Life and Death

I had a wonderful experience this past week. I made friends with a young man sitting next to my mom and I on our plane ride to Florida. He told us about some of the hard times he's been through in his life this past year, including the death of 6 people dear to him. I was so grateful for the conversation that we had about the hope that believing in God brings and that He does have a plan for us. I am grateful for the joy that the gospel gives us knowing that because our Savior Jesus Christ gave His life for us, death is not the end, but a "part of the process by which we are transformed from mortality to immortality" (PMG 52). I love this Mormon message that explains so perfectly what we believe about the purpose of death as a part of our life on this earth.

A Consecrated Life

I went home for a little bit this weekend and my dad was out working in the yard so I happily volunteered my help. I LOVE being outside when winter's changing into spring (and it was on Saturday..) So I got to be the mower of the lawn. I like mowing the lawn because it's a great chance to just think. As I was mowing away, my thoughts turned to the talk Elder Christofferson gave in October 2010 conference, Reflections on a Consecrated Life, and I was just thinking about how even when we're doing things like mowing the lawn :) or maybe studying for finals, we can be consecrating our lives to God. Pretty sweet. That makes me happy. This is a bit of what he said about work and consecration...

"A consecrated life is a life of labor. Beginning early in His life, Jesus was about His Father’s business (see Luke 2:48–49). God Himself is glorified by His work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children (see Moses 1:39). We naturally desire to participate with Him in His work, and in so doing, we ought to recognize that all honest work is the work of God. In the words of Thomas Carlyle: 'All true Work is sacred; in all true Work, were it but true hand-labour, there is something of divineness. Labour, wide as the Earth, has its summit in Heaven.'

"God has designed this mortal existence to require nearly constant exertion. I recall the Prophet Joseph Smith’s simple statement: “By continuous labor [we] were enabled to get a comfortable maintenance” (Joseph Smith—History 1:55). By work we sustain and enrich life. It enables us to survive the disappointments and tragedies of the mortal experience. Hard-earned achievement brings a sense of self-worth. Work builds and refines character, creates beauty, and is the instrument of our service to one another and to God. A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves, orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires."

Life is great. So let us happily work hard and play hard, after all, "wholesome recreation is the friend and steadying companion of work!"

Goodnight My Angel

I went to an amazing fireside/piano performance last night with Marvin Goldstein. The entire thing was really touching and he's quite the hilarious man. He ended the night by playing "Goodnight My Angel" by Billy Joel :) It really touched me thinking of it in a different sense after he'd sung a bunch of songs about the Savior so I just thought about why he chose to end a religous performance with this song, but I felt like it made a lot of sense. So I just wanted to share the beautiful song...

The Transforming Power of Service

I was just reading some of Sister Beck's devotional she recently gave at BYU Idaho and it is very inspiring concerning our role in serving others. “The poor will always be with us,” she said, “the poor in spirit, the poor in heart, the poor in the things of the world. They’re placed there to sanctify [us]. It is as we work on the Lord’s work that we become sanctified, because the problems are bigger than we are and the solutions can come only from heaven.”

Here's the link to some clips and a summary of what she taught. I am so grateful for inspired leaders of the church!!

mormon.org

There was a training at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) several months ago and it was all about mormon.org. The Director of Training, Richard Heaton, encouraged us to find out about what the Lord is doing to bring seekers of His gospel to Him. I'm sure many have explored the newly renovated mormon.org.

Here's one story that's very touching to me...




You can also create your own profile for people around the world to learn about who you are and your experiences being a mormon. It's incredible and an amazing way you can learn and share more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Adjust Your Eyes

I went skiing the other day (and it was AMAZING)... while I was up on the slopes, I learned some things from nature. We rode to the top of one lift and we were in a THICK cloud, you could see maybe 10 feet in front of you. As I timidly went forward, I saw a poor, little tree, I wish I'd had a camera to take a picture of. It looked like a combination of these two little guys (they still don't quite do it justice)...

I looked at the tree for a minute and I could tell it's had a rough winter. I wondered if it would ever have the possibility of seeing/feeling the sun, looking green again, and not be consumed by the snow and ice. So then I thought about life, isn't that sometimes how life feels? Being consumed by work, school, sorrows, etc. Even experiences you may be having where you can't quite see the light? I remember being on my mission for almost 6 months and having a freak out day where I thought I was going to be a missionary for the rest of my life, that's all I could see. So I was talking to my very wise companion and she said something to the effect of, "it's like you're in a tunnel right now. You can't quite see the beginning because you've been in the missionary world for awhile now, and you can't see the light at the end (with about a year to go), so just adjust your eyes." Very good advice. It helped me set the course for the next year of my life, to grow where I was and not wish for time or things to speed by me.

