I LOVE this quote!
"If you'll just follow the prophet, you'll arrive at where he's going."
--Dale LeBaron, retired professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University
quoted in "Traditions add to conference experience", Mormon Times, By Aaron Shill
Wednesday, Oct. 01, 2008
http://mormontimes.com/around_church/worldwide_church/?id=3938
Monday, October 27, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Hug Them, Love Them, Laugh Often, and Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
by Renee Spieth, Indiana Young Mother 2008
Some days with our children pass as smoothly as a Hallmark commercial. On these picture-perfect days, hugging, loving, and laughing with our family are easy. When everyone listens the first time, or climbs into your lap to snuggle with Mommy, parenting is a breeze. However, life with children doesn't always go as we plan. Motherhood is a constant learning experience. I have had to learn to laugh at the many antics that my children have discovered and invented. Yes, right from wrong must be taught, but sometimes, a mom just has to smile, shake her head, and laugh. I often grab my camera to catch the mud monsters in action. Although mud is messy, it cleans up. So does the corn starch, flour, or whatever happens to be the mess-maker's object of destruction. This messy time will pass. I know that when the teenage years come, I will wish that my biggest issue was getting grass stains and mud stains out of jeans and carpeting. So moms, keep teaching those mud-monsters right from wrong. However, remember to hug and love them often. Laugh as you tell the stories to your friends or as you flip through the photo albums years from now. Most of all, don't sweat the small stuff! This is just a stage that will all too soon be a memory. God will give you wisdom and patience to get through this crazy life that He has blessed you with when giving you the title, Mother.
Some days with our children pass as smoothly as a Hallmark commercial. On these picture-perfect days, hugging, loving, and laughing with our family are easy. When everyone listens the first time, or climbs into your lap to snuggle with Mommy, parenting is a breeze. However, life with children doesn't always go as we plan. Motherhood is a constant learning experience. I have had to learn to laugh at the many antics that my children have discovered and invented. Yes, right from wrong must be taught, but sometimes, a mom just has to smile, shake her head, and laugh. I often grab my camera to catch the mud monsters in action. Although mud is messy, it cleans up. So does the corn starch, flour, or whatever happens to be the mess-maker's object of destruction. This messy time will pass. I know that when the teenage years come, I will wish that my biggest issue was getting grass stains and mud stains out of jeans and carpeting. So moms, keep teaching those mud-monsters right from wrong. However, remember to hug and love them often. Laugh as you tell the stories to your friends or as you flip through the photo albums years from now. Most of all, don't sweat the small stuff! This is just a stage that will all too soon be a memory. God will give you wisdom and patience to get through this crazy life that He has blessed you with when giving you the title, Mother.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Motherhood Brings Out the Divinity Within Us!
by Ingrid Sorensen, Utah Young Mother of the Year 2008
Motherhood brings out the divinity within us. How can a mother NOT learn the divine qualities that God has? How can a mother not learn patience, not learn hope, not learn the principle of order, not learn love? Motherhood is not only a divine classroom, but a lab, if you will. My husband's mother taught me that we read and study in the scriptures how to be more God-like, but it is in a FAMILY that we put it into practice. Just as a student learns basic principles in a classroom (for example, a chemistry classroom), and then goes to the laboratory to put the principles into practice, we read and learn the principles through study and talking with other mothers, mentors, leaders, relatives. Then we come home and practice what we have been taught. It is in the divine lab of the home that we DO what we have been taught to do, and in the process, we become more like our loving Father in heaven. And as we struggle and grow, and rely on and trust in Him, He grants us more grace that we might teach and raise and love these, His children, entrusted to our care. With His help, all things are possible.
