Thoughts of Peace

Jeremiah 29:11-13

  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

   Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

   And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

I have thought about this scripture a lot lately.  I have been pondering on how the Lord thinks of us.  He wants us to have peace.  He wants us to have joy.  He wants us to pray to Him and seek Him.  He wants us to know and really understand that we are loved.  

I have some children who don't believe the way that I do.  I have learned that my job is to love them anyway.  To wait for them.  To find them.  To be happy for them.  To accept them.  I know that if I can love those kids as much as I do in all my imperfectness, than our Heavenly Father, who is so much more perfect than I am, loves them even more.  He wants each of us to return to Him.  He waits to welcome us home.  He has promised that He is listening to our prayers.  He knows our hearts, and we WILL find Him.  

Some people believe that their can't be a God because bad things happen to them.  I have learned that bad things happen for mostly three reasons.  

1.  It is a part of life.  We are here to experience everything, and that includes trials.

2.  It is because of our own sins.  Every single sin has consequences, and although the Lord forgives us our sins when we repent, He doesn't take away the consequences of the sin.  Some things we just have to endure because of our mistakes.

3.  It is because of someone else's sin.  Sometimes, the choices others make can hurt us.  It can cause us physical or emotional damage.  It can leave us gasping for breath and unable to understand "why".  

In His love, the Lord gives us blessings even in the pain and tribulations of life.  He teaches us things that we need to know.  We learn to be more compassionate and loving.  We learn to have joy.  We learn to endure.  We learn kindness and love.  As we deal with consequences, we also learn forgiveness, not only for others, but for ourselves.  We learn to trust that the Lord will judge perfectly, each one of our hearts.  We learn to trust in His Mercy and His Justice. 

We learn to find Him.    

Gratitude for the blessings - What do you talk about?

Talk about your blessings

More than you talk about your burdens.

This little guy, is my hero.  I wish that I could show you a picture of his beautiful face, but that time is not yet.  He was born with so many problems that it would have been easy to focus on all the things he was never supposed to do.  Instead, we focus on all the wonderful things that he is learning to do.  He is such a blessing and inspiration to our family.  His smile will light up my heart each and every time I see it.  This guy, only focuses on the blessings in life.  He reaches out for them and grasps them tight with both hands.  I am not sure that I can ever be that optimistic, but he is teaching me to do a little better every day.  

We all have blessings.  The surround us in every part of our lives.  For some strange reason, it is easier to focus our efforts on the problems and burdens than it is to remember and focus on our blessings. I suppose that is the pessimistic side of my personality coming out.  I am working on that.  I am seeking to find the blessings that surround me in every part of my life.  I have a job that earns enough money to support us, I have the most amazing family.  I have people who love me no matter what.  I have friends.  I have a home.  I have a testimony.  I could go on and on, yet somehow, when things go wrong, my eyes only see the burdens and forget to focus on the blessings.  That is what I want to change.  I want and need to be a blessing type of woman.  I am exhausted in the trials.  I need to be uplifted in the blessings.  

The Lord has promised us:   

"And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you".   Luke 11:9

I believe that that works even for the blessings.  If we look for them, if we seek them, we will find them always in our lives.  They might not be the ones we want right this minute, but I can promise that they will be the ones we need.  So, open your heart, open your mouth and talk about your amazing blessings. 

 

Becoming Like Him - Day 20 - Fear

For my 31 days of writing, I am linking up over at Heading Home and over at the Nester. There are several of us that are taking the 31 day writing challenge. Kate has suggested that we spend 31 days of Five minute writing. You can use the prompts or write about anything you would like, you just need to write.

I am sharing my journey for 31 days as I strive to become more like Him. My prayer is that you can find hope and peace in my words.

Fears are stories

We tell ourselves.

