High on the Mountain Top

This summer I had the wonderful opportunity of running to the temple. The pictures above were taken with my cell phone camera on a few of my morning runs. The last mile of my running route I ran East, toward the West entrance of the temple.

I pondered on the beautiful spirit I felt literally running to the House of the Lord; a beacon

of hope, truth, peace, and joy beyond measure. I thought about the blessings temples bring to my community, my home, my personal spiritual growth. As I ran past the temple, high on the mountain top I could see two more temples in plain view across the valley from the Oquirrh Mountains; Jordan River Temple, Draper Temple. The only place in the world with three temples so close in proximity. As I pondered on the great gifts these temples bring I felt like singing a high note and thinking...blessed be the name on the most high God!

The temple is the center of my Eternal perspective. Without continued temple service I would be lost in the world, or perhaps more focused on a worldly perspective.

Pres. James E. Faust stated; "Maintaining our spiritual strength is … a daily challenge. The greatest source of that spiritual strength comes … from our temples"

I have found this statement to be profoundly true and ever present in my life.

My temple calling came as a great surprise to me. I thought you must advise your Bishop of your desire to be a temple worker and so the calling came. Not so for Jack and I. In fact when we received a call from the temple office for an appt. with the temple Presidency, I thought I would be supporting Jack in a temple calling. I was shocked to have a calling extended to me too. As we sat across the desk of the Temple President's 1st Counselor extending to us a Friday, midday shift I knew Heavenly Father had work for me to do. Although I wondered how this would work in my schedule as I was working full time hours, we accepted in faith the call to serve in the temple. I marvel at the events which transpired the following week at my office. Our firm's work load had slowed down and the Principal was looking for ways to cut expenses. A few of the employees suggested cutting back to a four day work week and the principal agreed Friday would be the day and so the Lord opened the way for me to work in the temple.

I have had many priceless experiences in the temple and have felt the spirit pour out to me great treasures of love and knowledge which I am eternally grateful for.

I love to run to the temple, I know I will find my Savior there. As a child of God I've learned this truth...."A Family is Forever"!

White Dress

A few months ago I accidentally left lipstick in the pocket of my white temple dress. Upon pulling it out of the dryer there were too many lipstick stains to count. At first I thought I would just throw it away, although I didn't throw away the dress I procrastinated trying to clean it. The other day I decided to take the time to try to get the lipstick stains out. I rubbed every stain with rubbing alcohol (the house smelled like rubbing alcohol all day). There were so many tiny stains, some medium, and some large stains. The large stains were hardest, (I scrubbed harder on those) then I sprayed on spray n' wash then washed the dress in hot water. I repeated this process three times.
To my amazement the stains were gone. I was so glad I didn't throw away that beautiful, white dress. As I inspected the clean white dress, it reminded me a scripture found in Isaiah 1:18; "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow".
I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ who washes away all the stains from my sins; small to large, upon my repentance ans willingness to change.
Like my white dress, I know I am worth keeping to God. Thankful that I know He loves me in spite of all my sins past and sees the good in me.

May we take time to ponder on the love our Savior has for each of Heavenly Father's precious children. May we ponder on the symbolism of a clean white dress, as we enjoy the blessings of His Atoning sacrifice.

Creation

Pondering on the principal of creation. Not necessarily the creation of the Earth or man on Earth; but the power within us all to create our experiences in life.

Creation is a process beginning with thoughts, perception, emotion and belief.
We create our experiences beginning with exercising our agency to choose our thoughts. I ask myself what do I want to create? I ask Heavenly Father to assist me in creating experiences I want and the God given power within me begins.

This process may be so simple to many people, they raise an eyebrow and perhaps say; "how so"? Once I heard the process described as follows; You feel hungry, eat food, and your body digests the food, uses it for fuel etc. You don't have to consciously communicate to your body to digest the food.
So it is with creation; we attract what is wanted with our thoughts, perception, emotion and belief. Of coarse, as with everything on Earth creation is both positive and negative. I must consciously ask myself; what experiences do I want to choose to create? When I attract an experience into my life I do not want, I can simply acknowledge that's not what I want, what do I want to create instead.