Motherhood brings out the divinity within us. How can a mother NOT learn the divine qualities that God has? How can a mother not learn patience, not learn hope, not learn the principle of order, not learn love? Motherhood is not only a divine classroom, but a lab, if you will. My husband's mother taught me that we read and study in the scriptures how to be more God-like, but it is in a FAMILY that we put it into practice. Just as a student learns basic principles in a classroom (for example, a chemistry classroom), and then goes to the laboratory to put the principles into practice, we read and learn the principles through study and talking with other mothers, mentors, leaders, relatives. Then we come home and practice what we have been taught. It is in the divine lab of the home that we DO what we have been taught to do, and in the process, we become more like our loving Father in heaven. And as we struggle and grow, and rely on and trust in Him, He grants us more grace that we might teach and raise and love these, His children, entrusted to our care. With His help, all things are possible.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Making a Difference As a Mom
My friend Ingrid Sorensen, who I met through American Mothers of Utah County, is a cheerleader for all moms. She is the 2008 Utah Young Mother of the Year. I love this quote of hers that was included in a local newspaper article about her and her accomplishment:
"[Mothers] don't need to go out and be someone in the eyes of the world," "If you've chosen to be a mom, it's the most important place to make a difference."
"[Mothers] don't need to go out and be someone in the eyes of the world," "If you've chosen to be a mom, it's the most important place to make a difference."
Interior Educating
This is a recent post from the American Mothers of Utah Valley blog, written by Tamara Gilliland, who teaches at BYU. She came to our monthly meeting on Thursday night and spoke on the topic of:
Interior Educating
Hey all! Good to be with you and thanks for all who shared lovely insights on designing and maintaining our homes (and the many other great topics of the evening!) Here is the quote: “What good does it do to have a home in which children are unhappy hostages and adults are anxious spies?
What good does it do to plan a house to fit lots of cultural expectations, but not our family?” (from H. Wallace Goddard in “Celebrating Family Life: Adding Glory to Your Family’s Story” (manuscript))
And the mantra: The Purpose of the Task is to Strengthen the Relationship! (similar to The Point of the Project is the People!)
There was one other little thing I might have shared had we more time–a way of looking at the work of maintining home at three levels (which map well with degrees of glory!). I actually love to look at just about anything at these levels. The lowest level is the negative/destructive/take-energy-from-the-system way of thinking about and doing things. All about “me”. The middle is a neutral/status quo approach, where we keep careful track and balance of who has done how much, I give/you give transactions, etc. The highest is positive/proactive/creating-energy-for-the-system, fully self-less. Perspectives and approaches to “housework” might look like this:
+ A Sacred Duty/Blessing: Unite And Commune
0 A Necessary Evil: Divide And Conquer
- The Bane Of Life: Avoid At All Costs
So at the lower level, we contribute to home chaos without helping. At a step up, we see the need to take care of the chaos, but only as much as is neccisary and it’s only about chaos managment. We so efficiently get it “out of the way” that we miss all the good things it’s the way to. Higher is seeing the process as ritualistic and powerful, using it as a way to serve and express love, an experience that bonds us to family members (especially the more we do it side by side!), and a unique and symbolic training for our souls (maybe kind of a Karate Kid way of preparing us for things we may not fully understand just yet…?)
Finally, for those that said they’d love to dive deeper on the topic, a good starting place might be this article from BYU magazine: http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=151 (co-authored by Kathleen Bahr, one of the original developers of the BYU class I mentioned.) And, maybe you could even look into auditing that course (Home and Family Living, HFL 371) or any other great ones they offer (like HFL 100, which does use a textbook you might be able to get, too, called “Creating Home as a Sacred Center”). Happy “interior educating”! Tamara Gilliland
Interior Educating
Hey all! Good to be with you and thanks for all who shared lovely insights on designing and maintaining our homes (and the many other great topics of the evening!) Here is the quote: “What good does it do to have a home in which children are unhappy hostages and adults are anxious spies?
What good does it do to plan a house to fit lots of cultural expectations, but not our family?” (from H. Wallace Goddard in “Celebrating Family Life: Adding Glory to Your Family’s Story” (manuscript))
And the mantra: The Purpose of the Task is to Strengthen the Relationship! (similar to The Point of the Project is the People!)
