Three Great Christmas reads

Here are three wonderful reads to get you in the Christmas spirit.

1. The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke - a short 18-page story available for free here.

2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - a classic we are all familiar with that is perfect for getting into the Christmas spirit. Also available for free online.

3. Luke II - What better way to remember the birth of the Savior than to read the account of His birth?

*These are the three texts Pres. Thomas S. Monson reads each Christmas season, as he explained in this Christmas devotional.

Importance of Patience

Patience is something that I definitely have to work on every day! Having a three year old gives me extra practice with that. I love this video clip on patience which came from this talk. One of the quotes I love says, "As parents, we know how unwise it would be to indulge our children’s every desire. But children are not the only ones who spoil when showered with immediate gratification. Our Heavenly Father knows what good parents come to understand over time: if children are ever going to mature and reach their potential, they must learn to wait...Patience is a process of perfection."

Pencil in the Hand of God

I am reading a book by Jane Clayson Johnson called, I Am a Mother. In one of the chapters I read today it had a quote I love by Mother Teresa. She said:

"I am like a little pencil in [God's] hand. That is all. He does the thinking. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it. The pencil has only to be allowed to be used."

Jane Clayson comments on this by saying, "Will the Lord look upon me one day and see an obedient servant? Will he see a woman who was willing to be a pencil in the hand of God, to do his work humbly and happily, even when it was painful and difficult?...although the story he has written for me is completely different from the version I had in my own mind, I know now that his plan is better from me than the one I had mapped out for myself. Oh, but at times, it has been painful."

Motherhood

When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed,
will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies?
The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods?
Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?
When the surf of the centuries has made the great pyramids so much sand,
the everlasting family will still be standing, because it is a celestial institution,
formed outside telestial time.
The women of God know this.
-Neal A. Maxwell

*Portrait by Greg Olsen

Inspiring video

Some of you may have already heard of Stephanie Nielson and follow her blog. She and her husband survived a near fatal plane crash which put her in a coma for a few months and left her severely burned. You can watch this inspiring 8-minute video about her new life below.

Quotes about mothers

I thought I'd have a post each week until Mother's Day with some of my favorite quotes about mothers. Here are a few from famous political leaders.

My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw.
All I am I owe to my mother.
I attribute all my success in life to the
mortal, intellectual and physical education I received from her.
-George Washington


I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.
They have clung to me all my life.
-Abraham Lincoln


Let France have good mothers,
and she will have good sons.
-Napoleon Bonaparte

Celebrating Easter

Easter is such a wonderful time of year to reflect on the Savior. How blessed we are that we will all one day be resurrected because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for each of us! I love the following quote by Joseph B. Wirthlin.

"I testify to you that the Resurrection is not a fable. We have the personal testimonies of those who saw Him. Thousands in the Old and New Worlds witnessed the risen Savior. They felt the wounds in His hands, feet, and side. They shed tears of unrestrained joy as they embraced Him.

After the Resurrection, the disciples became renewed. They traveled throughout the world proclaiming the glorious news of the gospel.

Had they chosen, they could have disappeared and returned to their former lives and occupations. In time, their association with Him would have been forgotten.

They could have denied the divinity of Christ. Yet they did not. In the face of danger, ridicule, and threat of death, they entered palaces, temples, and synagogues boldly proclaiming Jesus the Christ, the resurrected Son of the living God.

Many of them offered as a final testimony their own precious lives. They died as martyrs, the testimony of the risen Christ on their lips as they perished.

The Resurrection transformed the lives of those who witnessed it. Should it not transform ours?

We will all rise from the grave. And on that day my father will embrace my mother. On that day I will once again hold in my arms my beloved Elisa.

Because of the life and eternal sacrifice of the Savior of the world, we will be reunited with those we have cherished.

On that day we will know the love of our Heavenly Father. On that day we will rejoice that the Messiah overcame all that we could live forever."

-Joseph B. Wirthlin

Power of Hope

Great video on remembering the true meaning of Christmas

My Home is a Temple

My friend Lori posted a link to this story on Facebook and I really enjoyed it so I am passing it along to you. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the daily household chores but I do believe that by creating a warm, loving home environment we increase the spirituality of our home and family.

Religious Freedom Being Threatened

Yesterday, Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke to a group of BYU-I students regarding religious freedoms being threatened in this country. Click here for a full transcript and here to see his Q&A session. I've listed a blurb from his speech below.

It was the Christian principles of human worth and dignity that made possible the formation of the United States Constitution over 200 years ago, and only those principles in the hearts of a majority of our diverse population can sustain that constitution today. Our constitution’s revolutionary concepts of sovereignty in the people and significant guarantees of personal rights were, as John A. Howard has written,

“generated by a people for whom Christianity had been for a century and a half the compelling feature of their lives. It was Jesus who first stated that all men are created equal [and] that every person . . . is valued and loved by God.”[xviii]

Religious values and political realities are so interlinked in the origin and perpetuation of this nation that we cannot lose the influence of Christianity in the public square without seriously jeopardizing our freedoms. I maintain that this is a political fact, well qualified for argument in the public square by religious people whose freedom to believe and act must always be protected by what is properly called our “First Freedom,” the free exercise of religion.

