Then a Hero Comes Along

I am in the process of updating some of my histories and putting pictures and mementos in my journals.  I came upon this "presentation" Stacey gave to our family when we were in Thailand in 2007.  It is entitled HEROES and it goes like this:

There's a hero, if you look inside your heart, you don't have to be afraid of what you are.  There's an answer, if you search within your soul and the hurt that you know will melt away...Then a hero comes along, with the strength to carry on and you push your cares aside and know you can survive, so if you feel like hope is gone...look inside you and be strong and you'll finally see the truth, that the hero lies in you...

Who among us is a hero...The early pioneers of the church.  They left their homes, lands and inheritance to follow in the footsteps of faith a young prophet boy who, by the power of God, set forth the establishment of his true church in the Land of Zion.  How often do we awake and say, "Gee I'm grateful for my ancestors who trekked across the plains in blinding sun and bitter cold...losing loved ones along the way so i can partake of the blessings of the restored gospel?  Does our family know of the reverence we feel when we ponder the sacrifice of these early pioneers?

Who among us is a hero...The Presidents of our Country.  They have protected and governed, fought for liberties and justice, they too have governed our freedoms: to vote, to worship and have equal rights.  How often do we awake and say, "Golly, our government is really top notch.  It must be difficult to govern an entire country when half of them have "I hate Bush" decals on their bumpers.  Do our neighbors know of the patriotism which we hold for our founding fathers?

Who among us is a hero...The teachers in our schools.  Our children are in their care 8 hours out of the day.  They are those who mold and shape their futures.  From learning how to write the alphabet to algebra.  How often do we awaken and say "I really appreciate the knowledge and care my children's teachers bestow upon them...and for little pay I might add.  Do our children know what the impact education will make in their lives?

Who among us is a hero...Christ.  He is the center of our lives.  He is the reason we are here.  He has made us who we are.  It is his Father's test we are here to take.  I am certain we awaken every day and say, "I am thankful for all that the Lord has blessed me with."  Do WE know how important HE is in our lives?  If we are willing to pattern our lives after HIM, then I can answer one last question...

Who among us is a hero...I AM!!!  We all need hero's to honor and admire.  So many figures that come in and out of our lives can make an impact.  What sweeter knowledge than knowing YOU have been a hero in someones life.  While contemplating this assignment, I have thought about my own children.  Who is their hero?  The fuzziest feeling I get as a mother is when my children put their arms around me and tell me what a great mother I am....usually it's in conjunction to buying them a gator-ade and candy bar, but it's 10 times better when prompted directly from their hearts.  One Mother's Day Griffin wrote me a poem, he was 9.  The simplicity of it brought me to tears:
     My mom is unique
     She is a biker, biking almost as fast as Lance Armstrong
     She is a walker, walking all around the neighborhood
     She is a Sunday School teacher, with 12 girls in her class!
     She is an exercise club teacher, pushing people as hard as she can
     She is an exerciser, from doing marathons to iron mans
     She is a Mormon going to church with me
     She is a reader, reading the Book of Mormon
     She is a salad eater, eating big bowls of salad every day
     She is a mom, my mom
     I love her.

It's been told to us time and time again, that there is no greater calling than to rear our children in love and righteousness.  From that will stem respect.  From that will stem love.  From that will stem honor, and WITH that perhaps we shall become that HERO.

That's why we call them hero's.  That's why we know their names and once you've heard their story...you're never quite the same.  That's why we call them hero's, the best thing they ever do...is point to the best in us all, and say, "If I can, you can too."

Let's look at the story of a hero here tonight.  Look around you, can you guess who I'm thinking of?  There's an activity we play in FHE called Spotlight.  Each Monday night I focus on a member of the family.  I start out by saying the things this person does or likes and eventually the answers become personalized to that one individual.  It goes like so:

This person likes cookies.  This person likes to shop.  This person likes to travel.  This person like to read.  This person likes to bike.  This person likes to spend time with family.  This person likes bunnies.  This person is very creative.  This person likes to decorate.  This person drinks diet cola.  This person eats cookies for breakfast.  This person forgets when they loan you money :)  This person is a movie star...no, that's Diane Keaton.  This person is a mother.

Stacey with her daughter, Kennedy, in 2007.

This person changed 100's of diapers.  This person stayed up late with sick daughters.  This person took girls to dance, piano, ballet, violin and cello.  This person held foofetts.  This person made a beautiful home This person said nightly prayers with her children.  This person thanked the Lord for trials and blessings.  This person taught her daughters to love and reach out to those in need, to recognize everyone as children of our Father in Heaven.  This person asked her daughters to skip school to enjoy a day of bonding together.  This person admired her father, loved and honored him.  This person documented her life and gave us the example to do the same.  This person upholds her family heritage and instills in her daughters the reasons to do likewise.  This person shows her daughters everyday the joy she found with the man she married.  This person brings the spirit into family home evenings in creative and unforgettable ways.  This person goes to great lenghts to show love for her grandchildren.  This person has helped so many members in our family This person has been a hero to every single one of us. 