Today's Prompt is:

FEAR

START

There have been so many things that I have been afraid of.  Sometimes, it is what people think and what they believe.  Sometimes it is what might be happening or being humiliated.  I love the quote above about fear because I have come to find that most fears are actually things that might not come true.  I worry more about the "what if's" than about what is real.
This week, I tried something new.  I put aside my fear of "what if it looks really bad" and took a painting class.  It is only for one evening, and you can choose the night you want to go and the painting that you want to do.  I chose this one!  I know, it doesn't look like much yet, but I did the entire thing by myself.  The teacher showed us the strokes on his painting and I painted mine in about 3 and 1/2 hours.  I was so afraid it would be worse than everyone else's.  I was so afraid that I couldn't do it.  But I did.

This is me, filling in the background on the black and just painting.  I could not believe that it was so much fun!  How long have I denied myself chances to achieve simply because I had too much fear to even try.  Yesterday, I could never have imagined that I could ever do this.  Today I know I can.  

I am planning on doing this once a month for awhile.  It was so much fun and even if it is not perfect, I can at least tell what it is supposed to be.  That is a start, and an accomplishment.  I did something today that was beyond my fear.  As I am seeking to become more like Him, it makes me wonder how many things have held me back because I was too afraid to even try.  He is the one who gave us talents to use and enjoy.  He is the one who sends us blessings and tender mercies to share with others.  As I strive to become more like Him, I am also seeking to overcome my fears and to nurture the gifts that He has given me.

STOP

The Lord's NO's

I don't like to be told "No".  It just makes me feel bad.  Generally, when I ask for something, it is something that I think I really need or really want.  I spent way too much of my life hearing the word, "no".  Still, when the Lord says No, as disappointed as I might be, I have learned to wait.  I am not able to see the bigger picture.  I am living in the here and now, not in forever yet.
Sometimes, (OK, all the time) the Lord knows and sees so much more than I can.  He has told me "no" a lot.  Later when I look back, I am so grateful for that simple unanswered prayer.  No matter how heart felt it was at the time, there was so much more in store than I could have imagined.
I have learned that the Lord is mindful of me and my needs.  He is always willing to bless me and wants what is best for me.  He allows me to struggle, but He also rewards my efforts.  The purpose of life here is to grow, to struggle, to be strengthened through our own many experiences.
We may never know when we will receive the answers that we seek, but I know, with time and strength, we shall find the yes that we really needed after all.

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

The Light in the Fridge

If we are not supposed to have midnight snacks,

Why is there a light in the refrigerator?

I must admit, I love to snack.  I could feast on Oreo cookies and chocolate cake several times a day.  I would look like it too!  But I am not sure if the way I would look would completely stop me from doing it.  I do know, that the way I would feel keeps me from eating sweets more than every once in a while.  (As long as I don't buy the packages of Oreo cookies!)

I taught a lesson a week ago on the scriptures and how they are supposed to be a feast for us.  How the Lord never intending them to be something that we turn to every once in a while.  I talked with the girls about what they think of when they think of a feast.  I talked with them about Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays and even Easter.  How, when we think about those meals, we can even smell them in our minds.  We look forward to them with anticipation and with excitement.  We put together the dinners and desserts with love and joy.
The scriptures are very much like a compass or a map or even a GPS.  They will guide us on the path we should go if we will only use them.  Too many of us treat the scriptures like they might be a snack, something we eat every once in a while.  Something that we take out and nibble at from time to time.  But to really feast on them means that we look forward to the light that is in them . We look for that light, we search it, we embrace it, we welcome it.
It becomes the light that leads us home.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.  Psalms 119:105

Simple Things

"All the great things are simple, 

and many can be expressed in a single word:  

freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."  

Winston Churchill

What are we without the simply great things in life?  Without all those single word great things.  Not only the few listed, but things like trust, compassion, forgiveness, tenacity, strength and love.  Without all those things what are we?  Isn't it amazing that our existence can be described with a few simple words?  That all our hopes and dreams come down to the simplicity of one word answers?
But isn't it also true that the bad things can also be described in one word.  Things like: evil, grouchy, mean, dangerous, disrespectful, discourteous, ugly, spiteful, and uncaring.  I can thing of so many more.  The point is that we get to choose the words that describe us.  We choose every day to the truly simple things that we do.  We choose when we are helping our neighbor, listening to a friend, hugging a child, or fixing a meal for our family.  We choose to be that person that they will remember.  We choose the words that we become.
For me, the most simple thing about this is that our past doesn't necessarily determine our future.  It is up to us to decide to change.  Yes, change is hard, just like going to physical therapy and working out my arm is hard right now.  Learning to bend my elbow and stretch it is hard right now.  Sometimes change hurts.  But we get to decide whether we want to stay the same, or grow.
As for me, I am choosing to work at it.  One simple word at a time.

