When faced with life's challenges,
it is Important to Remember
that although Daniel was saved from the lions,
he was not saved from the Lion's Den.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Peace
Today is a Bigger Picture Moment day. I am joing up with Sarah from This Heavenly Life as I learn to see the bigger picture through the simple moments in my life.
Today has been a hard day. A most difficult day. I am wanting and needing to relax, to breathe, to feel a little peace. I find that when I need something bad enough, it helps to just write about it. It helps to identify what I need.
I think that most of us have times in our lives that are stressful and full of chaos. It is so easy to get lost in the noise and the confusion of life. I think that, when we want to have peace in our lives, we need to do our part as well. I don't believe that peace is passively waiting for something to happen. Rather, it is a choice that we make each and every day.
In these hectic and difficult times, the Savior's promise of peace finds a special place in my heart. That deep abiding sense of peace that is not found within the world around me, but is found in and through faith in my Savior Jesus Christ. It is only when I turn to Him that the winds and waves are calmed and I can endure.
His peace is so much more than just a quiet place. His peace has the power to heal a mother's heart, the power to change what needs to be changed, and the power to go on, content to know that, although life here may be full of trials, we will yet know peace.
- Peace -
It does not mean to be in a place
where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work.
It means to be in the midst of those things,
and still be calm in your heart.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Come Ye Yourselves Apart And Rest A While
Mark 6: 30, 31 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.Don't you just love that scripture? Come ye yourselves apart...... I am especially minded of this today as the blur of reality surrounds me and whisks me back into the business of my life. Having been gone from my family and my job for nearly two weeks, I am overwhelmed with things to do and people who need my attention. I am reminded that we each need to take a few moments (or even many moments) a part: On our knees, in our rooms, at the temple or the church, we need some time to tell our Father about our days and our lives and our needs and our wants. We need some time to be grateful, to be amazed, to be respectful, to simply worship. Some time to recognize His love and His grace.
And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while:
We need to take time out of our lives to put Him first. Then we can go back refreshed, revived, and ready to handle the things of the world. I have discovered, that on the days when I am most frustrated and short with my temper, those are the days when I need more time with my Heavenly Father. Only when I feed my spirit, can the rest of me truly relax and feel ready to start again. Only when I realize that I need to be "a part", can I really start to feel His influence all around me.
So, if your day isn't all that you want it to be, take some time to be a part for awhile. Take yourself off away from your worldly cares and rest in His presence. It just might be the most important thing you do today.
......Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.....
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Linking this to Living A Big Story for Meditation Monday, something I am sure that I need to be doing more of!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
There is no such thing as "Done"
"May we focus on the simple ways we can serve in the kingdom of God, always striving to change lives, including our own. We need to thoughtfully allocate our resources of time, income, and energy. I would like to let you in on a little secret. Some of you have already learned it. If you haven’t, it’s time you knew. No matter what your family needs are or your responsibilities in the Church, there is no such thing as “done.” There will always be more we can do. There is always another family matter that needs attention, another lesson to prepare, another interview to conduct, another meeting to attend. We just need to be wise in protecting our health and in following the counsel that President Hinckley has given often to just do the best that we can.
“The key, it seems to me, is to know and understand your own capabilities and limitations and then to pace yourself, allocating and prioritizing your time, your attention, and your resources to wisely help others, including your family, in their quest for eternal life.”
M. Russell Ballard, “O Be Wise,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 17–20
Saturday, August 27, 2011
A Simple Moment - Sun Bathing
This Moment
A single photo – no words –
capturing a moment from our lives.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
A moment
I want to pause, savor and remember.
A moment
that brings a smile to my lips,
and joy to my heart.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Five Minute Friday - Older
Today is Five Minute Friday once again, my favorite time of the week! I am linking up today with The Gypsy Mama to celebrate the prompt....Older. Hope to see you Here to join us in the link up.
Let’s write, shall we? Without wondering if it’s right or not.
