WEBVTT 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:09.957 Paisley: Hey everybody, hello again. Before I get started, I 00:00:10.023 --> 00:00:14.170 need to correct something from last week's video about Alma. So 00:00:14.236 --> 00:00:17.725 you probably remember I was questioning whether I was 00:00:17.791 --> 00:00:21.872 getting the right Alma, Alma the elder, or Alma the Younger. I 00:00:21.938 --> 00:00:25.690 got the wrong one. Alma the elder was not the first chief 00:00:25.756 --> 00:00:29.574 judge. Alma the Younger was and if I had slowed down for a 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:33.656 second and thought about it, the reason that Alma the Younger 00:00:33.722 --> 00:00:37.606 became the chief judge was because the four sons of Mosiah, 00:00:37.672 --> 00:00:41.490 all of the sons of Mosiah, refused to become king, instead 00:00:41.556 --> 00:00:45.637 opting to go on missions to the Lamanites. So Alma the Younger 00:00:45.703 --> 00:00:49.785 was then voted in as their Chief Judge, not Alma the elder, it 00:00:49.850 --> 00:00:51.760 was Alma the Younger, my bad. 00:00:51.760 --> 00:00:55.683 Okay, so talking about being still, I don't know about you, 00:00:55.750 --> 00:01:00.072 but I think I'm ready finally to dive into elder bednars talk. We 00:01:00.139 --> 00:01:04.395 might actually end up doing two episodes on elder Bednar s talk. 00:01:04.461 --> 00:01:08.052 It's from the most recent General Conference, and it's 00:01:08.119 --> 00:01:12.375 titled, Be still and know that I am God. Up to this point in our 00:01:12.441 --> 00:01:16.697 month, we've been talking about finding stillness and about what 00:01:16.764 --> 00:01:20.954 stillness feels like. We've been talking about how to recognize 00:01:21.020 --> 00:01:25.010 it, how you feel on the inside. The thing that struck me the 00:01:25.077 --> 00:01:29.200 most about elder Bednar talk is that he's talking about how to 00:01:29.266 --> 00:01:33.190 build stillness or create it. He says, quote, I believe the 00:01:33.256 --> 00:01:37.180 Lord's admonition to be still entails much more than simply 00:01:37.246 --> 00:01:41.103 not talking or not moving. Perhaps his intent is for us to 00:01:41.170 --> 00:01:45.160 remember and rely upon him and his power at all times and in 00:01:45.226 --> 00:01:49.283 all things and in all places that we may be in. Thus be still 00:01:49.350 --> 00:01:52.874 may be a way of reminding us to focus upon the Savior 00:01:52.941 --> 00:01:56.332 unfailingly as the ultimate source of the spiritual 00:01:56.399 --> 00:01:59.790 stillness of the soul that strengthens us to do and 00:01:59.857 --> 00:02:03.581 overcome hard things. He said that right before this big 00:02:03.647 --> 00:02:07.837 header. So if you go, if you go to the talk and you look at it, 00:02:07.903 --> 00:02:12.026 he says all of that right before this big header. And then the 00:02:12.093 --> 00:02:15.950 big header says, build upon the rock. And the word rock is 00:02:16.017 --> 00:02:20.206 capitalized, which, if upon was also capitalized, it would just 00:02:20.273 --> 00:02:24.130 be title case, but it's not suggesting that build upon the 00:02:24.196 --> 00:02:28.253 rock, rock being another name for the Savior. So, and this is 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:32.309 where we get into building or creating our own stillness. So 00:02:32.376 --> 00:02:36.499 first, let me ask a question, and afterwards, I'll pause for a 00:02:36.565 --> 00:02:38.960 couple of seconds to let you ponder. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:43.349 So elder Bednar says that the Lord's intent is for us to 00:02:43.427 --> 00:02:47.895 remember and rely upon him and his power. Where does that 00:02:47.973 --> 00:02:52.598 begin? Where do us remembering and relying upon him and his 00:02:52.676 --> 00:02:57.379 power? Where does that begin? Honestly, I don't remember the 00:02:57.458 --> 00:03:02.161 exact moment, or if there even has been one exact moment. It 00:03:02.239 --> 00:03:07.255 feels more like a combination of moments, or like I have to make 00:03:07.334 --> 00:03:12.115 the decision every time. But I don't know that there was ever 00:03:12.193 --> 00:03:16.505 one moment where I decided to rely upon and remember my 00:03:16.583 --> 00:03:21.129 Savior. I have some spotty memories from my childhood, and 00:03:21.207 --> 00:03:26.067 some from when I was in young women's teenager where I can say 00:03:26.146 --> 00:03:30.770 that I was relying on him, but again, I don't have that one 00:03:30.848 --> 00:03:35.081 moment. I can remember the moment when I knew that the 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:39.862 church was the right place for me. I remember that moment. I 00:03:39.941 --> 00:03:44.722 can remember the first time I felt the Holy Ghost. I remember 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:49.190 that moment, but I don't remember conscientiously making 00:03:49.268 --> 00:03:54.128 a choice to rely on my savior in all things for my whole life. 00:03:54.206 --> 00:03:59.380 Like I said, it feels like I have to continually make that choice. 00:03:59.380 --> 00:04:03.330 So I asked the question again, more for myself, I guess. Where 00:04:03.394 --> 00:04:07.090 does that begin? Where did it start? Elder Bednar suggests 00:04:07.154 --> 00:04:11.105 that it begins as we build our spiritual foundation. He quotes 00:04:11.168 --> 00:04:15.119 Helaman 512 and if you're kind of old like me, you'll remember 00:04:15.183 --> 00:04:18.815 Helaman 512 was a scripture mastery verse back in the day 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:22.702 when we had to memorize all those verses. He says, Remember, 00:04:22.766 --> 00:04:26.398 remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is 00:04:26.462 --> 00:04:30.604 Christ, the Son of God, that you must build your foundation. That 00:04:30.668 --> 00:04:34.364 when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his 00:04:34.428 --> 00:04:38.378 shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty 00:04:38.442 --> 00:04:42.393 storms shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to 00:04:42.457 --> 00:04:46.216 drag you down to the Gulf of misery and endless woe because 00:04:46.280 --> 00:04:49.594 of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure 00:04:49.657 --> 00:04:52.971 foundation, a foundation whereon, if men build, they 00:04:53.035 --> 00:04:53.800 cannot fall. 00:04:53.800 --> 00:04:57.229 So he goes on to explain further about how foundations for 00:04:57.288 --> 00:05:01.013 buildings are constructed, and talks about inkers. Getting them 00:05:01.072 --> 00:05:04.797 down into the rock. But first he points out something critical. 00:05:04.856 --> 00:05:08.345 He says, Please note in that verse so that one that we just 00:05:08.404 --> 00:05:11.715 read from Helaman that the Savior is not the foundation. 00:05:11.774 --> 00:05:14.849 Rather, we are admonished to build our own personal, 00:05:14.908 --> 00:05:18.397 spiritual foundation upon him. So our foundation is not the 00:05:18.456 --> 00:05:22.062 savior. Our foundation is built upon the Savior. What we know 00:05:22.122 --> 00:05:25.787 about him, what we know of him, what we know about what he has 00:05:25.847 --> 00:05:29.158 done for us. Then he talks about how the foundation of a 00:05:29.217 --> 00:05:32.646 building, what connects it securely to the ground. He uses 00:05:32.705 --> 00:05:36.490 pictures throughout the portion of this talk. And if you want to 00:05:36.549 --> 00:05:40.274 jump in a little bit deeper, you can go over there and check it 00:05:40.333 --> 00:05:43.230 out. I'll make sure that the link is in the video 00:05:43.289 --> 00:05:46.660 description, but that's not what I want to focus on here. 00:05:46.660 --> 00:05:51.193 I have another question, one that I don't think we've defined 00:05:51.268 --> 00:05:55.727 yet. What is stillness? We've been talking about finding it, 00:05:55.802 --> 00:06:00.261 we've been talking about feeling it. Now we're talking about 00:06:00.335 --> 00:06:04.944 building it or creating it. But have we really even defined it 00:06:05.018 --> 00:06:09.700 yet? As I thought about that in preparation for this, actually, 00:06:09.775 --> 00:06:14.011 I realized I can't define stillness for you. I can't tell 00:06:14.086 --> 00:06:18.397 you what is going to help you find your stillness, or what 00:06:18.471 --> 00:06:23.153 helps you to feel still inside. I can tell you what it means to 00:06:23.228 --> 00:06:27.985 me. And so again, in the process of putting all this together, I 00:06:28.059 --> 00:06:32.593 took a second and I finished, I did one of those complete the 00:06:32.667 --> 00:06:37.052 sentence things right. I feel still, which, by the way, try 00:06:37.127 --> 00:06:41.735 and say that 10 times fast and see if you don't start tripping 00:06:41.809 --> 00:06:46.417 over that, but