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Sunday, March 27, 2016
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Nothing compares with the tutoring of life.
We were created to grow. Life is an adventure in learning and progress, becoming a little wiser and better each day. In this sense, without some kind of growth or improvement, we cease to live. And this life, where we are surrounded by fellow learners, is the best setting for learning.
In fact, one could say that there is no such thing as truly "independent" learning. Reading a lot of books can expand your mind, but deeply connecting with another person can enlarge your heart. These words from a wise teacher ring true: "I learned a lot in school and from reading, but I learned the most from people living with them, working with them, rubbing shoulders with them, making mistakes with them. . . .People have always been my greatest teachers."
It's been said that if you want to become wise, treat every conversation as an opportunity to learn. Care about others enough to learn from them. Everyone knows something you don't know: lessons learned from experiences, knowledge gained from work and study, perspective earned from challenges and sorrow.
Nothing compares with the tutoring of life.
For example, children can obviously learn a lot from wise and experienced parents. But you don't have to be a parent for very long to realize that parents often learn just as much from their children. Family life also teaches us that we learn and grow the most through caring for and about others. A young man learns about courage by watching his dear mother fight a debilitating illness. A father learns to be more patient by parenting a willful child. A young woman gains a new perspective on life when she visits an elderly neighbor to talk but mostly to listen. No one is ever the same if they embrace opportunities to learn from others.
Human relationships are the raw materials that make a rich, meaningful, fulfilling life. So instead of using people and loving things, the best people use things and love people. They know that in every person, every conversation, every experience is an opportunity to learn.
Lloyd D. Newell
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
He is the means of bringing hope.
Lazarus reminds us of the unexpected hope that will spring forth from the darkest moments of our lives.......
It had been four days, four dark days of weeping, of wondering and of asking why.
"If you had been here..." Martha whispered to the Lord as she ran to meet Him.... "If you had been here..." Mary falling at His feet, the grief too much for her to bear. Sorrow overflowing, still she clung to her faith in Him. He saw the tears streaming down her face, streaming down the faces of the friends who had come to mourn, and Jesus wept. "If you believed." He pled with them "you would see"
They took away the stone from the place where Lazarus lay. Then Jesus prayed, and the Father heard, and Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth"
Come forth from the darkness. Come forth from the mourning, the sorrow and the anguish. Come forth from that which holds you back and be healed.
And so, still bound with grave clothes hand and foot his face covered with the napkin, Lazarus came forth. He whom Christ loved was risen from the dead.
The scriptures do not tell us what happened afterward, we can only imagine the celebration that surely followed, the gratitude and the awe. What we do know is that this miracle of miracles marked one of the highest points in the ministry of Jesus Christ up to that moment in His mortal life.
The miracle was an unforeseen answer to a call for help that have been expressed by two sister four days before. It came when every human condition would suggest it shouldn't have. In the darkest moment. Unexpectedly.
I wonder if you have ever found yourself in a similar circumstance. Maybe you have cried out to the Lord in anguish from a dark place. Perhaps you know about the waiting and the wondering that come in those moments when you question if the Lord has forgotten you. It's not that you don't have faith. It's just that sometimes it feels as if the timing of the miracle you are pleading for goes unanswered. We must remember that sometimes the miracle we are hoping for is not the miracle the Lord holds in store. Sometimes miracles come in unexpected ways, and they come in the Lord's timing rather than in ours.
And yet, the Lord is constantly aware of us. He knows what is about to happen. He sees the mourning, the yearning for answers, and He hears the questioning why. Surely He weeps with us, just as He did with Martha and Mary. We must remember that ours is a God of miracles, and in His own time He will heal us. Most often that healing that deliverance, will come in unexpected ways that is the way of the Lord. Always, He is the means of bringing hope.
...may our eyes be open to believe to see the unexpected, to recognize the hope that is before us! For there will be dark days, moments when we are lonely or forgotten, days when we carry a burden so heavy we wonder if the weight of it will ever ease. Out of these dark places, hope will come forth.
It always does. It always will.
Emily Belle Freeman
Monday, March 21, 2016
It is finished
The Greatest Sacrifice of all required the loss of every single pure drop of blood that Jesus Christ had to offer. The process of the Atonement began in Gethsemane and was completed on the cross at Calvary when He said "It is finished."
The three most important words ever uttered are not
"I love you" but rather "It is finished."
"Greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13
Instead of thinking about how much we are loved by others, perhaps we could focus on what it means to truly love others, as He loves us. In this small act, we emulate God's love and become LOVE.
"Love is the motivating principle by which the Lord leads us along the way toward 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
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Easter Marks of Love
It has been a rough couple of months and I don't have it figured out yet. But I know He loves me, and I just have to take that next step into the dark and that is easier said than done.
I had a pretty deep heart to heart with the Savior, and I imagined He held his hand out for me to touch and I imagined all of His wounds. The ones in His wrists, the ones on His back and shoulders where the whip ripped Him up, the ones on His feet, the ones where the sword pierced His ribs, the ones on His forehead from the thorn crown, and I wept and wept and wept.
He paid a heavy price for us to have peace in this life and
most of us don't know how to accept that gift on our behalf.
He knows our pain and then some.
Our suffering makes us a part of the fellowship of the suffering of Christ.
He is our fields of diamonds.
We search elsewhere, but He is the real gift.
~Diane Myers
Dawn will break shadows flee
"As we approach this holy week—Passover Thursday with its Paschal Lamb, atoning Friday with its cross, Resurrection Sunday with its empty tomb—may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear."
"We must constantly remind
ourselves that He is God
and we are not."