There was one other little thing I might have shared had we more time–a way of looking at the work of maintining home at three levels (which map well with degrees of glory!). I actually love to look at just about anything at these levels. The lowest level is the negative/destructive/take-energy-from-the-system way of thinking about and doing things. All about “me”. The middle is a neutral/status quo approach, where we keep careful track and balance of who has done how much, I give/you give transactions, etc. The highest is positive/proactive/creating-energy-for-the-system, fully self-less. Perspectives and approaches to “housework” might look like this:
+ A Sacred Duty/Blessing: Unite And Commune
0 A Necessary Evil: Divide And Conquer
- The Bane Of Life: Avoid At All Costs
So at the lower level, we contribute to home chaos without helping. At a step up, we see the need to take care of the chaos, but only as much as is neccisary and it’s only about chaos managment. We so efficiently get it “out of the way” that we miss all the good things it’s the way to. Higher is seeing the process as ritualistic and powerful, using it as a way to serve and express love, an experience that bonds us to family members (especially the more we do it side by side!), and a unique and symbolic training for our souls (maybe kind of a Karate Kid way of preparing us for things we may not fully understand just yet…?)
Finally, for those that said they’d love to dive deeper on the topic, a good starting place might be this article from BYU magazine: http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=151 (co-authored by Kathleen Bahr, one of the original developers of the BYU class I mentioned.) And, maybe you could even look into auditing that course (Home and Family Living, HFL 371) or any other great ones they offer (like HFL 100, which does use a textbook you might be able to get, too, called “Creating Home as a Sacred Center”). Happy “interior educating”! Tamara Gilliland
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Fighting for our Families
Each one of us will have to go to unique testing grounds of faith. For… you busy young mothers or fathers, your appointment with destiny is within the walls of your home. Your enemy is neither hot sands of the desert, nor smoking guns of foes in pursuit, but heated efforts of the adversary to undermine your marriage and/or the sanctity of your family unit.
Russell M. Nelson, I'll Go, I'll Do, I'll Be: Three Steps Toward A Monumental Life, BYU Devotional, Aug. 19th, 1986
Russell M. Nelson, I'll Go, I'll Do, I'll Be: Three Steps Toward A Monumental Life, BYU Devotional, Aug. 19th, 1986
Elder LeGrand Richards' Ten Commandments for Wives
I love this!
Ten Commandments for Wives
Elder LeGrand Richards, Quorum of the Twelve
Ricks College Devotional, 1972
1. Honor thine own womanhood that thy days may be long and happy in the house which thy husband provideth for thee.
2. Expect not thy husband to give thee as many luxuries as thy father hath given thee, after many years of labor and economy.
3. Forget not the virtue of good humor, for verily, all that a man hath will he give for a woman’s smile.
4. Thou shalt not nag.
5. Thou shalt coddle thy husband, for verily every man loveth to be fussed over.
6. Remember that the frank approval of thy husband meaneth more to thy happiness than the side-long glances of many strangers.
7. Forget not the graces of cleanliness and good dressing.
8. Permit no one to assure thee that thou art having a hard time of it, neither thy mother nor thy sister nor thy maiden aunt nor any of thy kinfolk, for the judge will not hold thee guiltless for letting another disparage thy husband.
9. Keep thy home with all diligence, for out of it will come the joys of thine old age.
10. Commit thy ways unto the Lord thy God and thy children shall rise up and call thee blessed.
Ten Commandments for Wives
Elder LeGrand Richards, Quorum of the Twelve
Ricks College Devotional, 1972
1. Honor thine own womanhood that thy days may be long and happy in the house which thy husband provideth for thee.
2. Expect not thy husband to give thee as many luxuries as thy father hath given thee, after many years of labor and economy.
3. Forget not the virtue of good humor, for verily, all that a man hath will he give for a woman’s smile.
4. Thou shalt not nag.
5. Thou shalt coddle thy husband, for verily every man loveth to be fussed over.
6. Remember that the frank approval of thy husband meaneth more to thy happiness than the side-long glances of many strangers.