She has listened to that prompting that on more than one occasion may have brought her to your bedroom door, your front door, or perhaps your telephone.  She has given of herself and helped you rise from whence you had fallen.  She has been the rock of your foundation whether through the influence of friends dragging you to lowly ground, raising children as a single mother, financial burdens of life or the heartache that prevails from decisions made on a path unworthy of travel.

Even outside of our own family unit we see her path as it winds it's way into the lives and homes of others.  She is like Gretel, dropping crumbs along the path of Earth Life.  We are then picking up these crumbs and partaking of her goodness and generosity.  She won't need that trail to return home, because the path she is taking and the crumbs she is dropping will eventually lead to our Father in Heaven.  Then wouldn't it make sense if we follow her example that we are following Christ's example.  We are following that path that will lead us to become the HERO we know is inside us.

...and then a hero comes along with the strength to carry on and you know you can survive, so if you feel like hope is gone, look inside you and be strong.  And you'll finally see the truth that the HERO lies in you.

Obviously I loved this presentation!  It has reminded me of the opportunity we all have on a daily basis to influence the lives of those around us.  Many times we don't even realize that we are being watched and emulated.  Thanks again Stacey, for such a loving tribute. 

THE GREATNESS OF GOD

We can find comfort in the knowledge that God will turn all things in our life to good.  This is a principle that is taught often in the scriptures.  No situation is ever negative in the long run and, therefore, life is always fair.  Whatever happens to us God can turn it to good if we trust him and stay on the path.  He teaches that principle in every book of scripture.  In the Book of Mormon, Lehi testifies to his son Jacob:  "In thy childhood thou hast suffered afflictions and much sorrow, because of the rudeness of thy brethren.  Nevertheless, Jacob, my firstborn in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for they gain (2 Nephi 2:1-2).  Part of God's greatness consists in his ability to turn even the most negative of situations into positive truth and learning. 

The Lord instructed Joseph Smith in this principle while the Prophet was suffering in Liberty Jail.  "All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for they good" (D&C 122:7).  Our Father in Heaven can turn even the most negative situations to good for us, if we will trust him and stay true to his gospel.

C.S. Lewis once wrote a little piece that very poignantly taught this truth.  He said:
Ye cannot in your present state understand eternity...But ye can get some likeness of it if ye say that both good and evil, when they are full grown, become retrospective...All their earthly past will have been Heaven to those who are saved...All their life on Earth too, will then be seen by the damned to have been Hell.  That is what mortals misunderstand.  They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it,: not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.  And of some sinful pleasure they say "Let me have but THIS and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin.  Both processes  begin even before death.  The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven:  the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness.  And that is why, at the end of all things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down there, the Blessed will say, "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven," and the Lost, "We were always in Hell."  And both will speak truly. (The Great Divorce.)

S. Michael Wilcox

Released. Yeah!

I admire John Lund so much and have gleaned much wisdom from him on many topics.  Here is a little gem I listened to recently in the car:

He starts by suggesting that if we went to the Prophet for a blessing to help us deal with difficult children and situations, he might say the following:

"I release you from being a judge.  I release you from telling other people what they need, should and ought to do, even with your own family and I call you to be a special witness of Jesus Christ in how you treat people.  I call you to be an apostle within your own family; to be a source of love.  I give you a special blessing to be a source of power that you will go forth, and by virtue of your example and by virtue of your loving, you will be able to teach.  But remember that you will only be able to teach to the level of their willingness to receive.  Forget from this time forth that you will be judged or held accountable for how they act.  You are not responsible.  You are only responsible to love".
HOW WOULD THAT CHANGE YOUR LIFE?

Spiritual Heart Attacks

My fist-sized heart can pump over twenty gallons of blood through my liver every hour to remove the waste materials and impurities from my blood.  During normal activity the heart beats about 4,200 times per hour.  That's over one hundred thousand times a day, about three million times a month, or two and a half billion beats in a lifetime.  There is no man-made material that can be flexed so frequently without breaking.  During each of these normal beats, your heart pumps about two and a half ounces of life-sustaining blood.  That's about six quarts a minute or two thousand gallons a day, which could fill four or five average-sized hot tubs or spas.  During strenuous exercise, the heart can pump as much as thirty quarts a minute!

The heart must pump this enormous flow of blood through some sixty thousand miles of blood vessels, most of which are tiny capillaries with a diameter about thirty times smaller than a human hair.  The heart pumps with such power that it may take less than a minute for your blood to circulate around your entire body.  And yet, with no thought on your part, over one thousand times a day your heart sends each blood cell on this journey so that every cell in the body can receive nourishment and oxygen and have its waste materials carried away.

The Savior warned us that one of the major signs of the last days would be that '"all things shall be in commotion; and that men's hearts shall fail them" (D&C 88:91).  I believe that this prophecy pertains not only to physical heart failure but also to spiritual heart attacks, which are far more common than the physical ones.

