Do you have time to read this?

Perhaps you 'don't have time' to read this.  Perhaps you have much to do.  I must say however that if you feel you don't have time, this post may be just for you.  What I have to say may be considered bold, but my hope is that ultimately you can walk away feeling inspired, and having an increased desire to use 'your' time to it's fullest. 

That being said, I'll jump right in to the deep end.

How selfish it is, I feel, to say "I don't have time".  How selfish it seems to me, to utter such a phrase, with how much time that is allotted to us of our great and giving God.  I feel that at it's core, the saying is lacking in gratitude. 

Perhaps, selfishness and ingratitude was never the intended interpretation when using this little phrase.  In fact, I am positive most have no such intentions. Especially whereas the phrase "I don't have time" is so often tossed around like a bean bag, like a game, like an accomplishment! 

Let us not wear the badge of "not having enough time" for it isn't worthy of honor.  The phrase, in my opinion, is disruptive and ungrateful, it is selfish and unkind.  Especially when the object of ones not having time is being generated from ones lack of giving time to another human being, and even heavier, someone we love. 

You and I have time.  We have all the time which is allotted to us that anyone else has.  Every moment is your time, only because God gave it to you, and he can just as easily take it away. 

I think of the time allotted to me as a block of stone or clay, which can me molded, chiseled, shaped or formed into something like 'The Pieta'.

 

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free" - michelangelo

Or, I can leave it as an unformed block which is both unattractive and stagnant.   If I chisel away hurriedly I risk highly chipping off incorrectly and destroying much of the piece .. leaving it frangmented and incomplete.

If I say I don't have enough clay, then I will never see it's full potential and beauty.

If I say I have all that i Need and love it, I will make it my own, I will make it beautiful.  If I rejoice in it, then it can become womething inspiring, glorious and influential to others.

Let us pray to sculpt out time wisely and with a mind to ultimately please God therein.

2 Nephi 28: 30 "FOr behold, thus sayith the Lord God; I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little;  and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom;  for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, we have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have."

If you are interested, I was thinking of this talk, in conjuction with the things I have shared:  "Of Regrets and Resolutions"    BY PRESIDENT DIETER F. UCHTDORF

Thank you for sharing in these thoughts with me.  I'd love to hear yours, your input, your voice.  Feel free to hsare your blog with me also if you would like, in the comments below.

When I am Rich, I will be Happy!

When I graduate from college, my life will be so much better... and easier!  Oh man, I just need to be in a relationship, then I will be content.  I can't wait until I am just working in my dream job.  That won't be for another three years, what am I even going to do until then?  Just wait, I guess.  Pay my dues.  I'm sick of where I am.  I need to get out, and just be done so I can get on with my life.  If only I wasn't stuck in this rut, can't wait until it's over!  It seems like everyone else just has it easier than me.

Hmm... really?

I think if we take a hard look at all these statements, we at least somewhat instinctively realize that there is great fault therein.  But how often do we think such thoughts?  How natural it is to feel that our present circumstance is not good enough, or that it can always be improved from it's current condition.  How often do we find ourselves ill-contended, wishing we were something, somewhere, or in some time which we are not.  And why is that?

Important side-note: Hope is something we musn't neglect here.  Hope brings us forward, allows us look to the future, lifts our spirits, and enlightens our minds.  Hope accomplishes these things, as long as our hope is pure.  Sure, it's a beautiful thing to hope for any and all grandiose dreams, which our very creative minds may be so inclined to invent.   Please, don't mistake me.  Dreaming of ones own growth in character, of future success' and excitements, and even of happiness, in its beautiful simplicity, is to be encouraged on every hand. Let us continue to fill ourselves with hope!  Even in and for those purest of intentions.

So, there is the root. The crux.  What is the intention of this hope? Is your hope rooted in self pity, or sorrow? What can we conclude from this?  I conclude, that a hope grounded in discontentment, for current circumstances, is a hope lost.  Indeed, it is a hope tainted by it's type of feeling.

