If You Love Me...

I recall being quite struck by Elder Holland's talk as I listened to this last conference (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/the-first-great-commandment?lang=eng).  I happened to re-read it this week during my regular study and was provoked to thought once again.

Particularly, I was taken aback at how much he expounds on a section of scripture I must have heard/read hundreds of times.  Peter, following Christ's resurrection, is asked by the Savior three times if Peter loves the Lord.  Each time Peter answers in the affirmative.  Each time the resurrected Lord says "feed my sheep."

It's these three words "feed my sheep" on which Elder Holland expounds.  The Savior is asking Peter why, if he loves Jesus, is he fishing?  If he truly loved Jesus then he should be about the Saviors work.  He is in essence asking him "aren't there people that need to be administered to?"  "Aren't there souls who need to hear the good news of the gospel?"  "Isn't there something more pressing for the head of Christ's church on the earth to be doing rather than fishing?"

The gospel is obviously a gospel of hope.  The beauty of a testimony of Christ is the peace it brings to the souls of those who posses it, knowing that we can be delivered from our imperfections and weaknesses.  I've long felt that one of the mistakes a person can make is to be too hard on oneself when  he or she falls short.  It is precisely those moments when we need to make the atonement affective in our lives and turn over our insecurities, doubts, and feelings of despair to the Lord.

That said, I feel there is a danger of going the other way.  We need to also not use the atonement as an excuse to not demand more from ourselves.  To stand a little taller, to be more exact and diligent.  Whatever areas we are lacking, home teaching, cursing, charity, missionary work, we can't use the excuse that the Lord will excuse our shortfalls and as a result shirk our duties.  Yes, we will do all of the aforementioned imperfectly, and yes, if we are truly doing all that we can the Lord will make up the rest.  But we can not use that as a reason not to strive to do more, to be better than we are currently.

The words "Do You Love Me?" have echoed in my mind these last few weeks.  I wonder if the Lord asked me, could I answer in the affirmative and be comfortable that my daily actions would not betray my answer?

Ireland at Three Months...

Our Ireland has gone from a perfect infant to a beautiful three month-old.  She is chubby and has legs like the Michelin Man, a full head of brown hair that takes on a slight red tinge in certain light, and has retained her piercing blue eyes.  BEAUTIFUL.

She started sleeping through the night a couple of weeks ago, which of course caused her parents great rejoicing, but has regressed back toward waking up a couple of times a night this week.  I have forgotten how cyclical these things are with newborns.  It's amazing how selective our memories are when it comes to children.  I know this phenomenon has been well documented, but I believe the human race would be on it's way to extinction if we as a species could remember in detail how tough it is to have an infant.

She is "talking" a lot.  Lot's of vowels, particularly the O sound.  She laughed out loud for the first time last week as well.  We were all in Blaire's room playing with a stuffed froggy when suddenly Ireland broke into a belly laugh.  We hadn't even noticed that she was paying attention to the whole thing, finding it quite amusing.  In general, she is a very pleasant, easy going baby.  We are very, very lucky.

A few of her favorite things ... bath time, sucking her thumb, watching football with daddy, running with mommy and sissy, batting around the toys in her gym, and being our sweet little dolly baby.

The Siren Song of Disneyland

Before Ally and I had children we went to Disneyland on a couple of occasions, just the two of us (creepy, I know).  Inevitably we would see parents there with way-to-small children (read infants) subjecting these brand new souls to the heat, noise, and sometimes questionable smells that are "The Happiest Place on Earth."

Being all knowing when it comes to kids, as all childless couples are, we vowed vehemently that we would never do such a thing, that it was clearly selfish motivation on the parents part, and that we would wait until our children were old enough to understand and enjoy the experience.  So you can imagine my surprise when Ally came to me a couple of weeks ago and said she wanted to take the girls to Disneyland.

"Blasphemy!" I shouted.  "It's ridiculous" I protested.  So naturally we went.

Two comments about the day:

1) Blaire did have fun about 70-80% of the time and we got some nice Halloween themed pictures.

2) It was every bit as much work as I anticipated and I would still recommend parents wait until their kids are a little older before taking on the DL.*

*Opinions expressed in this article are those of Dean Thompson.  Any views expressed may not be those of Allyson or any of the other Thompson Girls.