"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."
~Margaret Nadauld
This morning I read through one of my favorite talks given by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Here's a highlight and a thought from it.
Patience is more than just waiting.
"Patience requires actively working toward worthwhile goals and not getting discouraged when results don't appear instantly or without effort."
Isn't it interesting that we call servers at restaurants waiters? I think it's kind of funny how the word "wait" has two meanings. One is kind of lazy, just delaying action until a desired thing happens and the other is selflessly helping others.
We can wait for the Lord or we can wait on him
Yeah, ok, silly picture right? I was a server for a summer and if there was a picture of me I would have used it. But most of those days I was sweaty and greasy from running around like crazy. We'll just pretend I looked like Barbie while I worked.
living in a big old city and you're ever gonna be is mean.
My head isn't really working straight today so I'm just going to write a stream of consciousness post. You can pretend I'm James Joyce if you like.
Although I'd like to think that we don't have much in common.
And there I go being mean again.
The rain here in Nashville has been pouring down hard enough to start another flood.
Thank you T*Swift for playing on repeat in my head today. I've needed a constant reminder to be a little nicer. I've been realizing just how hard I am on myself sometimes, but I can be just as hard on other people.
My reminder to be less judgmental comes from the New Testament. Sister Jasper and I watched the video Finding Faith in Christ with some of our friends the other day and Jesus's admonition to the crowd of accusers when they bring a woman before Him who was found committing adultery always cuts to my heart. "He that hath no sin among you, let him throw the first stone." I'm far from being sinless. (Drops the rocks clenched in my fists).
My "thanksgiving resolution" (because why should they only come at the new year?) is to be a little nicer. To myself, to my friends, when no one else is listening, when I think no one else is listening. Being mean gets me nowhere but in the dumps. It's time to be a little more friendly.
President McKee's wise advice: Don't ever be afraid that you will offend someone by sharing what you believe. We all love to know that our friends care for us and there is no better way to show them your love than sharing Eternal happiness with them!
It's no secret to those that followed my non-mission blog that I love finding silly/cute/pretty/weird pictures on the internet. Today's theme is HAPPY!!
Sister Jasper and I have a goal for the next 6 weeks to CHOOSE to be happy. Life is all made up of choices so why choose to be a downer?
I hope a few of these little fun reminders help you choose to be happy today!
Last day of the paintings posts! I hope that these have been fun to look at and read I sure enjoyed sharing them! The grand finale is simple. The liahona was a guide for Lehi and his family as they were wandering in the wilderness outside of Jerusalem. It would only give them clear direction if they were obeying God's commandments.
So here's the thing, I can't find at this very second where the first reference to this "compass" is. I know that it is in the beginning of 1 Nephi. Whoever finds me the reference first wins a prize! Search and comment away my friends!
I had a picture of Mary Magdalene scheduled for today. And I wrote out a whole long description of what the word hope means to me. And then I felt super preachy. And I deleted it. I'm replacing it with something much more personal that I really do love! My absolute favorite artist of all time is Claude Monet.
Close up his paintings are just sloppy brush strokes,
Here's my mini application to life. When I look close up at small daily parts of life it may seem like everything is just little messy brush strokes. Once I take a second to back up and look at the whole thing with an eternal perspective my tiny brush strokes have added up to make a majestic wonderful work of art!
So, today may feel like just a brush stroke, but its a dab of paint that has to be put onto my giant life masterpiece!
In other news, here are the cupcakes that Elders Lund, Dallof, and Davis made for me for my birthday that inspired me to change the painting of the day!
This painting is so unique. I just adore it! In fact it was on the cover of my daily planner for 6 weeks. The title comes from the scripture John 14:27 . I find so much peace in studying the scriptures. In fact, when our alarm goes off at 9 AM to finish up our hour of personal study time and begin companionship study I just want to keep going!
The first time I saw this painting was 4 months ago when I was at the MTC (Missionary Training Center). Three weeks before that I had gone to a singles conference in Medford, OR where we went to the temple, had a few workshops to choose from, a service project, and of course dinner and a dance!
One of the classes that I chose was about scripture study and really understanding the doctrine behind the stories in the scriptures. A passage that we focused on during the class was that of Peter walking on water to Christ. Click HERE to read the passage of scripture depicted in this painting.
What I find most fascinating is that we are usually quick to judge Peter and think that this story is about him losing his faith. I think I was in that same boat (har har. lame pun NOT intended) until I went to that workshop in Oregon. The instructor asked us to reread verses 31 and 32. Um, how did they get back into the boat? That part of the story is left out! I believe that Peter, after looking up at the Savior and recognizing the need for his direct focus on Him, walked arm and arm back to the ship with Christ.
I had to start the week of art off with this painting for a few reasons. One is that it is my FAVORITE that I'll be sharing and well, today is my birthday! So of course the best things must be shown!
I was so excited to find out that this painting, First Blossom by Annie Henrie was displayed at BYU as a piece in the artist's BFA portfolio. On the website about the gallery display shared her short description of her work.
"This painting is about new life, and the process of regeneration, and how on spiritual, physical, and emotional planes we experience death and rebirth. This painting focuses on the wonder of that rebirth, and the miracle it is to be able to begin again."
I saw different significance in this painting. When I look at this I see myself with two of my sisters. I am the one on the left, S is in the middle, and R is on the right. I feel at peace looking at this painting and perhaps the blossom that we are gazing upon is symbolic of the joy found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Something about this image just makes me smile! I can't help myself!
I've been rifling through a pile of Ensign magazines from hmmm...about 1991-1994 and amid the great articles from the General Authorities of the church and inspiring stories written by members (and awfully funny poems) I have found some artwork that I just love!
So here is what you have to look forward to for the upcoming week:
One painting a day that I find inspirational, uplifting, or otherwise spiritually wonderful as pertaining to the 13th Article of Faith,
I've recently written a post about baptism and I'm already kind of losing steam on the mini-series (why does that always happen??) So click HERE to go back to the post about baptism :)