One of the most common reasons for death by heart failure is the denial of the person that anything is wrong and the resulting delay of examination and treatment--even after they become aware of their symptoms and warning signs.  Rather than rush in for evaluation when a person experiences mild to severely crushing chest pains, many people ignore the seriousness of the warning signs and go on about life in denial, hoping they can get away with it.

And so it is with spiritual heart failure.  We find ourselves actually considering breaking or compromising our vows and apathetic about our commitments and promises--alarming danger signs, yet we ignore them.  Just as a person with a physically damaged heart loses energy and concern for life's pressures and duties, losing spiritual energy and concern should be a warning signal that things are not right with our hearts spiritually.  When performance of our family and gospel duties becomes more painful to us than neglect, we are in serious danger of heart failure and possible spiritual death and should undertake an immediate evaluation of our values and priorities.

There are many problems that can develop in our physical heart and circulatory system, and each defect  produces specific symptoms, such as shortness of breath, chest, shoulder and arm pains, poor circulation, lack of energy, and erratic heart rate.  Doctors listen to our heartbeat, monitor blood pressure, and test our cholesterol to try to detect pending heart diseases.

We can recognize physical heart attacks by the sudden onset of crushing pains in the chest, which often radiate to the shoulder, arms, and jaw.  Spiritual heart attacks, in which "men's hearts shall fail them" can be recognized by symptoms such as an urge to break our covenants, to make evil choices, or to hurt others as we strike out in anger, revenge, or an unwillingness to forgive.

By Steven A. Cramer

Happiness Is A Butterfly

The Declaration of Independence guarantees every one of us the right to the pursuit of happiness.  But because the Declaration is a political document and not a religious one, it does not warn us of the frustrations of trying to exercise that right, because the pursuit of happiness is the wrong goal.  You don't become happy by pursuing happiness.  You become happy by living a life that means something.  The happiest people I know are probably not the richest or most famous, probably not the ones who work hardest at being happy by reading the articles and buying the books and latching on to the latest fads.  I suspect that the happiest people I know are the ones who work at being kind, helpful and reliable, and happiness sneaks into their lives while they are busy doing those things.  Indeed, one does not become happy by pursuing happiness I've decided.  It is always a by-product, never a primary goal.  Happiness is a butterfly---the more you chase it, the more it flies away from you and hides.  But stop chasing it, put away your net and busy yourself with other, more productive things than the pursuit of personal happiness, and it will sneak up on you from behind and perch on your shoulder.

The Best Is Yet To Be...2011

As a new year begins and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been.  The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes.  And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future.  Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives.

Let people repent.  Let people grow.  Believe that people can change and improve.  Is that faith?  Yes!  Is that hope?  Yes!  Is that charity?  Yes!  Above all, it is charity, the pure love of Christ.  If something is buried in the past, leave it buried.

Keep your eyes on your dreams, however distant and far away.  Live to see the miracles of repentance and forgiveness, of trust and divine love that will transform your life today, tomorrow, and forever,  That is a New Year's resolution I ask you to keep.
by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Do Things For Love

Some of the greatest examples we have of others who gave and sacrificed because of love are the Mormon pioneers.  The following is a touching story Elder James E. Faust told of one of those great people:

Stillman Pond was a member of the Second Quorum of Seventy in Nauvoo.  He was an early convert to the Church, having come from Hubbardston, Massachusetts.  Like others, he and his wife, Maria, and their children were harassed and driven out of Nauvoo.  In September 1846, they became part of the great western migration.  The early winter that year brought extreme hardships, including malaria, cholera, and consumption.  The family was visited by all thee of these diseases.

Maria contracted consumption, and all of the children were stricken with malaria.  Three of the children died while moving through the early snows.  Stillman buried them on the plains.  Maria's condition worsened because of the grief, pain, and the fever of malaria.  She could no longer walk.  Weakened and sickly, she gave birth to twins.  They were named Joseph and Hyrum, and both died within a few days.

The Stillman Pond family arrived at Winter Quarters and, like many other families, they suffered bitterly while living in a tent.  The death of the five children coming across the plains to Winter Quarters was but a beginning.

The journal of Horace K. and Helen Mar Whitney verifies the following regarding four more of the children of Stillman Pond who perished:  "On Wednesday, the 2nd of December 1846, Laura Jane Pond, age 14 years, ...died of chills and fever.  On Friday, the 4th of December, Harriet M. Pond, age 11 years, ...died with chills.  Three days later, Abigail A. Pond, age 18 years...died with chills.  Just five weeks later on Friday the 15th of January, Lyman Pond, age 6 years...died with chills and fever."  Four months later, on the 17th of May, 1847, his wife Maria Davis Pond also died.  Crossing the plains, Stillman Pond lost nine children and a wife.  He became an outstanding colonizer in Utah, and became the senior president of the thirty-fifth Quorum of Seventy.

