Upon his shoulders

Pray for our leaders

Few things are as important as our families, be they traditional, single parent, combined or an individual; be they nearby, distant, large or small. In nothing do our prayers attain so much sincerity as for our families.

Bound together by the Fatherhood of God, we in the Church consider ourselves family and call one another brother or sister. In our caring, we've learned not to judge another family by its makeup; love and pain go around.

Indeed, our mission engages the brotherhood of all mankind. We take part with the rest of mankind ebbing and flowing in life's daily ups and downs. We quietly seek our food, our shelter, our relationships according to our choices, circumstances and the geography around us. Most of our experiences rise and fall in peaks and valleys common to normal life.

Yet around us, some pinnacles of experience rise beyond anything we've encountered. Such a pinnacle of which we speak is a position of high responsibility. We often see them, but seeing does not make of us partakers.

Subsequently, our moral support inclines to any and all in positions of high responsibility as they exercise integrity. Particular support is proffered to those in positions of high responsibility within the Church. Local leaders as well as General Officers can be recipients of our support and prayers.

Especially should we remember the general governing bodies, including the Presiding Bishopric, Quorums of the Seventy, Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency. They shoulder heavy burdens of responsibility and need our prayers.

Perhaps metaphoric of these burdens is a cameo of one of the Twelve at an airport, glimpsed hurrying to a distant gate down a long concourse, empty but for himself, the last to board. In his hand he lugs a briefcase stuffed to capacity. His face shows a more-than-slight desperation. He's just left people with high expectations. At the other end of the journey wait others with high expectations, and a long and tight itinerary.

Undoubtedly, he has been detained by some pressing matter. Undoubtedly, he will use the air time to prepare for what is ahead. Undoubtedly, he hurries toward that distant gate with a nagging shortage of sleep.

Such is the life of an apostle.

On a yet higher pinnacle is the president of the Church, President Thomas S. Monson. Upon his shoulders is conveyed the heaviest cargo of all.

Like mythical Atlas, he carries the world upon his back. But where the mythical giant hefted the physical weight of earth and seas, our prophet leader bears the greater spiritual weight of being a beacon of righteousness and a carrier of the divine will to a darkening, rejecting world.

Never has the adversary been more powerful. Never have members of the Church been more at risk. And he who stands at the helm of the ship of the Church is more anxious and aware of this than any other living soul.

As a Church, we will not fail. As individuals, we are as strong only as our willpower at our weakest moments. No mortal knows our weakest moments or is more deeply concerned than the president of the Church.

Surely we, as members of the Church, do well to offer our support at such critical times. In the closing session of last October's general conference, President Monson spoke "with all the feeling of a tender parent" (1 Nephi 8:37). Said he: "I love you; I pray for you. I would ask once again that you would remember me and all the General Authorities in your prayers. We are one with you in moving forward this marvelous work. I testify to you that we are all in this together and that every man, woman, and child has a part to play. May God give us the strength and the ability and the determination to play our part well"

The words of a hymn by Evan Stephens (1854-1930) convey our heartfelt prayer for "our prophet dear."

We ever pray for thee with all our hearts

That strength be given thee to do thy part,

To guide and counsel us from day to day,

To shed a holy light around our way (Hymns, No. 23).

As we pray for our prophet and his associates, let us also consider their families. For the most part, their children are successfully reared when the call comes to serve on a full-time basis. Yet so often, travel assignments come irrespective of the needs of family members. And each is the head of generations who are not at all secure. Spouses of General Authorities and General Officers sacrifice for the gospel in ways largely unknown to average members.

When President Monson tells us, "I love you; I pray for you," he speaks to each of us, individually. He speaks to us as parent and child; to our family. When we pray for him, let us remember his faithful and sacrificing family who mean so much to him. And so it is with all the Brethren and General Officers. Their families are precious to them, even as they leave once again to the airport en route to another extended trip.

They are, to a man and woman, deeply concerned for our families. As we pray for them, let us include their families in our prayers.

"I leave with you my witness and my testimony that God our Eternal Father lives and loves us," continued President Monson. "He is indeed our Father, and He is personal and real. May we realize and understand how close to us He is willing to come, how far He is willing to go to help us, how much He loves us, and how much He does and is willing to do for us.

"May He bless you. May His promised peace be with you now and always."