Take five minutes and remember what it feels like to weave words together for the simple pleasure of how they sound. Without worrying about how they’re edited or perfected.
- 1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Get a little crazy with encouragement for the five minuter who linked up before you.
Older…
GO
Oh my, of all the things to write about, it would be getting older. I used to say that wrinkled was the one thing I never wanted to be when I grew up, but I have learned to rejoice in the wrinkles. Each one represents a problem overcome. Each one is a reminder of a hard time now past.
I have learned to have joy in this season of my life. I have watched many of my children grow into adulthood, and have babies of their own. I have learned to love the smell and weight and feel of something that is so much a part of me, and yet still removed from me.
I have learned that each season of life has it's own helpings of joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. I have learned to grow and breath and find a deep and abiding peace in the love of my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I have learned that all the hard things really do pass and that I can endure in spite of the pain. I have learned that love stays in your heart and continues to grow and blossom and bloom among the wrinkles. I have learned that getting older is really not as bad as I feared it would be. The blessings outweigh the difficulties, and I am loving this new season of my life.
I am learning to appreciate the advantages of getting older, of becoming the person that I am meant to be, of drawing closer to heaven and to those things within myself that cry out for the spiritual wonders in my life. I am learning to embrace the woman that I have been as well as the woman that I have become.
STOP
Now it is your turn. What can you write for just five minutes??
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Writer's Workshop - I Miss You More
Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back to Mama Kat's Website to add your name to the link list at the bottom of her post. Be sure to sign up with the actual post URL and not just your basic blog URL (click on the title of your post for that URL). For good comment karma try to comment on the three blogs above your name!!
The Prompts:
1.) A mom fail moment.
2.) Top Ten Reasons Bacon is Awesome prompt.
3.) Songversation. Take a current song that teens and tweens are listening to, share the lyrics, and offer a conversation that you might have with your child about the song.
4.) Write a post that begins and ends with the same sentence.
5.) Top ten reasons why you’re glad you’re done with school.
I chose to write a post that begins and ends with the same sentence.
"I miss you more, this time, than ever!" My youngest daughter started crying on the phone yesterday as I was talking to her and trying to find out about her day. I have been gone for over a week now, and am not due home until Sunday evening.
One of my other married daughters had her very first baby, and I went to the Midwest (several states away) to be with her for the first ten days after the birth. It is hard when I have children that are so many years apart. It is hard to be everything that I need to be for each of them. But, this was important, so I left my family for a short time and came to be with my daughter and her family during these joyous moments.
I have been gone in the past from the little girls, and it never seemed to bother them much. They usually are so involved with everything at home and in school that they don't seem to notice when I am gone. This time, it has been different and I am being missed at home. It touches my heart when they miss me. It makes me want to gather them close and give them hugs and let them know that all is well. I am thinking that Sunday is still a long way off.
This simple little moment with my youngest daughter reminds me so much of my own life. I have discovered, as I have gotten older, that I crave being with my Heavenly Father so much more than I used to. That I want to feel His spirit in my life every single day.
I find myself taking more care in my decisions, turning toward faith, seeking Him more often in prayer. I find that I am not so easily distracted with the day to day things as I used to be. I go to Him sooner when there is a problem, I seek Him in the Scriptures and in the words of the prophets.
In short, I find my mind these days turned more toward God. I can't help but think it must touch His heart to have us turn back toward Him. It must cause Him a moment of joy to know that He is missed. Today, my heart is filled with so much love that I find myself echoing the words of my sweet little girl, "I miss you more, this time, than ever!"
2.) Top Ten Reasons Bacon is Awesome prompt.
3.) Songversation. Take a current song that teens and tweens are listening to, share the lyrics, and offer a conversation that you might have with your child about the song.
4.) Write a post that begins and ends with the same sentence.
5.) Top ten reasons why you’re glad you’re done with school.
I chose to write a post that begins and ends with the same sentence.