Having lost these nine children and his wife in crossing the plains, Stillman Pond did not lose his faith.  He did not quit.  He went forward.  He paid a price, as have many others before and since, to become acquainted with God. (In Conference Report, April 1979, p. 79.)

We seldom realize that our kind deeds and the sacrifices we make on behalf of others affect not only the individuals with whom we surround ourselves but future generations as well.  I hope that during the coming Christmas Season we will reflect on our actions and see how far reaching they can become as we strive to move forward with faith.

Be the Change

In talking to MANY, many women who's husbands suffer from pornography addiction I find myself SO frustrated. What saddens me is the fact that our precious young LDS women are marrying men who bring this addiction to the marriage and they aren't given a head's up and offered the CHOICE of whether to proceed with the marriage, at the time of engagement. If these young men were given more help at the beginning, they wouldn't proceed to the later levels where they leave the videos and computers and act out with real women. Because by then it is usually too late for a marriage to be saved. And maybe not because the wife won't forgive, but because the men don't want the wife anymore. I had an e-mail this week from a wonderful young woman that just crushed me. Her 12 year temple marriage failed because of her husband's pornography addiction and his unwillingness to repent and save his marriage.  Something needs to change.

My point to this is that mothers and wives need to be more proactive. I do believe that most mothers probably don't have the ability to handle a son's (or daughter's) confession to pornography. And that is why I highly recommend the book by Gerald Curtis; The Worth of Every Soul. Reading this book gave me so much compassion and insight into the feelings of just one man suffering from this affliction. And they do suffer. I totally believe that. I am angry about many aspects of this terrible problem, but I am not one bit angry at those who view pornography and wish they could stop. My heart goes out to them.

In all the reading I've done and all the women I've talked to, and all the experts I've listened to, pornography almost always starts before a man gets married. They have the mistaken idea that once they can have actual sex, their problem will go away. We need to counsel our daughters to just ASK their fiances if they do porn. But girls are just thinking about the wedding dress and not this monster of a problem lurking in their future. So now they are married. And they still don't ask because it is just so far from a possibility. But pretty soon the husband starts wanting to do kinky stuff or they stop wanting to have sex at all. Or she sees something on the computer. So THEN she asks. I'm suggesting, ask SOONER. Don't be so trusting and naive. We ARE living on the most wicked planet ever before created. That ALMOST makes me want to say: they aren't to blame. Wives, just suffer through and let it work out in the next phase. I'm just saying.

So solutions. Well, mothers/wives, steal yourselves for the possibility. Read on the subject and develop compassion and understanding. Install a surveillance system on your computer. Buy Dr. Kevin B. Skinner's book and 5 Cd's entitled Treating Pornography Addiction. Also purchase these 6 Cd's; Strengthening Recovery Through Strengthening Marriage. Encourage anyone you know who is struggling with this to seek counseling and attend a 12-step program sponsored by the church.

A change in solving this epidemic needs to happen. Be a part of that change.

Genders

GREAT MINDS DISCUSS IDEAS. AVERAGE MINDS DISCUSS EVENTS. SMALL MINDS DISCUSS PEOPLE.....elenore roosevelt.

I'm not going to lie to you. I prefer men over women. True, as I am always telling my husband, men ARE murderers, rapists, war mongers, thieves, pedophiles, porno addicts and more. But still, with all that they don't bug me as much as women. Women DO nurture, care for the sick, raise the children, give unlimited service yadayadayada. What women do that so offends me is in the use of their tongues. What is more damaging: physical injury and death, OR mental torture and abuse? Most offensive to me are the women who profess to be so outwardly righteous but have a hobby of gossiping, judging, criticizing and condemning. They love to sit around and talk about people. I pity their relatives. The reason we are on this earth....the number one reason and assignment is TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. It is so very hard to do. Thank you Older Brother Who Hates Us. Sure we can pay our tithing. Go to church. Keep the Sabbath holy. Dress modestly. Avoid caffeine and alcohol. Go to the temple. All outward gestures that can puff us up and make us pious. Really no better than the Pharisees and Sadducees. It's spiritual schizophrenia. The sin of gossip, judging, criticism and condemning others isn't in the for front of our culture as Mormon people. In my opinion. Interesting to me are the women who cannot see this tendency in themselves. Me? Absolutely. But at least I recognize and try harder than any single thing I do to overcome this hideous way of treating people. I have been concentrating on this for several years, ever since I listened to John Lund's two CD's: Love One Another and The Art of Giving and Receiving Criticism. I have probably listened to both talks no less than 4 times each. Each talk has several cd's. Anywho, the solution I have come up with to allow myself to not listen or participate in judging, gossiping, criticizing, and condemning, is to just avoid being with women as much as is possible. Therefore, I have spent a good amount of the last few years being alone. It was handy that I lived in Liberty and just coincidentally was alone most of the time.

Just something to think about!!! And now I feel better.

