Do you remember anything that someone told you when you were 10 years old?

If you do, it’s probably something pretty important or impactful.

This makes me think of quite a few church lessons I received in my youth that focused on spiritual gifts.

The teacher would often ask each of us to write down or tell each other the spiritual gifts we recognized in them.

Such a sweet idea, by the way.

The only hitch was that I’ve always been pretty musically talented.

So every time I was part of one of these lessons or activities, the messages my friends would write to me would all be fairly similar:

“You are so musically talented!”

Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful for my talents.

But as a teen, I also always wondered what my SPIRITUAL gifts were.

I knew there was more to me than just my musical gifts.

It wasn’t until an activity at a Young Women camp where I had a leader write a little note to me:

“Cali, I love that for every activity this week, you’ve made sure that everyone was included. You have such a gift for helping others not feel left out.”

I remember that note and that sweet leader to this day.

I’m not sure exactly what Ammaron and Mormon’s relationship was like. ⁣

But I know that Ammaron told young, 10-year-old Mormon that he was, “. . . a sober child, and. . . quick to observe.” ⁣

And Mormon said: “I remembered the things which Ammaron commanded me.” (Mormon 1:2,5) 

And then Mormon wrote Ammaron’s compliment and commandment down, AT LEAST 14 years later.

Sometimes, it’s really hard to recognize our own spiritual gifts. ⁣

But I think it’s actually pretty easy to see the spiritual gifts that others have. ⁣

If you want to make a huge impact on someone’s life right now, tell them the spiritual gifts and talents that you see in them.

They might just remember it for the rest of their lives.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Remembered 14 years later first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I usually kept things super high energy and busy on the first day, so that the kids didn’t have an option but to be engaged and get to know me.

And within just a few minutes, this particular student was already being defiant and apathetic.

So I made it a goal to say 5 positive, non-behavior-related comments to him each day.

I complimented his shoes. I asked him what they did in P.E. today. I asked him to help me hand out pencils. He wrote a sentence about a movie when I had asked for a paragraph, and I talked to him all about my favorite parts of the movie.

He seemed surprised at first.

But he started to warm up to me.

Then, I slowly introduced buddy-buddy conversations about his behavior.

“Hey, I get that you were trying to be funny when you made that comment earlier, but it really derailed the entire class for a while. Could you help me out and save those kinds of comments til after class or when we have some free time?”

And then, when he’d start to talk out in class again, I’d give him a little “knowing” look.

He caught on.

Honestly, he was a good kid. He really struggled academically, but the behavior issues subsided to the point that they weren’t so disruptive.

I made A WHOLE LOT of mistakes while teaching.

But I never let a child leave my classroom without knowing that they were seen as a real human being, and that they were loved.

I LITERALLY thought of this scripture often, and even taught a training to my co-workers using this “saying that I once heard”… 

“Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;” D&C 121:43

I now use this in my parenting all the time. When the positive comments VASTLY outweigh the corrective or negative, no matter how many there are, there is a feeling of love and “I’m on your team”-ness.

God sees us as more than our mistakes, and I think He wants us to emulate that, too.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post More than our mistakes first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.