Oh, so true

“I am at a stage in my life when, because of great distances, I cannot come to know well grandchildren and, in time, great-grandchildren. There are also people who have never had the opportunity for marriage and parenthood who have the same yearning as I do to somehow be close to family. Because of the restoration of the knowledge of eternal families, we are more hopeful and more kindly in all our family relations. The greatest joys in this life center in families, as they will in the worlds to come. I am so grateful for the assurance I have that if we are faithful, the same sociality which we enjoy here in this life will be forever with us in the world to come, in eternal glory (see D&C 130:2).”

Henry B. Eyring, “The True and Living Church,” Ensign, May 2008, 22

This quote hits home for me not just because I have not yet been blessed with marriage and parenthood, but because we are entering the holiday season. This time of year is such a family time for me. And I am far from any family (immediate or extended) for the first time in my life. I have been quite homesick for a home that doesn't exist for me any more. As I do what I can in living life and hoping to establish a home at some point in my life, I am so glad that I do have a family--no matter how scattered--that loves and supports me. Eternal families are awesome! :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

"May we be found among those who give our thanks to our Heavenly Father. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Despite the changes which come into our lives and with gratitude in our hearts, may we fill our days—as much as we can—with those things which matter most. May we cherish those we hold dear and express our love to them in word and in deed."

--Thomas S. Monson, "Finding Joy in the Journey", Ensign, Nov 2008, 84–87

Prop 8 Support--from BOTH sides

The support is in many telling others to stop the harassment and ridicule and protests (etc.) of those who are angry with Prop 8 passing. This is just a collection of quotes from people/groups on both sides of the issue trying to show these extremists how wrong their actions are. I think that is very telling. And I think some people need to start listening.

More Prop 8 reactions

Read more on some reactions to the passing of Prop 8, and how we may still have our religious freedom in jeopardy. Most certainly the dark and troubled last days before the Savior comes again.

"So much to be thankful for..."

[from my online journal today]:

I've been planning this video for a couple of weeks. But it actually was a lot harder to create than I thought it would be. I just didn't have enough of "the right kind" of pictures. But I think it has come together fairly well. Some very personal parts to it, but they are things that make me thankful or remind me of the "so much more" that I can do. So here it is--just in time for Thanksgiving!

Something I Need to Work On

"When you attempt to live life's experiences alone, you are not being true to yourself, nor to your basic mission in life. Individuals in difficulty often say: 'I'll do it alone,' 'Leave me alone,' 'I don't need you,' 'I can take care of myself.' It has been said that no one is so rich that he does not need another's help, no one so poor as not to be useful in some way to his fellowman. The disposition to ask assistance from others with confidence, and to grant it with kindness, should be part of our very nature."

Robert D. Hales, "We Can't Do It Alone," Ensign, Nov. 1975, 93

Ironic that I look at this quote now--at a time when I'm struggling to see if I have done any good for others, realizing that I have a weakness for being uncharitable and have a lot of work to do to change that weakness. And yet Elder Hales also has me looking at charity from the opposite angle, and has me seeing that I have a problem there, too. Charity, it seems, is a weakness for me in every aspect.

See, I have a major problem asking for help, as well as receiving it. I feel undeserving of it and thus guilty that their time is not being spent better off somewhere or with someone else. It's ironic that I turn so much to the Lord for help and know He is always there and always lifting me up. But then at the same time I have such trouble accepting some of the help that He sends through people around me. And then there are times when I feel I need and desire quite strongly someone physically present right then--and it's not what I'm given. Those are the times the Lord is expecting me to rely on only Him and myself. It's just between us. While those times are tough, I would say it's even harder for me to accept the help when it is there and it isn't what or how I wanted. I really am glad the Lord knows best, because I would completely botch up my life on my own.

Sacrifice brings forth...?

I have thought and pondered and finally concluded that there are some friends (mostly those I am closest to) to whom I am a terrible friend to. I have opened up too much of myself and all they see now is nothing good. Just the negative, un-Christlike aspects. When Moroni 7:45 shows you everything you're not, that's a sign that you're tearing others down and not lifting them up. I may be working on changing, but during that all I'm going to do is make them miserable. That isn't being a friend. I know they'll be fine without me. They were fine before I entered their life and they will be happier when I'm out of it. Other friends are works in progress like me, on levels closer to where I am. I believe we understand one another and help lift each other up. But when the lifting is done by one and all the other one (namely me) does is tear them down, that is an unhealthy friendship/relationship. There can be no greater pain for me than losing some of the closest friends I have ever known. But I don't want to hurt them any more than I do. I can't. Today we talked about leaving people better than we found them. And I've just made them worse. The Christlike thing is to walk away before any more harm is done. These people will be better off without my "friendship." 