My Man

Trace and I just spent 11 days straight being together! Quite unusual. How sad is that? He is off today to Vegas and then leaves Monday for Trinidad. He started this pattern of travel in 1999 when his company moved him to Atlanta for a year and then to Las Vegas for a year. After that he has had a home office and flies everywhere from Salt Lake. I don't know how much longer we can stand it. But then he does have one million frequent flier miles! So it could be worse. We have decided to go back to our favorite city on earth next fall...Lucerne Switzerland. It will be a biking vacation so I better stay in shape.

When we lived in Mesa during the 80's, he had an apartment in Houston and one in Orlando at the same time. So being a single mom several days a month is not new to me. It has it perks but mostly I don't like it. We are celebrating our 40th anniversary this Saturday and I can honestly say it hasn't been an easy ride. In fact it has been damn hard. Being married to a road warrior has challenges that most can't comprehend. I am more proud of us than I can say for sticking it out.

I adore my husband. He is a good man. He is kind, creative, caring, tender, thoughtful, spiritual and has a work ethic off the charts. To this day when I need something done, no matter how small or large he drops what he is doing and gets it done. Other men kinda make me sick for not being like that. Anywho. What I have learned in 40 years of being married can be boiled down to a simple sentence or two: Women talk too much. WAY TOO MUCH. We need to see the good in our men and stop the criticism. Earning a living is no easy task in this society, especially given the current economic climate. A little less chatter and a lot more tenderness.

Be Builders Rather Than Destroyers

Developing the art of building self-esteem in others may take time. We live in a very critical society and old habits often die hard. We must first believe in the divine nature of every human being and also learn from those around us who have become builders of people.
Mother Teresa has shown us that we can develop the art of building others by simply caring about them. "Mother Teresa, 81, a cotton veil rimming her wrinkled face, told...about sheltering a dying derelict crawling with worms. 'It took three hours to pick from his body all the worms,' she related in mellow tones. She said the emaciated man murmured gratefully that he had lived like an animal but now could die like an angel. He went home to God with a joyful heart because he had received tender love and care, she said. God was with him. We must thank God for the beautiful way in which we sense God in the poorest of the poor." (Daily Herald, 16 August 1992.)
We can help others grow in their self-esteem, and thus strengthen our own self-esteem as well, by following examples of Christlike people such as Mother Teresa and applying the following points:
1. Put people UP and not DOWN.
2. Help others not to fear failure, change, or success.
3. Help people to never fear the truth.
4. Stop calling people names and labeling them with damaging verbal barbs.
5. Talk to family members and others as you would to a guest in your home.
6. Help others learn to accept a compliment.
7. Teach others to be the best they can be.
8. Recognize that abnormal or unruly behavior is often a cry for help or a sign of insecurity.
9. Help people have a sense of belonging.
10. Recognize the difference between adolescence and an adolescent.
11. Make a valiant effort to learn and use people's names.
12. Help others to keep the commandments of God.

This list is not all-inclusive or necessarily in order of importance. The last point, however, is the key to self-esteem. Without it, true self-esteem, that deep, inward feeling of divine worth, cannot be fully felt.

Mothers Who Know

Mothers who know are nurturers. This is their special assignment and role under the plan of happiness. To nurture means to cultivate, care for, and make grow. Therefore, mothers who know create a climate for spiritual and temporal growth in their homes. Another word for nurturing is homemaking. Homemaking includes cooking, washing clothes, and dishes, and keeping an orderly home. Home is where women have the most power and influence; therefore, Latter-day-Saint women should be the best homemakers in the world. Working beside children in homemaking tasks creates opportunities to teach and model qualities children should emulate. Nurturing mothers are knowledgeable, but all the education women attain will avail them nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home that creates a climate for spiritual growth. Growth happens best in a 'house of order,' and women should pattern their homes after the Lord's house (see D&C 109). Nurturing requires organization, patience, love, and work. Helping growth occur through nurturing is truly a powerful and influential role bestowed on women..............julie beck

More & Less

pray more~cook more~ eat less~

walk more~talk less~listen more~

more kindness~give more~judge less~

be quiet more~create more~play more~

organize more~care less~

focus more~

travel more~more patient~compliment more~

read more~

more purpose~judge less~more LOVE

Lemonade and Grace

Lemonade five cents. The e is larger than the L. The m is upper cased; all the other letters are lowered. The last two letters, de, curve downward because the artist ran out of room on the poster board.

Norman Rockwell would have loved it.

Two girls sit on the sidewalk in little chairs behind a little table. The six-year-old is the cashier. She monitors a plastic bowl of change. The four-year-old is the waitress. She handles the ice. Pours the drinks. Stacks and restacks the paper cups.

Behind them, seated on the grass, is Dad. He leans against an oak tree and smiles as he witnesses his daughters' inauguration into capitalism.