Each of us can do something to help someone

Last week, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held its semi-annual General Conference. I didn't hear all of it, but I am working on listening and reading what I missed. The archives are available now and you can download them to listen to on your mp3 player or you can read the text.

I loved Jeffrey R. Holland's talk on Safety for the Soul. Very powerful! Today, though, I thought I would share the words of our prophet, Thomas S. Monson on helping others.

I am confident it is the intention of each member of the Church to serve and to help those in need. At baptism we covenanted to “bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light.”⁸ How many times has your heart been touched as you have witnessed the need of another? How often have you intended to be the one to help? And yet how often has day-to-day living interfered and you’ve left it for others to help, feeling that “oh, surely someone will take care of that need.”

We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find that we have immersed ourselves in the “thick of thin things.” In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes....

...My brothers and sisters, may we ask ourselves the question which greeted Dr. Jack McConnell and his brothers and sisters each evening at dinnertime: “What have I done for someone today?” May the words of a familiar hymn penetrate our very souls and find lodgment in our hearts:

Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
Has anyone’s burden been lighter today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there?¹³

That service to which all of us have been called is the service of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As He enlists us to His cause, He invites us to draw close to Him. He speaks to you and to me:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”¹⁴

If we truly listen, we may hear that voice from far away say to us, as it spoke to another, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Thoughts on trials

As I was cleaning my garage this past week, I came across these thoughts I had written down.

"No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God, . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire"
-Orson F. Whitney

"Be warned that some of the greatest battles you will face will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul."
-Ezra Taft Benson

Preserved for a special purpose

I work with the youth in our church and I am so impressed with them. They are vibrant, smart, spiritual, and righteous. We talked about the second coming of the Savior today and our role in preparing the world. God has saved each of us for this day. We each have gifts and talents that can help make a difference in spreading God's word. I love this quote by H. Burke Peterson:

"My dear friends, you are a royal generation. You were preserved to come to the earth in this time for a special purpose. Not just a few of you, but all of you. There are things for each of you to do that no one else can do as well as you...If you will let Him, I testify that our Father in Heaven will walk with you through the journey of life and inspire you to know you special purpose here."

You weren't set to earth at this time and place by accident--God has a plan for you. So today, I encourage you to think of your gifts and talents and how you can use them to make this world a better place!

Motivational Monday: America at a Crossroads

With the 4th of July coming up this week, I thought it would be appropriate for Motivational Monday to have a patriotic theme. I love this country and feel so blessed that I was privileged to be born here. I know there are so many people born in other country's that do not have the liberties we enjoy here. I do worry about the direction are country is going but pray that enough people will continue to unhold the basic principles this country was founded on to keep it a choice land. I have put snippets from a talk from Ezra Taft Benson's 1978 talk "America at a Crossroads" below for you read.


"I love America. I love the people in this beloved land as well as our Father’s children in all other countries. The Lord decreed that America is “a land choice above all other lands” to those who keep his commandments. We remain here in this land as long as we remain in God’s divine favor.

[The Ten Commandments] are the foundation principles upon which all civilized government and our present civilization is built. To disregard them will lead to inevitable personal character loss and ruin. To disregard them as a nation will inevitably lead that nation to destruction.

It must be remembered that the Founding Fathers of the United States of America were men imbued with these basic principles. It is a part of my faith that these were “wise men whom [God] raised up” for the purpose of establishing the Constitution of the United States.

'We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' (Declaration of Independence.)

1. May I urge you to keep your own families strong. A nation is no stronger than the sum total of its families.

2. I would respectfully urge you to live by the fundamental principles of work, thrift, and self-reliance and to teach your children by your example.Then store at least a year’s supply of basic food, clothing, and fuel.

3. May I humbly urge you to learn about the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and other basic documents of our great country so that you can sustain it and the free institutions set up under it. It is a part of my faith that the Constitution of the United States was inspired by God.

4. May I urge you to seek out good, wise, and honest men for public office, and then support them with your vote.

5. I would urge you to heed strictly the commandments of God, particularly the Ten Commandments.

America has a spiritual foundation. But today she stands at the crossroads, The crisis before her is a crisis of faith; the need is for greater spirituality and a return to the basic principles upon which this nation was founded.

In the words of Thomas Paine: 'These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.' (The Life and Major Writings of Thomas Paine, ed. Philip S. Foner, Seacaucus, New Jersey: The Citadel Press, 1974, p. 50.)T hat was said on December 23, 1776, a time of great crisis in our struggle for independence. We face a similar spiritual crisis more than 200 years later.

The days ahead are sobering and challenging and will require the faith, prayers, loyalty, and courage of every citizen.

May God’s blessings be upon us that your generation will be equal to the task."