The Lord's Plan for Balancing Our Lives 

D&C 88:119

by: Aine Schulmire

I once gave a lesson using D&C 88:119 as a blueprint for balancing our lives.  As I have tried to live this scripture, I’ve had to rethink my priorities & make sure I’m in keeping with “the plan”.  I believe it is a commandment to put our homes in order  (see D&C 93) – there is peace & comfort in doing so.  Here is the outline from that HFPE meeting:


Organize Yourselves

Read Footnote – Family, Managing Finances In & Priesthood, Magnifying Callings in.

Examples:
 Budgeting
 Debt Reduction
 Wise spending
 Relationships
 Roles of parents/children clearly defined

Prepare Every Needful Thing

What are needful things?

Examples:
 Transportation
  Insurance – medical/life/car/home
 Food Storage/Water Storage & 72 hr. kits
 Will in case of unexpected death
  Meals (Meal planning, OAMC, freezer meals)
 Exercise & nutrition
 Gardening
 Clothing (wise purchase/care & keep/laundry)

Establish a House

The Lord was speaking of establishing a temple.  Have we not been
instructed to make our homes holy places?  Temples if you will?  Here are
some of the characteristics of a temple listed in Mormon Doctrine:

 Holy, unpolluted, clean & sweet
 Functional
 Design, decoration, atmosphere, & program contributes to   
  teaching
 Teach of Christ
 Filled with the spirit
 Aura of Deity

Note – Pictures are important.  The Cathedral’s in Europe originally had the pictures & stained glass pictures done because their patrons couldn’t read.  The pictures told the stories, & taught the principles.  Important to remember, esp. with children.

A House of Prayer

We talked about the characteristics of meaningful prayer.  (See
scriptures & Mormon Doctrine for those.)  How can you help your family have the prayers they’re supposed to have?  (Example: we talked about why it’s easy to have meal prayers but hard to have family prayer)

 Morning & Evening prayer
 Spouse & Family prayers
 Individual prayer
 Meals


House of Fasting

We went over the reasons for fasting:  sickness, special blessings, to gain a testimony, to receive revelation, conversion to the truth, guidance of church officers & leaders of the country, accompany righteous mourning & sorrow, as a means to sanctify soul, guidance along path leading to salvation.

 Fast offerings
 Service to others

House of Faith

Read about things that will build faith.  Alma 32:21

 Callings
 Blessings
 Genealogy work
 Church Attendance
 Home Teach/Visit Teach
 Follow the prophet
 Temple Attendance
 Tithing
 Covenants & ordinances



House of Learning

See D&C 88:118  Some examples we cited:

 Scripture Study
 FHE
 General, Stake, & Ward Conference
 Music
 Enrichment Night & Provident Living
 Reading your RS manual & Sunday School lesson ahead of time
 School/Home School/College/Continuing Education for adults
 Travel & Field Trips
 Cultural Experiences
 Reading GOOD books


House of Glory

D&C 88:121

 Gratitude
 Reverence – no yelling/contention
 Rejoicing (joy)
 Music

House of Order

D&C 88:122-125

 Yard work
 Home maintenance
 TV Scheduling
 Beautifying
 Family Council
 Prioritize
 Planning
 Goal Setting
 Scheduling

Those were just ones we quickly came up with – we were way short on time here.  But I strongly encouraged them to look up “Order” in the Topical Guide & find what the Lord truly meant here.  Some words there are:

 unity
 govern
 law
 organization
 peace

House of God

 No unclean thing (movies, music, pictures apparel)
 Kindness

Quote from Joseph Smith:

“The order of the house of God has been, & ever will be, the same, even after Christ comes; and after the termination of the thousand years it will be the same; and we shall finally enter into the celestial kingdom of God, and enjoy it forever."