Be Kind

 

I am heart broken. A plague is running rampant through our world. The economy is becoming more and more unstable. Tornadoes are ripping through the south devastating people’s lives. Earth quakes are threatening people I love. Our government is in a shamble. The hurricane season will be starting shortly. And the food supply is dwindling for various reasons throughout the country. But, “As long as I’m all right, you don’t matter,” seems to be the mantra of our country. We are blaming others for our problems and isolating, hiding from the world, the village, the neighbors. And yet the spirit of the Samaritan lives on: One of the many examples are the families who lost their homes from tornadoes and were taken in by their neighbors in spite of the isolation directive.

When we had the wild fire in Los Alamos in May 2000 which took out a quarter of our town, the residents came together. They helped each other, They worked together. They were a force for the rebuilding of our town, our families, our government, our society, our environment. People came from all over the country to give, to encourage, to help us.

But we in our small neighborhood are shutting people out. Why? Yes, someone peeked through my window -several people-, several times. Yes, people felt free to feed their horses with our apples. (We have lots of apples and are happy to share.) Yes, people let their dogs run free leaving presents for us to find and their horses to express themselves in our drive- to us this is just part of a rural “neighborhood”.

Edwin Markham wrote "

“He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him In!”

Times are coming that we are going to need each other.

In spite of the difficulties we are facing in our country, in our world right now,

Can we take a moment to smile at our neighbors, have a kind world for those who take time and effort to help us, help those in need. I still agree with our governor, “Stay home and wash your hands,”and pray for your neighbors.

Be Brave

I hope you and your family are well. I hope you are safe and warm. I hope you have been able to provide for your needs and wants. I hope you can reach out to your friends and neighbors and offer comfort and help (at a distance).
I remember many years ago, being warned that things would happen in our future, that we needed to prepare ourselves for uncomfortable situations. Did I listen?
Sometimes, when it was convenient, I listened. I prepared when my babies were little and my husband was away during theViet Nam War, and then, when I was left alone to raise them. Well, forty years later I decided it was probably too old to move across the country to store there. Have you ever tried to cook forty year old pinto beans? Now I wish I had updated instead of tossing my stash. But I was secure for forty years.
I didn’t consider myself a hoarder. I was being prudent, a girl scout! I was prepared. In our current situation, with empty shelves, how much dare we stock up on? A day’s worth? A week? How many times do I want to eat oatmeal?  I know that when we come out of this, I will slowly restock my pantry. In the meantime, I will learn to enjoy making bread again, I will, I will.  I still have a jar of peanut butter.
My current mantra is If I can’t find what I want, I will want what I find. It makes the meals interesting, and induces creativity. In some small ways some of us can think of this as an adventure. Do everything you can to stay healthy, find things to make you smile, read a book, write a poem.
 “Promise me you’ll always remember that you’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Christopher Robin

 “Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.” Mary Tyler Moore

Integrity

I have been really down this month. It should be a happy month, I think of the good things February has brought to our lives. Valentines day, Presidents day, Black History month. Then there is politics. Lots of debates, primary elections, political ads, shootings, and many illegal activities. What has gotten into the people of this country, world? Everywhere there is anger, hurt, disrespect, and feelings of “I want mine. I don’t care about yours.

I think we are losing our feelings of integrity. What is integrity? Here are seven aspects of Integrity.     

1. Honesty 

2. Respect

3. Generating trust  

4. Pride

5. Responsibility 

6. Keeping promises

7. Helping others.

On the Internet today I found this poem by Michael Josephson

WHAT WILL MATTER by Michael Josephson (c) 2003WhatWillMatter.com

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours, or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame, and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.  So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It won’t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end. It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So, what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought but what you built; not what you got but what you gave. What will matter is not your success but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered, or encouraged others to emulate your example. What will matter is not your competence but your character. What will matter is not how many people you knew but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone. What will matter is not your memories but the memories of those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom, and for what. Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice. Choose to live a life that matters.

How is your Integrity doing? What can we do to improve?

Who's Your Hero?

 

Who is your hero? Do you prefer Batman or Spider man? Maybe your favorite would be Abraham Lincoln, or Roosevelt, Einstein ,or Nellie Bly. Many of us, especially children have heroes, people they can look up to and admire. Sports stars and movie  stars get a lot of hero worshipers. Homer’s Odysseus, was a tale of a Greek hero.

In his book  The Hero,November 2019, Lee Child writes,

“Thus by say, the late 1800’s, when the first use of odyssey as a common noun was recorded, meaning a long wandering or voyage marked by many changes of fortune) hero meant in practice, one who suffers, and endures and survives a long and complicated journey through dangers and perils, in order to do good in some vague and unspecified way.

By this definition, I decided that I could consider myself a hero. My travels through life  has been a long and complicated journey through dangers and perils, and I hope that I have done some good on the way.

Who has been your hero? I decided that I think my mother has been my hero. She was raised in the Depression era. She was instilled with many qualities and lessons learned that has been taught to all her children. Who now days saves their money till they can pay cash for a car, or a house. I did. My husband (who was also raised by parents from the Depression era) did.

