"The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle"...are our youth ready? Are WE ready :)?

 In Isaiah 13, there is an excerpt at the end of verse 4 and the beginning of verse 5 that made me think of the youth of today from many faiths:

"The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the ^bbattle.  5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven"

Our youth have truly been chosen and mustered "from the end of heaven" to engage in the battle for truth and good on this world!  However, the opposition is fierce!

The other day, my son recommended the following scripture from his scripture study in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, and I thought it fit as the answer of these youth to that opposition:

 8 We are ^atroubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in ^bdespair;

 9 ^aPersecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not ^bdestroyed.

It is not going to be easy!  Freedom and truth was never easily defended.

Look at the life of George Washington.  I recently read "The Real George Washington" and was struck by the endless stream of tragedy, betrayal and deprevation that plagued that noble man and his efforts to gain freedom for America with his beleaguered, under-fed, under-clothed troops.  It was not pretty.  It was not perfect.  It was not simple.  It was an endless stream of hardship!

Our youth need to learn that, just because they are doing the right thing, at the right time, it may not be easy, perfect, or even bearable :).  It is a battle, in every sense of the word, and they must not get discouraged.

My daughter found a poem for a devotional some days ago that perfectly complements these ideas:

"Go Forth to Life" by Samuel Longfellow

Go forth to life, O child of earth!
Still mindful of thy heav’nly birth;
Thou art not here for ease, or sin,
But manhood’s noble crown to win.

Tho’ passion’s fires are in thy soul,
Thy spirit can their flames control;
Tho’ tempters strong beset thy way,
Thy spirit is more strong than they.

Go on from innocence of youth
To manly purity and truth;
God’s angels still are near to save,
And God Himself doth help the brave.

Then forth to life, O child of earth!
Be worthy of thy heav’nly birth!
For noble service thou art here;
Thy brothers help, thy God revere!

To touch it all off, I just came across this quote that my friend shared in her Vanguard group (I love connections!)
 from "The Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson"  Selected and Edited by
Robert N. Linscott
p.43 - The wise man in the storm prays God, not for safety from
danger, but for deliverance from fear.  It is the storm within which
endangers him, not the storm without.

Just because life isn't easy, it doesn't mean we are not doing what God wants us to do!

"I know who I am"

Here is an incredible video produced by some youth in the South Jordan River Stake, shown to me by one of my own youth from Vanguard....love you, Ashley!

I know who I am

It brought me chills.  Our youth are prepared and perfect to meet the incredible darkness and wickedness of these last days.  They are strong, they are good, they are ready. 

The power of "Intentionally recreating"

I was talking to a friend yesterday, and she said that so often we of the LDS faith underestimate a  line in " The Family: a Proclamation to the World": "Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles...[among other things] wholesome recreational activities."

This was brought up as I was sharing some insights I got from a BYU devotional talk I came across not too long ago while listening to the radio in my car.  It was a broadcast on k-BYU on July 17, given by Patti Freeman and titled "Intentional recreation and Things that Matter Most."

Here is a link where, for now, you can either listen to or watch it. (I believe the transcript will be up later.)  I only came in towards the end, but it was incredible...all about the many benefits we get with intentionally recreating as a family (or as mentors with our youth!).

Intentional recreation and Things that Matter Most

When the transcripts are up, I will try and put in my favorite sections for those who don't have the time to listen to, watch, or read the whole thing.

One part that stuck out to me was only a small part of the talk, but she spoke about how when we recreate as a family, it is an opportunity for our sons and daughters (or youth!) to see how men and women appropriately treat each other.  I thought about last May, when Quinn and the kids and I hiked the slot canyons Ding and Dang down by Goblin Valley.  Quinn had to both lower and raise me up several times, offered to help with things, and I deferred to his judgment several times with trust and appreciation for his perspective in the best path for our family.  I had never thought of this blessing of "recreating" together!

Anyway, there were a whole bunch of other great points to it, and to at least listen to the last 20 minutes, in my mind, would be incredibly valuable--seeing as that is all I got from it :).

Youth vs. Teenager: the myth revealed :)!

This incredible article sums up why I want to always call my child a youth, and not a teenager :)...

http://www.home-school.com/Articles/PlattTeenagers.html

Here is a delicious excerpt to tempt you to read the rest :):
"Being immature, youths will always be tempted by pleasures, by flattery, and by illusions, but with an adult world around them, they will be able to make comparisons and judgments. Candy is candy, candy is sweet, candy can be given to you, but nothing in the world can substitute for knowing how to ride your bike. No one can give that to you. No one can do that for you.
Youths tend, then, to know the difference between the things that are really your own -- the virtues -- and the things that come from others, such as wealth, or come easy, such as the pleasures. Good youths like good tests. They want to enjoy adult pleasures after they have earned them by performing adult duties."
"These pleasures (the false ones that rule the world of "Teenagers") are powerful, absorbing, and "quickie." The Teenager craves a melody that will rock him around the clock forever, seeks an experience so intense that he will forget what time it is, and so absorbing that it will blot out all eternity.
"Never does one see a smile on the faces of those enjoying these pleasures. The Teenager is the most free and the least happy of beings. Thoreau said most people lead lives of "quiet desperation." The desperation of the Teenager is not quiet. With the Rolling Stones, they shout, "I can't get no satisfaction."
"The day the Teenager was created was a sad day for every youth in America. Imagine yourself young again, unsure of yourself, swayed by strong passions, by turns ashamed and proud, sometimes shy, sometimes assertive, always awkward, filled with new desires and hard on yourself for having them, drawn toward cliques, tempted by clique cruelty, by affectation, by enslaving pleasures, and by premature bonds, but fighting on, knowing that you want to become something better, someone capable of good work, deserving your own respect, and maybe one day becoming a good parent -- imagine such struggling youths hearing their own parents say, "Relax, take it easy, enjoy yourself, adulthood will happen, don't sweat, this is the time of your life."

Okay...I included three quotes, but it does make you think about truth, doesn't it?