Believe In Yourself

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C’, the idea must be feasible."--

A Yale University management professor, in response to student Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service

(Smith went on to found Federal Express.)

My Soul is Satisfied

When you are filled with the Spirit of God, … that [Spirit] satisfies and fills up every longing of the human heart, and fills up every vacuum. When I am filled with that spirit my soul is satisfied. … The Spirit of God will impart instruction to your minds, and you will impart it to each other. … Remember that you are Saints of God; and that you have important works to perform in Zion” (Woman’s Exponent, Sept. 15, 1873, 62).

I wonder sometimes if we look in the wrong places and in the wrong ways when we feel spiritually unsatisfied, or have an unfulfilled ache in our hearts. There is so much in life that has a tendency to throw us off spiritually: illness, financial troubles, doctrinal questions, relationship struggles, worry about wayward family members, mourning, unfulfilled dreams…. The list could go on and on.

Sister Snow said that the Spirit “satisfies and fills up every longing of the human heart” and “fills up every vacuum” (emphasis added). I have to ask myself: Do I trust that the Spirit can help me that much? How often do I expect my voids to be filled by someone’s choices, or prayers answered according to my will, or receiving understanding (now!) about the ‘whys’ of life? Do I believe that I can find peace and strength along the way, regardless of what is happening in my life?

Brigham Young said that we live far beneath our privileges when it comes to the Holy Ghost. Reading this quote by Eliza R. Snow seems to validate that teaching.

She has motivated me to (“put my trust in [the] Spirit”) more!

http://mormonwoman.org/about-this-site-2/

I have had many experiences in life that have propelled me to seek out sources of healing and understanding. Therapy, reading, medications. These tools have all been helpful. But I have found that there are some hurts in life that can only be healed by a higher source. It has only been through the spirit of the Holy Ghost that I have been given knowledge beyond the powers of this earth to help me understand and heal.

When I am filled with that spirit, my soul is satisfied

The Last Days

We are living in the Saturday night of the world's history. Earth has labored six days, and will rest upon the seventh, her period of sanctification.

I’ve been waiting so long for the 2nd coming
Since I was child I was told we were in the last days

Jesus told them of the wars, and rumors of wars, and pestilence, and earthquakes, and famines, and that nation should rise against nation, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.


I watch the world events and wonder
Is this the crisis that will bring Him

In mercy the Lord warns and forewarns. He sees the coming storm, knows the forces operating to produce it, exhorts, aye, even commands—that we prepare for what is about to befall and take shelter while yet there is time.

As our seasons grow shorter and it is difficult
To tell winter from fall, summer from spring
As earthquakes shake the earth and floods take whole cities
I wonder is this the sign that will bring him

We were told that as the days of Noah were, so should be the days of the coming of the Son of Man. They should be eating and drinking and making merry and would say that the Lord delayeth his coming, and then he would come as a thief in the night.

I watch as the values of the world prevail and I wonder
Is this the sign that will bring him

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Mal. 4:5?6.)

I watch the temples being built and spreading throughout the world and
I wonder is this the sign that will bring him

The special spirits who have been reserved to live in this time of challenges and who overcome will one day be praised for their stamina by those who pulled handcarts.

I look at my children and grandchildren and
I wonder is this the sign that will bring him

The Prophet wanted to comfort us, and he told us that we should receive those children in the morning of the resurrection just as we laid them down, in purity and innocence, and we should nourish and care for them as their mothers. He said that children would be raised in the resurrection just as they were laid down, and that they would obtain all the intelligence necessary to occupy thrones, principalities and powers. That the children would grow and develop in the Millennium, and that the mothers would have the pleasure of training and caring for them, which they had been deprived of in this life

I bury my son and my grandson in the ground and I wonder
can I live without them

My heart breaks a little more each day and I beg... Please send Him

Starting Over

I really think it's almost here... I can smell it... I can see it... I can feel it... Buds bursting, sun trying so hard to shine, warmer temperatures... it really IS on it's way.