"I miss you more, this time, than ever!" My youngest daughter started crying on the phone yesterday as I was talking to her and trying to find out about her day. I have been gone for over a week now, and am not due home until Sunday evening.
One of my other married daughters had her very first baby, and I went to the Midwest (several states away) to be with her for the first ten days after the birth. It is hard when I have children that are so many years apart. It is hard to be everything that I need to be for each of them. But, this was important, so I left my family for a short time and came to be with my daughter and her family during these joyous moments.
I have been gone in the past from the little girls, and it never seemed to bother them much. They usually are so involved with everything at home and in school that they don't seem to notice when I am gone. This time, it has been different and I am being missed at home. It touches my heart when they miss me. It makes me want to gather them close and give them hugs and let them know that all is well. I am thinking that Sunday is still a long way off.
This simple little moment with my youngest daughter reminds me so much of my own life. I have discovered, as I have gotten older, that I crave being with my Heavenly Father so much more than I used to. That I want to feel His spirit in my life every single day.
I find myself taking more care in my decisions, turning toward faith, seeking Him more often in prayer. I find that I am not so easily distracted with the day to day things as I used to be. I go to Him sooner when there is a problem, I seek Him in the Scriptures and in the words of the prophets.
In short, I find my mind these days turned more toward God. I can't help but think it must touch His heart to have us turn back toward Him. It must cause Him a moment of joy to know that He is missed. Today, my heart is filled with so much love that I find myself echoing the words of my sweet little girl, "I miss you more, this time, than ever!"
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Safe in the Harbor
A ship is safe in harbor -
but that's not what ships are for.
-John A. Shedd
When I think about leaving the "safe harbors", I can't help but think about the pioneers and how they had to be willing to leave their own safe harbors and travel to the unknown. They had to be willing to put aside everything that they knew and find themselves in a new place. I think often of that, and what it would be like for me, today, to leave everything behind and just pack up my family and what we could fit in the car and travel somewhere new and start over. What would it be like to leave my home, my town, my stuff. To leave my piano and my books behind. To travel into the great unknown.
I have wondered if I could do it. Sometimes, I think I could, and other times, I know that it would be difficult. If I am honest, I really know that it would be difficult.
I know that I too have been asked to leave the safe harbors in my life. I had to leave the safety of marriage to become single again. I had a blessing that promised me happiness, but I could not see it then.
Today, married to a man who loves me, cherishes me, and cares about me, I can see that Heavenly Father knew exactly what I needed. It took a very long time for me to see that, but I have finally realized that the ocean of change is not entirely bad. It can be scary, and the storms can totally turn me around, but change can also be an amazing chance to have a fresh start.
When the hurricanes of life surround me, I know that I can find the lighthouse of the Gospel to direct me into the safe harbor. I know that His lighthouse will never lead me astray. I know that He will guide me Home at last. And that home will be the only safe harbor that I will ever need.
Safety
by Patricia A Pitterle
The lighthouse
Sits on the edge
Of the high cliff,
Looking ever out to sea,
Away from the safe harbors
Of the shore.
In the daylight
It seems quiet
And all alone.
In the sunshine of day
You can not see
The purpose of it's creation.
Yet, when darkness comes,
The lighthouse
Blossoms to life
With a vibrant beacon
That is visible
For miles in any direction.
That radiant light
Keeps the ships at sea
Safe from the reefs
That lie in wait
To snare
The unwary vessel.
That wonderful light.
Reaches out with a
strong, welcoming beam,
And beckons,
Each weary sailor,
Home at last.
The lighthouse is
Much like the Gospel
In our lives.
It warns us from
The reefs of darkness
That beckon the unwary traveler.
It shines forth,
brighter than the noonday sun,
With the teachings that
We need to know
To avoid the pitfalls
That will find us on our journey.
The Savior of this world
Has given us the Gospel
To be a beacon to us;
To act as a light in our lives
Guiding us toward the path
Of truth and right.
Our testimonies
Of His eternal love
Remind us that
In Him we are enough.
We can weather the storms
and continue on.