I wish to share something which may be a surprising concept to you.  That is, that these times in life where we have inclination to resist, are the very times we are shaped and molded into who we really are and who we will become.  For that reason I praise my God for discomfort, for weakness, for sadness, for trial.

This poem came to me recently. I felt liberated as these words filled my heart.

Perspective

I began to really love the flowers, in the winter
That's when they mattered to me.
I began to care about their welfare
When frost and ice roamed free
Engulfing the colors, and swallowing sun
That was when my love begun.

I really learned appreciation
Of all the things I had
When taken by the hands of scorn
I found reason to be glad.
I sang of redemption then, old things renew
And that - was when the flowers grew.

Thorns, bands, chains, and cold
You'd think my fulmination
But I say to you this day
In my humble observation,
Condemn me, oh the darkness cannot do!
These chains were where my freedom grew.

----By Debrah Galloway

Will I be happy when I have money, or that dream career? Will I be more content in a month, a year, in 10 years, or after I die? We must learn to have joy, right now!  To fill our hearts with peace in this very moment.

"Lift up your head and be of good cheer .." - 3 Nephi 1:13

One last thing.  It has recently been impressed upon me, how to receive beautiful and instant joy. What seems to bring me the quickest bit of happiness, is to fill my mind and heart with gratitude.

Think now.  Make a list of 30 things you are grateful for.  Or keep a gratitude journal/notebook. Add one thing new, to it, each day.  Or catch yourself in a moment of stress, and just stop for ten seconds (everyone can spare ten seconds). As you take that moment to stop, think of one thing you are grateful for.  Actually, don't just think of what your are grateful for either ... feel what you are grateful for.

"Find a place inside where there is joy, and the joy will burn out the pain."  - Joseph Campbell

"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves." - Buddha

" ..men are, that they might have joy" - 2 nephi 2:25

Thank you for sharing in this flow of thought with me.

If you feel so inclined, you may follow me, or 'like' me.  But don't stalk me, that would just be weird!

Please share your stories with me.  I would love to hear about times in your life you have been strengthened or changed for good by hard times.  I would love to hear times you learned to laugh and smile when you could have cried (not that crying is bad).

If you have a blog please share the address below. I would love to check it out!  

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/joy.html ; http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/1.13?lang=eng#12 ; pictures are linked to their original content for acknowledgement.

Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother - Exodus 20:12

I would like to share some thoughts on a topic which I feel is quite often forgotten.  Question: Can you imagine what it would be like in this world if everyone honored their parents?

Now, i'm sure many of you are thinking, 'how can I honor my parents when they have no right to be honored?'  Perhaps you feel they have done nothing to merit even the insinuation of honor.  Unfortunately, the rates of abuse, alcohol use in the home, divorce, and just plain 'being mean', is rather high in homes across America.  I'm sure the rates of some form of abuse, in the home, are despicably high if we looked at the numbers across the globe!

I do not wish to dwell on these sad subjects, I wish only to acknowledge them as I am aware that I am addressing several persons who have been victimized.  In this regard I offer my love and support in your ultimate growth.  I offer my love and support that one day, perhaps, or strewn throughout your life, you can make sense of all those misfortunes that happened.  Whether it be through professional counseling, or friends, or other family members.  Even though I may not know you, I love you and I pray for you.

Again I ask, can you imagine a world where all people honored their parents?  Can you imagine what it would be like?

What does it mean to honor?  Google definition says: noun "high respect, esteem", "A privilege", verb "regard with great respect, 'Fulfill (an obligation) or keep (an agreement).'

So how can we do this in our various forms of being raised?

I propose these 4 ways:

1. You are alive.  You wouldn't even be here if it weren't for your parents!  No matter who they are, where they came from or what they have done in this life, your parents brought you into this world and that is something to honor and have great thanks for.  Your very existence depends greatly on them.  Your breath from day to day, your beating heart, your brain, although created by God, were facilitated by your parents who gave you an opportunity to be alive!  If you cannot muster any other reason than that, let that be your blessed reason.