Quoted from: http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/62087/Pray-for-our-leaders.html

I will lead you along

There once was a man who had a huge desire to please God,

so he prayed day and night until one day a Voice spoke to him, “I want you to go and push a rock.”

The man woke up the next morning elated, and ran outside to find a huge boulder. He began pushing it, but nothing happened, so he kept at it all day. The next day he did the same, yet it still didn’t budge an inch. He went on like that for three months, until one day he got so frustrated that he stopped pushing.

That night he had a dream, and the Voice asked him, “Why did you stop pushing?” “Nothing happened,” he answered. “Nothing happened? Look at you! Look how determined and focused you’ve become. Look how powerful your muscles are now. You’re no longer the person you were when you started.

Besides, I didn’t tell you to move the rock; I told you to push it. I’ll move the rock when it’s time.”

Keep pushing your rock. It’ll move at the right moment, in the perfect time, when you least expect it.

The world will provide you with stones every day.

What you build out of it, is your choice.

Wall, Road or a Bridge….

You may also choose to do nothing.

At the end, the world will know you by what you did with it.

"We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord's tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

David A. Bednar

But the key is that we must take it just one step at a time.

How we handle these challenges determines whether they

become stumbling stones or building blocks.

Marvin J. Ashton

"The path to eternal life is not on a plateau. Rather, it is an incline, ever onward and upward.

Hence, ever-increasing spiritual understanding….

“Divine favor will attend those who humbly seek it.”

Thomas S. Monson

"He who knows the path perfectly has promised, "Be of good cheer, for I will lead you along.”

He loves us perfectly

When God told Ananias to give Paul back his sight after Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus, Ananias responded with ”I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem” But the Lord told him, “He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel”.  Ananias saw a persecutor and an obstacle, a problem. God saw an Apostle, a witness, a key individual in the history of Christianity who would cause it to grow and survive in the world.

When we see ourselves as God sees us, when we see others as God sees them we may rise to meet those expectations, and we may inspire others to rise to meet their expectations.

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

Thomas Paine

“Fear not, little flock. . . . Look to Christ in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

“Ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath . . . prepared for you. . . .

 Be of good cheer. . . . The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours,

and the riches of eternity are yours”

"Love is the motivating principle by which the Lord leads us along the way towards becoming like Him, our perfect example. Our way of life, hour by hour, must be filled with the love of God and love for others."

 Henry B. Eyring

                                             

"If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray... to pray for the gift that will make us perfect. To pray to God to give us the gifts that will correct these imperfections.   Richard G. Scott   "Don't judge yourself by what you understand of your potential. Trust in the Lord and what He can do with your dedicated heart and willing mind. Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God's love for you."God does not look on the outward appearance I believe that He doesn't care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He love us perfectly, Though we may feel lost and without compass, God's love encompasses us completely."  Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Daughter's of a King

We are Daughter's of Our Heavenly Father

We are Daughter's of Our Heavenly Father 

you can complain that roses have thorns or celebrate that thorns have roses

Strength

Strength

February 14th, 2012

I have it.  Not all the time.  And not even in the most important moments.  But I have strength.  I know I do.

It's just that sometimes my strength,

my courage,

my determination…

get buried under a heap of doubt and fear.

I'm so grateful, when I'm trapped under that mound, trying to find my way up and out, that good friends follow promptings to be a source of strength.  I'm grateful they remind me that I'm strong.  When I forget, they remember.  When I can't see it, they do.

This reminder came today.

I printed it immediately.

…and hung it in a place where I can read it every day.

Hilary Weeks

P.S.  And just in case you need to hear that you have strength…

You. Do.

I'm Possible

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.  

- unknown

"We perhaps need to snatch happiness in little pieces, learning to recognize the elements of happiness and then treasuring them while they last."

  

"Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us — even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will."

"There seems to be something inside each of us that resists being told or pushed or pulled. But if someone puts an arm  around us and walks alongside us, we are  likely to follow along..."

"Worry is wasting today's time to clutter up tomorrow's opportunities with yetserday's troubles."

   

"The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety."
unknown –
"God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it." -Unknown
unknown

"Feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death."
unknown

   

Nothing is impossible the word itself says, I'm Possible.