The Difference One Day Can Make

Today, I was remembering one of the most vivid memories of my entire childhood.  I grew up in the desserts of Arizona.  Back when I was young, we did not have air conditioning and so it took planning to stay cool in the heat of summer.  One of our favorite things to do as small children, was to go with our mother and her friends to spend the day at the lake. 
We would drive for what seemed like forever (although in reality, it was probably just over an hour) to get up to the lake.  Then we would all unpack our things, take out the picnic lunch, and go play in the water of the lake. 
The lake we went to most often was called Canyon Lake.  When the dam was put into the canyon, the water filled up and made a fairly large and deep lake.  The one problem with the lake was that you could be walking in water that was about waist deep and all of a sudden you would drop off the edge into the deep part of the lake.  I am sure it made swimming with small children very interesting. 
I remember going often to the lake.  We swam on inner tubes from old cars and trucks.  I did not know how to swim myself, so a tube was my constant companion.  One sunny day, I was around five years old and I was swimming and playing by myself in the water and managed to drift a little away from everybody else.  In my splashing around, I slipped from my tube and went under the lake water.  I tried to swim up to the top, I really did, but I was still two to three feet under the top of the water and could see the cliff drop down into murky blackness. 
Suddenly, I saw my mother's yellow swimming suit.  She swam down into that muddy lake water, grabbed hold of me and hauled me out, coughing and sputtering, and crying with relief. 
Today, I still remember the feeling of nearly drowning and not being able to help myself.  I remember that vibrant yellow bathing suit.  Today, yellow is still one of my favorite colors.  Most of all, I remember the wonder and relief that I felt that my mother would know where to find me and manage to save me. 

Life can be so much like that murky lake water.  We struggle to do things on our own.  We want to try things our own way.   We want to be able to be independant and experience the world around us.  We want to try and the things that we have heard about, or the things that our friends are doing.  We can't see the cliffs and the dangers that are waiting for us to slip.  But our Father in Heaven can.  He knows exactly where we are in all of this mess that is sometimes life.  He knows exactly what we need and He knows how to help us.  We just need to trust in His teaching and guidance.  We just need to listen to His words and read His scriptures.  They will help us as we are treading the water of life.  And sometimes (maybe even often) those scriptures, those words of God, are the very things that will pull us from the murky blackness.

The Treasure

When I was a young girl, I loved to read.  It was my escape from the reality that was life.  Each day, I would lose myself in the pages of a book.  I loved reading the old classics, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Heidi, Treasure Island, The Secret Garden, and even The Little Princess.  I watched adventure movies, and read adventure books.  Many of the books I read told stories about maps and buried treasure, or about finding something hidden and desirable.  The Secret Garden talked about finding a secret place and making it bloom and grow again.  All of my favorites involved a mystery that I could solve if only I could just manage to put the pieces of the puzzle together. 

Nothing could tear me away from the pages of my books. Each was like a long lost friend that I hungered to be near, each was a treasure to be cherished. 

At a different time and in a different place, the Savior of the world also spoke of treasure. He declared:

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” 

The promised treasure was not gold or silver or precious metals. It was not hidden rooms or gardens.  It did not consist of worldly things. 
The Savior was speaking of the treasure that is available to each one of us. It brings us joy here upon the earth and happiness well into the eternities.

We have all that we need to guide us on our own treasure hunt as we journey through this life and strive to find the person that we need to be.
The path that leads us home is straight and narrow, however it is easy to find if we make use of the tools that we have been given.  We need to take care also that we don't listen or heed the voices and distractions that are all around us.   

One of the first quotes I ever memorized says:

We live in the present,

We dream of the future,

But we learn eternal truths from the past. 

