And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. –Doctrine and Covenants 89:20
This is how my weekends feel.
Saturdays (and Fridays) are very much a flat our run most of the time where I must movemovemove and not be weary and Sunday I must walksoslowly and not faint.
It is a blessing to be able to do so.
Today I am thankful for the miracle of healing. We have a new kitten named Shadow in the family and almost a week after he joined us he darted under my sister’s youngest’s feet at the last, and worst, moment. Now it’s fairly normal for animals to get stepped on in one way or another and to recover just fine. There’s just one thing. Shadow’s head was stepped on while they were on tile. I won’t go into detail on how Shadow looked or what he sounded like. We asked our neighbor to come and give Shadow a priesthood blessing and fasted and prayed as well.
“Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save. Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him. Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks…But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness. Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you.” (Alma 34: 18-20, 26-27)
Shadow is shortly recovering. The Lord was merciful to our little kitty and for that I am forever grateful, but I know that this is not all. The Lord has been very good to my family, has blessed us in many things, though Shadow’s life is one of the greatest to me right now.
“For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.” (D&C 82:3)
“And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and they naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need—I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.” (Alma 34:28)
We have been given much this past week and now it is our turn to give as well.
Check out the original Thankful Thursday. (Will update link when able.)
Today has been a slow morning, everyone who could sleep in did. It was worth it, as the day has slowly gone by (it’s almost lunch already?) and I have sat and just listened to some music. Of course, I only put the music on because my niece asked me to, but I liked listening to it while she whirled around the room, picking up and vacuuming.
I guess today I’m thankful for music.
The sound of children laughing.
The sound of children playing.
The sound of lullabies created by my mom.
The sound of the wind in the leaves.
The knowledge that music in itself is a prayer.
For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads. -Doctrine and Covenants 25:12
And when you can sing a prayer, then you just know that your day is going to be better for it.
For the original Thankful Thursday: http://mithriluna.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/thankful-thursday-the-gift-of-children/
Written in honor of a brave young woman who tried to get help for her friend after their car rolled in Southern Idaho a week ago Saturday night. They had lost their cell phones in the roll over and only one of them was able to drag herself out of the wreck.
I don’t know the name of this young woman, but I do know the name of her friend. Dakota was mentioned in my Stake Conference as she was the grandniece of one of my Stake Presidency. He mentioned her and her friend during a talk about the worth of souls.
Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. -D&C 18:10
This friend reached the house they’d left and was able to alert them about the accident. Unfortunately, they were unable to get there in time to save Dakota who died of a broken neck in the accident.
I have tried to look up any information about the accident or the girls online and have failed, but I still felt the need to share this part of their story.
How many people would drag themselves from a wrecked car and run miles with three broken vertebrae in order to save their friend?
Integrity is something that you have to decide to have for yourself. Others can force you to be honest with them by use of consequences, though it’s always been easier to do so without prompting in my experience. The choice to be honest with yourself is not something that you always need to be worrying about, though it is something that you should take the time to think about. Kind of like taking an inventory on yourself once a month just like you can take a moment each month to go over the house finances.
“Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.” (Doctrine and Covenants 88: 119)
I’m not perfect and I won’t claim to be. I screw up and I have lied and I have stolen and I have done things for which I am ashamed to think of. I have not always been honest with others mostly because I have not always been honest with myself. It’s harder to be honest with another, completely honest, when you don’t want to be honest with yourself, but it is easy to judge another because they aren’t being honest and throwing stones and blame at another can make you feel better about yourself. There’s just something about pushing someone down that seems to push you up at the same time. Probably because the actual act of pushing something down has a spring-like reaction in pushing whoever is doing it physically up. (I like to think of it as the Spring Board Effect.)
“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (John 8: 7)
I got a lesson yesterday in personal honesty and integrity from my niece. She was cleaning out the closet that she shares with her mom and happened to find $55 in cash. It had fallen out of her mother’s jeans pocket earlier in the week and hadn’t been missed just yet. Instead of keeping some or even all of the money, she returned it after admitting that she had thought about keeping it, but decided that returning it would be a better use of her time.
She’s not even a teenager yet (almost, less than a year) and sometimes her simple honesty with others as well as herself helps to inspire me to not only want to be a better person, but to actually act on it and be one.
Breathing In 