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...