2. Honor whatever good they have done.  When we focus on what is good, the good expands.  My parents taught me what love is.  They taught me what support is, by their example.  My mother and father have great talents which I look up to and aspire to emulate.  My invitation to you is to focus on the good your parents do and have done.  Notice their smiles.  Notice their concern for you, even if it doesn't come out exactly like you think it should.  Notice their accomplishments, great or small.  By so focusing our energy in this way, we have a greater capacity to let go of those things we may wish were not so.  This focus helps us to move forward, and upward.

3. Honor your parents by improving yourself.  Live up to your potential.  I don't believe anything creates greater joy in the life of a mother or father than to see their child succeed, or accomplish those things which they, for whatever reason, never did.  A latin proverb I have always loved states, "A wise man learns by the mistakes of others, A fool by his own".  I say I love the quote but I would rephrase it just a bit (as I don't feel you are a fool to learn from your mistakes). I would change it to say, "A wise man learns solely from his own mistakes, a wiser man learns by the mistakes of others also." The point I'm making here is .. so your parents messed up bad?  So? Learn from it.  Improve yourself.  You have been given a good example, or a bad example, great!  What a wonderful thing.  What a blessing it is to be given both good and bad examples.  How can we grow from these situations? How can we come out on top? A good friend of mine says as he looks back on 'misfortunate' events in his life, "It happened for me, not to me."  How can we be filled with gratitude?  Which brings me to my next point.

4. Fill yourself with gratitude towards your parents.  This statement is all encompassing of the first 3 I mentioned.  Be grateful you are alive through them, be grateful for the good they have done, the sacrifices they make for you.  Even be grateful for the bad choices they made, to give you an example of something to grow from.  Be grateful you are here on this earth through the means of your parents giving you the very opportunity to learn and to grow!

I just want to say how grateful I am for my parents. They truly have sacrificed so much for me.  They still do, even though I'm 'all grown up' (so to speak, haha)!  They have taught me the important things in life to value.  They have taught me how to live, love and give.  I know they were not perfect (as no parent is) and therefore I seek to learn from the mistakes they have made and improve myself daily, while being grateful that they even made those mistakes for me to learn from.

Thank you mom and dad!

I hope that I can ever improve my ability to honor more greatly my beloved parents.

So, back to my original question.  What would the world be like if we all honored our Fathers and Mothers?  Well, I imagine that there would be much less if even no crime at all.  I envision a much more peaceful place.  A place where generation after generation would actually grow and improve off of it's previous generation.  I imagine that in a short span of time this whole earth would be a more peaceful place.

We cannot change the world alone but we can change our lives, and one life can have a much more powerful, far reaching, effect than you may ever know.  I think Mother Teresa said this best:

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” ―Mother Teresa

I'd love to know your thoughts or questions.  If you have any more suggestions of what has helped you to honor your parents more, comment below, or send me an email: debzdeb2@live.com

"The love of parents for their children and children for their parents is one of the strongest influences for good in the world"

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/838305.Mother_Teresa

https://www.lds.org/manual/preparing-for-exaltation-teachers-manual/lesson-42-honor-thy-father-and-thy-mother?lang=eng

https://www.google.com/#q=honor+definition

"Be the change you wish you see in the world." -Gandhi

"Be the change you wish you see in the world." -Gandhi

Okay.  I gave in.  At the suggestion of some dear sweet friends and family, I am now officially making a blog.  The purpose of this blog is to share any thoughts, inspiration and light that comes to me which I feel so inspired to share with the world.  I believe that we each have a special role in life.  We each have power and we each have choice.  The power we have comes from the power of our choice.    "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.."  (Joshua 24:15)  I hope to share some of the light and knowledge that I have been blessed with and seek to ever improve.  God bless, and enjoy!