7. Forget not the graces of cleanliness and good dressing.
8. Permit no one to assure thee that thou art having a hard time of it, neither thy mother nor thy sister nor thy maiden aunt nor any of thy kinfolk, for the judge will not hold thee guiltless for letting another disparage thy husband.
9. Keep thy home with all diligence, for out of it will come the joys of thine old age.
10. Commit thy ways unto the Lord thy God and thy children shall rise up and call thee blessed.
Enduring to the End
“Nobody lives up to his ideals, but if we are striving, if we are working, if we are trying, to the best of our ability, to improve day by day, then we are in the line of our duty. If we are seeking to remedy our own defects, if we are so living that we can ask God for light, for knowledge, for intelligence, and above all for His spirit, that we may overcome our weaknesses, then, I can tell you, we are in the straight and narrow path that leads to life eternal; then we need have no fear.” Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, April 1909, p. 111.
“No matter what the outward appearance is, if I can know of a truth that the hearts of the people are fully set to do the will of their Father in heaven, though they may falter and do a great many things through the weaknesses of human nature, yet, they will be saved.” Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 5:256
“Bless your souls, if you lived here in the flesh a thousand years, as long as Father Adam, and lived and labored all your life in poverty, and when you got through, if, by your acts, you could secure your wives and children in the morning of the first resurrection, to dwell with you in the presence of God, that one thing would amply pay you for the labors of a thousand years.” Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 21:284
“No matter what the outward appearance is, if I can know of a truth that the hearts of the people are fully set to do the will of their Father in heaven, though they may falter and do a great many things through the weaknesses of human nature, yet, they will be saved.” Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 5:256
“Bless your souls, if you lived here in the flesh a thousand years, as long as Father Adam, and lived and labored all your life in poverty, and when you got through, if, by your acts, you could secure your wives and children in the morning of the first resurrection, to dwell with you in the presence of God, that one thing would amply pay you for the labors of a thousand years.” Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 21:284
Quote from my Great-Great-Great Grandmother
“I desire to do right and live my religion that I may enjoy the light to see as I am seen and know as I am known. O my Father, help me to live my religion, this is my greatest desire.”
Patty Sessions
From Elizabeth Willis, A Voice in the Wilderness: The Diaries of Patty Sessions (1998), 45
Patty Sessions was a midwife and delivered many babies between Nauvoo and the Salt Lake Valley. I am so grateful for my pioneer ancestors. Without their testimonies, I would not enjoy the eternal gift of membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Patty Sessions
From Elizabeth Willis, A Voice in the Wilderness: The Diaries of Patty Sessions (1998), 45
Patty Sessions was a midwife and delivered many babies between Nauvoo and the Salt Lake Valley. I am so grateful for my pioneer ancestors. Without their testimonies, I would not enjoy the eternal gift of membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
For Any Fellow Late Bloomers
The One Who Waited
Carol Lynn Pearson
I could have
Come to you before.
But the fields in me
Wanted a little greening.
I needed
Just to work on spring
A little more.
Well,
I did.
April blossomed into May
And every early
Bud you glimpsed-
Look:
Each a bouquet.
Carol Lynn Pearson
I could have
Come to you before.
But the fields in me
Wanted a little greening.
I needed
Just to work on spring
A little more.
Well,
I did.
April blossomed into May
And every early
Bud you glimpsed-
Look:
Each a bouquet.
Favorite Quotes on Motherhood
It is not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding. Erma Bombeck
A baby is something you carry inside you for nine months, in your arms for three years and in your heart till the day you die. Mary Mason
There is an amazed curiosity in every young mother. It is strangely miraculous to see and to hold a living being formed within oneself and issued forth from oneself. Simone de Beauvoir
I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living
My baby you’ll be.
