Hinckley's Be's

Gordon B. Hinckley's Way to Be! is a classic, and it fits perfectly as the next phase of morning devotionals that coordinate with our BIO year:  "9 Ways to Be Happy and Make Something of Your Life."

I decided to use Hinkley's "9 Be's" inside a mini unit on bees inside our ecology studies. I created a notebook page for each chapter or "be." Feel free to use them with your own devotionals.

Brigham Young's Family Room

In the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, a row of Pioneer-era dwellings stand preserved. In addition to being family homes, these were the Official Residence of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Executive Offices of the Territory of Utah. Several prophets occupied the office and a few the home. 

The house on the left is the Lion House, which was the private home of Brigham Young's family. The house to the far right is the Beehive House, which was the state home to use for guests and dignitaries. Many years later these buildings became boarding homes for young working women in the city to safely dwell in, as well as social gathering centers for college co-eds. The Lion House is so named because Brigham Young had the nickname "Lion of the Lord." The Beehive House is named after the early settling Saints' industry. They first called their colony in Utah Territory Deseret, which means "honeybee" in The Book of Mormon. The beehive was adopted as their official emblem, representing industry, and is still a state symbol.

Standing in this historical oasis in the midst of downtown traffic, sirens, and bustle, I wished to go back in time and visit before the skyscrapers and traffic lights. I did find a photo of when these buildings were fairly new and I still marvel at all that's changed since then.

Still, there was serenity in the gardens...

...and a wise and good example inside.  These photos are of Brigham Young's family room.

I took these photos to remind myself of the lesson I learned on my tour that impressed me very much. 

Brigham Young was a very busy man. Not only did he have a large family, he was a prophet of the Lord, President of the Church, the Governor of Utah, and a businessman among other things. And yet with all that, he never failed to gather his family in the family room each and every night for a hymn, some counsel, prayer, and connection. Even if he was in the middle of a meeting or had guests, at the same time every evening he stopped whatever he was doing, invited any guests to join him, and gathered his family together at the end of each day. And if, perchance, a family member failed to show up, he sent him or her a formal letter "inviting" the missing member to join them. 

I love the faithful sticking to principles and the consistent attention to his role as a husband, father, and head of a family even in the midst of all the other demands on him. What an example! Many times it seems that just missing a day here or there of an established family routine isn't that big of a deal. We think "consistent" means 85% to 90% of the time. We allow all sorts of things to interfere with important family time and/or important gospel time and let our roles as whatever else crowd our roles as spouses and parents. What a mistake! I want to be like Brigham!

The Times of the Prophets

Have you ever looked to see where latter-day prophets fit in the context of United States or World History? Oftentimes I think we separate U.S. History and/or World History from Church History instead of seeing each of them as pieces of the same puzzled story and finding how they fit together. Certainly the individual "pieces" beg some compartmentalized scrutiny, but it's also good to line things up side by side, fit them together, and get the whole picture.

In 1972, the Church's New Era did just that with the chart "The Times of the Prophets." Below is a smaller version of the graphic. (Click on the link for a larger, easier-to-read versions you can print.)

An example of the information in this chart is that it shows that in those relevatory years between the First Vision and the beginning of the translation of the Book of Mormon, Beethoven composed his Ninth Symphony, the Monroe Doctrine was declared by the United States, Quinine was isolated and named as treatment for malaria, skiing was introduced, Rossini composed the William Tell Overture, Braille type was invented, and college sororities and fraternities were founded. 

For more great pictures of the prophets, like the ones at the top of this page, check out Robert T. Barrett's Illustration & Fine Art.