Those things we seek today are the treasures that we are laying up for the tomorrows in our lives.  One day, each of us will run out of tomorrows.  It is up to us to recognize the true, eternal treasures from the things of the world. 

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

The Silent Sound

Did you know that there is a sound that children can hear, but their parents can't?  I have heard about it before, but never known where to find it.  I have heard about it because I sometimes teach college classes and cell phones continue to be a big problem in class.  Presbycusis is a common degenerative condition that affects most adults. (How is that for a fancy name of a condition that you just might have!  Do you feel old yet?)
People who are affected by this usually start losing the ability to hear higher frequency noises around the age of 18 and their hearing progressively deteriorates throughout their later years in life. Can you believe that the association between advanced age and high-tone deafness was first described by a Dutch scientist in 1899.
This condition is considered a natural side effect of aging, and the exact cause of this type of hearing loss is unknown.
Modern day teenagers have discovered a way to take advantage of this unique situation.  There are cell phone ring tones on the web that allow teenagers to hear this sound in places that receiving calls or text messages might be inappropriate.  Places like church, school, concerts and work.
I was surfing the web the other night (something I like to do, but don't usually find the time for) and I came across a website that plays the sound over your computer.  As long as the speakers are on you can hear (or not hear) the noise.  It is called a mosquito ring tone.  I went to one of the web sites and played the "noise" over my computer.  All three of the girls immediately said, "what is that annoying noise?  What is making that sound".  They started looking around for it.  My husband said, "What noise?  There is no unusual noise in here."  The girls than started to explain the noise to him.  He did not believe them.  They argued about the buzzing sound.  I sat, smiling at my computer.

How does what you hear or don't hear make a difference in learning the gospel?  We have heard often, that we need to become as little children.  My little children can hear things that I can't.  They can listen to things that I don't know.  Maybe the message should be to learn to listen as a child would listen.  To really pay attention to that soft sound.
How many of you have ever sat in a church meeting, or gospel discussion and had something in the talk just really make a difference in how you look at things?  Have you ever wondered why others don't learn the same information that you do?  I have.  Especially when I believe that it is a great talk or lesson.

I was reading in one of the past ensigns and found this thought:
"Now I would ask you to think about...your own ability to have great spiritual experiences as you attend a class or a sacrament meeting on Sunday. What is your role in creating the environment in which the Spirit can teach you the things you need to know?  If you find a Church class or a sacrament meeting boring, does that say more about the teacher—or about you?
Consider the response of President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) when someone once asked him, “What do you do if you find yourself caught in a boring sacrament meeting?” President Kimball thought a moment, then replied, “I don’t know; I’ve never been in one.”  With his long years of Church experience, President Kimball had undoubtedly been to many meetings where people had read their talks, spoken in a monotone, or given travelogues instead of teaching doctrine. But most likely, President Kimball was teaching that he did not go to sacrament meeting to be entertained; he went to worship the Lord, renew his covenants, and be taught from on high. If he attended with an open heart, a desire to be “nourished by the good word of God” (Moroni 6:4), and a prayer—rather than judgment—for the speakers, the Spirit would teach him what he needed to do to be a more effective and faithful disciple. President Kimball was teaching the principle of learning by the Spirit"  (A. Roger Merrill, “To Be Edified and Rejoice Together,” Ensign, Jan 2007, 64–69).  

This simple story about President Kimball really struck a cord in me.  I could not say the same thing about my own experiences in church meetings.  I think that President Kimball was trying to teach me that I need to take responsibility for my own learning.  I need to do the things to prepare myself so that the Spirit can teach me.
I have sometimes heard people complain that they did not like a lesson or talk.  I know that there have been weeks where I don't think that I learned anything.  Reading this about President Kimball made me take another look at the way I do things.
I have learned that part of taking responsibility for my own learning means taking the time to prepare to be taught.  When I read my scriptures daily, study the lesson, and pray for the teachers and the speakers, I have found that I get much more out of my meetings.  I also started carrying a composition notebook and pen in my scriptures.  It is a small one that fits in the pocket of my scripture case.  I use that to write down the thoughts, scriptures, and stories that mean the most to me.  I try to find at least one thing in every talk that applies to me.  I have been doing this for a little more than two months now, and I can honestly say that I have not been to a boring meeting since I have started this experiment.

