What I learned - Conversion to Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Our purpose is to balance the Church and the home experiences in a way that will greatly increase faith and spirituality and deepen conversion.

I love listening to Elder Cook.  This is the talk where the new Sunday curriculum was explained.  I am in love with going to two hour church on Sundays.  I especially like the idea of studying myself and learning through research and reading what is essential for me to know.  Life is a balance, like my grandchildren on the monkey bars.  There are so many different things that require my attention.  It is a relief to spend some of the time on the Sabbath day actually doing things that help me to be a better person.

Don't get me wrong, I have actually always loved church.  I like the chance to learn and grow and be around others.  But it can be hard with all the assignments and teaching and just doing.  Sometimes, I am exhausted on Sunday.  It is easier to turn everything over to someone else and expect them to teach me or teach my children.

What I like most about the new program is that it puts more of the responsibility for learning and teaching right back on the family.  I feel like I can grow this way better than before.  I love the idea of bringing the gospel home and spending the day learning even more.  

Live in the moment

Live in the moment.  Something I am trying desperately to learn.  I live and breath in the world of worry.  In the world of what if's and should have's.  I am not so good at being right here in this place and time.  There always seems to be more I should have done and should be doing.  Better choices I could have made.  More good I could have done.  In short, I never seem to be quite enough.  The monster of "comparison" has me tightly by the throat and I am really trying to shake him loose!
For Christmas this year, my sister bought me a subscription to Hilary Weeks "Live All In Today" year long program.  I am loving it.  Not only am I a huge fan of her music, but I love the chat group and the assignments every day to help me live in this here and now moment of my life.    I love the way I am starting (just barely) to focus a little more on what is happening around me.  I love how there are small changes that I am starting to notice, as I truly try and live in the moment instead of in the past or the future of my life.
I am learning to rejoice in music I love.
I am learning that there is never going to be another moment quite like the one I am in right this minute. 
I am learning to make the most of it.
I am even learning that it is ok to be myself! 
The most important part, is I am learning to live, right here in this most important today of my life.

Thank you Sandi, for this amazing gift of love!

https://www.liveallintoday.com/

Light and Goodness

This one is so true.  I found some today.  I have been run ragged with work lately.  We are busy and the prices are getting ready to go up and everyone wants to buy forever stamps before they have to pay more.  I work at a small office and went through 100 coils in the past 2.5 weeks.  Normally, it takes me a month to go through 50 coils, so it is a pretty big increase.  I ordered coils, but they did not come in.  All the other stamps did, but not my coils.  I reached out to a couple other Postmasters I know and found some within 50 miles of my station.  Today, I drove down to pick them up so that my customers have the stamps they need.
When I got there, my fellow Postmaster took me out to lunch and we talked and he got me 50 coils to sell.  By the time I arrived back at the office, we were out of coils.
This may seem like a small thing, but to me it really made my day.   I gave me a break from work, it got me out of the office for an actual lunch, and it reminded me that I am surrounded by good people everywhere.  I just have to look a little harder to find their welcoming light in my own world.
It is easy to feel surrounded by the difficulties in life.  It is easy to get lost in the darkness of the day to day trials.  But in the midst of them, there is someone willing to share their light with us.  All we have to do is look.

Be Positive

Good one to remember.  We all can get overwhelmed with negativity.  We all struggle, we all have issues, we all hurt, we all are doing the best we can in a very negative world.  The only way to combat the negativity is to find the positive and surround yourself with it as much as possible.
I did an experiment a couple of years ago.  I tried to change every negative thought into something positive.  I tried to find the good in every single moment, (no matter how much it made me want to cry).  I did not succeed all the time, but by focusing more on the positive, I discovered that I felt a lot less negative with myself and the world around me.
By choosing not to dwell on the negative, I found myself feeling more positive every day.  Perhaps, it is time to resurrect that experiment again.  The more we focus and dwell on the negative, the more we find that accentuates that negative in our lives.  The more we try and focus on the positive and be grateful for it, the more the positive is accentuated in our day to day existence.
In other words, we literally find that which we seek.
So today, try and be a little more positive with yourself and with others.  Try to find things to appreciate.  Try to look just a little harder for the bright side of things.

Wordless Wednesday - Tuckered out!

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.

