Paisley: Hey everybody, it's me again, Paisley imperfect. We've
been talking about stillness so far this month. But I wanted to
pivot today's message and talk about building our foundation
instead, kind of going off of what we talked about with elder
Bednarz talk on Tuesday. That Talk got me thinking about my
own foundation and what it might be missing. Excuse me.
So, first, I wanted to point out that our foundation is a
lifelong endeavor. It's not something that we will be able
to build overnight, it's not something that's going to happen
in a week, or even a decade. Really. Think about it this way
we are building at least this is this is how I think about it
now. We are building the foundation for our eternal
mansions right, our mansion in heaven. That's what we're
building the foundation for. So when we're talking about
building our foundation and building our foundation upon
Jesus Christ, yes, I think we're talking about building a
foundation that we can stand on and be steadfast and immovable
on in this life. But I also think that we're kind of
building the foundation for our eternity for our, our mansion in
heaven, if you will.
So knowing that our knowing that our foundation is a lifelong
pursuit, actually gives me a little bit of hope, if they
weren't lifelong, and you could just start from where you are,
where would that leave you. So today, I'm going to pull from a
lot of different articles and different talks and things and
try to put together a good strong list of things that we
can do to help strengthen our foundations. I, I still have a
lot to learn on how to use chat GPT or copilot, and whatever,
all those AI programs out there, I wanted to try and create
something that I could like, put pieces into and kind of build
like a CGI foundation for a house. But there was a
malfunction between my brain and what chat TPT and and copilot
were were understanding. And it did not work. So just please be
patient and use your imagination as we kind of go through this.
So the first step in building a house, or any other building
right is to decide to do it. You want to build a house. So you
buy the land, you decide where you're going to put your house
on the land, you decide what kind of floor plan that you're
going to have. And once you have decided where it's going to go
when it's going to look like you start digging.
And building a personal spiritual foundation is the
same. First thing you do is you decide to do it. The second
thing you do is you find space. We have to find space in our
lives to be able to build the foundation, especially when we
start getting into some of the tools that I found. So a quote
this comes from Alia Hona article in April of 2016, called
Jesus Christ, our firm foundation by Donald L.
Hallstrom. He says, quote, today can be a pivotal home. Let me
start that over. Today can be a pivotal, even historic day in
our life, it can be the day we decide to take disciplined
efforts to build or to reinforce our foundation. It's worth any
price. Indeed, it is the essence of our life's work. He also says
For you who are really trying we sincerely commend you, if you
have never had the foundation we speak of, or through neglect of
let it crack or crumble. It is not too late to put on a hard
hat and go to work.
Or, in the words of Dr. Seuss. And one of my favorite Dr. Seuss
books. Today is your day Your mountain is waiting, so get on
your way. In this case, its foundation. So today is your day
your foundation is waiting, so get on your way. Once we've
decided that we're going to build a foundation, and we've
committed space for it in our lives, there are a lot of
different things that we can use as tools to help us build that
foundation.
And I found a few different talks three, actually, that
we're going to talk about. One of them is the one that we've
already talked about with that I've already mentioned by Donald
l Hallstrom. In the Liahona of April 2016. And in that article,
he lists six tools that have been given to given to us to
help us and I'm paraphrasing them a bit, but number one is
quality prayer. Number two is daily scripture study. Number
three is partaking of the sacrament each week. Number four
is continual self service. Number five is diligent covenant
keeping and number six is following the Council of living
prophets. And I'll put those on one of the Instagram, one of the
Instagram little card things. So you don't have to write them
down or memorize them or anything. Not that you would
that's kind of assumptive anyway. So quality prayer,
prayer, scripture study, taking the sacrament, selfless service,
covenant keeping and following the council's living prophets.
In a different article, this one was in October of 2001. And it
was in the new era. And it was actually kind of a, it was an
adaptation from something that Neil l Anderson had done at
Ensign college a few years before that. But it's called
storm warning. There's actually a really cool story in there
about a tornado and how this woman's mobile home gets picked
up in a tornado and just kind of set on top of her neighbor's
mobile home. It's kind of a kind of a humorous story, also a
little terrifying. Anyway, he gives us four tools in this
article, and you'll notice that they overlap. Number one is
prayer. The other number one was also prayer. Number two is
scripture study. The other one was also scripture study. Number
three, he says Worship, partaking of the sacrament each
week, and number four is service number four was service. So we
have those four.
And then I found another talk. This one was a general
conference talk from April, April 2013, called a shear
foundation by Dean M Davies. And it gives us five tools. So this
one, we have five and the five are prayer, reading the
scriptures, partaking of the sacrament, receiving essential
priesthood ordinances and participating in temple
ordinances. So there's some overlap there, a new one.
And so if I take all three of those talks together, I come up
with seven total essential tools to help us build an unfailing
Foundation. And those seven tools are quality and sincere
prayer, daily scripture reading or study. Sometimes all we can
do is read, that's fine. weekly worship that includes partaking
of the sacrament, selflessly serving others, receiving
essential priesthood ordinances, that's number five. Number six,
participating in temple ordinances and diligently
keeping those covenants. And number seven is following the
Council of living prophets.