Robert Munsch
You are the trip I did not take; You are the pearls I cannot buy; You are my blue Italian lake; You are my piece of foreign sky. (“To My Child,” quoted in Charles L. Wallis, ed., The Treasure Chest [1965], 54)
Making the decision to have a child—it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” Elizabeth Stone
A baby is something you carry inside you for nine months, in your arms for three years and in your heart till the day you die. Mary Mason
There is an amazed curiosity in every young mother. It is strangely miraculous to see and to hold a living being formed within oneself and issued forth from oneself. Simone de Beauvoir
I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living
My baby you’ll be.
Robert Munsch
You are the trip I did not take; You are the pearls I cannot buy; You are my blue Italian lake; You are my piece of foreign sky. (“To My Child,” quoted in Charles L. Wallis, ed., The Treasure Chest [1965], 54)
Making the decision to have a child—it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” Elizabeth Stone
Missionary Work Quote by President Lorenzo Snow
“When the gospel is preached to the spirits in prison, the success attending that preaching will be far greater than that attending the preaching of our elders in this life. I believe there will be very few indeed of those spirits who will not gladly receive the gospel when it is carried to them. The circumstances there will be a thousand times more favorable.”
Lorenzo Snow, Millennial Star, October 6, 1893, p. 718
Lorenzo Snow, Millennial Star, October 6, 1893, p. 718
Quotes on Love and Marriage
Love gives us in a moment what we can hardly attain by effort after years of toil. Goethe
To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it,
Whenever you’re right, shut up.
Ogden Nash
Never above you
Never below you
Always beside you
Walter Winchell
Success in marriage depends on being
able, when you get over being in love,
to really love…You never know anyone
until you marry them. Eleanor Roosevelt
Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a
confusion of the real with the ideal never
goes unpunished. Attributed to Goethe
Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary
life, love gives us a fairy tale. Anonymous
Grief can take care of itself, but To get the full
value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.
Mark Twain
IF YOU LOVE
BE WORTHY OF LOVE
OVID
Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet
my wife there. Andrew Jackson
The sum which two married people owe to one another
defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can
only be discharged through all eternity. Goethe
Love enables two people to grow into
their sense of “we”, but not at the
expense of their sense of “I”.
Dwight Small
Love is friendship set on fire. Jeremy Taylor
I love you for what you are, but I love you yet more for
what you are going to be. I love you not so much for your
realities as for your ideals. I pray for your desires that they
may be great, rather than for your satisfactions, which may
be so hazardously little. The most beautiful rose is one hardly
more than a bud wherein the pangs and ecstasies of desire are
working for a larger and finer growth. You are going forward
toward something great. I am on the way with you and therefore
I love you.
Carl Sandberg
Untitled, Selected Poems
Love is looking out in the same direction. It is linking our
strength to pull a common load. It is pushing together towards
the far horizons, hand in hand…Walter Rinder
Eternity is not a lot of time, it’s all time, or more precisely,
it’s right now, where all time lives. To live in this very moment
as if it were forever is not to stop the work of life but to begin
it afresh in celebration. Northrop Frye
This is the true measure of love, when we believe that we alone can love,
that no one could ever have loved before us, and that no one will ever love
in the same way after us. Goethe
All I know of love is that love is all there is. Emily Dickinson
There is only one happiness in life-to love and be loved.
George Sand
We are most alive when we are in love. John Updike
But I can assure you, Anne, that it’s a happy
life, when you’re married to the right man.
Anne’s House of Dreams by LM Montgomery
It is the man and woman united that make the complete
human being. Together they are most likely to succeed
in the world. Benjamin Franklin
When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life
with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as
soon as possible. Nora Ephron
A good marriage is at least eighty percent good luck in finding the right
person at the right time. The rest is trust. Nanette Newman
Love is not a decision your brain makes. It’s a feeling you know
Somewhere else, and your brain catches up. Meg Ryan
To love someone is to see a miracle invisible
to others. Francois Mauriac
Love is a portion of the soul itself, and it is the celestial breathing
of the atmosphere of paradise. Victor Hugo
Alas, that my heart is a lute,
Whereon you have learned to play!
