Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Be Still My Heart

Sometimes, I feel like my heart physically aches for things.

It's really quite a silly idea--the thought that your heart can miss a place, a person, or even a thing so much that it hurts. But when it's for things that you're really passionate about--things that you've let take a hold of a pice of your heart--I think it starts to make a little more sense.

Today, my heart physically aches for:

English pubs and streets

My lovely friend, Kailey Janyne Trussel

Mint Kit Kats

The rolling hills of Wales and England

And my niece that looks like Shirley Temple

Maybe it just goest to show that friends, food, family, and beautiful places are some of what really matters in life.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

It's Not My Fault I'm Happy.

(Thanks to Passion Pit for the inspiring lyrics.)

Working for the Church has been an entirely new experience for me:

-- the environment is the friendliest and happiest place I've ever worked in.
-- the people are united in a cause.
-- the Spirit abounds and revelation isn't rare.
-- and the cafeteria isn't too bad either.



But I think what I've appreciated the very most about working there is the impact it's had on my personal spirituality. I think that everyone goes through ups and downs--times when they're more spiritual than others. It's always been hard for me to be consistent with my personal spirituality.

Until now.

The week before I started my job, my wonderful bishop gave me a blessing where he promised that if I sought for a daily mighty change of heart, I would be blessed to have the Spirit to help me in all aspects of my life. My inspired bishop collected scriptures that teach about how to receive a daily mighty change of heart, and then challenged our ward to read the Book of Mormon in 90 days.

So, for the few weeks, I've spent my hour-long morning commute on the Frontrunner train reading, studying, and praying. That has invited the Spirit into my life consistently--which makes all the difference in my work day. This consistency requires daily effort. But it's so worth it.

I've learned that the way I package the articles and videos for this site really does matter. The order articles show up on the site matters. The songs we select for this site matter. The commas I use matter. All of that matters because it contributes to the Lord's work. It matters because it's helping bring souls to Christ. I don't know which struggling young man, young woman, or even adult will benefit from the things we put on this site. But I know that I need to be worthy of the Holy Ghost so that I can be an instrument in bringing our readers to Christ.

Part of my job requires me to listen to EFY music. This song touched me when I was a teenager, but it hit me like a ton of rocks when I listened to it this week:

"Do you understand who you are?
Part of the Father lives in you.
And if you continue on this path,
Every promise God has given will come true."

Growing spiritually, making covenants, living the gospel, lifting others--it's all just part of our earthly journey that points back to Christ.

How thankful I am to be where I'm at and growing every day. I am a very lucky girl.

This always has been (and I think always will be) one of my favorite pictures.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Jesus the Very Thought of Thee.

"In this lovely springtime season of the year, this annual awakening when, in the northern hemisphere, the world is renewed, blossoms, and turns green and fresh again, we instinctively turn our thoughts to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of mankind, the source of light, and life, and love."
-President Howard W. Hunter, April 1993 (link here.)





These words echo in my mind:

Jesus, the very thought of thee,
With sweetness fills my breast;
But sweeter far thy face to see
And in thy presence rest.


Monday, April 7, 2014

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Song of the Day.

"When I was a younger man, I thought the pain of defeat would last forever. But now I don't know what it would take to make my heart back down."

Yes, M. Ward, yes. I will be your new biggest fan. If you insist.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

The most immense, bright, and overcoming happiness I have ever felt.

Have you ever felt so happy you thought your entire body could burst? 

Have you ever felt a change of heart wash through the insides of your soul? 

Have you ever felt such gratitude to God for your blessings and trials that you could hardly speak? 

As I reflect on the last few months of my life, I feel blessed to be able to honestly answer yes to each of these questions. I have felt complete guidance, peace, assurance, and gratitude wash over all aspects of my life. I write about these feelings in my daily journal, but today I feel prompted to share some of my thoughts publicly. I hope that maybe one of my friends, family, or even a complete stranger, will benefit from something in this post. 

I think the biggest lesson is summed up in this quote: 



While sadness, heartache, grief, fear, and anger play a necessary part in our earthly existence, God never wanted us to dwell in these emotions. They are in our lives so that we can overcome them. They are there to turn us to God and to teach us to rely on Him. They are there to show us that true peace, guidance, assurance, gratitude, and happiness can be found only in Christ. 

A few weeks ago, I watched my niece, Ella, get baptized and confirmed. I was a proud auntie that day, as I watched her make her first covenant with Heavenly Father and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. She covenanted that day to try to become more like Christ, to remember Him, to keep His commandments, and to serve Him. With some powerful experiences with the Holy Ghost fresh in my mind, I tried to explain how having the companionship of the Holy Ghost has shaped, guided, and blessed my life:

It has strengthened me when I thought I couldn't be strengthened. 
It has brought peace when I felt troubled. 
It has put words in my mouth when I didn't know what to say to a troubled friend. 
It has enhanced my understanding of Christ's character. 
It has helped me find lost keys and important documents. 
It has turned my heart toward my ancestors so that I could feel their influence and love.
It has made me grateful for my trials and my blessings. 
It has made me feel the most immense, bright, overcoming happiness I have ever felt. 

I know that as we become worthy for and seek to have the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives, our characters will change. Our hearts will turn to Christ. We will be filled with peace, assurance, gratitude, and the most immense happiness to ever be felt in this life. 

So grateful and proud of this pretty girl. 


Thursday, March 6, 2014

Some of my best.