Business has been steady. The Saturday-afternoon stream of patrons has nearly emptied the pitcher. The bottom of the cashier's bowl is covered with thirty-five cents of change. With the exception of a few spills, the service has been exceptional. No complaints. Many compliments.

Part of the success, though, has been due to the marketing strategy.

Our street doesn't get much traffic, so we did a little advertising. As my daughters painted the sign, I called several families in the neighborhood and invited them to the grand opening of our lemonade stand. So all of our clients, thus far, had been partial.

I was proud of myself. I leaned back against the tree. Closed my eyes. Turned up the radio I had brought. And listened to the baseball game.

Then I heard an unfamiliar voice.

"I'll have a cup of lemonade, please."

I opened my eyes. It was a customer. A real customer. An unsolicited neighbor who had driven by, seen the sign, stopped, and ordered a drink.

Uh-oh, I thought. Our service was about to be tested.

Andrea, the four-year-old, grabbed a cup that had already been used.

"Get a clean cup," I whispered.

"Oh," she giggled, and got a clean cup.

She opened the ice bucket, looked in, and then looked back at me. "Daddy, we are out of ice."

The patron overheard her. "That's OK. I'll take it warm."

She picked up the pitcher and poured. Syrupy sugar oozed out of the pitcher. "Daddy, there's just a little bit."

Our customer spoke again. "That's fine. I don't want much."

"I hope you like it sweet," I said under my breath.

She handed the cup to the man and he handed her a dollar. She gave it to Jenna.

Jenna turned to me. "Daddy, what do I do?" (We weren't used to such big bills.)

I stuck my hands in my pockets; they were empty.

"Uh, we don't have any..." I began.

"No problem," he said, smiling. "Just keep the change."

I smiled sheepishly. He thanked the girls. Told them they were doing a great job. Climbed back into his car. And drove off.

Quite a transaction, I thought. We give him a warm, partially filled cup of lemonade syrup, and he gives us a compliment and a payment twenty times too much.

I had set out to teach the girls about free enterprise. They ended up with a lesson on grace.

And so had I. For all the theologizing we preachers do about God's grace, the kind stranger modeled it better than the best of sermons state it.

Each of us has seen our ice melt in the July sun of stress. Who hasn't attempted to serve the best, only to find that the best has already been served and that the pitcher needs to be refilled? And there's not a person alive who hasn't wondered what God does when what we promise and what we produce aren't even close to being the same.

Lemonade stands and living life would be high-risk endeavors were it not for the appearance of gentle strangers on our streets. But, thank God, they come.

And thank God, He came.

For isn't God the stranger who became our friend after looking past the dregs and into our hearts?

And aren't we not much more than surprised children, amazed that what we receive is twenty times, yea, verily a million times, more than what we ask for?

The next time your calm becomes chaos, think of that. The next time you find yourself in a storm and can't see God on the horizon, reflect on the lemonade stand. And if your walking on the water becomes floundering in the deep like Peter's did, left your eyes and look...

A Gentle Stranger may be bringing grace to your street...to your life.

excerpt from 'in the eye of the storm' by max lucado

woRK is the BuSiNESs of lifE

Familial happiness takes work, but work is the business of life. By helping our children internalize this concept, we make major strides toward helping them succeed in every area of their lives. The following passage illustrates this point beautifully.

"There seems to be a superstition among many thousands of our young men and women who hold hands and smooch in the drive-ins that marriage is a cottage surrounded by perpetual hollyhocks to which a perpetually young and handsome husband comes home to a perpetually young and ravishing wife. When the hollyhocks wither and boredom and bills appear the divorce courts are jammed...
"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed.
"Most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise...
"Life is like an old-time rail journey--delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.
"The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

(Jenkins Lloyd Jones, "Big Rock Candy Mountains," Deseret News, 12 June 1973).

My Precious Gift

I have a passion for the life I have been given. My life is a precious gift to me. But the gift of my family transcends all else. It is a sacred gift for which I give thanks with every breath I take. Important to me, also, is my testimony. J. Reuben Clark, Jr. said, "A testimony is a sacred gift. It is not a matter to be boasted about; it is a matter in the greatest humility; to be used whenever the cause of the Lord requires it to be used, to be cherished, nurtured, fed by righteous living." A testimony of the gospel is an anchor to the soul in the midst of confusion and strife. When a person dies, their own life will be not only their eulogy but also their testimony. When we stand before the judgment bar we will be judged by what we are and that will be the sum total of what we have thought and said and done. It is obvious then that if we do things that are inconsistent with what we say, we will lose the blessings which might be earned by living a testimony.