I feel still when complete the sentence, finish 00:06:46.492 --> 00:06:51.100 the statement. So I came up with five things. There were a lot 00:06:51.174 --> 00:06:55.708 more things, but each one of those things I could bucket into 00:06:55.782 --> 00:07:00.242 one of these five things. So number one, I feel still when I 00:07:00.316 --> 00:07:04.999 know I've done my best. When I know I've done everything that I 00:07:05.073 --> 00:07:09.458 can do, I can start to feel still inside. I feel still when 00:07:09.533 --> 00:07:13.918 I believe I'm doing right by others. Others' opinions of me 00:07:13.992 --> 00:07:18.452 don't necessarily matter to me, but the way that I make them 00:07:18.526 --> 00:07:23.134 feel does. The way that I make them feel affects their opinion 00:07:23.208 --> 00:07:27.817 of me. But if I've apologized for things I've done wrong, then 00:07:27.891 --> 00:07:32.202 I still feel like I've done my best and I've done right by 00:07:32.276 --> 00:07:37.033 others. So number one, I know I feel still when I know I've done 00:07:37.107 --> 00:07:41.121 my best. Number two, when I believe I'm doing right by 00:07:41.195 --> 00:07:45.580 others. Number three, when I feel heard or seen that can go 00:07:45.655 --> 00:07:49.520 along with being validated, I feel still when I feel 00:07:49.594 --> 00:07:53.756 validated, I feel still when I've done something to help 00:07:53.831 --> 00:07:57.621 someone else, and I didn't complain about it like I 00:07:57.696 --> 00:08:02.378 actually did something nice for somebody because I wanted to do 00:08:02.452 --> 00:08:07.209 something nice for somebody, not because I felt like I was being 00:08:07.284 --> 00:08:11.892 guilted into it, or just because I didn't want to make anybody 00:08:11.966 --> 00:08:16.128 mad. But when I actually do something nice for somebody, 00:08:16.203 --> 00:08:20.811 just out of the goodness of my heart, I feel still. And I feel 00:08:20.885 --> 00:08:25.493 still when I do the right thing. Sometimes that takes a little 00:08:25.568 --> 00:08:30.101 bit of extra time, because doing the right thing sometimes is 00:08:30.176 --> 00:08:34.487 hard, and it can affect the way that other people feel. So 00:08:34.561 --> 00:08:39.169 sometimes when I do the right thing, even if it's not the easy 00:08:39.244 --> 00:08:43.629 thing, I still, I will feel still inside, but it might take 00:08:43.703 --> 00:08:48.163 a little bit extra time. Okay, so those were the five things 00:08:48.237 --> 00:08:52.696 that I came up with for me to help those are the things that 00:08:52.771 --> 00:08:56.859 mean something to me, that helped me feel still inside. 00:08:56.933 --> 00:09:01.021 Your five things, or three things or 10 things might be 00:09:01.095 --> 00:09:05.555 different, and that's totally fine. Elder Bednar, oh, before 00:09:05.629 --> 00:09:09.866 that, though I when I was looking at those five things, I 00:09:09.940 --> 00:09:14.548 was wondering like, Okay, what do these five things have to do 00:09:14.622 --> 00:09:18.636 with my foundation? Do they suggest that I've built my 00:09:18.710 --> 00:09:22.947 foundation upon my savior? Do they suggest that I am more 00:09:23.021 --> 00:09:27.109 concerned about what people think about me than what he 00:09:27.184 --> 00:09:31.643 thinks about me? Do I need to make some adjustments? So then 00:09:31.717 --> 00:09:36.028 it went and I made myself stop in elder Bednarz talk now I 00:09:36.103 --> 00:09:40.859 looked at it a few times before, like this wasn't the first time 00:09:40.934 --> 00:09:45.245 through. I looked at it a few times before, but I mean, if 00:09:45.319 --> 00:09:49.927 you're anything like me, I can read it like 40 times and still 00:09:50.001 --> 00:09:54.387 find something different in it every time. So I made myself 00:09:54.461 --> 00:09:58.772 stop at a point in his talk to figure out, Okay, what does 00:09:58.846 --> 00:10:02.340 stillness. Mean for me, and then he defines it. