Hello Sisters! I hope this finds you well today.
I am hopeful you might be willing to read an excerpt from the Lioness Meditations book coming to you this fall!
For a long time, I’ve wanted to create a tool that could be a daily reminder of the principles we practice in Lioness. Principles of learning to give and receive unconditional love, of disengaging from the Mindbody Syndrome, of using our mindset tools to stay more often in a place of vision and gratitude, and more.
Well, this is the year! And the plan is that by January 1, 2023, anyone who would like daily, clarifying meditations for staying on a loving track will have this Lioness tool in their hands!
But first, while I’m working on this project, I wonder if you’d be willing to read a small sample? And then, if you have any words of advice or encouragement, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
365 Days of Mama’s Love: Daily Meditations to Help Moms Create a Home of Love
January 2:
Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.” 2 Nephi 4:17
Does this sound like the discouragement in your head when you realize you have been less than loving? When you see that you have personal patterns of responding out of fear instead of faith? Of yelling or criticizing, instead of loving and teaching?
Though our hearts sorrow because of our addiction to the homemade soup of chemicals we cook-up in our bodies when we think depressing, negative, ugly, unloving thoughts, we can break the habit.
Deep inside we know it: unchecked, negative thinking patterns kill our peace, deplete our love tank and therefore do great harm to the vulnerable relationships we’re building with our spouse and children.
Recognized, our thinking errors can be owned and given to the Savior through daily repentance. (Even those deeply ingrained patterns of thought are our responsibility!) Fortunately for us, He has borne our grief and will still carry our sorrows…even while we are taking baby steps toward him.
Declare it: “I take counsel from my faith. I am letting go of fear and pride and come to my relationships in a spirit of humility and meekness.”
January 3:
“Clearly, it is what you do and what you think about that determine what you are and what you will become. Therefore, the choices you make need to be inspired by the Lord.” Richard G. Scott, The Sustaining Power of Faith, April 2003.
Without honesty, we can be like a typist who has her fingers on the wrong keys, but is typing away, not realizing her words are coming out as gibberish.
Who is truly in charge of your life?
What results have you experienced thus far?
Can you accept that you have, by your reactions to and decisions about your circumstances, created the feelings you have now?
We must own our lives. Admit our problems and seek for remedy. Doing so will take us out of our pride and hostility (enmity) to a place of humility and even gratitude, and it is a simple, penitent and heartfelt prayer away.
And what mission can we detect from that honest, humble vantage point? What revelation can we receive?
Once, many years after my parent’s painful and life-altering divorce, the spirit prompted me to give thanks in all things. “All??” I asked. “But I can’t!”
I found that even when I couldn’t speak the words on my own, the Lord came to my aid and helped me to obey. When the words did come out of my mouth, they were followed by a mighty vision of all the blessings and education I had received through our trials!
Declare it: “I am graceful in change because I accept God’s will in my life.”
January 4:
“We are followers of the Prince of Peace. Now more than ever, we need the peace only He can bring.” President Russell M. Nelson, The Power of Spiritual Momentum, April 2022
Every time I have blamed someone else for my challenges I have been weakened spiritually. Resentment, I found, only leads to greater and prolonged, pain.
At times it feels like admitting we have been wrong is the most difficult part of healing! What if we are in charge? What if attributing our pain and angst to others was wrong? Then what? What if we accept responsibility for our lives?
When we accept responsibility for moving forward, we move into the place of our power! Into Christ’s peace.
Recently, a client said the words, “I do that.” She was referring to habitually seeing herself as the victim in her relationships. I was excited, as this was the first admittance of responsibility she had spoken out loud! I felt the wall of her resistance to joy quake and collapse with those three words!
Now! Now, with ownership, the powers of heaven can rush to her aid, and can come to each of us when we tell the truth! We must first own the unloving behaviors we justified! We must acknowledge our faulty pattern; how our reactions of anger and hurt don’t help us feel more loved, but weaken our confidence and relationships instead.
Declare it: “I am honest. I embrace Christ’s peace by embracing his ways. While feeling God’s love, I am made able to own the unloving ways I have treated myself and others, repent, and move forward. I am free!”
Know I’m rooting for your success today! That is for you to feel loved and to be loving. God bless you for the loving and nurturing mothers you are.
Take good care,
