Speaking of Love...

Being the month of February... I've been thinking about LOVE. It is a vital part of every relationship and manifested in a variety of ways. It energizes the tired soul and gives one courage to go on.

Love is a powerful gift! Like a beating heart, it is both essential that we are recipients of it and also givers. Love is vital!

We show love to our spouse, our children, our parents, neighbors, friends and even strangers. It is like blood in the veins and we cannot survive without it.

Here's a few quotes about love I picked out... Enjoy!

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye"- Antonie de Saint Exupery

"I love you, not only for what you are, But for what I am when I am with you." – Roy Croft

"True love begins when nothing is looked for in return."– Antoine de Saint Exupery

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched- they must be felt with the heart."- Helen Keller

"You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly."– Sam Keen

"Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."- Robert Heinlein

"Love is a fabric which never fades, no matter how often it is washed in the water of adversity and grief." – Unknown

“Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.”

– Enrich Fromm

Go here to find where the greatest love is found.

Which way to the moon?

Ever been at a point in your life where you have no idea what's around the corner, as if everything is being tossed in the wind and you have no clue where it will end up? I suppose a lot of university students feel this way as they approach graduation.

My husband graduates this summer. By that time, we will almost be married 13 years. For the first 9 years of our marriage I think he avoided following his heart into the type of career he's always dreamed of.

Have you ever heard the phrase, "like a kid in a candy store"? It's when someone is absolutely giddy over something. That's how my husband gets when it comes to lunar and planetary studies. He's always said his dream is to fly to the moon, and he's serious. Even just the experience of being able to study the moon, the planets and stars his eyes light up! He has loved these things before he fell in love with me. But it has always been just a dream to him.

Just over four years ago we were at a crossroads. We had just sold our home to pay off all my husband's previous school debt from his associates degree, ITT tech, real estate schooling, pre-architecture classes, and our van. We moved into an apartment and sat there for a year not knowing where to go. We prayed for guidance every morning and night. We did a lot of fasting too. We had been everywhere trying to figure out his place.

All his education wasn't satisfying him, he knew he needed a bachelor degree. We knew he needed to go back to school. When the offer for him to attend BYU came up WE KNEW this was where the Lord was guiding us. It also meant he'd have to leave his job (that was paying very well) and find a new one in Provo. We'd have to sell most of our furniture, our washer and dryer to fit in a smaller and more affordable apartment. Our income would be cut down to an eighth of what he had been earning. His desire was to study Physics and Astronomy and he had never pursued it until that time because he didn't feel smart enough... and "how on earth would we pay for more schooling?" We went forward anyway, a little fearful of the unknown...yes, but we went with faith.

Now the end of August, we are facing another crossroad. He is graduating with his Bachelor of Science. He is applying for internships and may go on to pursue his master's degree in another state. He really wants to try an internship involving lunar and planetary exploration. So he's applying to the Johnson Space Center in Huston, TX. I'm so happy to see, after almost 13 yrs of marriage, he's finally pursuing his dreams.

"I don't know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future."

Thankful

"The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I've been thinking a lot about gratitude this week. One woman said, “Don’t try to be happy. Try to be grateful and then happiness will naturally follow.”

1 Chronicles 16: 8 “Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.”

Mosiah 2:23-24 “And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you: for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are and will be, forever and ever: therefore, of what have ye to boast?

D&C 59:7 “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.”

“Mercies and blessings come in different forms—sometimes as hard things. Yet the Lord said, “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.” D&C 59:7; [emphasis added.]

All things means just that: good things, difficult things—not just some things. He has commanded us to be grateful because He knows being grateful will make us happy. This is another evidence of His love.”– Bonnie D. Parkin

Please bear with me as I share just a few things that make my life so rich: I'm so thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I'm so thankful for the freedom of religion, I'm thankful for my little family and for good people everywhere I go. I believe the majority of people are good in every land and every country, so I say I'm thankful for the good people all over the world. I'm so thankful to live in the United States, I'm thankful for the freedoms I enjoy here and the men and women throughout this country's history that have given their lives to make it free. I feel so blessed!

Whom then shall I fear?

I think of how much we tend to value public opinion… especially with all of the social networking and status updates now days. Advertising sells that, “image is everything”. We spend so much time checking ourselves in the mirror but so little time checking our hearts with the Lord. Public opinion becomes our God and we so freely sacrifice the majority of our energy and time on the altar to uphold it.

Depression seems to be such a rising problem in society. I know for some people it is a very real illness but there are those who needlessly suffer with anxiety and depression from fear of what others think or don’t think of them.

“who art thou, that thou shouldest be ^aafraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; 13 And ^aforgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the ^bearth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? 15 But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the ^asea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name.16 And I have put my ^awords in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

Why should we lose hope or why should we fear? When it's all said and done, who's opinion really matters most?

Rod and Staff

I've been thinking a lot lately about the power that comes from daily scripture study and the blessing it is to have living prophets and apostles of God on the earth today. I am thankful to be led by those who have been given by succession direct authority to bless and perform ordinances in the name of Christ.

As I was reading this morning and as I thought of what a blessing the scriptures and words of the Prophet's are I recalled this Psalm:

4 Yea, though I ^awalk through the ^bvalley of the ^cshadow of^ddeath, I will fear no ^eevil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they ^fcomfort me. -Psalms 23:4

We learn that the rod is the word of God, the words of Jesus Christ. And if you look up "staff" in the dictionary it says "a symbol of office or authority." It's another way of describing power through the Priesthood (God's authority given to man to administer in His name on the earth).

When I insert these definitions in the Psalm above I find a greater perspective and dimension to where true comfort is found.

Change of Seasons

I noticed a few of the leaves were turning yellow today which means the change of seasons is in the air. This is always a welcome change for me because I LOVE fall! Seeing these signs of nature, made me think of the variety of seasons in life for all of us.

I couldn't help but reflect on the phone call from my dad earlier this morning that mom has been admitted to the hospital again. With her condition seemingly getting worse over the past year, this could be an indication that I am entering another season in my own life... the leaves are changing. I suppose nothing really does stay the same forever and life unfolds in ways we usually don't expect.

Thinking about my mom today, I began to feel a little heavy with fear. "I'm not ready to be at a stage in my life yet where I watch my parents deteriorate.... In 20 yrs. from now I still don't think I'll be ready to handle such a challenge!" Needing some comfort, I recalled the scripture in Mormon that reads, "For do we not read that God is the ^asame ^byesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no ^cvariableness neither shadow of changing?"

I remember sitting in a testimony meeting years ago and listening to a mother who just lost a baby at birth. I'm sure this was something she never imagined would happen to her. But through her tears she had not lost her faith. She stood confident and declared with boldness, "I don't know what the future holds...But I know Who holds the future." I've never forgotten that.

I take comfort in knowing that God will not leave us, He will help us through whatever life requires of us and give us strength to bear it. I believe with all my heart in the promise found in Isaiah "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Thou shalt thank the Lord, thy God in all things.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the enabling power of gratitude. Don't you love it when you have those "ah-ha" moments where you look around you and realized how incredibly blessed you are? I think of how freeing it is to ponder on everything I already have rather than the few things I don't.