"Trust in God hold on to his love. Know that one day the dawn will break brightly and all the shadows of mortality will flee"
Jeffery R. Holland
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Life is a long walk on a long road.
It's common in many cultures to compare life to a path, a road, a journey. And anyone who has ever embarked on a long journey can see why it makes such a useful metaphor. It helps us to see life with purpose and direction, to feel that we are making progress, that we're getting somewhere and not just anywhere, but toward a specific destination we want to reach.
But even when we're not really sure where our life is headed, seeing it as a journey can still yield helpful insights. Some days we walk the road of life with the wind at our back, sunny skies overhead, and a paved, well-marked path beneath us. Other days we walk into the wind, with dark skies above, and the path covered with potholes, detours, and roadblocks. The road of life is never entirely smooth
or easy for any of us.
During those rough patches, it's easy to become discouraged, especially when we look at others whose way seems much smoother. We hear stories of people who accomplish remarkable things and wonder how they got such an easy path. But the truth is, there is no fast lane, no shortcut to true happiness and peace. Every life path winds its way through sorrows and setbacks before cresting on the sunlit highlands of contentment and accomplishment. Every autobiography—written or unwritten—has its plot twists before reaching its "happily ever after."
So instead of comparing our road to someone else's, it may be more productive to see each other as fellow travelers along what ends up being pretty much the same road. After all, none of us makes it very far without help. Indeed, we were sent here not to compete with each other but to walk side by side—to help each other when the road gets steep and to enjoy the pleasant stretches together.
Be our days many or few, life is a long walk on a long road. And so we might as well walk it together. As we do, we will find that our experiences lifting, encouraging, and supporting one another along the way are just as much a part of our "destination" as anything we expect to find at the end of the road.
Lloyd D. Newell
What we think we become
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.
REPEAT AFTER ME
It's time to believe in MYSELF!
Changing our mindset could make us happier people
Talking about our problems is our greatest addiction.
Break the habit.
Talk about your joys.
"Change your thoughts and
you change your world."
Norman Vincent Peale
Friday, March 18, 2016
Great possibility
"May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter and every window open to great possibility"
Seeds of Love
Every year, as winter finally gives way to spring, the warmer weather and sunnier days draw us outside, inviting us put our hands in the soil and plant something. Nothing quite compares to the satisfaction of watching something grow: tomatoes or peas, a pine tree or an apple tree, or whatever seeds we may plant. Nurturing a garden takes time, resourcefulness, and commitment. As every good gardener knows, consistent care is the only way to get anything to grow.
That is, anything desirable. Weeds, of course, can grow without any attention or nurturing. In fact, weeds and other unwelcome guests in our garden seem to flourish best in an environment of neglect, mistreatment, and apathy.
Isn't the same true in our relationships? Our most important associations our friendships and family bonds need nurturing, care, and attention. Negligence will always sprout weeds and problems. Of course, some problems are just an inevitable part of life. But when they show up in our relationships, we can treat them like weeds in our garden we can pull them out and plant something better in their place.
In the words of an old children's rhyme:
Kind hearts are the gardens,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the flowers,
Kind deeds are the fruits.
Take care of your garden
And keep out the weeds.
Fill it with sunshine,
Kind words and kind deeds.
Such nurturing kindnesses appear in all the little moments of life. One grown daughter remembers how her father always smiled and looked in her eyes when he saw her. He greeted her by saying, "How's my beautiful daughter?" He planted seeds of love by spending time with her and listening to her. Because he knew that she loved watermelons, sometimes he would buy one just for her. These weren't big things, but they were meaningful to her. The seeds of love that were sewn in her childhood bore fruit throughout her life.
No matter who we are, we all need love and kindness in order to grow. If perhaps some weeds have worked their way into our relationships, now is the time to clear things up and plant seeds of kindness that can grow into strong bonds of love.
Lloyd D. Newell
Strawberry Crinkles
INGREDIENTS
1 box strawberry cake mix (any brand)
1 8-oz tub of whipped topping (thawed)
1 egg
Powdered sugar for rolling cookies
Decorative sprinkles
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease baking sheets and set aside
In a large mixing bowl, slightly beat the egg, and then add the cake mix and whipped topping
Mix ingredients well, and roll small portions into powdered sugar until well coated
Place cookies on greased baking sheets, about 1 inch apart, and add sprinkles
Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are firm but not brown. Let cool, and enjoy
Thursday, March 17, 2016
More then a bit of luck
the willingness to forgive . . . say I am sorry . . . these simple words, though hard to do at times are more then a bit of good luck, they can calm waters that are raging, they can heal the wounded soul, they can alter a path of pain and sorrow . . . their abilities to do good are endless.
Susan Powers
"The willingness to forgive is a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity. It is one of the great virtues to which we all should aspire. Imagine a world filled with individuals willing both to apologize and to accept an apology. Is there any problem that could not be solved among people who possessed the humility and largeness of spirit and soul to do either–or both–when needed?"
Gordon B. Hinckley
Magnolia bakery cupcakes recipe New York
INGREDIENTS
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing pans
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pans
1 ½ cups self-rising flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour 2 12-cup muffin tins and then line with cupcake papers or grease. Mix the flours together in a bowl. In a glass measure, mix the milk and vanilla.
In a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk and the vanilla, beating well after each addition. Spoon the batter into muffin cups about 3/4 full.
Bake until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched, 20 to 22 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the pans and cool on a rack before icing.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
8 cups confectioners' sugar
½ cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Food coloring (optional)
PREPARATION
Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, until the icing is thick enough to spread. Add a few drops of food coloring if desired. Frost cupcakes. Serve at room temperature. Leftover icing freezes well for up to two months.
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