straightway

Last week, I was riding Trax from home to downtown where I was going to meet my husband for dinner. Along the way, at one of the stops, two individuals boarded the train. One was clearly helping or tutoring the other. She coached him as he stepped onto the car and reassured him along the way. They were both blind. At that same moment, a man that was already on the train, jumped up to help. He spoke to them, told them were handles and seats were, he took them by the arm and guided them. He made sure they were both OK. He did so, WITHOUT HESITATION. His act of kindness and service was immediate.

The most interesting moment of this incident was not the act, but what I learned about this kind stranger as I heard him talk to a woman (also a stranger to him) on the train as we continued the trip north. She was having a hard time holding a job and finding places to live. Again, without hesitation, he tried to help. He encouraged her. He tried to give her hope. He explained to her that he was just released from prison. He was in a halfway house and trying to get his life back in order and that he understood her difficulties.

I couldn’t help but ask myself…. why did I hesitate when two blind children of God stepped onto the train. Why was I not the one to come to their aid and to be the one to ensure their safety and well being? How many other times did I hesitate. How many times did I not act immediately on promptings? How many opportunities have I missed because I put them off?

I was ashamed to admit that there was any.

Matthew 4: 18-22

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him

women’s meeting

some of my favorite quotes:

“As the temple is prepared for people, people need to be prepared for the temple.”   ~Linda K. Burton

“Covenants with god help us to know who we really are. they connect us with him in a personal way.” ~Jean A Stevens

“Remember being a daughter of God is not a distinction you earned or will ever lose.”  ~President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“We need to accept that the commandments of God aren’t just a long list of good ideas. They aren’t ‘life hacks’ from an Internet blog, or motivational quotes from a Pinterest board. They are divine counsel, based on eternal truths.”
~President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us, it is our sins, that like an umbrella, are keeping them from us.”
~President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“He knows of your sufferings. He knows of your remorse for the times you have fallen short or failed. And still He loves you.”
~President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Healing

Today, on the anniversary of 9-11, Taylor and I continued our tradition of visiting Healing Field in Sandy, Utah.
I will never forget where I was the day this event happened.
I will never forget calling my parents in Canada while they were serving their mission.
I will never forget gasping out loud as the first tower fell
…and again with the second collapse.
I will never forget the power of a Nation, that raised above this tragedy
and came together in such a remarkable way. With pride. With faith. With God.

It is a shame, that while we will never forget what happened our our land
we easily and often forget our God.
May we turn our thoughts to Him daily and enable Him and our Savior
to heal us and make us stronger.
Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually.

It is constancy that God would have from us. Tragedies are not merely opportunities to give Him a fleeting thought, or for momentary insight to His plan for our happiness. Destruction allows us to rebuild our lives in the way He teaches us, and to become something different than we were. We can make Him the center of our thoughts and His Son, Jesus Christ, the pattern for our behavior. We may not only find faith in God in our sorrow. We may also become faithful to Him in times of calm.   ~Thomas S. Monson

HOPE!

Joy

After a plethora of errands, I finally sat down to start putting the finishing touches on my lesson for Sunday School tomorrow. While studying supplemental material,  I came across this quote from Richard G. Scott.

Sadness, disappointment, and severe challenge are events in life, not life itself. I do not minimize how hard some of these events are. They can extend over a long period of time, but they should not be allowed to become the confining center of everything you do. The Lord inspired Lehi to declare the fundamental truth, “Men are, that they might have joy.” ~Richard G. Scott

I appreciated the gentle reminder to seek for the joy in the simplest of things. Sunsets. Twinkling Stars. Changing Seasons. Music. Smiles. Fresh Baked Cookies. Service. Family.

Where do you find your joy?
Maybe you can find joy in his talk HERE

Patience

“I believe that a lack of patience is a major cause of the difficulties and unhappiness in the world today. Too often, we are impatient with ourselves, with our family members and friends, and even with the Lord. We seem to demand what we want right now, regardless of whether we have earned it, whether it would be good for us, or whether it is right.”

~Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

“Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best—better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than his. Either way we are questioning the reality of God’s omniscience [knowledge].”

~Elder Neal A. Maxwell

On Tuesday, Evan and I volunteered to provide FHE at Atria, the retirement center near our home.
Let me rephrase, Evan volunteered us to provide FHE. It was a stressful week and I was not looking forward to it. I had too much to do. I didn’t have the time. I wanted to do what I wanted to do!

While sorting through lesson ideas, I stumbled upon a lesson on patience. It clicked. What hooked me was a statement at the end of the lesson. It really put the quality of patience in perspective.

Patience was required of Noah and his family. We talk about “forty days and forty nights” as though they had to live in the ark with all those animals for a month and a half. Well, forty days and forty nights was only a fraction of their endurance. For instance, do you remember that after they went into the ark and closed the door, they were inside the ark for seven days before the Flood began? Now, would that be a test of faith or what? Would you decide, about the fifth day, that it would be awfully nice to spend the weekend picking buttercups in the meadow rather than cleaning the elephants’ stalls and that maybe Noah had made a big mistake?

Then the rains began. It was not until the fortieth day of this torrential downpour and flooding that the water was deep enough to “lift [the ark] up above the earth.” And then “the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.” We’re up to 197 days so far.

The scripture doesn’t tell us how many days it took for the waters to recede, but it says that the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, and it took until the first day of the tenth month for the tops of the mountains to become visible. If we hypothesize a month of thirty days—then we need to add another seventy-three days.

Then they waited forty days to send out the raven and the dove, seven more days for the second flight of the dove, who returned with the olive branch, and a final seven days for the third flight. It sounds as if it then took another month plus twenty-seven days before they received the command of the Lord to go forth from the ark. This comes to a total of 401 days. That’s a long time to be cooped up in a floating zoo—a year, a month, and six days!

So the story of Noah teaches us that there will be adversity, that it will last a long time, and that it will require reserves of patience that seem superhuman.

After all was said and done, it ended up being a perfect evening. Somehow, the stress of service is what reduced my stress. I still had the time I needed to get everything done. I am, however, a little stressed about what the Lord has in store for me that will require superhuman patience.

(Original lesson HERE)