So, take this challenge and prepare yourself to be taught.  You might just be a little surprised as your ears are opened and you hear the lessons that the Lord wants you to hear and find a way to apply them in your life.   And you just might find out (as I have done) that there really are no boring Sacrament meetings.

By the way, I didn't hear the mosquito noise either, but I sure wasn't going to let my girls know that!  Sometimes, what they don't know, won't have the chance to hurt them!

Tight like a dish

We had a really good talk in sacrament meeting today, given by the bishop's wife.  She reminded me of one of my favorite Book of Mormon stories.

It can be found in the book of Ether and is the story of the Jaredites:
Ether 2:17 And they were built after a manner that they were exceedingly tight, even that they would hold water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish.

How does the Lord communicate something important to his children?  I think He uses repetition to get the point across.  Now, if there was one thing the Lord wanted to get across to us in this scripture, it is that the barges were built to be "tight like unto a dish".  He repeats that a total of four times in just this one verse.  If we go just a little further in Ether, we begin to see why they were built that way.

Ether 2:24- For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.

Ether 6:5-9-
     And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, toward the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind.

     And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind.

     And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters.

     And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind.

The Jaredites were literally buried into the sea.  What would have happened to them if their boats would not have been "tight like unto a dish".  What if there was a crack in the seam of the lumber?  What if there were holes?  How about windows?  Those boats could not have any weakness for the water to get inside.

There is an old poem that I love:
"All the water in the world
however hard it tries,
can never sink the smallest ship
unless it gets inside.
All the evil in the world,
the blackest kind of sin,
can never hurt you one least bit,
unless you let it in".

As long as the Jaredites did not let the water into their barges, they would be safe and make it to the promised land.  Heavenly Father gave them instructions and they followed His counsel and teachings.  The Lord did not stop the wind and the waves from crashing over them and driving their little boats into the deep.  He had them make those boats "tight like unto a dish", so that they could withstand the wind and the waves.
How tight is your boat?  Is it "tight like unto a dish"?  All of us are asked to go through the winds and waves of trials and tribulations.  If our boats aren't tight, or our testimonies aren't strong, we will never be able to withstand the buffetings of Satan in our lives.  We will never make it to the shore of our Father's house.
A friend of mine has a brother-in-law who had chest pains for several weeks before he would finally go to the doctor.  When they tested him, the medical staff at the hospital was amazed that he was alive and gave him only hours to live.  He had waited too long to go and get medical help.  He had a heart attack and it had done damage to three-fourths of his heart.  Actually, most of his heart was dead and there was no way for it to be fixed.
The doctors did their best, the family was called together, they prayed and fasted.  The only hope for him was a transplant.  This good brother progressively got better and stronger until he was able to leave the hospital and went to my friend's home to live with his sister.  He was not able to live alone, but he did not have to live in the hospital.  His sister took care of him.
He was able to get up and move around, contrary to everything that the doctors had told him he would be able to do.  He started looking at the things that were most important in his life.  He made decisions that changed the course of his life.  He started attending the temple several times a week, he put his affairs in order, he made amends to family members.
He was able to change what he did with his life and finish up what the Lord had needed him to do.  He made his testimony "tight like unto a dish".  Two weeks ago, coming out of the Temple, he suffered a massive heart attack and died.  But because of the changes that he had made, and the extra blessing of having that time, he had strengthened his testimony and prepared himself to move on in his journey.

D&C 88:63 " Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you, seek me diligently and ye shall find me".

Heavenly Father has not left us alone in our journey here.  He has given us prophets and leaders to guide our way.  He has given us the scriptures to light our path. We need more than ever to draw near to our Heavenly Father.  As we seek Him more diligently, we will find Him.  We will see that the Lord never abandons us.  We will find the strength to survive the winds and rains and trials of life.  Your testimonies will truly be, "tight like unto a dish".