Inspiring

Be Still, My Soul

Be Still My Soul is one of my favorite hymns.

Ever since the day I got home from my mission.
I went to the temple because I didn’t know
what else to do with myself.
I threw up all over the lawn.
Leaving my missionary service behind,
made me sad, empty, scared, and confused
about my future.
I had given 18 months of my life to the Lord
and I had found myself by losing myself
and I found greater purpose in serving others.
I didn’t want to have to live my life for me.

I got inside the temple and sat down in the chapel.
On the organ played
Be Still My Soul.

Something told me to open up the hymn book
and read the lyrics.
Pretty sure it was The Spirit.

Be Still, my soul,
The Lord is on thy side;
with patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul:
Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future
as he has the past.

Wow. It was just what I needed to hear.
And beautifully communicated through music.

It was the first time I learned the lesson of commanding my spirit to be still.

Since then I have had much more practice.
One of my favorite verses of scripture is

Be Still, and know that I am God. -Psalms 46:10

I think of it often when I have to work at being still.

Go and listen to the history of the hymn.

Pretty cool.

History of Hymns: Episode 15 – “Be Still, My Soul”

Music to my ears.

This funny video came to me as an e-mail forward from a great friend.
Valerie Ader is old enough to be my mother
so naturally she is really good at e-mail forwards.
I miss you Valerie. I need a walking partner. Move to Utah.

Anyway, it’s good for a laugh and some inspiration simultaneously.
I am sure you are going to love it.
And thanks Val.
You always come through for me when I don’t feel like writing!

Don’t quit.

Whenever I want to quit blogging,
I watch this.

When hateful anonymous commenters
(who may or may not be mentally ill)
tell me I have no business on the internet,

I think of Lucille Ball, The Beatles, Ulysses S. Grant, Michael Jordan,
Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, and Abraham Lincoln.

You see they had haters too,
but they believed in themselves
and kept trying.

Who do you think about in times when you need to be reminded not to give up?

Just The Way You Are

If no one has told you lately,
please let me
say that
you’re amazing
just the way you are.

And even more cool than
me thinking that you are amazing
is the fact
that your
Father in Heaven
thinks you are even more amazing
than I do.
And He thinks that
you’re amazing
just the way you are.
In fact, he created you,
just as you are.

No matter what you’ve done wrong,
or what burdens you carry,
or what weaknesses you have,
you are amazing.

Just the way you are.

I cannot watch this video without crying.
It’s simple truth.

Some people may look at you and just see disabilities,
but they don’t get it.
Life is about seeing people’s abilities.
Because when we can look past people’s struggles,
we will see that
everyone is amazing
just the way they are.

Desire

“Are all my desires pure?” I asked myself while reading this recent address.

I desire to love my fellow man.

I desire to live a long life.

I desire to spend quality time with my kids.

I desire to serve God.

I desire to share truth with my friends.

I desire to be humble.

I desire to be wise.

I desire a close relationship with my personal Savior Jesus Christ.

I desire to have a strong marriage.

I desire to teach my girls to be healthy and happy and strong.

I desire to love myself better.

I desire to help others.

I desire eternal life.

Yet, I judge others, refuse to eat right and exercise enough, tell my kids to leave me alone, pretend I don’t know that people need service, withhold my beliefs in discussions, think I am too important, refuse to implement knowledge I have gained, slack on my personal scripture study and prayer, yell at my husband, assume I always have time to teach that to my kids later, engage in unhealthy self-talk, feel I lack skills, abilities, or means to make a difference, and last but not least, I looked at that pornographic picture that came up on my screen when I google image searched desire. Gross. Why did I do it? Yuck. I should have known better than to google search “desire”. All I could say to myself is “so much for effective spyware.”

I guess I am on the phase between desire and choices.

My newest desire is to never see anything like that again. I am pretty sure I am scarred enough that I will never ever falter on that choice again.

Anyone can desire. The hard part is in the choice and the actions. But choice and action are where the rewards await us.

I so want to change, achieve, and become. And I so want to forget that nasty picture.

Same Jersey

Sometimes I forget that we all wear the same jersey.
I get lifted up in pride.
And I get overzealous about sharing what I know to be true.
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I am ashamed if I use my knowledge to feel better than others.

I repent.
And I pray for forgiveness.
And I hope that I will find the right balance between
sharing what I know to be true
and loving and respecting others for their beliefs.

I have said it before and I will say it again.
I believe the most important thing that I can do in this life
is to love all people.
I will someday have to report to my God
about how I treated all of his children
while here on earth.
But, I will also have to report on how I shared the knowledge He has given me.
And for both tasks, I don’t want to be left short.

Pride and the Priesthood


My dear brethren of the priesthood, my beloved fellow disciples of the gentle Christ, should we not hold ourselves to a higher standard? As priesthood bearers, we must realize that all of God’s children wear the same jersey. Our team is the brotherhood of man. This mortal life is our playing field. Our goal is to learn to love God and to extend that same love toward our fellowman. We are here to live according to His law and establish the kingdom of God. We are here to build, uplift, treat fairly, and encourage all of Heavenly Father’s children. ~ Deiter F Uchtdorf