Devoid of strife

Today we sang "Gently Raise the Sacred Strain" in sacrament meeting. I love that hymn - beautiful melody, inspiring words about the sabbath and the sacrament. And what a blessing, we have had a holy day (mostly) devoid of strife. I thought I better write it down, because that doesn't happen too often. We are sort of a high-drama family sometimes.

The kids all got ready for church basically on time. I had to leave about 20 minutes before church started instead of our usual 10 (we are spoiled, aren't we!?) to get the room prepared for the Sunday School lesson I was teaching, so G brought S who had not yet finished breakfast. By some miracle (probably the miracle called Patient Daddy) the kid managed to get out of bed at 8:20 and still be at church, appropriately dressed, fed, and unstinky, by 9. With no screaming or fighting.

My friend Angie and her family spoke in sacrament meeting about families. They did a beautiful job focusing on the positive. As her husband spoke about the family he grew up in I had to fight off my usual pang of envy and bristle of resentment for the low-drama type families; it sounds like he grew up in a wonderful environment (I did, too) and has a great relationship with his family (there are spots where this is harder). He spoke about how his siblings voted to forgo Christmas one year so that his parents could pay for an expensive brace he needed in order to continue playing football, which was really important to him. I wish for peaceful and giving relationships like that. And then I tried to apply my work of the last year about acceptance and priorities and doing my best and letting go the rest. And it helped. And that allowed me to see past my issues and find the things I needed to apply from the talks today. Not easy stuff. Worthwhile stuff, though.

I taught my lesson, which was about three miracles from the Savior's ministry - the healing at the pool of Bethesda, the feeding of the 5,000, and Christ walking on the water. It was so up my alley, lots of talk about symbolism and grace. Or maybe I just made it that way. Anyway the class seemed reasonably engaged and it was a good experience for me. I do love how teaching or speaking seems to focus my study and prayer.

Relief Society was also lovely, and not just because the teacher brought us Cadbury Mini Eggs. Yeah, I've admitted it to my sister and a couple of friends - I am off the wagon with Mr. Sugar. I will try again. Anyway the lesson was about the Word of Wisdom and I was really pleased at how the ladies kept it understanding and non-judgmental. (Irony anyone? W of W lesson while sucking down the most addictive candy on earth?)

We had soup and sandwiches for lunch, then a lovely nap, interrupted only a couple of times by my enthusiastic Ms. Z. I made quiche and a big, yummy salad and talked to my parents on the phone while G and Z took Heidi the dog for a walk, and then after we ate the kids went outside to play with G while I ... did this. Blogging and facebooking. The fireplace is on, the clouds are layered high and feathery, and I have a lemon meringue pie in the fridge. What better dessert for a pie-type dinner than pie? Right?

Lovely Sunday.