Before Joan of arc, the nineteen-year-old French peasant was to be burned alive, she was given a chance to retain her liberty by denying her faith. In choosing the fire above her freedom, she said:

THE WORLD CAN USE THESE WORDS I KNOW THIS NOW. EVERY MAN GIVES HIS LIVE FOR WHAT HE BELIEVES; EVERY WOMAN GIVES HER LIFE FOR WHAT SHE BELIEVES. SOMETIMES PEOPLE BELIEVE IN LITTLE OR NOTHING, AND YET THEY GIVE THEIR LIVES TO THAT LITTLE OR NOTHING. ONE LIFE IS ALL WE HAVE, AND WE LIVE IT AS WE BELIEVE IN LIVING IT, AND THEN IT'S GONE. BUT TO SURRENDER WHAT YOU ARE AND LIVE WITHOUT BELIEF IS MORE TERRIBLE THAN DYING, EVEN MORE TERRIBLE THAN DYING YOUNG.

We could say that this great person was an example of being, not seeming. She had a testimony that the cause she was fighting for was one worth defending. It is only as we take some active part in defending what we believe, or living up to our standards, that we will gain a truthfulness or testimony to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Missing Piece

Shel Silverstein writes a fairy tale for adults in a little book called THE MISSING PIECE. This is the story: Once there was a circle that was missing a piece. A large triangular wedge had been cut out of it. The circle wanted to be whole, with nothing missing, so it went around looking for its missing piece. But because it was incomplete, it could only roll very slowly through the world. And as it rolled slowly, it admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with butterflies. It enjoyed the sunshine.

It found lots of pieces, but none of them fit. Some were too big and some were too small. Some were too square and some too pointy. So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching.

Then one day it found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice the flowers, too fast to talk to the butterflies. When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled through it so quickly, it stopped, left its missing piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away.

I believe the lesson of this story is, in some strange sense, we are more whole when we are incomplete, when we are missing something. The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man. He will never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to stretch his soul with a dream of something beyond what he knows.

It is said that there is a wholeness about the person who can give himself away, who can give his time, his money, his strength, to others and not feel diminished when he does so.
There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms with his limitations, who knows who he is and what he can and cannot do, the person who has been brave enough to let go of unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so. There is a wholeness about the man or woman who has learned that he or she is strong enough to go through a tragedy and survive. At that point, nothing can scare you. You have been through the worst and come through it whole. When we have lost part of ourselves and can continue rolling through life and appreciating it, we will have achieved a wholeness that others can only aspire to.

Rabbi Harold Kushner asked a poignant question is his book: WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE. Discussing illnesses, he asks, "if this has happened to me, what do I do now, and who is there to help me do it?" Pain is the price we pay for being alive. When we understand that, our question will change from, "why do we have to feel pain?" to "what do we do with our pain so that it becomes meaningful and not just pointless empty suffering?" We may not ever understand why we suffer or be able to control the forces that cause our suffering, but we can have a lot to say about what the suffering does to us, and what sort of people we become because of it. It is the result, not the cause of pain that makes some experiences of pain meaningful and others empty and destructive.

This is MY Life

It's amazing how many little things we see about us that have no meaning until we know the story. You can stand in certain spots between here and Omaha, Nebraska, and see nothing but grass and a few rocks. There is no meaning to the place at all unless you know Mormon history, and then the place becomes alive with people. The people become a people with a purpose. The spot becomes a place where events happened, where faith was exercised. A spot that is so commonplace to the casual passerby becomes sacred.



It is quite apparent that in order to live fully we need to know something about the past, especially about the past that involves our own ancestors. We need their story to enrich our present. In exactly the same way, we need to preserve OUR story for the ones to follow us. Writing a yearly family history, or keeping a journal, allows us the opportunity to chisel our story upon the hearts of our children. When we write, we ought to write our history as a great adventure. We ought to take our young readers into it as if taking them on a field trip.



History brings understand of our times to us. In a sense, history consists of the centuries speaking to the minutes. I have been writing my own personal history since 1979 and my children have been writing theirs for several years also. Tonight, I just finished reading through Sara's history which she began writing when she was 11. What a precious and valuable gift she is leaving for her children and grands. I encourage all to continue, or start, writing their adventures for themselves and their progenity. I've never heard anyone say: "Shoot, I wish I hadn't spent all that time writing my personal history!"

Strongholds

Strongholds: old, difficult, discouraging challenges.
That's what David faced when he looked at Jerusalem. When you and I think of the city, we envision temples and prophets. We picture Jesus teaching, a New Testament church growing. We imagine a thriving, hub-of-history capital.
When David sees Jerusalem in 1000 BC, he sees something else. He sees a millennium-old, cheerless fortress, squatting defiantly on the spine of a ridge of hills. A rugged outcropping elevates her. Tall walls protect her. Jebusites indwell her. No one bothers them. Philistines fight the Amalekites. Amalekites fight the Hebrews. But the Jebusites? They are a coiled rattlesnake in the desert. Everyone leaves them alone.
Everyone that is, except David. The just-crowned king of Israel has his eye on Jerusalem. He's inherited a divided kingdom. The people need, not just a strong leader, but strong headquarters. David's present base of Hebron sits too far south to enlist the loyalties of the northern tribes. But if he moves north, he'll isolate the south. He seeks a neutral, centralized city.
He wants Jerusalem. We can only wonder how many times he's stared at her walls. He grew up in Bethlehem, only a day's walk to the south. He hid in the caves in the region of En Gedi, not far south. Surely he noticed Jerusalem. Somewhere he pegged the place as the perfect capital. The crown had scarcely been re-sized for his head when he set his eyes on his newest Goliath.