For many years it was mute,
Until one summer’s day.
You took it, and touched it,
And made it thrill.
And it thrills and throbs and quivers still!
Anne Lindsay
Eternal marriage is a daily decision, a daily act
of love. Kathy England
They found the meaning of life in each other’s eyes.
Author Unknown
Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made,
like bread, remade all the time, made new. Ursula K. LeGuin
Love is the subtlest force in the world. Mahatma Gandhi
The first duty of love is to listen. Paul Tillich
To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.
David Viscott
Love is the only gold. Alfred, Lord Tennyson
At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. Plato
…And stand together yet not too near together: For the
pillars of the temple stand apart, and the oak tree and the
cypress grow not in each other’s shadow. Khalil Gibran
Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the
ride worthwhile. Franklin P. Jones
The great secret of successful marriage is to treat all
disasters as incidents and none of the incidents as disasters.
Harold Nicholson
The heart that loves is always young. Greek Proverb
Passion may be blind; but to say that love is, is a
libel and a lie. Nothing is more sharp-sighted or
sensitive than true love, in discerning, as by instinct,
the feelings of another. D. H. Davis
A good marriage doesn’t happen when the “perfect couple”
comes together. It happens when an imperfect couple learns
to enjoy their differences. Author Unknown
To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it,
Whenever you’re right, shut up.
Ogden Nash
Never above you
Never below you
Always beside you
Walter Winchell
Success in marriage depends on being
able, when you get over being in love,
to really love…You never know anyone
until you marry them. Eleanor Roosevelt
Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a
confusion of the real with the ideal never
goes unpunished. Attributed to Goethe
Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary
life, love gives us a fairy tale. Anonymous
Grief can take care of itself, but To get the full
value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.
Mark Twain
IF YOU LOVE
BE WORTHY OF LOVE
OVID
Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet
my wife there. Andrew Jackson
The sum which two married people owe to one another
defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can
only be discharged through all eternity. Goethe
Love enables two people to grow into
their sense of “we”, but not at the
expense of their sense of “I”.
Dwight Small
Love is friendship set on fire. Jeremy Taylor
I love you for what you are, but I love you yet more for
what you are going to be. I love you not so much for your
realities as for your ideals. I pray for your desires that they
may be great, rather than for your satisfactions, which may
be so hazardously little. The most beautiful rose is one hardly
more than a bud wherein the pangs and ecstasies of desire are
working for a larger and finer growth. You are going forward
toward something great. I am on the way with you and therefore
I love you.
Carl Sandberg
Untitled, Selected Poems
Love is looking out in the same direction. It is linking our
strength to pull a common load. It is pushing together towards
the far horizons, hand in hand…Walter Rinder
Eternity is not a lot of time, it’s all time, or more precisely,
it’s right now, where all time lives. To live in this very moment
as if it were forever is not to stop the work of life but to begin
it afresh in celebration. Northrop Frye
This is the true measure of love, when we believe that we alone can love,
that no one could ever have loved before us, and that no one will ever love
in the same way after us. Goethe
All I know of love is that love is all there is. Emily Dickinson
There is only one happiness in life-to love and be loved.
George Sand
We are most alive when we are in love. John Updike
But I can assure you, Anne, that it’s a happy
life, when you’re married to the right man.
Anne’s House of Dreams by LM Montgomery
It is the man and woman united that make the complete
human being. Together they are most likely to succeed
in the world. Benjamin Franklin
When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life
with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as
soon as possible. Nora Ephron
A good marriage is at least eighty percent good luck in finding the right
person at the right time. The rest is trust. Nanette Newman
Love is not a decision your brain makes. It’s a feeling you know
Somewhere else, and your brain catches up. Meg Ryan
To love someone is to see a miracle invisible
to others. Francois Mauriac
Love is a portion of the soul itself, and it is the celestial breathing
of the atmosphere of paradise. Victor Hugo
Alas, that my heart is a lute,
Whereon you have learned to play!
