The Beauty of Life


The sun in the sky, the birds in the tress,

all of these things God created for me.

He showed me His plan in the premortal life

and said all the beauty can offset the strife.

All the creations denote He is there

We can not see him but surely he cares.

Into this world of sorrow and sin

each child was born, their life to begin.

Each of us came to learn how to grow

to make our decisions, through choice we would show

our commitment to follow his marvelous plan

to make it back to him as each of us can.

We can not know joy without feeling pain

the flowers, they grow because of the rain.

So now as I fight and stumble and cry

I remember he asks that only I try,

to keep my sights set on the glory above

to see the earth's beauty and know that he loves.

To My Mother

Run around and jump and play,

A brand new adventure everyday.

Watching the backhoes, flying a kite,

Seeing the airplanes, riding a bike.

Learning to color inside the lines,

Sometimes you miss but she says that's fine.

Climbing on rocks and hiking up mountains

Running through sprinklers and playing in fountains.

Learning to work in the garden outside,

Now that we're done, count to ten, time to hide!

Helping with laundry, learning to cook

Time for bed, now she reads us a book.

Bundle us up to play in the snow,

Snow forts and snowballs and sledding we go!

Mowing the grass and pulling the weeds

Planting the flowers, watch out for the bees!

All of these things I learned from my mother.

She taught me how to have love for another.

Going to church and singing fun songs,

Learning to choose the right, not the wrong.

She taught me about my Savior above

And my Heavenly Father's eternal love.

She taught me to pray morning and night

To read my scriptures and always be nice.

I watch her give of herself everyday

And hope that someday I can be the same way.

Never Give Up! Never Give In!

Savior, Redeemer, kind, loving friend,

No matter the challenge his love never ends.

 Through the thick and the thin, through the highs and the lows,

His strength will be with you where ever you go.

Do you trust Him enough to follow His path?

With so many that smirk, that point and then laugh.

The trail has been set, the rod is secure.

Just hold on tight. Do not be deterred.

The steps that you take will your whole life determine.

You must bring it home, not leave at the sermon.
 He's given us all that we need to survive

Follow His counsel, your spirit will thrive.

Bodies grow weak and bones oh so brittle

But compared to what's next it means very little.

The armor of God is what gets us through.

Read from the scriptures! They're waiting for you.

The knowledge inside more precious than gold.

Just keep on reading and more will unfold.

It's all that you need to stay in the right

Follow the guidance and you'll win the fight.

The Weaver

My Life is but a weaving
between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.

Oft times He weaveth sorrow
And I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper,
And I the under side.

Not til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver's skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.

He knows, He loves, He cares,
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives His very best to those
Who leave the choice with Him.

~Author Unknown~

Savior of the World

I love this video about Jesus Christ. I know that He lives! I know that He suffered and died for me so I can live again. He is my Savior and Redeemer. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Child of God

Hello, how are you?

 Is the old, worn out question.

Just fine. The reply 

Without any expression.

Behind every face 

And every blank stare

Is a child of God, 

A spirit that cares.

A soul that is crying

 Out from inside

A nobler spirit 

Trying to find

Their sense of direction 

That may be suppressed

The compass, the pathway 

On which to progress.

The world that is pulling 

From every which way

Confusing the spirit

 And leading astray.

Some choose to listen and, yes,

 They do fall.

Others will fight and

 Continue to call

On their Father in Heaven, 

He's always there,

He quietly listens 

To each earnest prayer.

And when we are ready 

To humbly follow

He sends His reply 

Unlike others, not hollow.

He enlightens our mind 

With the spirit's sweet tone.

It's His work and His glory 

To bring His children back home.

Redeemer of my Soul

Lost in the darkness with nowhere to hide.

I've given up now, I promise I've tried,

To find my way back home to you, to tread the narrow path,

But because I am so dirty, I fear thy holy wrath.

The burden of my sins is upon me like a stone

And now for sure there is no hope to make it to thy throne.

"I can't do this alone!' I cry, "There just isn't any way."

And with no strength to walk or crawl I kneel and start to pray.

"I know that thou art there," I whisper. "I know thou art my Father.

That's why I call upon thee now sorry, God, to bother.

I've tried my best to do thy will to follow each command,

Oh Father, I'm so fallen I can not reach thy high demand.

Now I pray to know if this burden can be lifted

And my soul brought back to thee though long and far I've drifted."

I kneel in weighted silence almost fearful of reply

But when I feel the sweet embrace I freely start to cry.

"No effort here is wasted as you climb through life

I am here refining you through all your toil and strife.

And though you fall and stumble along this rocky trail,

If you put your trust in me there is no way to fail.

I have suffered all for you that wait on bended knee,

For the pains of all mankind inside Gethsemane.

Upon the rugged, wooden cross I offered everything,

Through my great Atonement your sorrowing spirit can sing.

You are right, this path, you can not tread estranged.

 For your loneliness I have come to make exchange.

Give me all your burdens, place your life into my care,

No matter what has happened it is not beyond repair.

I will be your Savior, your kind and loving friend

To my healing power there isn't any end.

Your Father, he doth love you, that's why he sent you me

I am here to help you be all that you can be."

From my heavy burdens Christ has set me free,

He can do the same for you. Trust him, you will see.

