God is the Gardner!

Which would you rather have around your house?

Planting a beautiful Garden takes so much work. Every flower is planted a little differently. It's the same with people. . .

This is a less known parable from Isaiah 28

23 ¶ Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

  24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

  25 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?

  26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.

  27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

  28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.

  29 This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

Just as each seed mentioned is treated and planted differently. So are we as Individuals. The "lord of Hosts" knows each one of us. He knows how we will grow and develop the best. He prepares our soil, our seed and plants us where we can grow. The challenge is how we react, how we choose to respond to the situation in which we are placed.

Do we trust him? Do I trust him?



What do you see?

What do you see? Old or Young Woman?

Young woman or Sax. Player?

This one is cool. Two old people or two young ones? Look closely.

Life is in large measure what we make of it. Many times we choose what we "see" and how we "feel".

Martin Luther King Jr. Illustrated this point very well.  The last weekend of March 1968 was a depressing time for him. Many of his plans were in disarray, the last march he held turned into a riot and the Black Power movement thought his idea of nonviolence was out of date. After returning to Atlanta after the march turned riot fiasco. He was depressed. He contemplated leaving the civil rights movement and perhaps becoming president of Morehouse college. Then, said, Jesse Jackson, "He preached himself out of the gloom". "We must turn a minus into a plus," King said "A stumbling Block into a stepping stone." [Italics added]. He went on the next day to preach one of the most powerful sermons of his career in The National Cathedral. Four days later he was killed. But his movement continued, it still continues because instead of giving up, he continued. Where some would have seen failure, he saw a chance to further his cause.

Throughout life challenges will come. What will you see; a stumbling block that will cause you to fall and perhaps fail, or a stepping stone that will help you reach higher, become more, and touch more people than would have been previously unattainable?

The choice is yours, the choice is mine.

Quotations used from "American Gospel", Jon Meacham, Random House 2006

A life of Gratitude

Since I was young everyone has told be to say "thank-you". Now as a parent I have taken over that role in the life of my young children. Halloween is one of my favorite times for it as it seems I must remind them at every door not to forget to say thank-you. With all the reminding and prodding to be grateful it seems it should be easier as an adult. It is easy enough when things are going well in life. But what about when difficult times come. I remember sitting, well actually laying, in the emergency room with an apple size swelling in my throat. The room was full of curtain dividers from which was emanating discussion, moans and even a few screams. Not an enjoyable place. After the nurse stuck a needle in my throat again to try and remove fluid for a test I simple said, "thank-you for trying to help". She stopped and said that of all the time she has worked here, no one had ever told her thank-you. That amazed me. I got to thinking why that is. I am surely not good at it. Perhaps that was just one shining moment in my non-illustrious expressions of gratitude. Perhaps, no, surely that needs to change.

In a  talk by Elder David A. Bednar, an Apostle of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints, he recalls an experience he had while serving as the president of BYU Idaho. Recently following the death of a dear Friend he was visited by a leader of the LDS church. In the evening family prayer, which was offered by David A. Bednar's wife,  the visitor suggested that she only offer gratitude for the blessings received and ask for nothing. He goes on to share what a difference that prayer made in the feeling the family had that night. They were much more grateful and solutions to other problems came because of that prayer and attitude.

What a different world it would be if we were more inclined to thank than ask in our lives and our prayers. Mutual respect and appreciation would increase greatly. We would be more aware of others and therefore more apt to reach out when they are in need. Our problems would be diminished as we focused on what we have not what we don't have or think we should have. Most importantly happiness and love would increase in a world that is in dire need.

We can make a difference. I can make a difference. Perhaps small at first, but every building begins one brick at a time.

Lessons learned in 15 years of Marriage.

Last night we had a simple gathering to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of my parents. They are older, but still happy and in love. It got me thinking about what I have learned in my short 15 years of marriage. What follows are ten (there could be many more) things that I have learned.

1. Show love daily. Say it, feel it, mean it, show it. Without all four things, it won;t mean much.

2. Don't whine. Don't whine about each other, kids, neighbors, friends, family, anything. It doesn't help anyone.

3. Put your spouse above the children. Sounds mean you say? The children must know that you two are very special to each other. Children will not treat my wife badly.

4. Allow the other person to get out. Whatever it may be, each will need time away.

5. Do nice little things. Many times they mean more than big things.

6. Believe your spouse is a better person than you. Don't just say it, believe it. Find their good and focus on that. That way you will always want to be with them and more like them.

7. Do something that takes time, and is special on important days. Shopping at the store just is not enough for the one you love.

8. Dates don't always have to be fancy. Just sitting in a park eating ice cream is very enjoyable and relaxing.

9. Let them make their own decisions. Your way is not always the best way.

10. Remember how special they were to you when you met. There are many others out there who would have or could have married them. Treat them as such, you are lucky.

Obviously it is easy to write these things, living them isn't always so easy. But I have found when I do life is easier happier and a lot more fun.