Always Go For What Makes You Happy

I forget this sometimes.
For me, it is so easy to spend my time, efforts, and money on helping everyone else be happy.  It is much harder for me to spend those same things on myself.  Sometimes, when I focus on other people, it helps me to be happy.  I love doing things for others and taking time for them and working to provide for their needs and wants.  I love finding the perfect quote, or the perfect gift for them on the day that they need it.
But in doing everything for someone else, it become easier and easier to lose track of me.  I feel lazy when I try and take care of myself.  I feel like I don't have any worth.  I feel selfish.  I am not entirely sure where all those feelings come from, but somehow, they can be incredibly overwhelming to me.
Today, I am trying to take care of me.  I am going to the dentist and the doctor.  I am cleaning my floor and tidying the computer area.  I am reading a book.  There are so many other things that I need to do, but just for today, I am going to do what needs doing to help me feel a little better about me.

Sabbath Day Scribblings - Cheering you on

Revelation 3:10

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience,

I also will keep thee from the hour of  temptation,

which shall come upon all the world,

to try them that dwell upon the earth.

I am Bigger

 

I needed this one for myself today.  Each day of our life is a choice.  We can't choose the trials, or the heartaches, or the tears, or the problems, but we can certainly choose how we are going to live with them.  We can choose to be surrounded by fear, or by courage.  We can choose to be positive or negative.  We can choose to be scattered or focus.  We all get to choose. 

I like that word unstoppable.  I like the idea of letting the strength of others inspire me.  In short, I like the idea of remembering who I am and where I have come from. 

Life is hard and messy.  It is not an easy road.  It has bumps and bruises along the way.  Some things get broken and can't possibly be fixed, but we never know until we look back, just what it was that Heavenly Father was leading us through and to. 

Sometimes, for me, the hardest thing to learn is to simply let go and trust God that all will be well. 

Sometimes, being courageous is simply being willing to put one foot in front of the other and keep going forward toward a new ending. 

Being unstoppable, doesn't mean you do not have problems and concerns.  It simply means that I choose to take a step forward in spite of them.  It means I am making my choice to live. 

 

Happiness is Something We Are

Too often, we think of happiness as a goal.  Something that we are supposed to get.  Something that someone else makes us feel.  Too often, we don't realize that happiness is always something that is within ourselves.  No one else has the right or the responsibility to make us happy.  It is something within ourselves.  It is our own opportunity to become a little better.
I have noticed, that when I was younger and did not know any better, I would expect those around me to help "make" me happy.  In the same way, I would tell my children when they "made" me angry, or "made" me sad.  I had to grow up to realize, that in reality, they never had that power over my emotions.  Only I have that kind of power. 
It is easy to focus on the should have's and could haves.  I am learning that the only way to be truly happy is to focus on the present, exactly how it is, in all it's mixed up, craziness and overwhelming glory. 
We might not be perfect, the place might not be perfect, our families might not be perfect, and neither are our friends and neighbors.  But we can each have nearly perfect moments along the way and choose to be happy.   

Have courage to be kind

I think maybe my word this year should have been kindness.  Not so much because I need to be more kind (although that is always possible) but more because I need to be willing to see more kindness in others.  I need to be willing to overlook what seems to be so, and look harder at the intent.
Any act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.  It helps us to heal and love and be better than we were before.  But part of seeing the kindness in others is learning to recognize it in the world around us.
I have really struggled this past year.  It has seemed to me that kindness is an old school value that has gone far, far out of style.  Even older people seem to forget how important kindness can be.  I have never had a year, quite like this one.  I have been yelled at, screamed at, criticized, called names, and even made fun of.  I have had my very morals and integrity questioned.
I am someone who gives everyone the benefit of the doubt.  You pretty much have to try really hard to prove to me you are not trustworthy or kind.  This year, has shown me that many people are not.  That actually hurts my heart.  I want to believe the best of people.  I want to think they care and that they want things to be better.  I want to think that they might have a kernel of kindness in their souls.  It always surprises me and even shocks me when people are not.
One of the things I am discovering (more slowly than I would like), is that I have to look harder for those moments of kindness.  I have to really search and see that they are there.  When I find them, I have to dwell on those to avoid the others who are not that way.  But as I seek more kindness in the world around me, I am finding it.  The woman who lets the disabled man go in front of her because he is struggling to stand.  The man who lets the woman with 4 small children go first in the line at the grocery store because she only has a few things and he has a whole cart.  The people at the Post Office who bring my employees chocolate to make their day just a little brighter.  
There is kindness out there.  Sometimes, we just have to pay a little more attention to what is going on outside ourselves.  We have to have the courage not only to be kind, but to look for it in the world around us.  It is there if we are just willing to pay attention.

Wordless Wednesday - Exhausted!

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.

Why We Won't Move

 

I love this one.  I have often heard the one about whenever God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window, but I really love the fact that He knows when it is time to get us moving forward and onward toward His good gifts.  I sometimes feel like I am stuck.  Like life just keeps pushing me down and stopping me.  Perhaps, it is more about how I am looking at it and less about what my perception is.  Perhaps it is more about moving forward and less about looking longingly back.