So then I will echo the questions that Hallstrom asks,
In his article, he asks, Does this describe who you are? Or
does it at least describe who you are working to become? If
those are the seven things that we need in order to build a
strong foundation, then those are the seven things that we
should be working on and trying to become the the people that we
want to become.
He goes on to say the effort of building and maintaining a
spiritual foundation is not easy. The construction process
is a significant undertaking. And maintenance is a lifetime
effort. So don't think of this as like a one and done, this is
something that we work on forever, which is actually good
news, because that means we don't have a deadline. I mean,
we kind of do, but you know what I mean? Like we don't, we don't
have a deadline, our entire lives are an opportunity to to
sharpen those tools and to build and strengthen our foundation.
So each of the talks goes a little bit deeper into the tools
that they share. But I want to talk about that last one, number
seven for just a second following the Council of living
prophets, that tool that we have in our belt. And I have a little
story, and it's kind of a cheesy little story, but it's my story.
And so when I was in my early 20s, the prophet then was
President Hinckley. And I remember I was at a young adult
fireside, and he was a fireside or broadcast or something. And I
remember he started talking about tattoos and ear piercings.
He said something to the effect of sisters, if you feel the need
to have your ears pierced. One is enough. I had to, I had to in
each year, when I was 14, I had saved up all my babysitting
money and talked my mom into taking me to the mall so I can
get that second hole in my ear. And I didn't do it because I
thought everybody else would think I was cool. I did it
because I liked the way that it looked. And I I wanted to do it.
So I wasn't doing it for anybody else. I was only doing it for
me. So I remember when he said that. I was sitting there just
kind of at the stake center watching the broadcast, you
know, and All these girls in this room these other young
women started like going like this.
And I was like, What are they doing? And then I realized they
were taking out their second earring. And I was like, Okay,
well, that's good for them. It doesn't apply to me. It doesn't
apply to me because I didn't do it for them. They must have put
that second hole in their ear so that other people would think
they were cool. I just put that second hole in my ear because I
thought it was cool.
So Hallstrom actually quotes President iring. In his talk, he
says, quote, looking for the path to safety in the Council of
Prophets, makes sense to those with strong faith. When a
prophet speaks, those with little faith may think that they
hear only a wise man giving good advice, then if his counsel
seems comfortable and reasonable squaring with what they want to
do. They take it. If it does not, they consider it either
faulty advice, or they see their circumstances as justifying
their being an exception to the counsel. That was me. I was the
exception to the council. But then, Irene says another fallacy
is to believe that the choice to accept or not accept the Council
of profits is no more than deciding whether to accept good
Anyway, so as I start to kind of close out this episode, I want
to bring this all back into elder Bednarz talk from her last
episode. So you may remember that he was teaching us that
advice and gain its benefits, or to stay where we are. But the
being still means that we have a solid foundation, that solid
foundation is what keeps us from moving. He quoted Hillman 512,
and how the winds won't be able to move us because that
choice not to take prophetic counsel changes the very ground
foundation is strong. And hopefully you'll remember this
quote, he said, as the foundation of our lives is built
upon which we stand, it becomes dangerous. So we could go on and
upon the Savior, we are blessed to be still to have a spiritual
assurance that God is our Heavenly Father, we are His
children. And Jesus Christ is our Savior.
Hallstrom builds a little bit more on it and says, our
on and on about listening to the Prophet and acting on its
identity then becomes first, that of an eternal being a son
or daughter of God, and of a grateful receiver of the
blessings of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can then
counsel. Yeah, I eventually took that second earring out. And
securely build other righteous identities upon that foundation,
because we will know which are eternal, and which are temporary
and how to prioritize them. We will even choose to discard
maybe that will become a story for another day, why I
other identities and their accompanying practices, some
highly valued by the world.
So both of these talks, with the other articles and things that
eventually took it out. Suffice it to say, for now, it just had
we've pulled together, in my opinion, it all comes together
in this, to be still is to know who we are. As sons and
to do with obedience. But the point is that the profit is what
daughters of a loving Heavenly Father. Knowing who we really
are, is what provides the stillness that we seek. It's
what helps us stand steadfast on that foundation. So someone once
makes the that foundation concrete. The prophet is what
said to me, and I honestly, don't know who to attribute it
to. So if it sounds familiar, and you know where to, you know,
makes that solid, and hard, and steadfast. The prophet is what
who originally said it, by all means, please tell me. But they
said something to the effect of you are a daughter of God and to
links all of those things, our prayers, and our scripture
act like anything contrary, is to act like someone other than
yourself. Please be yourself. So I'm going to say the same thing
study, and our service and our temple worship and our sacrament
to you. You are a child of God, and He loves you to act like
anything contrary is to deny who you really are. So be yourself.
taking, he links all of those things together in a way that
Also, I want to say thank you again for being here. There are
100 Other things that you could be choosing to do right now. I
know this and I really appreciate that you have chosen
nothing else can.
this thing. So thank you for being here with me today