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:08.143 He says, so here's what elder Bednar suggests, stillness is, 00:10:08.219 --> 00:10:13.141 he says, quote incrementally and increasingly in process of time, 00:10:13.217 --> 00:10:17.836 virtue garnishes our thoughts unceasingly. Our confidence wax 00:10:17.912 --> 00:10:22.228 stronger and stronger in the presence of God and the Holy 00:10:22.304 --> 00:10:26.848 Ghost is our constant companion. We've become more grounded, 00:10:26.924 --> 00:10:31.619 rooted, established and settled. And that's the magic word for 00:10:31.694 --> 00:10:36.011 me, settled, grounded, rooted, established, settled. That 00:10:36.087 --> 00:10:40.327 sounds more like it sounds more it sounds like more than 00:10:40.403 --> 00:10:45.022 stillness. It sounds like a very strong, like, I don't have a 00:10:45.098 --> 00:10:49.187 word for it yet, but it sounds like a strong, anchored 00:10:49.263 --> 00:10:53.807 stillness that is steadfast and immovable. It's like a rock, 00:10:53.882 --> 00:10:58.199 right? Like, that's what it means to build our foundation 00:10:58.275 --> 00:11:02.743 upon our Savior, to be rooted and established in our in the 00:11:02.818 --> 00:11:07.438 things that we believe and the people that we are becoming or 00:11:07.513 --> 00:11:11.981 trying to become, that helps us to feel still or to have an 00:11:12.057 --> 00:11:16.828 inner stillness that we can go back to and rely upon later. Let 00:11:16.904 --> 00:11:21.296 me finish that quote. So he says, as the foundation of our 00:11:21.371 --> 00:11:26.067 lives is built upon the Savior, we are blessed to be still, to 00:11:26.142 --> 00:11:30.837 have a spiritual assurance that God is our Heavenly Father, we 00:11:30.913 --> 00:11:34.700 are His children, and Jesus, Christ is our Savior. 00:11:34.700 --> 00:11:39.262 So again, I looked at elder Bednar, definition of stillness, 00:11:39.338 --> 00:11:44.129 and I looked at mine, and I can see that he is defining it on a 00:11:44.205 --> 00:11:48.996 much more eternal scale. He has more of an eternal perspective. 00:11:49.072 --> 00:11:53.331 So he says, garnish sorry. He says, virtue garnishes our 00:11:53.407 --> 00:11:58.122 thoughts unceasingly. Mine was I've done my best and I'm doing 00:11:58.198 --> 00:12:02.228 right by others. Virtue garnishing my thoughts, doing 00:12:02.304 --> 00:12:06.943 what I believe to be the right thing to do, doing my best, my 00:12:07.019 --> 00:12:11.430 honest best, not excusing myself, just saying, Well, I did 00:12:11.506 --> 00:12:15.916 my best, but legitimately evaluating my my progress and my 00:12:15.992 --> 00:12:20.783 performance, and can really say that I did my very best and I'm 00:12:20.859 --> 00:12:25.574 doing right by others. He says, Our confidence wax is stronger 00:12:25.650 --> 00:12:29.833 and stronger in the presence of God. Mine was I've done 00:12:29.909 --> 00:12:34.548 something to help somebody else without complaining about it, 00:12:34.624 --> 00:12:39.262 and I've done the right thing. He says that the Holy Ghost is 00:12:39.338 --> 00:12:43.825 our constant companion. Mine says, when I've done the right 00:12:43.901 --> 00:12:48.236 thing, or I'm doing right by others, I like to think that 00:12:48.312 --> 00:12:52.951 when I've done the right thing, it's because I because I have 00:12:53.027 --> 00:12:57.133 the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Constant 00:12:57.209 --> 00:13:01.772 companionship of the Holy Ghost, and that what I do right by 00:13:01.848 --> 00:13:06.487 others. It's because I take a second to take my own spiritual 00:13:06.563 --> 00:13:11.202 inventory make sure that I am listening to the Holy Ghost and 00:13:11.278 --> 00:13:15.612 say the things that the Holy Ghost would be telling me to 00:13:15.688 --> 00:13:20.631 say, rather than the things that I just want to say or the things 00:13:20.707 --> 00:13:25.270 that I think somebody needs to heard. To hear it's not about 00:13:25.346 --> 00:13:30.061 me, it's about them. It's about what they need. And how can I, 00:13:30.137 --> 00:13:34.472 how can I help them get what they need? Notice that being 00:13:34.548 --> 00:13:38.958 seen or heard wasn't in there? So I started thinking about 00:13:39.034 --> 00:13:43.369 that, and feeling, actually a little self conscious about 00:13:43.445 --> 00:13:48.236 that, like, should I? Should I share that? Is that more of like 00:13:48.312 --> 00:13:52.799 a like a worldly problem? But then I read that again, and I 00:13:52.875 --> 00:13:56.905 was like, Can I find it in there? And I don't want to 00:13:56.981 --> 00:14:01.848 stretch it, but I did something. Did come to me as I was looking 00:14:01.924 --> 00:14:06.791 at it again. He said that we can have a spiritual assurance that 00:14:06.867 --> 00:14:11.430 heavenly Father, that God is our Heavenly Father. We are His 00:14:11.506 --> 00:14:16.145 children, and Jesus, Christ is our Savior. And if you believe 00:14:16.221 --> 00:14:20.860 in prayer, then logically, if God is our Father, Jesus Christ 00:14:20.936 --> 00:14:25.042 is our Savior, and prayer actually works like when you 00:14:25.118 --> 00:14:29.985 speak to God, he hears you. Then I am heard and I am seen, maybe 00:14:30.061 --> 00:14:34.472 not so much, by the people around me. I still have to tell 00:14:34.548 --> 00:14:39.339 my kids 50,000 times put their shoes on before just leaving the 00:14:39.415 --> 00:14:43.902 house without them, which I've never done, they always come 00:14:43.978 --> 00:14:47.020 running with their shoes in their hands. 