In our sacrament meeting today, one of the speakers talked about all her siblings being scattered around parts of Idaho and Oregon, and how, to keep track of everyone, her father had started conducting a sort of weekly Family Home Evening with all of them through their family blog.
Mom and I thought that was a great idea, very germane to our mission statement, so we decided to try it. I'll start, and she and I will then take turns each Sunday evening, posting a gospel topic about which we would like to have your separate families talk amongst yourselves and apply a comment sometime during the subsequent week. No pressure, but we would also like to see the branch family comments occasionally come from those who don't often blog, people like -Oh, I don't know-maybe Ray, Alex, Matt, Jason, for instance. If you can't get to it every time, we'll all understand. We don't want this to be an obligation, but an opportunity to share and communicate.
If Mom and I are traveling, or for any reason can't post on a given week, we will assign one of you to sub for us in determining and posting the topic for that week.
OK, on to tonight's topic. I was spiritually impressed by a hymn that we sang in our ward's choir practice today. The lyrics generated some deep memories and feelings for me. Page 293 of the current English hymnal - "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good". It's a newer addition to our hymnal so if yours is older, it may not be there. So click this link which will get you to the music portion of the Church website, and you can play the tune, adjust the tempo, etc, and sing along - it's like a karaoke machine for hymns. As you go through it, really try to contemplate it's meaning to you. OK, I'll set it up by giving you my impressions, and I can't wait to read yours.
The hymn speaks of good friends, people the Lord sends into our lives to help us. Mom and I have many good friends who would absolutely qualify in that way. What a great influence and what tremendous support they have been in our lives. I'm sure you all have Christ-like friends like that, and that you are each such a friend to others.
I think that, primarily because of the second and third verses, this hymn is often sung at funerals, but what a great reflection of the Plan of Salvation. As I sang these verses, I thought of my mother and father who, more than anyone else, "strengthened my faith and enriched my days." I also think of your good mother, who has contributed greatly to my life in that way. I can't think of her without thinking about all of you who have enriched my life. Becoming a husband and father forced me to focus on someone beyond myself, to learn to sacrifice for others. Beyond those vital lessons I continue to be impressed with the other things you teach me through your examples of "devotion to the Savior's name." My parents and all of you are friends, "gifts" the Lord has bestowed on my life, friends I just happen to be sealed to. "What greater goodness could I know?" Beyond those special family relationships, the world is full of many good people, inside and outside the Church, to whom we can be such friends, and who will then be such friends to us and others.
Dad
HISTORY
A Little History:
Our story begins in Pocatello, Idaho, circa 1972, when the lovely Debby Christensen agreed to a first, though fateful date with admirer, David Croshaw. Long story-short, he bade her follow him, and they went arm-in-arm to the Logan, Utah temple for establishment of an eternal family unit, Generation 1, on May 23 1973.
From their first blissful summer in Salt Lake City, educational pursuits took them to Provo/Orem, Utah, birthplace of Leslie and Rebecca, and to San Francisco/Oakland California, birthplace of Colin and Matt. Then, for establishment of livelihood, expansion of the tribe with Abby and Dana, and for raising/unifying of Generation 2, it was back to the roots in Pocatello for a rewarding sojourn.
In time, driven by a raging, but commonly shared sense of adventure and independence, one-by-one, Generation 2 escaped the homeland to distant regions of the country and the world, each ultimately developing their own tribal expansions by pairing with worthy mates and initiating Generation 3.
Now sensing fulfillment of their purpose in Pocatello, Generation 1 has also left those roots and transplanted to Cascade Idaho, from which base, they anticipate more abundant contact with The Posterity, Generations 2 and 3, in the future. That contact however, awaits fulfillment of a call to LDS missionary service in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, wherein they hope to help the state of the world by sharing the love of Jesus Christ.
So now, including Generation 0 (Grandma and Grandpa Christensen) home base includes Yuma, Arizona, Pocatello, Idaho, Cascade, Idaho, Vancouver, BC, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Spokane, Washington, Boise, Idaho, Los Angeles, California, back to Boise, Idaho, and on and on (Generation 3+) to infinity.
Our Mission Statement:
This is the blog of our eternal family unit. Initiated years ago, it served well as a journal, but even more so, as an archive of our personal interaction. It was a gathering place, a confabulation instrument, a unifying force for four generations of widely dispersed and progressively prolific posterity, and their valued associates. Though it served these purposes well for many years, it eventually took a back seat to new-kids-on-the-block, Facebook, and Instagram, and was sadly forgotten.
We now move to resurrect this blog with an added functional purpose of archiving the missionary experiences of Generation 1, of their movements and activities as they participate with The Gathering of Israel in the land northward. In so doing, we hope that via their own comments and posts, this blog will again serve to gather and unify the posterity and their friends.
As in the past, that the young and vibrant may know the old and tired, that enduring bonds may be fostered and maintained, that experience and encouragement may be openly shared, that posterity may embrace truth, and that hearts may be knit together, we must resist detachment despite our geographic divergence. We shall do so here.
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3 comments:
this is a great idea for 'keeping connected' at a spiritual level!
Great idea dad!
The words of that particular hymn have great meaning to us. Those Christ-like friends such as Wayne Sidwell certainly strengthened our faith and enriched our days.And to those of our family whose very lives are lived each day proclaiming their love and devotion to our Savior and to each other--you make my heart happy. We are so blessed and I love you with all my happy heart.
Gram
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