happen that way. The Lord is not like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Blessings are not just given out like candy on Halloween.

A priesthood holder does his best to say what the Lord would like to have said. Then it is up to the person receiving the blessing to exercise faith and diligence in helping the promises in the blessing to come to pass.

We are not on this earth just to have everything easy for us. We are here to prove ourselves and live the gospel in spite of all the trials and contradictions of life."

"That sounds hard!" Sarah exclaimed. "Why can't we just have everything in life be easy. Then we would all be happy."

"I know Sarah, but then we would all be weaklings. We would never grow our spiritual muscles. We would never learn to be like Heavenly Father and for that reason, we would never experience the joy that he enjoys and more importantly we could never really respect ourselves because we would have never accomplished anything or overcome any trials.

Here's my recommendation for you older kids. After you receive your blessing tonight, write down some notes on what your blessing said. Ask Heavenly Father to help you live so that the promises in the blessing can come true. Then reread your notes in a month. See if you made any progress. Then check back in 6 months and then at the end of the year. My guess is that when you look back, many of the things in the blessing will have come true."

The kids seemed to be listening now. They became calm for the most part and the older kids shushed the younger ones. They wanted to free their minds and hearts so that they could listen.

I decided to start with the youngest first this year. I wanted to give the older ones more time to prepare.

Samuel, our 4 year old, jumped up and sat down on the stool in front of me. He was smiling with his little curls bobbing around as he moved his head. His blessing was short and sweet and he went bounding off the chair as soon as it was finished.

Next, I motioned for Joseph to come up. As I placed my hands on his head he started giggling. After a few moments I had to stop because he couldn't stop laughing. I started to get stern with him about reverence but Sarah chimed in.

"It's ok Dad. He is just feeling the spirit and doesn't know how to react to it."

I think Sarah was right about that. He was feeling the spirit and was laughing because he felt so special and loved. I still had to have him calm down a bit before I could proceed. I'll admit that it's hard for me to stay in tune while my little boy is laughing. I decided to move on to Matthew.

Matthew had the same problem as Joseph and when I had to stop because of his laughing he blamed Joseph for giving him the giggles. I had to move the boys to the end of the lineup, but they both let me know that they still wanted their blessings.

Next was Katherine. I told her that she would be able to do well in school and that she would be a wonderful influence on the other children in her class because of her tender kindness and the light that emanates from her. After her blessing was finished she told everyone that when I placed my hands on her head she could feel something beautiful come inside her body. She felt the spirit physically as well as spiritually.

Analisa was blessed in her school work and her ability to organize all her tasks, something that has been a challenge in the past. As I write this she is sitting at the kitchen table doing her homework without even being asked. She wants to stay on top of things so that she can be free to enjoy her junior high experience without too much self imposed pressure.

I felt impressed to bless Sarah with peace. That's what she needed the most. She had been so worried about high school and all the bad kids there. After the blessing she seemed more at ease and when she came back from school today, she told Claudia and me that she felt fine at school now and that she had a good day. There was nothing to worry about.

Now, back to those giggling boys. I blessed Matthew that he would learn how to work hard and told him that he should listen to everything his instructors teach him and to do all his work. He should also keep making friends with his classmates. That night at bedtime, Matthew prayed that he would learn how to work hard. I was so glad to hear it and I think that with prayers like that, the Lord is bound to help him.

I told Joseph that he would be successful in school as long as he worked hard and asked his teacher and his parents for help. I also told him that he has a special light and that people love to be around him because he is so good and has such enthusiasm for life. Joseph was beaming afterward and gave me a big hug.

To tell you the truth, it was a wonderful experience for us all. I am so proud of my family. I think the most important thing that I can ever teach them is what we talked about on Sunday. What else could possibly be more important than teaching them the gospel and how to communicate with their Heavenly Father? There is nothing. If I died now, at least I would know that I taught them the most important things on earth that a father can teach.

The biggest pay day came on Sunday because I think they heard and understood what I was teaching them. I saw them listen and absorb the lesson and then when it came time for the actual blessing, they truly received it. If they can learn these lessons now, there is no end to what they can accomplish and what they can become and how much joy they can receive in this life and the next. I am so glad that I have had the chance to teach these great people. It is a true privilege for me. I hope that every father can experience something as beautiful as this special pay day that arrived without warning last Sabbath.