00:14:47.020 --> 00:14:51.688 But it also suggests to me that I need to take a step back and 00:14:51.764 --> 00:14:56.357 evaluate those interactions. I need to decide which ones have 00:14:56.433 --> 00:15:00.876 more eternal significance, and those are the conversations. 00:15:00.951 --> 00:15:05.620 Those are the times when being seen or heard is important. But 00:15:05.695 --> 00:15:10.515 it might not be me that it needs to be important to am I helping 00:15:10.590 --> 00:15:15.033 others to feel seen and heard and know that Heavenly Father 00:15:15.108 --> 00:15:19.777 loves them being heard or seen in situations that lack lasting 00:15:19.853 --> 00:15:24.597 importance. I need to learn how to let those ones go, and maybe 00:15:24.672 --> 00:15:28.964 instead of me being seen or heard, I need to help someone 00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:33.633 else be seen or heard. Okay, I think we're going to come back 00:15:33.709 --> 00:15:38.528 to this talk again, because, you know, last week we were talking 00:15:38.603 --> 00:15:42.896 about finding and feeling stillness. Today, we're talking 00:15:42.971 --> 00:15:47.640 about building it or creating it. And his talk goes on to tell 00:15:47.715 --> 00:15:52.610 us how to keep it. What are some things that we can do to keep it 00:15:52.686 --> 00:15:57.354 once we have found it or built it? There is one other thing in 00:15:57.430 --> 00:16:02.099 there, though, that I want to share today. It's the promise at 00:16:02.174 --> 00:16:06.165 the end, and I love it when apostles or prophets give 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:10.759 promises at the end, he says, I promise that as we build the 00:16:10.834 --> 00:16:15.503 foundation of our lives on the rock of Jesus Christ, we can be 00:16:15.578 --> 00:16:19.645 blessed by the Holy Ghost to receive an individual and 00:16:19.720 --> 00:16:24.163 spiritual stillness of the soul that enables us to know and 00:16:24.238 --> 00:16:28.154 remember that God is our Heavenly Father. We are His 00:16:28.229 --> 00:16:32.974 children. Jesus, Christ is our Savior, and we can be blessed to 00:16:33.049 --> 00:16:37.191 do and overcome hard things. That's the that's the real 00:16:37.266 --> 00:16:41.709 stillness, being able to be spiritually still enough in our 00:16:41.784 --> 00:16:46.001 soul to know that we are children of God, and we are not 00:16:46.077 --> 00:16:50.896 just a children of a hateful or vengeful God. We are children of 00:16:50.972 --> 00:16:55.189 a God who is full of love, so much love that he sent our 00:16:55.264 --> 00:16:56.620 Savior to save us. 00:16:56.620 --> 00:17:00.528 We could go on a lot longer, on more ways to build our 00:17:00.601 --> 00:17:05.161 foundation. I could talk forever about the proof of God's love, 00:17:05.233 --> 00:17:09.287 but I'm gonna, I'm gonna go ahead and end it here. Maybe 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:13.774 we'll talk about those little bits and pieces of a foundation 00:17:13.847 --> 00:17:18.479 another day. It's actually kind of a good idea, but today I just 00:17:18.552 --> 00:17:22.533 want to say thank you for listening. I hope that you're 00:17:22.605 --> 00:17:26.803 finding stillness, and let's take a minute and look at our 00:17:26.876 --> 00:17:31.436 foundation and look at what that stillness means to us, and see 00:17:31.508 --> 00:17:36.068 if there's something else that we need to do, something that we 00:17:36.141 --> 00:17:40.629 may be missing just a little bit of in building our foundation 00:17:40.701 --> 00:17:45.044 and helping us become steadfast and immovable and confident? 00:17:45.116 --> 00:17:49.315 Could we be confident in the presence of God today if that 00:17:49.387 --> 00:17:53.802 were an option anyway? Thank you for being here with me again 00:17:53.875 --> 00:17:55.540 today. Enjoy your week.