Our Relief Society Evening Meeting was a great success!
Thank you sisters for bringing the delicious food! And thank you Lyle for the beautiful lesson!
Here are some notes from that night:
Ecclesiastes 3:1— To every thing there is a season, and a time to
every purpose under the heaven.
This verse suggests that there is a proper
sequence for all things.
We used the
evolution of recorded sound and compare it to the seasons of our lives. So on
one hand, we got a little cultural development, and on the other we heard from a
number of sisters who spoke of the joys and difficulties of their “season of
life.”
The Graphophone was invented by Alexander
Graham Bell. Sounds produced were
somewhat distorted and could use further refinement. This was the beginning of
sounds and music of the world entering individual homes.
The graphophone was compared to early adulthood or the Springtime of our lives when we separate from family and begin to
set goals for ourselves.
The disc playing
phonograph evolved to have a spring wound motor. A Victor phonograph from the
early 1900s was played representing the Summer of our lives when we form
lasting friendships, develop relationships, create our own homes and family
units. It’s a period in our lives where we go through definition of
character and maturation.
Next came the Radio which brought free
music to the masses. Later, in 1948 vinyl records arrived which produced better
fidelity than the thick 78s. The invention of magnetic tape,
cassettes, and then the portable Walkman with headphones gave the listener freedom
and the ability to listen by themselves.
In the Autumn of our lives we sometimes
change directions as we focus on personal goal achievement. Growing older gives
a perspective on life that isn’t available from the earlier parts of the
journey. Gratitude comes forward as a primary consciousness. If we didn’t find
the time before, we want to live with purpose and meaning. We may put more
effort into discovering what God wants us to do. At times we
may find ourselves caught between the Summer & Autumn of our lives.
In 1982 compact discs or CDs began replacing cassettes. CDs offered the purest sounds of the recordings.
With the advent of ipods
and many other personal devices it’s no longer necessary to buy, handle, or
store any of the previous formats. Free music can simply be downloaded.
This brings
us to those who range from the Autumn to the Winter of their lives. It is a
composition made up of all the previous stages. We examine all that we’ve
experienced and consider what we might still do.
Change usually
isn’t easy and is seldom painless. But it is inevitable. Similar
to the progression of sound recording, we all go
through different times and seasons that require us to
change. Some changes we hope for, and other change we
reluctantly go through. As we age in
this life, we typically have more time to gain knowledge. With that knowledge,
when properly applied, we can then say we have gained wisdom that will
follow us throughout the eternities.
A wealth of
experience was openly shared demonstrating how our seasons are intertwined with the purposes under
Heaven; some of us stay a little longer in one season than we want,
and there is a
limit to our seasons in this life.
Marilyn closed our meeting with an object lesson on making the best use of the
time we are allotted in this
life.