And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, "You shall not come in here; but the blind and the lame will repel you."...Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, (that is, the City of David). Now David said on that day. "Whoever climbs up by way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites...he shall be chief and captain."...Then David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the City of David. (2 San. 5: 6-9)

This regrettably brief story tantalizes us with the twofold appearance of the word stronghold. In verse 7, "David took the stronghold," and in verse 9, "David dwelt in the stronghold."
Jerusalem meets the qualification of one: an old, difficult, and discouraging fortress. From atop the turrets, Jebusite soldiers have ample time to direct arrows at any would-be-wall climbers. And discouraging? Just listen to the way the city-dwellers taunt David. "You'll never get in here...Even the blind and lame could keep you out!"
The Jebusites pour scorn on David like Satan dumps buckets of discouragement on you:

~You'll never overcome your bad habits.
~Born white trash; gonna die white trash.
~Think you can overcome your addiction? Think again.

If you've heard the mocking David heard, you story needs the word David's has. Did you see it? Most hurry past it. Let's not. Pull out a pen and underline this twelve-letter masterpiece.

Nevertheless.

"Nevertheless David took the stronghold..."
Granted, the city was old. The walls were difficult. The voices were discouraging...Nevertheless David took the stronghold.
Wouldn't you love God to write a nevertheless in your biography? Born to alcoholics, nevertheless she led a sober life. Never went to college, nevertheless he mastered a trade. Didn't read the Bible until retirement age, nevertheless he came to a deep and abiding faith.
We all need a nevertheless. And God has plenty to go around. Strongholds mean nothing to him. You and I fight with toothpicks; God comes with battering rams and cannons. What he did for David, he can do for us. The question is, will we do what David did? The king models much here.
David turns a deaf ear to old voices. Those mockers strutting on the wall tops? David ignores them. He dismisses their words and goes about his work. Do what David did. Since he did what no one expected, he achieved what no one imagined.
Do what David did. Turn a deaf ear to the old voices. Open a wide eye to the new choices. Who knows, you may be a prayer away from a nevertheless. God loves to give them.
Nevertheless. Peter preached, Joseph ruled, the woman shared, Jesus rose...and you? You fill in the blank. Your nevertheless awaits you.


excerpt from Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado

My Soul Delighteth In The Song Of The Heart

Consider the doctrine taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith: "There are no angels who minister to this earth but those who do belong or have belonged to it." (D&C 130:5). Commenting on this statement, President Joseph F. Smith said: "Hence, when messengers are sent to minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they are not stranger, but from the ranks of our kindred, friends and fellow-beings and fellow-servants. In like manner our fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters, and friends who have passed away from this earth, having been faithful, and worthy to enjoy these rights and privileges, may have a mission given them to visit their relatives and friends upon the earth again, bringing from the Divine presence messages of love, of warning, or reproof and instruction, to those whom they had learned to love in the flesh."

How often has the Lord tried to communicate with us? Not necessarily through angelic ministers, but to our hearts and our minds through the 'still, small voice' of the spirit? How often have we not been able to receive it? When it comes to music, the entire issue is the matter of being able to receive or not to receive personal revelation. The Lord says in the Doctrine and Covenants, "Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation" (D&C 8:2-3).

If the Lord communicates to our minds and our hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost whispers by a still small voice, how can we feel or hear the spirit if we have filled our minds and hearts with irreverent music or images?

Elder Boyd K. Packer taught us concerning this sacred subject. He said, "This trend to more noise, more excitement, more contention, less restraint, less dignity, less formality is not coincidental nor innocent nor harmless. The first order issued by a commander mounting a military invasion is the jamming of the channels of communication of those he intends to conquer. Irreverence suits the purposes of the adversary by obstructing the delicate channels of revelation in both mind and spirit."

How often has the Lord tried to communicate with us, but He was unable to do so because we had static in our receiving system? How often have our music, videos or DVD's been the source of that static? On the other hand, how often has the Lord communicated to us through music?

Elder Bruce R. McConkie made a profound statement when he said, "Music is part of the language of the Gods. It has been give to man so he can sing praises to the Lord. It is a means of expressing with poetic words and in melodious tunes, the deep feelings of rejoicing and thanksgiving found in the hearts of those who have testimonies of the divine Sonship and who know of the wonders and glories wrought for them by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Music is both in the voice and in the heart. Unfortunately not all music is good and edifying. Lucifer uses much that goes by the name of music to lead people to that which does not edify and is not of God. Just as language can be used to bless or curse, so music is a means of singing praises to the Lord or of planting evil thoughts and desires in the minds of men."
jack christiansen