The other thought I had when I saw this nearly overcome tree was from a talk I read (which has been previously mentioned:)) with a quote by Albert Camus, "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." I know that's true, we all have something divine within us that allows us to overcome the sorrows and concerns of the world. I'm sure in just a matter of months that little tree will be standing strong and you'll be able to see what it really looks like with all that snow and ice melted away. I love the lessons nature teaches and that "all [these] things denote there is a God!" Have a lovely day.

Oh the wisdom of grandmas and grandpas

Last night we helped put on a late Valentine's day dance at a retirement home. Two of my dear friends have a grandma and a great-aunt who live at this home so we stopped in to talk with them and it was a lovely experience. They were both wonderful, strong women who you could feel and see in their eyes the love and faith they'd developed from their life experiences. They freely spoke about the Savior as if they'd walked with Him throughout their lives. They gave us advice to love and take care of our bodies because they're the instruments which help us accomplish our work on this earth. Great-aunt Marium told us to find true love and ENJOY life with that special person :) She is a particularly inspiring women. She was married at age 18 and had just had her eighth child at 36 when her husband was killed in a plane crash. About a year later she adopted another child from an indian reservation and pressed forward, putting complete trust in God and receiving support from her family. She has an incredible family now that has done so much good in the world, thanks to her not giving up, but moving forward.

I felt grateful for their cheerfulness about life and the simple wisdom they offered us. Even a tragedy can be made right and beautiful with time and become an essential part of our growth. It was a good reminder to me to find joy each day and know that there are always good things to come. The bumps in the road need to be there or we wouldn't grow!

The Abundant Life

So last night I was reading this talk by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin about how to tap into the "potential that lies in each of us" and live an abundant life, one where we "radiate a confident inner peace... and [glow] with irrepressible joy." He shared three suggestions of what he's noticed that the happiest people he knows have developed into {holy} habits, so I wanted to share them with you...

1. drink deeply of living waters. "To embrace [the gospel of Jesus Christ] fully is to be filled with wonder and to walk with an inner fire. Our Savior proclaimed, 'I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.'"

2. FILL our hearts with love. I just think about the word fill, when something's full, there's no room for other less valuable things to be in our hearts. "Those who serve others 'will come to know a happiness... never known before.... Heaven knows there are so very, very, very many people in this world who need help. Oh, so very ... many. Let's get the cankering, selfish attitude out of our lives, my brothers and sisters, and stand a little taller and reach a little higher in the service of others.'"

3. "with the help of Heavenly Father, create a masterpiece of [your] life."

Enough said, I just wanted to share this light that I began loving several years ago when my mom first shared it with me. I know the peace and confidence we all desire comes from the Savior and it's through Him our lives can reach their full potential!

just a day

So my experiment has continued. I really have felt a greater peace as I've tried to consciously give thanks for my blessings. Today was actually a bit of a discouraging day though, just being tired, not too excited about some things that happened at work, etc. BUT tonight I was able to spend some time with two amazing friends I met just about a year ago. It was the greatest blessing of the day because it put my life into better perspective. I think it's important to step back and see the big picture and realize that even though we can't see the end from the beginning, there are marvelous things in store. So, I was grateful for the little message of hope Heavenly Father sent me through my friends tonight :)

21 days of GRATITUDE

When I was visiting home about a month and a half ago and I found a paper on my sisters nightstand filled with writting. It was a list of 100 things my sister was grateful for about winter time. As I read the list filled with silly and serious things and memories, I just loved my sister a little more because of her example of really reflecting on the little things and expressing her gratitute for them.

So yesterday I made a plan to more conscientiously strive to develop an attitude of gratitude. Because this blog was originally created for this very purpose... I am going to do an EXPERIMENT of daily recording my roses, and you're invited. My hypothesis is experiencing a greater change of heart. Day ONE of recording my roses begins...

Tonight I went on a glorious run. It was so good, I didn't want to stop, which is rare. I became lost in my thoughts and felt the worries of my day disappear and it helped me feel closer to Heavenly Father. I feel like I trust in Him a little more now and I feel great inside. Oh how I love that we have bodies:) and somehow, when we help our physical bodies, our spirits become awakened as well. I had a conversation with a DEAR kindred spirit friend tonight who always is overflowing with wisdom about life. She taught me about being calm about life. Simply trusting. Oh how I love the people I am given in my life that help me make it through this mortal experience and send me messages from God along the way. I am so happy about my new job. As I've been training I have been impressed how everyone is sharp, genuine, and good. I am excited to learn from them and be around them.