Study? Write? Run? Work? Sew? Clean?
Oh the lists of things I love and desire to do! This morning little WS got up early for which I am actually grateful. Yesterday I laid in bed waiting for him to whimper so I could nurse him and get going with other jobs. I am so grateful for time I get to cuddle with him, holding his perfect little fingers! Feeling his solid body in my arms, praying, pondering, sensing that heaven is near. I am so grateful to be a mom.
Often I sit on the swing on my front porch, near the beautiful waterfall many have worked hard to construct in my front yard as I nurse, listen to kids read, talk on the phone, you know - live life. One day this week, I carried WS out there in the darkness of night to nurse. I love to look into the stars, and pray for my kids. L is so far away, but those same stars watch over and send her my love. We wish together on the big dipper and I take comfort in knowing that those same stars have seen her recently. They have watched over her and protected her! I am so grateful for my loving Parents in Heaven for the miracles of this life!
It was later that same day that I sat in that same spot, and noted the deep blue sky of our lovely little town. We have beautiful weather nearly every day! I noted how I knew that those stars were still there, and yet they weren't, hidden from the eye. How often are there hidden meanings, hidden messages, hidden details created and set in motion to provide for me and my loved ones. I am thankful for the temple and for the messages there. I desire - a big word that the scriptures tell us is the first step. I love this reference to the desire of the Nephites at the time of Christ that the disciples were filled with desire. Desire. First we must desire. What is it that I desire? Are my desires in line with what He would have me desire? I know and testify that He knows our desires. I want to purify my desires, that they may be pure as He is pure. That my heart will be clean. I desire to know of the mystries of life. I desire to see His handiwork and understand His purposes. I am so grateful for the opportunity to live and love. I desire to teach my children, to help them build upon His rock that when the storms come, and the winds blow, they will each withstand the storm! For I know that it is through the storms of life that we are strengthened, built stronger. Love the good timber poem. I have quoted it often this summer especially as I marveled at the trees struggling to grow from creves high up on red rock canyon walls...
Good Timber
by Douglas Malloch
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.
I am grateful to pause a few minutes this early morning even while at the office trying to accomplish the multitude of tasks waiting for attention here. I am grateful for messages of peace, hope and love (see this talk linked here by President Eyring, a message sent special delivery to me this early morning). For reminders to purify my desires and to enjoy the mountains I am climbing! I love to be in His granduer! The photo background on this page is a photo I took on my phone this summer hiking in the beautiful Albion Basin up Little Cottonwood Canyon, my canyon, for I grew up at the base of these beautiful mountains! I love their intricacies, the details God cares for. They whisper as those stars that He is aware and caring for every detail! Laus Deo! I am grateful!
Quoting President Eyring from the talk Mountains to Climb:
"One of the keys to an enduring faith is to judge correctly the curing time required. That is why I was unwise to pray so soon in my life for higher mountains to climb and greater tests.
That curing does not come automatically through the passage of time, but it does take time. Getting older does not do it alone. It is serving God and others persistently with full heart and soul that turns testimony of truth into unbreakable spiritual strength."
"We never need to feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service because we never are. We can feel the love of God. The Savior has promised angels on our left and our right to bear us up. And He always keeps His word."
Oh the lists of things I love and desire to do! This morning little WS got up early for which I am actually grateful. Yesterday I laid in bed waiting for him to whimper so I could nurse him and get going with other jobs. I am so grateful for time I get to cuddle with him, holding his perfect little fingers! Feeling his solid body in my arms, praying, pondering, sensing that heaven is near. I am so grateful to be a mom.
Often I sit on the swing on my front porch, near the beautiful waterfall many have worked hard to construct in my front yard as I nurse, listen to kids read, talk on the phone, you know - live life. One day this week, I carried WS out there in the darkness of night to nurse. I love to look into the stars, and pray for my kids. L is so far away, but those same stars watch over and send her my love. We wish together on the big dipper and I take comfort in knowing that those same stars have seen her recently. They have watched over her and protected her! I am so grateful for my loving Parents in Heaven for the miracles of this life!
It was later that same day that I sat in that same spot, and noted the deep blue sky of our lovely little town. We have beautiful weather nearly every day! I noted how I knew that those stars were still there, and yet they weren't, hidden from the eye. How often are there hidden meanings, hidden messages, hidden details created and set in motion to provide for me and my loved ones. I am thankful for the temple and for the messages there. I desire - a big word that the scriptures tell us is the first step. I love this reference to the desire of the Nephites at the time of Christ that the disciples were filled with desire. Desire. First we must desire. What is it that I desire? Are my desires in line with what He would have me desire? I know and testify that He knows our desires. I want to purify my desires, that they may be pure as He is pure. That my heart will be clean. I desire to know of the mystries of life. I desire to see His handiwork and understand His purposes. I am so grateful for the opportunity to live and love. I desire to teach my children, to help them build upon His rock that when the storms come, and the winds blow, they will each withstand the storm! For I know that it is through the storms of life that we are strengthened, built stronger. Love the good timber poem. I have quoted it often this summer especially as I marveled at the trees struggling to grow from creves high up on red rock canyon walls...
Good Timber
by Douglas Malloch
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.
I am grateful to pause a few minutes this early morning even while at the office trying to accomplish the multitude of tasks waiting for attention here. I am grateful for messages of peace, hope and love (see this talk linked here by President Eyring, a message sent special delivery to me this early morning). For reminders to purify my desires and to enjoy the mountains I am climbing! I love to be in His granduer! The photo background on this page is a photo I took on my phone this summer hiking in the beautiful Albion Basin up Little Cottonwood Canyon, my canyon, for I grew up at the base of these beautiful mountains! I love their intricacies, the details God cares for. They whisper as those stars that He is aware and caring for every detail! Laus Deo! I am grateful!
Quoting President Eyring from the talk Mountains to Climb:
"One of the keys to an enduring faith is to judge correctly the curing time required. That is why I was unwise to pray so soon in my life for higher mountains to climb and greater tests.
That curing does not come automatically through the passage of time, but it does take time. Getting older does not do it alone. It is serving God and others persistently with full heart and soul that turns testimony of truth into unbreakable spiritual strength."
"We never need to feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service because we never are. We can feel the love of God. The Savior has promised angels on our left and our right to bear us up. And He always keeps His word."