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."-Eleanor Roosevelt.

"Our main purpose in life is to love each other. If we can't do that, we can at least try not to hurt one another." -Dalai Lama

All for us

"In the moonlit silence of that Near Eastern night, every acute pain, every heartfelt grief, every crushing wrong and human hurt experienced by every man, woman, and child in the human family was to be heaped upon his weary shoulders. But in such a moment, when someone might have said it to him, he rather says to us, 'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' (John 14:27.)"

Jeffrey R. Holland, "He Loved Them unto the End," Ensign, Nov. 1989, 25)

If the Savior didn't give up on the hardest thing known in this world and beyond, then we should not give up when we reach hard times. We can do it. He is there to help us through.

Someday...

“‘Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it’ (Eph. 5:25). With that kind of love, brethren, we will be better husbands and fathers, more loving and spiritual leaders. Happiness at home is most likely to be achieved when practices there are founded upon the teachings of Jesus Christ (see Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102). Ours is the responsibility to ensure that we have family prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. Ours is the responsibility to prepare our children to receive the ordinances of salvation and exaltation and the blessings promised to tithe payers. Ours is the privilege to bestow priesthood blessings of healing, comfort, and direction.”



Russell M. Nelson, “Our Sacred Duty to Honor Women,” Ensign, May 1999, 39-40

Charity

[from my personal online journal today]:

"Most of us experience some measure of what the scriptures call “the furnace of affliction” (Isa. 48:10; 1 Ne. 20:10). Some are submerged in service to a disadvantaged family member. Others suffer the death of a loved one or the loss or postponement of a righteous goal like marriage or childbearing. Still others struggle with personal impairments or with feelings of rejection, inadequacy, or depression. Through the justice and mercy of a loving Father in Heaven, the refinement and sanctification possible through such experiences can help us achieve what God desires us to become."

-Elder Dallin H. Oaks, "The Challenge to Become," Ensign November 2000, 32-34.

"This parable teaches us that we should never give up hope and loving associations with family members and friends whose fine qualities (see Moro. 7:5–14) evidence their progress toward what a loving Father would have them become....Instead of being judgmental about others, we should be concerned about ourselves. We must not give up hope. We must not stop striving. We are children of God, and it is possible for us to become what our Heavenly Father would have us become.

"How can we measure our progress? The scriptures suggest various ways. I will mention only two....(Mosiah 5:2). If we are losing our desire to do evil, we are progressing toward our heavenly goal....(1 Cor. 2:16). I understand this to mean that persons who are proceeding toward the needed conversion are beginning to see things as our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, see them. They are hearing His voice instead of the voice of the world, and they are doing things in His way instead of by the ways of the world."

-Elder Dallin H. Oaks, "The Challenge to Become," Ensign November 2000, 32-34.

"We are called upon to purify our inner feelings, to change our hearts, to make our outward actions and appearance conform to what we say we believe.…We need to extend the hand of friendship. We need to be kinder, more gentle, more forgiving, and slower to anger” 

-President Howard W. Hunter, “A More Excellent Way,” Ensign, May 1992, 61–63.

Have you ever wondered what "charity suffereth long" means? It doesn't mean that charity is a painful process. It is saying that charity is patient. It doesn't give up on others. Suffer means to wait patiently, to tolerate, to hold out, to allow. I do not equate "long-suffering" or "patient" charity with submissiveness to others or lack of energy. Quite the opposite--charity is energetically persistent in reaching its goals. It is submissive only to the Spirit of the Lord.

Sometimes the most important thing we do for others is to suffer long in their behalf....This is the suffering that works understanding. It reminds us that others have been patient with us, that the process of individual growth means we take turns suffering long and being suffered for.

-Elaine L. Jack, "Charity: How We Treat Each Other," March 10, 1992

Another charitable habit: Lighten up and chill out. Take a healthy helping of enjoyment and laughter from the smorgasbord of life's experiences. And give some to your neighbors and friends. While we don't choose all that lands on our plates, we may choose some of the trimmings. Laughter is a condiment that makes just about anything go down better. And the ability to enjoy life with all its frustrations and diversity is like a good sorbet--it freshens the palate. Good humor refreshes me as nothing else can. Sharing a good laugh with someone is often an act of charity.