Safe in His harbor;
He welcomes us
To everlasting life;
He guides us,
His Children,
Home at last.
Monday, August 22, 2011
What Question are You Asking
I spent so much of my life, wanting, no needing to be better. It seems as if I always thought I wasn't good enough. I wasn't pretty enough. I wasn't like others enough. I wasn't clean enough. I wasn't spiritual enough. I wasn't ever enough. I did not understand what was wrong with me. Why others did not like me. Why I was so alone.
That feeling, that question, has lingered most of my life. I am sure that I have asked my Heavenly Father way too many times, "What is wrong with me? Why am I not the person that they want?"
I have been on this lifelong quest to find the reason, the flaw, the thing about me that’s wrong. I tell myself that if only I fix the mistakes, then I can change the person that I am. I could become that woman that others want me to be.
The question is wrong.
The question that I’ve been asking God and everyone else throughout my life, is not the right question. It is the same question you might have been asking too, whenever something goes wrong in your life. Whenever you hoped for a different outcome. Whenever you wanted something different than you received.
We have to stop asking that question. We have to stop wishing that we were someone else, someone new, someone different, someone not ourselves.
But the only answer, God's answer, is His whispers to stop asking. He wrote the scriptures for me. To show me the person that I need to be. His words tell me that I am beautiful. He made me. I am loved. I am not forgotten. I am enough.
Those answers are not the answer to my question. But they are the RIGHT answers. They are the answer to the only question that matters. The question that I did NOT ask. The question that I should have asked.
Who Am I?
It was George Bernard Shaw who said, “If we all realized that we were the children of one father, we would stop shouting at each other as much as we do.”
Psalm 30:5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Sabbath Day Scribblings - My Grace is Sufficient
"Should there be anyone who feels he is too weak to do better because of that greatest of fears, the fear of failure, there is no more comforting assurance to be had than the words of the Lord: 'My grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them' (Ether 12:27)."
Thomas S. Monson, "Our Sacred Priesthood Trust," Ensign, May 2006, 57
Saturday, August 20, 2011
A Simple Moment - New Bliss
This moment
A single photo – no words –
capturing a moment from our lives.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
A moment
I want to pause, savor and remember.
A moment
that brings a smile to my lips,
and joy to my heart.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Five Minute Friday - New
I love Five Minute Fridays. It is a way of getting out of the perfectionism of trying to say just the right thing. Sometimes, that need to write the perfect blog can get in the way of my words, so I started following The Gypsy Mama a while back. It took me a few times to really learn to do this, but it has become a time of the week that I cherish. I get to write just how I feel, without worry or perfection. Without trying to be profound or better than anybody else. This is the time of the week that I write for the joy of simplicity. I write for myself. No extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font, or punctuation. Just painting with words. For only five minutes. We just write, without worrying about whether it is just right or not. Then click over and share HERE.
The prompt this week is: NEW
Start
I bury my nose in her hair and breathe in her newness. Her soft skin, her sweet smell, her mewling cry, her tiny dimple. I cuddle, I hold, I cherish. She grasps little fingers around my own and clings tightly even in her sleep.
I look at her with joy and wonder. This sweet new daughter of my daughter. Flesh from flesh that I bore. This spirit that has so recently come from Heavenly Father's care.
I am amazed all over again at the wonder of birth. At the marvel of joy that comes from pain. At the contentment that fills my heart as I hold on tight to such a new little infant. I am overwhelmed with feelings that spring forth in my heart. How could anything this perfect come (even once removed) from me?
I look at my now grown daughter through tears of love. I am amazed at her strength, her power, and her tenacity to overcome. What a wonderful mother she will be. What an amazing young woman she has become.
How truly wonderful is love. No matter how many people you let into your heart, there is always room for one more. Somehow, all that love that we hold there just scoots over and makes room, filling in all the corners and all the chambers and all the rooms.
Reminding me of the things that are most important in my life. Reminding me that love lives on, that families are forever, and that the circle is complete.