I'm entering some of these photos in a travel photo contest, and I figured it was about time I put some on da blog too. 

Can I go back to Europe and Hawaii yet?









Monday, February 17, 2014

Eight Lessons I Learned from my Parents that I’ll Never Forget

(I recently wrote this post for a blog I write for on campus. I didn't like the way they published it, so here's my version.) 

Everyone reaches a point when they realize how wise their parents were. For some, it’s the moment when they cook their first meal at college. For others, it’s when they have their first day of work at a full time job. And for almost everyone, that moment comes when they have their first child (or so I’ve heard.) For me, I think I’ve always known I had good parents. But it took living independently at school for me to fully realize how much they shaped the way I think and the way I understand the world. Here are eight of the many lessons my parents taught me that I’ll never forget: 

1. Hard work is worth it. 
I remember being in second grade and explaining to the girl who sat next to me that my mom made me work to earn my favorite purple flowery umbrella that I was playing with at recess. She didn’t understand how that worked, but I had known for a long time that I had to earn what I wanted. That was a theme across all my years of growing up, and climaxed for me in the summer of 2008. I spent every day of that summer making snow cones to earn enough money to buy my own car. All my friend’s parents were buying them cars left and right, and life felt unfair. But at the end of the summer, I had earned $1400—just enough money to buy my 1991 Subaru Loyale. I drive still drive that dedicated car around Provo everyday, and it stands as a daily reminder to me that hard work is always worth it.
A very proud 17-year-old me. 
2. Daddy-daughter dates are the highlight of a 7-year-old girl’s week. 
I looked forward to it more than anything—going to see “Princess Diaries,” getting gummy worms at Albertsons, or even shopping at the hardware store—because those dates meant time for just dad and me. 

3. Imagination should be exercised. 
My mother always encouraged me to use my imagination—whether it was making mud pies in our backyard, playing sharks and minnows at the pool, or pretending I was a pioneer crossing the planes—she encouraged me to use my imagination as much as I could.
I think I like my nieces' phones more than my own. 
4. James Taylor has a song to fit any mood. 
In the 30+ years that James Taylor has been making music, he’s created enough songs to fit any mood. For us, Sweet Baby James was a lullaby and Carolina On My Mind was for family road trips. Although I hated waking up to James Taylor singing throughout our house on Saturday mornings, listening to him now draws up the sentimental little girl inside of me. 

5. There are lessons to be learned from the elderly. 
My parents have a special place in their hearts for the elderly, and always taught us the importance of serving and listening to them. We’d mow the lawns of elderly women on our street, take cookies to the nursing home, and make trips regularly to visit our grandparents. I learned early on that each person we visited had a lifetime of experiences and knowledge to learn from. 
My grammy and I, summer 1998. 
6. A good citizen cares about both local and national issues. 
Because I lived in an environment that discussed local political issues and candidates, I looked forward to turning 18 because it meant that I could finally vote for our local leaders. My parents taught me that a good citizen doesn’t just educate themselves on national problems, they also stay involved in their local political scene. 

7. It’s healthy to spend time outside.  
My family may have been a little old fashioned with our 1970’s TV and lack of video games, but living like this pushed us outside to use our imaginations and enjoy the outdoors. My mother grew up in the Teton Mountains and my father in the potato fields of Idaho, so the outdoors were a big deal to our family. As we’d spend time together camping every summer, I began to feel like the mountains of Idaho were a part of our family


8. Family is everything.
While I remember growing tired of going to my brother’s many basketball games, I learned that we went to them because basketball mattered to him, so it also mattered to us. We would have family dinner together every night, Sunday interviews with my dad, and regular family meetings. I learned that we made time for our family, because family is everything. 

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Because I'm a woman.

Because I'm a woman, I love:

1. painting my nails.
2. talking about my emotions.
3. watching nineteenth century flicks.
4. hearing/making babies laugh.
5. crying.
6. laughing until I hurt.
7. pinterest.
8. being sensitive to my surroundings.
10. making chocolate cake.
11. feeling tender.
12. creating things with my hands.
13. my mother, my grandmothers, and my great grandmothers.
14. being told I'm beautiful.
15. giving and feeling all kinds of love.

{I know a lot of these also apply to men too. But right now, each of them remind me of the woman that I am.}

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Making Words Meaningful.




As a journalism major, editing minor, and lover of the English language for my entire life, I often find myself having a keener eye for writing and a more attentive ear for speech than many people. While I admit that my own speech and writing are far from perfect, I do tend to notice and care about things related to language that many people don't. Lately, I've been thinking about how I can make both my speech and my writing more meaningful.

Meaningful language doesn't mean being more wordy. It doesn't necessarily mean speaking and writing more simply, either (although I tend to think that using less words is preferable). To me, meaningful language means thinking more about what words come out of your mouth and onto a paper. It means avoiding "vain repetitions." It means using the correct punctuation in the correct places. It means ridding your speech of hurtful, crass, or pointless words. It means asking the right questions. It means listening. It means putting a little more effort into your thoughts, speech, and writing.

Recently I read an article on the Huffington Post about how to ask the right questions in our human relationships. Instead of saying, "how was your day?", you should ask more specific questions. Say, "how did you feel about your test?" or "did you have any challenges to overcome at work?" or "what was one random moment when you were happy today?" Ask questions that dig for emotion, because after all, talking and listening is how we create a meaningful connection with each other. Life is so short, so why put a little more effort into making our communication as meaningful and genuine as we can? 

Just a little thought for today.