-Elaine L. Jack, "Charity: How We Treat Each Other," March 10, 1992

11/11: Remember on this Day of Remembrance- and All Days

Veteran's Day has always been a favorite of mine, for we get to honor those who have fought--not just those who have died fighting. My grandfathers and great-grandfather all fought for their country. I am so proud of that heritage. And I am proud of and very grateful to all those who have fought to defend the freedoms we have been blessed with. 

Here are just a few things in tribute:

But the freedom that they fought for, and the country grand they wrought for,

Is their monument to-day, and for aye.

~Thomas Dunn English

And each man stands with his face in the light of his own drawn sword. Ready to do what a hero can. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. ~José Narosky

(I have learned that my recently deceased great-grandfather was a part of Iwo Jima)

How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a weary world.

~William Shakespeare

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

We must be prepared to make heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war. There is no task that is more important or closer to my heart. ~Albert Einstein

Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul. ~Michel de Montaigne

Heroism is latent in every human soul - However humble or unknown, they (the veterans) have renounced what are accounted pleasures and cheerfully undertaken all the self-denials - privations, toils, dangers, sufferings, sicknesses, mutilations, life. ~Lawrence Chamberlain

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms.  It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die. ~G.K. Chesterton

When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them. ~Chinese Proverb

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. ~Cynthia Ozick

This is a different kind of army. If you look at history you'll see men fight for pay, or women, or some other kind of loot. They fight for land, or because a king makes them, or just because they like killing. But we're here for something new. This hasn't happened much in the history of the world. We are an army out to set other men free. America should be free ground, from here to the Pacific Ocean. No man has to bow, no man born to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was. Here you can be something. Here you can build a home. But it's not the land. There's always more land. It's the idea that we all have value, you and me. What we're fighting for, in the end, is each other. Sorry. Didn't mean to preach. ~Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Gettysburg

Freedom is never free. ~Author Unknown

When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? ~George Canning

I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot. ~Gary Hart

The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten. ~Calvin Coolidge

May we never forget--those who have died and those who are still living. And those who are still fighting. Never forget. But even more, never forget that 

"This is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all our other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ." -Ether 2:12

A response

From the LDS Church on Prop 8

Gratitude for the Atonement

"[An important] dimension of a broken heart [is] our deep gratitude for Christ's suffering on our behalf. In Gethsemane, the Savior 'descended below all things' (D&C 88:6) as He bore the burden of sin for every human being. At Golgotha, He 'poured out his soul unto death' (Isaiah 53:12), and His great heart literally broke with an all encompassing love for the children of God. When we remember the Savior and His suffering, our hearts too will break in gratitude for the Anointed One.

"As we make the sacrifice to Him of all that we have and all that we are, the Lord will fill our hearts with peace. He will 'bind up the brokenhearted' (Isaiah 61:1) and grace our lives with the love of God, 'sweet above all that is sweet, . . . and pure above all that is pure' (Alma 32:42)."

Bruce D. Porter, "A Broken Heart and a Contrite Spirit," Ensign, Nov. 2007, 32

We are in the Savior's debt. It cannot ever be repaid. He bought us from a terrible fate, and gave us freedom from the devil's grasp. How can we not do all we can to show our gratitude for that?

Oh, Did I Need This

[an entry from today in my online journal]:

"It is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us--even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will.

"We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, Heavenly Father won't, for He sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming."

Joseph B Wirthlin, "The Great Commandment," Ensign, Nov. 2007, 29 30

(I was there for this talk! The entire Conference Center was silent. I missed half of the actual words said because my spirit was so filled by seeing his topic of love being fulfilled right in front of us.)

Proposition 8--It has many consequences!

I will not deny that the voting for Proposition 8 (and 102 in AZ and 2 in FL) has me very, very worried. Do people realize the implications of this? The horrible snowball effect that will occur if it is not passed? The attack on freedom of religion? The inch that the government is given being turned into feet and yards and much more. They have no right to have a say in such matters! Vote Yes on the propositions to keep the federal government out of matters that aren't theirs! They have no right here. The Constitution does not allow it. So don't let us allow it either! Did we not just celebrate Constitution month in September? Then if you believe in that document, uphold it! See what this matter is all about, not just what is in front of your face or what you hear others convincing you it is. The far-reaching effects are even worse than the immediate ones. Do you realize that the LDS temples could even be affected? Can you imagine having to close our temples in order to protect the sacred because of government intervention? Well it is a most certain possibility in a few years if we give in to them here. 

DON'T GIVE IN! 

Please pass these propositions. I cannot do more than plead and pray. Help this cause!