I have had God close so many doors in my life, and except for the time I am actually going through the trial, I am able to look back and understand the blessings that He had in store for me.  I am someone who likes everything to stay the same.  I don't even move the furniture in my house.  I don't try new things well.  I don't like sleeping in unfamiliar places or being with people I don't know.  But how else and I going to get to know new friends and new places if I don't try.  

Our circumstances can totally be a stumbling block or a stepping stone.  It is up to us to look at them from a different perspective and be willing to change.   

The Secret

 

 

I sometimes wonder why it is so hard to be kind.  I wonder why we hurt each other, sometimes by accident, but especially when we do it on purpose.  I wonder why we are so quick to wound and so anxious to judge.  I wonder what it is about our society today that makes it so hard to be kind.

Then I stop and think, I look at the internet and social media.  Today we are surrounded by people who, since they can't see your face or your pain or your despair, say whatever pops into their minds.  Add that to the fact that the written word can be taken differently by different people, and you have a big mess just waiting to happen. 

A long time ago, if you offended someone, you could see it in their face.  You could see their eyes and their tears and their sadness.  Today, if you offend someone on social media, you just see their words, or the words of others.  It makes it so much easier to be unkind and so much harder to recognize it in the process. 

Still, I think we can all do a little better in this and take a little more responsibility for our own actions.  Are we always kind to others, or do we walk by and not notice?  Do we look for the ones who look sad or lonely?  Do we sit by the person who is alone?  Do we try to think about how we would feel if we were in that place?  Do we try and feel period!

I had jury duty last week, and it was an interesting experience.  Many hours on hard chairs in a hallway, while unbeknownst to us, the attorneys and clients met to try and reach a plea agreement.  No one told us anything.  We just got to sit there waiting.   After awhile two people in orange jump suits walked out in handcuffs with smirks on their faces and yelling, "Hey, you all waitin for us??  You all still waitin?"  All I could think is that some of these people might be your jury and you are going to act like that!

Thank goodness, the reason they did is because they had just accepted a plea deal. 

Thank goodness again, that I did not say something to them!! 

There are always, always, always opportunities to be more kind.  There are always people who need a smile or a laugh or a hug. 

Life is too short and too hurried to ruin it with a bad attitude and bitter, mean words.   

 

Ephesians 4:32 -  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,

even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Sabbath Day Scribblings - Rejoice

 

 

We are studying the New Testament this year in church and also for our family time.  I am so excited to learn even more about our loving Savior.   Sometimes we just need to take the opportunities that He gives us to blossom and grow. 

Be Still

I am in love with these words.  I have a very hard time letting go.  I never thought that he Hebrew translation was more than being quiet.  I think we have to be quiet to listen, and be quiet to learn.  But I love that the Hebrew of this means to Let Go. 

So many times, I cling to that which I think is mine to hold.  I feel like I have to hold it tight especially when it hurts and when I am failing miserably.  I feel like I will fail even more if I give it to anyone else to do.  Even if the person I am giving it to, is God.

How is it possible that in my mind, I can't hand all the grief, sorrow and pain over to Him?  How is it possible that there is even the smallest part of me that doesn't understand how much the Atonement of a loving Savior applies even to me. 

I know that He was sent, not only to forgive us and pay for our sins, but also to suffer our pains and heartache.  I know that He understands exactly what I am going through.  I know that He knows me.  He loves me in spite of my fears and my aching.  I know that He will take the burdens from me if I will just let Him in and let them go.   

Look Heavenward

It can be so hard for me to keep my eyes up.  I suffer from depression and anxiety.  I worry about everything and everyone.  My life, seems to be filled with constant half empty glasses.  I am trying to change that.  This year, I picked for my word of the year, PRESENT.  I know that worry is caused by focusing too much on the could happens of the future.  Worry is caused by trying to do every thing myself.  Worry is caused my holding tight to my own problems, needs, confusions, anger, resentment and fear. 
The opposite of worry is trust.  I think the only way for me to be truly present in the here and now is to trust God to take care of the future.  This is going to be a hard thing for me to accomplish.  I know it sounds easy, but it really isn't.  Life is not always fair or kind or beautiful.  Sometimes it is very, very hard.  Sometimes those hard things teach you that you can only depend on yourself and never others. 
This year, I want to be closer to Him.  I want to let go of the past and the future and more consciously live in the present.  This year, I want my yearning and searching and looking to be upward.
This year, I want to be PRESENT.