For many years it was mute,
Until one summer’s day.
You took it, and touched it,
And made it thrill.
And it thrills and throbs and quivers still!
Anne Lindsay
Eternal marriage is a daily decision, a daily act
of love. Kathy England
They found the meaning of life in each other’s eyes.
Author Unknown
Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made,
like bread, remade all the time, made new. Ursula K. LeGuin
Love is the subtlest force in the world. Mahatma Gandhi
The first duty of love is to listen. Paul Tillich
To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.
David Viscott
Love is the only gold. Alfred, Lord Tennyson
At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. Plato
…And stand together yet not too near together: For the
pillars of the temple stand apart, and the oak tree and the
cypress grow not in each other’s shadow. Khalil Gibran
Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the
ride worthwhile. Franklin P. Jones
The great secret of successful marriage is to treat all
disasters as incidents and none of the incidents as disasters.
Harold Nicholson
The heart that loves is always young. Greek Proverb
Passion may be blind; but to say that love is, is a
libel and a lie. Nothing is more sharp-sighted or
sensitive than true love, in discerning, as by instinct,
the feelings of another. D. H. Davis
A good marriage doesn’t happen when the “perfect couple”
comes together. It happens when an imperfect couple learns
to enjoy their differences. Author Unknown
When You Thought I Wasn't Looking
(a letter to a parent from a child)
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you hang my
first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately
wanted to paint another one.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you feed a
stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind
to animals.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make my
favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little
things can be the special things in life.
When you thought I wasn't looking I heard you say a
prayer, and I knew that there is a God I could always
talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make a
meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I
learned that we all have to help take care of each
other.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you give of
your time and money to help people who had nothing,
and I learned that those who have something should
give to those who don't.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you take care
of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have
to take care of what we are given.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw how you
handled your responsibilities, even when you didn't
feel good, and I learned that I would have to be
responsible when I grow up.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw tears come
from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things
hurt, but it's all right to cry.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw that you
cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be
When you thought I wasn't looking I learned most of
life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and
productive person when I grow up.
When you thought I wasn't looking I looked at you and
wanted to say,’ Thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.'
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you hang my
first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately
wanted to paint another one.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you feed a
stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind
to animals.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make my
favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little
things can be the special things in life.
When you thought I wasn't looking I heard you say a
prayer, and I knew that there is a God I could always
talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make a
meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I
learned that we all have to help take care of each
other.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you give of
your time and money to help people who had nothing,
and I learned that those who have something should
give to those who don't.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you take care
of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have
to take care of what we are given.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw how you
handled your responsibilities, even when you didn't
feel good, and I learned that I would have to be
responsible when I grow up.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw tears come
from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things
hurt, but it's all right to cry.
When you thought I wasn't looking I saw that you
cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be
When you thought I wasn't looking I learned most of
life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and
productive person when I grow up.
When you thought I wasn't looking I looked at you and
wanted to say,’ Thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.'
Parents ARE Important!
Early childhood educator Lilian Katz, noted that while children can learn skills and knowledge from any adult, they learn dispositions only from their loved ones.
A Very Delicious Lemonade Recipe
Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade
from Southern Living
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice (8 large lemons)
5 cups water
Preparation
Stir together sugar and 1/2 cup boiling water until sugar dissolves. Stir in lemon rind, lemon juice, and 5 cups water. Chill. Serve over ice.
Yield: Makes 8 cups
from Southern Living
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice (8 large lemons)
5 cups water
Preparation
Stir together sugar and 1/2 cup boiling water until sugar dissolves. Stir in lemon rind, lemon juice, and 5 cups water. Chill. Serve over ice.
Yield: Makes 8 cups
Life
"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. [The fact is] most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. ...Life is like an old-time railway journey -- delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
Jenkins Lloyd Jones (as often quoted by Gordon B. Hinckley)
Jenkins Lloyd Jones (as often quoted by Gordon B. Hinckley)
Little Flowers
This is a some lyrics from a song called "Little Flowers."