1 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
In the newness of my sweet grand-daughter I find the wonder and glory of His Love. And most of all, that we each have within us the power to become new. To be better than we were and more like we need to be.
STOP
Now it is your turn. Take just five minutes and tell us about NEW.
Writer's Workshop - Ten Lessons From My Children
Joining up this week with Mama Kat for another day of the Thursday Writer's Workshop. I hope to see you there!
This Week's Prompts
1.) Write a short story prompted by your favorite song.2.) write a proposal for a kids' show you could actually stand to watch.
3.) An awkward moment.
4.) 10 Lessons your child could teach you.
5.) The perfect hiding spot.
I chose to write about the 10 lessons my child could teach me. However, I think it is important to note, that not only can they teach me, they continue to teach me each and every day. So here is a list of the ten most important things that I think my children have taught me.
10 – Tenacity- They teach me how to hang on when things don’t work out quite the way you want them to. As I watch them grow and struggle with their own unique set of problems, I am continually amazed at their abilities to hold on through the trials of the day. Every day. I am amazed at what they go through, and how they cope
9 - Hope – They teach me about the ability to start each new day with renewed hope, knowing that, somehow, it will all work out and be better.
8 – Strength – They teach me about using their own inner strength to keep trying even when it seems as if the entire world is against you. Finding the reserves within themselves to keep going, again and again, whatever is necessary to finish their task and endure.
7 – Compassion – They teach me about the ability to care for everyone, no matter what they look like. If they are hurt, it only takes a bandaid and a kiss to make everything better. And everyone deserves a bandaid.
6 – Wonder – They teach me to look at everything. They show me how to look at the world each day with new eyes and to see the beauty and wonder of everything around me. Even bugs are a marvel to be enjoyed and studied. (Although, I will admit, that a spider is never something I find to enjoy).
5 – Kindness – Oh the joy of children, If I could only have their ability to smile at everyone and strike up a conversation in the strangest places. Their ability to make new friends, and share pieces of kindness with those around them.
4 – Acceptance – I love their ability to really live the law of “this too shall pass”. To know that whatever happens today, will not necessarily be the same tomorrow. To be able to accept the bad that happens and know that it will end. To go to school today, even if yesterday was a horrible, awful, no good, very bad day.
3- Joy – the ability to find true joy in the moment. To feel happiness at the simplest things. To sing, to dance, to play and to love. All simple things that bring a moment of joy to my heart, and a smile to my lips. Joy doesn't have to cost any money, or only happen during the "important" moments. Joy can happen anywhere, at any place, and any time. We only have to be willing to see it and participate in the moment.
2 - Faith - My children continually teach me about faith. Their willingness to turn their troubles over to a loving Heavenly Father. Their faith that He is really there and that He does answer their prayers. My sweet young ladies who get up without complaint. Every. Single. Morning. To sit as a family, together on the couch and read from the scriptures. They look forward to the time and all take turns reading. It is a treasure in my heart to see them hunger for the Spirit in their lives.
1 - Love - I breathe it in, and hold it tight. I am filled with the giving of Love from my children. My life has been a continual procession of that sweet, wonderful, seemingly all-encompassing feeling. Squishy hugs and sticky kisses remain forever sealed in my heart and in the treasure chest of my mind, to be pulled out time and time again as I reflect and remember each and every one.
Time really flies, the years pass, but I am continually amazed at how love still endures and fills my life.
Not only in the eyes of my children, but in the eyes of my grand-children. The circle continues as time keeps marching on.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Inner Peace
Where can I turn for peace?
Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When, with a wounded heart, anger, or malice
I draw myself apart searching my soul?
Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When, with a wounded heart, anger, or malice
I draw myself apart searching my soul?
Where, when my aching grows?
Where, when I languish?
Where, in my need to know?
Where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.
Where, when I languish?
Where, in my need to know?
Where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.
He answers privately.
Reaches my reaching.
In my Gethsemane, Savior, and friend.