I can hardely contain myself! It's so exciting to see things literally sprouting out of the ground. (Oh if I had just planted those spring bulbs, or pansies). But no regrets!!!

It's time to commit to walking again, reading the scriptures, eating better, loving better, looking for ways to serve.

It's the change that's exciting and invigorating as I wait for spring.

It's a new me--a fresh start.

99 BALLOONS

Dear Elliott....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6Njr-qkq0

Bliss

"If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time."

Urban Legends(my pet peeve)

There is an email circulating that supposedly was written by Jay Leno.

After a little research, I found out that that email is actually an urban legend. The actual essay was written by Craig R. Smith on November 20, 2006. The original is still worth a read. http://commonsenselogic.blogspot.com/2007/10/jay-leno-email-is-urban-legend.html

He closes with this favorite quote:

B.C. Forbes in 1953:

''What have Americans to be thankful for? More than any other people on the earth, we enjoy complete religious freedom, political freedom, social freedom. Our liberties are sacredly safeguarded by the Constitution of the United States, 'the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.' Yes, we Americans of today have been bequeathed a noble heritage. Let us pray that we may hand it down unsullied to our children and theirs.''

We should sit back and count our blessings for all we have. If we don't, what we have will be taken away.

Then we will have to explain to future generations why we squandered such blessing and abundance.

If we are not careful this generation will be known as the ''greediest and most ungrateful generation.'' A far cry from the proud Americans of the ''greatest generation'' who left us an untarnished legacy.

Here to Eternity

Yesterday I was thinking about how excited we were as spirit children to come to this earth. To receive for the first time our physical bodies and to be able to prove ourselves to our Heavenly Father. So excited that Christ was willing to step forward and offer up such an amazing sacrifice to assure that we would all be able to return to our heavenly home. So excited that we fought over the choice of how we should go about it; others wanting so much to assure their return that they were willing to lose their place there forever by not excepting the decision of free agency.



Perhaps those of us here understood that the time away from our spiritual home would be but a moment in relationship to time as we knew it and had courage that we would make correct choices and return on our own, with the knowledge that Christ would make up for our shortcomings.



As always I was thinking about all of this in connection with Taylor. When someone leaves this life prematurely (according to our time table) people are quick to say that they are in a better place, that we don't have to worry about them, they are happier than we can imagine, that being in a place so beautiful they would never want to leave.


But we did want to leave. We wanted to come here. We wanted our bodies and the experiences that this life offered.



As difficult as life has at times been there have also been times of great joy and happiness, many of those because of my children. I wanted Taylor to experience that same joy. I wanted to see him grow into a young man. I wanted him to experience this life. A mission, marriage, children, grandchildren. I wanted him to be in our home with children who reminded me of him, laughing, singing, talking with his siblings about life, his work, the gospel.

I wonder if he will ever have the opportunity to experience this life the way the rest of us do. With all of it's joys and sorrows. Will he date and fall in love. Will it be the same experience for him. What about college and the fun of living in a dorm and feeling that kind of independence. What about marriage...the anticipation of the wedding day, all the pictures and parties. What about the birth of a child and knowing and planning for their life. Coaching their little league games, getting baby sitters and going to a movie and dinner. Enjoying all the wonderful things of this place we call earth.


Will it be the same for him? For Taylor Ammon? Will it be the same for us as their parents? For those who are here such a short time, is it a blessing or a loss.

We are told that everything in this life first existed spiritually-everything but the body and all of the things that we can only experience with the addition of that body. It must be quite special because we were willing to leave a most perfect existence to obtain it. An existence less perfect without it.

So I hope that his experience will be the same but without any of the pain and sorrow. Just a short time here to receive his body, then on to an easier way of maturing. What more could a mother pray for than that? Only the good experiences of this life for their children. Perhaps that blessing alone would be worth the pain of the separation.