Life Hacks from Heaven
Life Hacks from Heaven
BY KIM LOUDON
When I gave birth to my fourth baby, my OLDEST child was only 4 years old. Church started at 9:00am, and my husband, who served in the bishopric at the time, had early morning meetings….which left the Olympic event of getting myself and 4 babies bathed, fed, dressed and to church by 9:00am…entirely up to me. This feat also usually entailed nursing the baby, ironing clothes, brushing hair, brushing teeth, finding the missing shoe, packing the diaper bag, herding them all into the car, buckling all 4 little people into car seats….only to have the baby blow out of his diaper. Cue….unbuckling car seats, dragging everyone back inside the house, a quick sink bath, new diaper, and a new outfit. Take 2: back in the car, re-buckle, drive the 15 minutes to church, and finally collapsing into the pew by 9:00am.
I felt like I deserved a trophy each week as I walked through those double doors, BUT….it just got more complicated upon arrival.
My husband sat on the stand, leaving me alone on the pew wrangling my four offspring. Every Sunday, without fail….my particularly rambunctious one year old child, Malakai, would need to be taken out of the chapel for behavior incompatible with sacrament meeting…which meant I had to haul my whole pew out of the double doors with me. By the end of sacrament meeting each week, I felt like I had lost a (four against one) WWF wrestling match.
After one exceptionally difficult Sunday, l was up in the middle of the night nursing the baby. I may or may not have been crying to my Heavenly Father about all of my Sacrament meeting woes from earlier that day, when the thought occurred to me that I had never asked Him for guidance on the subject. As I was praying for divine inspiration and help, a light bulb of a thought came to my head. I have learned that the Spirit often speaks to me through “light bulb” thoughts…a thought I KNOW I would NEVER have come up with myself…confirming to me that it came from the Holy Ghost.
The revelation was this:
“Put Malakai in charge of the baby during sacrament meeting.”
My initial response to said revelation:
“Malakai? The 1 year old? The heathen child that can’t be soft OR sit still? The kid I have to drag out of sacrament meeting EVERY. SINGLE. Sunday? You want me to put HIM in charge of my NEWBORN? And…During Sacrament meeting?!?”
It sounded like a recipe for disaster to me, but I knew “light bulb thoughts” came to me from a loving Heavenly Father through the gift of the Holy Ghost, so I put the revelation to the test.
The following Sunday, as sacrament meeting began, I handed my swaddled newborn baby over to my wild child. With my arms wrapped around his, helping him support the weight of the baby’s head and body, we sat….for an ENTIRE hour! My normally boisterous boy didn’t move a muscle…for AN HOUR! What?!?! I had never seen him sit so quiet and so perfectly still. As the weeks progressed, Malakai continued to take “his responsibility” very seriously. Holding that infant brought out a gentleness in him that didn’t otherwise exist. Week after week, this simple revelation continued to work…and it changed Sundays for me! No more hauling our whole pew out of the chapel each week.
That “light bulb” thought….that “life hack from heaven”…that little nugget of wisdom given to me by a loving Heavenly Father through the Spirit, has strengthened my testimony of God’s goodness, and His love for His children. It was the first time I realized that my Heavenly Father cares about even the small, silly, and petty struggles in the lives of each of His children. I have learned to turn to Him first, to ask for revelation in regards to life’s difficulties, and then to do what it takes to HEAR HIM. I have been blessed many times since to experience His love and divine assistance… not only for life’s small grievances, but for my heaviest of trials, as well.
“When we seek to hear—truly hear—His Son, we will be guided to know what to do in any circumstance.”- Russell M. Nelson
I KNOW Heavenly Father also KNOWS you. I know He loves you. I know that He knows your struggles…even the petty ones. I know that He knows how to alleviate even your heaviest burdens. I know that He desires to help and bless you on your way back home, and I know that He WILL…if you will HEAR HIM.
“We also hear Him more clearly as we refine our ability to recognize the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. It has never been more imperative to know how the Spirit speaks to you than right now. In the Godhead, the Holy Ghost is the messenger. He will bring thoughts to your mind which the Father and Son want you to receive.” -Russel M. Nelson
“I renew my plea for you to do whatever it takes to increase your spiritual capacity to receive personal revelation.
Doing so will help you know how to move ahead with your life, what to do during times of crisis, and how to discern and avoid the temptations and the deceptions of the adversary.”-Russel M. Nelson