My mother was a feminist. She was the first woman to graduate from BYU in the school of landsape architecture. They refused to let her apply the school of architecture. She got a job as a landscape architecture in the state of Utah by using just her initials so she would be paid the same wages the men did. (Her boss applauded her.) My mom  worked and encouraged me to learn and grow after being totally paralysed from a stroke at age two. And she had to take care of a month old baby at the same time. She fought locally for the equal rights ammendment. She fought for the women living in my home town even calling Clinton P Anderson, a four term Senator for New Mexico, to side with the housewives against local government and big business. She went to battle again against the US government when my husband died because of the Viet Nam war. Survivor rights were denied to me and my children till she called Manuel Lujan Sr. one of the New Mexico representatives to Congress at the time. She always taught us that if it was important enough to you, go to the highest authority you can.

She taught her children to work hard,follow our dreams, serve others,be honest, and leave the world a better place than you found it. Of course she always said things like “don’t wear pants down town, and don’t cut corners on the grass, it hurts the sidewalks feelings.”

The Pages of my Life

The Pages of My Life

Flower Song Dance of Joy

Wherever she goes there are flowers --

Music, off rhythm, off key, but her own,

Dancing moodily through anger

Towards joy

These are the pages of her life.

Tidbits of Faith

  

Merry Christmas

 

Last week my face Book page said that they had collected my Christmas pictures since I had become a member over ten years ago. However, as I looked at their collection, I became confused. They just didn’t look like pictures that I would take for Christmas. One picture was of my daughter making a fleece blanket. Another picture was of my nieces wedding at the St. George Temple. One was of a quilt I had made for one of my daughter’s bridesmaids. A picture followed of the flowers at the Denver temple. Next came a photo of my niece holding her brother’s new baby at my mother’s funeral. The last was a picture of my Dad and a dozen of his great grand- children in the summer time. What did these pictures have to do with Christmas? I wondered.

In my reading of the October General Conference talks of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shortly after, I read, Covenant Women in Partnership with God

By President Henry B. Eyring

“Becoming a covenant woman in partnership with God is how great and good daughters of God have always mothered, led, and ministered. Your call began when you were placed into mortality, in a place and time chosen for you by a God who knows you perfectly and loves you as His daughter. When you came out of the waters of baptism, you had accepted another call to serve. As a new covenant daughter of God, you made a promise and received an assignment in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which you were then confirmed a member. You covenanted with God to take upon yourself the name of Jesus Christ, to keep His commandments, and to serve Him.

For each one who makes these covenants, the service that the Lord calls him or her to do will be suited perfectly to that person. The covenant daughters and sons of God, however, all share one important and joyful call. It is to serve others for Him. “To help another human being reach one’s celestial potential is part of the divine mission of woman. As mother, teacher, or nurturing Saint, she molds living clay to the shape of her hopes. In partnership with God, her divine mission is to help spirits live and souls be lifted. This is the measure of her creation. It is ennobling, edifying, and exalting.” You cannot know when, or for what length of time, your personal mission will be focused on service in calls such as mother, leader, or ministering sister. The Lord, out of love, does not leave us the choice of the timing, duration, or sequence of our assignments. Yet you know from scripture and living prophets that all of these assignments will come, either in this life or in the next, to every daughter of God. And all of them are preparation for eternal life in loving families— “the greatest of all the gifts of God.”  

You remember President Nelson’s perfect description of a woman’s divine mission—including her mission of mothering: “As mother, teacher, or nurturing Saint, she molds living clay to the shape of her hopes. In partnership with God, her divine mission is to help spirits live and souls be lifted. This is the measure of her creation.” Becoming a covenant woman in partnership with God is how great and good daughters of God have always mothered, led, and ministered, serving in whatever way and place He has prepared for them.” And then the light! I understood! Mathew 25:40

Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

These have all been pictures of times when we have been of service to others, to show our love. Our gifts of love to Christ. Christmas pictures.

Be a Firebird

“For a star to be born, there is one thing that must happen: a gaseous nebula must collapse.

So, collapse.

Crumble.

This is not your destruction.

This is your birth.”

My daughter has this quote on the desk where she paints. She reminds me often that some works of art are created with a lot of time, patience and trial. Some don’t quite look like she had planned. Some are different but just as interesting, and some quite dramatic.

This week I will be having my fourth joint replacement and I am getting very nervous about it.

Why? You ask! I’ve done it before and survived. It’s old hat. But I know people around me that didn’t do as well. People who, having done one, will never try it again. I trust my medical team. I trust my husband. I trust the Lord to help me through. Do I trust my body, my mind, my heart, to do what I need to achieve my best? It’s going to be a new procedure, and I’m not sure how I will cope with it. I am prepared. The freezer is full of easy to finish meals. The laundry is done, there is a stack of books to read; three quilts to bind; and four project bags.  Even the cats are prepped and prepared to cuddle, or chase me around the fireplace on my walker, as I try to exercise.

My therapists ask me what my goal is. For the first knee it was to skip. The first hip was to walk well enough to make that hike to Missouri for the 2^nd coming. The second hip’s goal was to walk without my cane. This time it is to go back to the temple by the first of February. I think my goals are starting to get more important and more achievable. I think my first goal will to be able to put on my left sock!

We all come to points in our lives where we need to be reborn, to feel like we are worth something. Don’t let discouragement get you down. Collapse, yes, momentarily. Crumble, a little, then work yourself back to standing tall. Be reborn a brave, better, revitalized, woman of faith. Be a Fire bird!