Thoughts, perception, emotions run so quickly; I must get practiced at noticing consciously what patters I am running. Similar to aviation flights patterns; I call it "auto pilot thought patterns". I've got to watch these that I don't get off coarse, but are in harmony with what I want to create in my life's experience.

I am having fun with this process. Sure; I am noticing things I don't want but it's comforting to know that I can choose again, that I have Heaven's help to assist me in creating joyful experiences and that I may learn a few things that may help someone else too.

I continue to marvel at all the wonderful things to learn and experience that will ultimately prepare me for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. What a wonderful time to be alive! I am so thankful for the precious spiritual gifts I have been given by my loving Heavenly Father.

May you find joy in your life journey exercising your gifts and agency to create all that you desire.

Pondering on the drive to attain perfection

Perfectionism.....some say perfectionism has gotten a bad rap. Others claim it's drive in pursuit of, is the main cause for anorexia among other distressing disease. It occurs to me what matters most is; what I, as an individual person perceives it to be and how it affects my life. Perhaps it is the source of negative behavior patterns. Undoubtedly in my case; has been a primary factor for low self esteem/self worth. How then can a person overcome the drive and the painful affects of trying to achieve perfection? I have determined a few answers for myself.
1.) Awareness.
2.) No judgement or blame.
3.) Accountability.
4.) Kindness.
5.) Forgiveness.

Awareness: Anything we are interested in changing requires simple awareness. Just noticing I have this drive to achieve perfection. My perception/definition of perfectionism is to constantly strive for or beyond excellence, extraordinary, or greatness.

No judgement or blame: I do not need to figure out, or really even completely understand why I run this pattern of behavior. I just do. That is a positive approach to change. I believe it's a waste of energy, time and all resources to blame or judge it. It simply is a pattern I run. Perhaps it is a learned behavior. It doesn't really matter to me why I run this or where I got it. Blame, judgement is where we get stuck and unable to move forward in life.

Accountability: I run this pattern of behavior; it doesn't serve me, it's a negative, self defeating pattern. I am now conscious of this and I want to change
this pattern to a positive pattern that serves me. I realize that it's negative because I feel unaccepted, not good enough and low self esteem/image of myself.
I simply say; "What do I want instead".

Kindness: I choose to be kind and patient with myself while striving to change this behavior pattern. Change is not only possible, but always achievable as I include my Savior in my process of change.

Forgiveness: I choose to forgive myself when I fall short. Often I have noticed my unwillingness to forgive myself because; I was not a "perfect example", was not "perfectly patient" in all situations, or did not express myself with "perfect understanding or kindness". Doing my best is good enough for my Heavenly Father and it can be good enough for me, if I let it be. That is not to say I will not strive with all my might to be my very best; just realizing perfect is not attainable in all things. Some things, perhaps even many things but not all things....yet.

I will trust in the Lord to guide me to sources of wisdom, experience and knowledge that will assist me in my journey on Earth to be the best person I can be, the person I want to be. Which is...to be like My Savior. What a blessing it is to have His example to follow. His love and support to guide me. His atonement to cleanse me when I make mistakes.
President Uchtdorf said: "The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the ultimate formula for happiness and success" I know this is true. In the Lord, Jesus Christ, I can do all things.
What a blessing it is to have the opportunity to be on Earth at this amazing time; to learn, to grow, to improve ourselves and strengthen our testimonies of the one true and living God whom created all man, who loves us individually and has passed through all sorrow and suffering that we may not bear more than we have strength to bear. I owe everything to Jesus Christ, my brother, by best friend, my exemplar, my Savior.

Blessed me the name of the most high God, forever and ever!

May we all experience peace, happiness, love and success on our journey together on Earth.