One word frees us of all weight and pain in this life. That word is love

  

He opened His arms

One of the first children I met in Zambia was a little boy named Kennedy. At three years old, Kennedy had lost both of his parents to AIDS and was found living alone with his six year old brother and ten year old sister. When I thought of those three children struggling to survive and the millions of others across Africa in similar circumstances, I felt an overwhelming hopelessness and said to myself, "No amount of money can fix this."

I was curious to see how Kennedy and the others would react to Phillip, the man playing Christ. We decided to drop Phillip off several hundred yards from the "farm" and then drive in and set up our cameras. We told the children we had a wonderful surprise for them. When Phillip came into view the children instinctively ran to him and threw their arms around him. Everyone except Kennedy.

When Phillip saw this little boy standing apart from the others, he walked over and knelt down. As he opened his arms this little soul ran to him and threw his arms around his neck. He began speaking as fast as he could. Phillip looked for help to understand. One of the others translated.

"My mom and dad died. They are in heaven. Have you seen them? Are they ok?"

At that moment I knew it wasn't hopeless. I realized that the Savior could fix not only the problems of Africa, but of the whole world…and we can be His hands to do it. For the first time in my life I felt what Isaiah meant when he said, "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces." To Kennedy and all who struggle to understand why, I promise that God has not forgotten you. That the time is coming when He will come in power and glory and when He will keep his promise and wipe away all of our tears.

"Look what I found"

The Park Bench

The park bench was deserted as I sat down to read beneath the long, straggly branches of an old willow tree. Disillusioned by life with good reason to frown, for the world was intent on dragging me down.

And if that weren't enough to ruin my day, A young boy out of breath approached me, all tired from play.

He stood right before me with his head tilted down and said with great excitement, "Look what I found!"

In his hand was a flower, and what a pitiful sight, with it's petals all worn, not enough rain, or to little light. Wanting him to take his dead flower and go off to play, I faked a small smile and then shifted away. But instead of retreating he sat next to my side and placed the flower to his nose and declared with overacted surprise, "It sure smells pretty and it's beautiful, too. That's why I picked it; here it's for you."

The weed before me was dying or dead. Not vibrant of colors, orange, yellow or red. But I knew I must take it, or he might never leave. So I reached for the flower, and replied, "Just what I need." But instead of him placing the flower in my hand, he held it mid-air without reason or plan. It was then that I noticed for the very first time that weed-toting boy could not see: he was blind.

I heard my voice quiver, tears shone like the sun as I thanked him for picking the very best one. You're welcome, he smiled, and then ran off to play, unaware of the impact he'd had on my day. I sat there and wondered how he managed to see a self-pitying woman beneath an old willow tree. How did he know of my self-indulged plight?

Perhaps from his heart, he'd been blessed with true sight. Through the eyes of a blind child, at last I could see the problem was not with the world; the problem was me. And for all of those times I myself had been blind, I vowed to see the beauty in life, and appreciate every second that's mine. And then I held that wilted flower up to my nose and breathed in the fragrance of a beautiful rose. And smiled as I watched that young boy, another weed in his hand about to change the life of an unsuspecting old man.

" I did."

Oatmeal Kisses

The baby is teething-the children are fighting. My husband just called and said to eat dinner without him. Okay, one of these days you'll shout: "Why don't you grow up and act your age!" and they will, or "You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do...and don't slam the door!"...and they won't.

You'll straighten up their rooms neat and tidy...bumper stickers discarded...spreads tucked and smooth ... toys displayed on the shelves...hangars in the closet...animals caged, and you'll say outloud: "Now I want it to stay that way!" and it will...You'll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn't been picked to death and a cake with no finger traces in it and you'll say, "Now there's a meal for company." and you'll eat it alone.

You'll say, "I want complete privacy on the phone. No dancing around, no pantomimes, no demolition crews. Silence! Do you hear?"...and you'll have it. No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti, no more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent, no more dandelion bouquets, no more iron-on patches, knotted shoestrings, or tight boots.

Imagine, a lipstick with a point, no babysitter for New Year's Eve, washing clothes only once a week, no P.T.A. meetings, carpools, blaring radios, Christmas presents out of toothpicks and paste. No more "Wet Oatmeal Kisses". No more toothfairy giggles in the dark, or knees to heal.

Only a voice crying..."Why don't you grow up?"... and the silence echoing ......."I did."

Remember to Breathe