Gentle, the peace He finds
For my beseeching.
Constant He is, and kind.
Love without end.
Reaches my reaching.
In my Gethsemane, Savior, and friend.
Gentle, the peace He finds
For my beseeching.
Constant He is, and kind.
Love without end.
In my busy, hectic, helter-skelter world, inner peace can be so hard to find. Yet, I think it is necessary if I really want to find my Savior. I have found that I need to slow down, take a breath, and simply listen to what is going on around me.
I suppose it is a little like the stars that come out each night. They shine and sparkle in the sky, showing us grandeur that is seldom really noticed. You have to take your eyes off the world around you and look up. You have to make the effort to notice. The effort to change, the effort to really see.
In my small town, there are not too many lights. The businesses close early, the lights are put out, and the darkness surrounds every single space. It is so much darker than anywhere else I have lived in before.
I must admit that I have found myself afraid of the deep darkness that surrounds me. Sometimes, I want nothing more than to dash into the house where all the lights are blazing in warming welcome. But on the nights of the deepest darkness, my husband drags out his telescope and puts it in the middle of our dark, dirt road. Then he gets the girls and drags them all out to the road where they take turns looking up at the heavens to see the different stars and the amazing meteor showers that seem to happen often in the middle of the darkest nights. There are many nights when you will find my husband and all three girls huddled around the telescope at 2:00AM with jackets and mugs of hot chocolate, learning to appreciate the footprints of God in the heavens above them.
I think that inner peace can be found much like the stars in the sky. You must make a conscious choice to look and see. A choice to quit looking at the world right under your nose and start looking toward God in the heavens above. A choice when you must slow down, breath, and simple absorb the peace that can be found in the footprints of God.
SYMPTOMS OF INNER PEACE
1. Tendency to think and act spontaneously, rather than from fears based on past experiences.
2. An unmistakeable ability to enjoy each moment.
3. Loss of interest in judging self.
4. Loss of interest in judging others.
5. Loss of interest in conflict and one-upmanship.
6. Loss of interest in interpreting actions of worry.
7. Loss of ability to worry (This is a SERIOUS symptom!).
8. Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
9. Feelings of contentment and connectedness with others and with Nature.
10. Frequent attacks of smiling.
11. Increased susceptibility to love and to "passing it forward."
12. Increased tendency to let things happen rather than make things happen.
NOTE: If you have all or even most of the above symptoms, your condition of Inner Peace may be so far advanced as to be untreatable! (And oh, wouldn't that be something to have!)
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Sabbath Day Scribblings - Faith and Trust
"Faith in the Lord is trust in the Lord. We cannot have true faith in the Lord without also having complete trust in the Lord’s will and in the Lord’s timing. As a result, no matter how strong our faith is, it cannot produce a result contrary to the will of Him in whom we have faith. Remember that when your prayers do not seem to be answered in the way or at the time you desire. The exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is always subject to the order of heaven, to the goodness and will and wisdom and timing of the Lord. When we have that kind of faith and trust in the Lord, we have true security and serenity in our lives." Dallin H. Oaks
Saturday, August 13, 2011
A Simple Moment - End of Summer
This Moment
A single photo – no words –
capturing a moment from our lives.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
A moment
I want to pause, savor and remember.
A moment
that brings a smile to my lips,
and joy to my heart.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Five Minute Friday - Beauty
1. Write for 5 minutes flat with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.
2. Link back here (over at The Gypsy Mama)
3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.
OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes for the prompt:
Beauty…
START
I think I grew up ugly. I don't mean that in a physical way, but more of an emotional lack of love and appreciation. I never, ever saw myself as beautiful in any way. I was always lacking something. From my earliest childhood, I was too fat, my brother was too skinny. Only my sister was perfect. So, I grew up wanting, somehow to be like her and always feeling not good enough.