Florida; January 2011

Jack and I had a wonderful trip to Florida early this year. Long awaited planning with excitement and celebration. Celebrating because the trip was contributed to Jack's inventions. We had a wonderful time enjoying each other's company for ten days. It was like heaven to us. The food was amazing, weather was fabulous and
we enjoyed every moment. I really enjoyed watching the Disney Channel from the hotel room in the evening. I mentioned to Jack perhaps we should consider getting the Disney Channel at home, we won't have to go all the way to Florida to watch. The Disney Resort we stayed was very nice and was a huge campus. Our hotel room was about a five minute walk to the food court area. We were lucky. There are at least 38 buildings at the Resort. We took advantage of the long stay and had many dinners in Epcot. The dining experiences in these fine restaurants are superb. We visited Universal Studios and Sea World in Orlando as well as many days in Disney World. We got to pet dolphins as they swam by and feed a few also.
We especially enjoyed the Harry Potter area at Universal. The castle is amazing, inside and out. Dual Dragon Coasters we skipped. We had been on a roller coaster that day and a ride in the castle that took you on a quidditch match (soaring in the air) and a crazy escape from dementors (in all directions), so we were trilled out by then. Universal has several roller coasters that are crazy! I personally love the Mummy coaster. Jack and I both loved E.T. ride, no pic's were allowed though.
We saw beautiful fireworks, fabulous parade entertainment, cultural music and entertainment, fun, thrilling rides, amazing animals to see, touch and study.
And best of all...perfect company. Who could ask for anything more?
Thank you Jack for 6 years of hard work, inventive mind and the courage to follow through on your inventions. So proud of you.

New Year's Resolution

I love to ponder on renewed hope and understanding as the beginning of a new year approaches.
This year as I thought about New Year's resolution possibilities, I was not as enthusiastic as I once was. I realized I have changed. My thought patterns have changed. Then I thought, this is a very good step for me!
I wanted to get excited about creating future goal(s) for 2011, but came up blank. Then, I read a thought from my favorite Author; Wayne Dyer:
"Forget about those New Year’s resolutions in which you decide on the first day of January how you will be conducting your life in September, some nine months later. The important questions to be asking yourself are “How am I going to use my present moments this year?” and “Will I waste them in reviewing to myself how I used to behave, or how I would like to behave in the future, rather than resolving to live each day to the fullest?”

That's it I thought! My heart jumped with excitement, a smile came to my face and I knew this was meant for me. A simply, brilliant concept I am thrilled to get to learn and grow with. I love it when I am open to learn, the lessons come with ease and grace into my life's experience.
I am thoughtful and grateful to my Heavenly Father, He cares about every detail in my life and wants me to become the best person I can be.

This is a great day to be alive! I take time to rejoice in this moment to live and learn.
Let's seize the day! After all; what a glorious time it is to be on Earth, these Latter-Days!

Happy New Year, Happy New Day!

Eternal Perspective

As the beauty of another year passes in this Life experience we refer to as "Our Mortal Estate" I think of many things.
I remember trials we face, both past and present. I think of the endearing love Heavenly Father has for me and for my loved ones. I think of the love he has for all his precious children on Earth. I think of how very blessed I am.
My blessings are too numerous to recount on this blog, so I write them in a journal each passing day. Each day I find more to be grateful for.
I think of the lessons I have experienced. I marvel with faith, hope and love.
I wonder where would I be without the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life? Where would I be without the knowledge of Eternal Life? Where would I be without the blessings of the temple to bless my life on Earth and beyond? I wonder where would I be without my precious Eternal companion, Jack? How could I live without Jack or how could I live with Jack, without the blessing of an Eternal Marriage?
How blessed I am. I do not have to wonder, I just need to be worthy of these great blessings to continue.
Faith in Heavenly Father Plan brings me a new found understanding and hope of what will be. Faith brings me hope in the night when I have a bad dream and wake of with fear of losing my Eternal companion. Faith in Heavenly Father's Eternal Plan helps me strive for Forever Family, Forever Love, Forever Blessings!
I am Eternally grateful for my Heavenly Father and my Savior's endearing love.

I look forward to 2011 with faith and gratitude in Heavenly Father's perfect Plan of Happiness.

May we all feel the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Plan of Happiness throughout the new year to sustain us, to guide us and fill us with hope now and forever more.
May we be blessed with opportunities to share the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others.