"Little Flowers never worry, when the wind begins to blow for if it never ever rained, they would never ever grow."
"Little Flowers never worry, when the wind begins to blow for if it never ever rained, they would never ever grow."
Slow Dance
SLOW DANCE
Poem attributed to a teenager with cancer
Have you ever watched kids
on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you’re asked, “How are you?”
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,'Hi'
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.
Poem attributed to a teenager with cancer
Have you ever watched kids
on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you’re asked, “How are you?”
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,'Hi'
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.
Salvation is Not a Cheap Experience
“I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?”
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, March 2001, “Missionary Work and the Atonement”
(italics and bold added by blog author)
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, March 2001, “Missionary Work and the Atonement”
(italics and bold added by blog author)
Tough Times Are To Be Expected
If you can smile when things go wrong
And say it doesn't matter,
If you can laugh off cares and woe
And trouble makes you fatter,
If you can keep a cheerful face
When all around are blue,
Then have your head examined, bud,
There's something wrong with you.
For one thing I've arrived at:
There are no ands and buts,
A guy that's grinning all the time
Must be completely nuts.
Quoted by Jeffrey R. Holland, BYU Devotional, 1989
And say it doesn't matter,
If you can laugh off cares and woe
And trouble makes you fatter,
If you can keep a cheerful face
When all around are blue,
Then have your head examined, bud,
There's something wrong with you.
For one thing I've arrived at:
There are no ands and buts,
A guy that's grinning all the time
Must be completely nuts.
Quoted by Jeffrey R. Holland, BYU Devotional, 1989
Being Enough
In her book, “Being Enough” Sister Chieko Okazaki says: “We’ve considered having enough power and enough love, and each of us has exactly the same amount of time in every day: rich or poor, married or not, sick or well, we each have a steady succession of minutes and hours making up each day of our life. And the worst thing we can do is to give away the time by living in either the past or the future because there’s not one blessed thing we can do to alter the past or to make the future arrive any faster. The way to have the most possible time is to live each moment as fully as we can, being completely present. If we are talking to someone, let’s listen with our full attention, not with half of our mind planning what we’re going to cook for dinner. If we’re giving someone a hug, let’s rejoice in the embrace. If we are to enjoy life, now is the time – not tomorrow, nor next year. The best preparation for a better life next year is a full, complete, harmonious, joyous life this year. Today should be our most wonderful day!”
Family
FAMILY
author unknown
Are you aware that if you died tomorrow, the company
that you are working for could easily replace you in
a matter of days.
But the family you leave behind will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.
And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more
into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don't you think? So what is behind the story?
author unknown
Are you aware that if you died tomorrow, the company
that you are working for could easily replace you in
a matter of days.
But the family you leave behind will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.
And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more
into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don't you think? So what is behind the story?
Inaugural Post
I have been playing around with the idea of a personal blog that is separate from my family blog for awhile now. I thought it would be nice to have a forum where I can post some of my favorite quotes and thoughts. I have named my blog "Take A Moment for the Moment" because that is one of the biggest goals in my life. As a wife and mother, I really want to squeeze every precious moment out of our life and time together. I truly desire to live each moment of my life.
Lately I have felt like I get distracted way too much. When it comes to the choices of "Good, Better, and Best," I find myself settling for the good. Life is too short, time is way too limited, and mortality too important to let the non essential things slide in my life.
My thoughts and quotes in this blog will reflect the passions of my life. Being a wife, mother, homemaker, woman, friend, writer, thinker, reader, quote junkie, and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Lately I have felt like I get distracted way too much. When it comes to the choices of "Good, Better, and Best," I find myself settling for the good. Life is too short, time is way too limited, and mortality too important to let the non essential things slide in my life.
My thoughts and quotes in this blog will reflect the passions of my life. Being a wife, mother, homemaker, woman, friend, writer, thinker, reader, quote junkie, and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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