There is an old saying, "Beauty is only skin deep". I have learned that this is so not true. It might be how the world perceives beauty, but something on the outside can hide something completely the opposite on the inside. Something that looks sweet and good can hide a rotted center core and something that is less than perfect on the outside, can be completely amazing on the inside.
I have learned that beauty, real beauty, is something that you hold and cherish in your heart. It is the breath and the beat that goes on and on. I can find beauty all about me. The sweet face of a child who has been struggling to learn to play a piece on the piano, and finally, wonderfully, gets it just right. I find beauty in the ability of a person to love and love, even when it is not returned. I find beauty in play, beauty in helping, beauty in being part of an amazing family. I find beauty in the way my children need me, and in the way my husband looks at me. I find beauty in their acceptance of me, just as I am.
I find beauty in the way my body carried and delivered nine of the most amazing babies I have ever known. I find beauty in my hands to serve and lift another. I find beauty in my mind to learn and write and think and express the wonder all around me. I find beauty in my heart that loves without ceasing and holds without crushing and weeps and lets go.
I find beauty in the strength of testimony for my Savior, in the wonder of His grace, and the unconditional in His love. I find beauty because I know that He made me who I am. I am wonderfully made. The packaging doesn't matter so much as the very heart of me.
I find beauty in the parts of me that are trying to be more like Him.
STOP
Now it is your turn. Where do you find beauty?
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Little Bird
The story was told this weekend in one of my church classes. I loved it and decided that it needed to be retold here for the benefit of others.
The Temple President was called to come into the Celestial Room of the Temple. There, flying around the ceiling, was a beautiful, small bird. The President spent some time trying to catch the bird to no avail. Finally, he said a quick prayer to the Lord and placed the care of the bird in His hands, then he went to do some things that needed to be done. When he finished, the same sister that had told him about the bird in the first place, met him and told him that he would not believe what happened. The small bird had flown down from the ceiling directly after the Temple President left the room. The bird hopped down the hall and into the Temple President's office when it hopped onto the window sill and sat there until one of the brethren was able to cover it with a towel, take it outside, and set it free, watching it fly away unharmed.
Think for a moment how amazing that one small feat was. Yet somehow, Heavenly Father seemed to listen to the prayer and have the bird behave accordingly. If Heavenly Father could care about the plight of one small bird, how much more could he care about each one of us.
Matthew 6:26
"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"
As I was looking for something to make my point a little better, I found the lyrics to this old song. I have always loved it.
His Eye Is On The Sparrow
Why should I feel discouraged,Why should the shadows come,Why should my heart feel lonely And long for Heav'n and home, When Jesus is my portion? A constant Friend is He: His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches over me; His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me.
Refrain: I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free, His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me (He watches me) His eye is on the sparrow And I know he watches (I know he watches) (I know he watches me) I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free, His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me (He watches me) His eye is on the sparrow And I know he watches me (He watches me) He watches me (I know he watches me)
"Let not your heart be troubled, "His tender word I hear, And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears; Though by the path He leadeth But one step I may see: His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He watches me.
Whenever I am tempted, Whenever clouds arise, When songs give place to sighing, When hope within me dies, I draw the closer to Him, From care He sets me free: His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He cares for me; His eye is on the sparrow, And I know He cares for me.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Testimony Meeting
Children's Testimonies
by Patricia A Pitterle
Little lights
Shining forth
With childish
Love and delight.
Bearing witness
To all those
Who cast aside their thoughts
And simply listen.
Speaking truth
And righteousness
With little words
In small, simple packages.
Sharing Christ's love
with each one of us
Like glittering stars
In the darkness of our lives.
Kindling a spark
within the hearts
of all those who truly
seek to hear His words.
Christ's love
Walking among us
In the testimonies
of His Lambs.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Sabbath Day Scribblings- Ministering As Christ Ministers
“Christ knows how to minister to others perfectly. When the Savior stretches out His hands, those He touches are uplifted and become greater, stronger, and better people as a result. If we are His hands, should we not do the same?”
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “You Are My Hands,” Ensign, May 2010, 70
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