Chocolate Potential

I love chocolate. I personally believe that chocolate is one of the best things ever given to mankind (especially womankind).  I love brownies, chocolate ice cream, chocolate bars, hot chocolate, chocolate syrup, chocolate milk, fudge, etc, etc, etc. There are tons of different types of chocolate with thousands of flavors and every country seems to have it's own style
Just as there are tons of different types of chocolate there are tons of different kinds of people in the world. I'm sure you noticed that no two people are the same yet we all have something in common (and it's not chocolate) We are all children of God. It doesn't matter our ethnicity, religious background, home/family life, social status or beliefs, we are all the spirit sons and daughters of God. Every single person upon this earth is a child of God. Can you believe that? A child of God? Just let that sink in for a second.... You. are. a. child. of.God. The child of the most creative, amazing being in the universe and as such, each of us has the potential to become like him. You have the potential to become like God. If you really think about it, it's not too hard to believe. If we are truly God's children then wouldn't it make sense that we each have character traits from him that allow us to become like him? This is an eternal truth that we learn about in the New Testament, Romans 8:16-17.
"The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."
It doesn't matter who we are, we all have the same potential, "If so be that we suffer with him.." Christ has invited us to follow in his footsteps, to do the things that he has done so that we can become more like him and more like our Father in Heaven while we are in this life. Christ has commanded us to be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, serve others, keep his commandments and other things that bring us happiness and freedom in the world. These things will certainly bring us happiness no matter who we are and will allow us return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon teaches us that:
"he (Christ) inviteth  them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile."
Although we may see each other as different flavors Christ sees us all as chocolate.  No matter your flavor of chocolate, no matter who you are we can all be with God again as we strive to follow the example of his son Jesus Christ. I know this is true and I know that we are all brothers and sisters in God. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Dead End? Think Again

Have you ever been at a point in your life where you were positive that your Heavenly Father had lead you there and yet nothing was happening the way you had planned? I feel like that so many times and sometimes I wonder, "Heavenly Father, what exactly are you thinking? What am I supposed to be doing here? Can't you see that this is useless?" One thing that never ceases to amaze me about my Heavenly Father is that he always answers me. I've been at the end of my rope and I ask, "Why are you doing this? Things will never change! I will never be able to change!" This morning I was chastened through the scriptures. I was reading in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Jacob, chapter 5. This chapter is a very long chapter known as the Allegory of the Olive Tree. The main olive tree is dying so the Lord decides to take the branches and graft them into other trees through out the vineyard and graft new branches into the the main olive tree to help it regain it's strength and hopefully bring forth good fruit. As the Lord and his servant come back to visit the vineyard the Lord takes his servant to check on the natural branches that he has scattered throughout the garden and he brings his servant to one of the poorest spots in the garden and the tree has fruit on it!

The servant says to the Lord in verse 21," How comest thou hither to plant this tree, or this branch of the tree? For behold, it was the poorest spot in all the land of the vineyard."                      
Translation, "Why did you plant the branch here in this spot of ground? The ground here is awful! It's the worst in the whole vineyard!"

The Lord responds in verse 22," Counsel me not; I knew that it was a poor spot of ground; wherefore, I said unto thee I have nourished it this long time, and thou beholdest that it hath brought forth much fruit."
(I don't think this needs a translation.)

I read that this morning, "Counsel me not." and certainly felt chastised for my lack of faith in my Heavenly Father and His placement of me in his vineyard. When we follow our Heavenly Father's guidance and do those things that he has commanded us to do then things will work out the way they should. We should never be so bold as to tell Heavenly Father that he doesn't know what he's doing. We can only see what is in front of us right now, but Heavenly Father has an eternal perspective and he knows what will be the best for us in the long run. We need to have the faith to follow him, follow the example of his son Jesus Christ and do the best we can. When we do this we have Heavenly Father's promise that  he will take care of us and direct our paths. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ and I'm grateful for his promised guidance. I know that he truly has the best interest of each of us in mind and as we follow him we will be lead back into his presence. Now doesn't that sound better? In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Joy in the Journey

This morning I woke up, did my normal jumping-around-the-house workout routine and layed on the floor after failing to complete my 25 sit ups. After a couple of minutes I felt impressed to look out the window. What greated my eyes was a beautiful Montana sunrise. There are mountains surrounding all of Kalispell and the closest ones to our home are to the east, right outside our huge back windows. I so desperately wanted to take a picture but I knew my budget (New Zealand slang for cheap) camera would not even remotely be able to capture the beauty that lay before me. The face of the snow spotted mountains was a beautiful, deep blue with the sun pinked clouds creating a sharp contrast as they stung just above the mountains in the sky. The sun would probably not peak over the tops of the mountains for another ten minutes and my mind reflected on the well worn advice that we find joy in our journey.

Many times throughout life I get so anxious for something to happen, an occasion to arrive or an experience to end that I take very little joy in my journey. Sometimes we are so focused on seeing the sun that we miss the breathtaking sunrise preceeding it. How much beauty would we miss if the sun just appeared in the sky every morning and suddenly disapeared each evening? How much joy do we pass by when we focus so much on the destination and miss the scenes along the trail? We will get no where in life if we arrive at our destination and learn nothing from our journey. Our Heavenly Father has given us experiences large and small to bring us happiness and joy as we journey back to Him. Find joy in your journey and don't forget to watch the sunrise.

Things of Worth

Once upon a time there was a little boy proudly walking down the street to the candy store with one dollar. As he was walking, he met a man. He walked up to the man and said, "Look at what I have! I have one dollar!"

"Wow what a beautiful dollar," replied the man. "I will give you two quarters for your one dollar."
Two quarters?! Thought the little boy. Two is certainly more than one. So he traded the man his one dollar for two quarters.
He continued confidently down the street with his two quarters where he met a woman. He showed her his two, beautiful quarters. She oohed and ahed and said to him, "I will trade you three dimes for your two quarters."
"Three dimes?! This day is getteing better and better!" exclaimed the little boy. He continued down the street trading his three dimes for four nickles and his four nickles for five pennies. How lucky I am! thought the little boy as he energetically swung open the door to the candy store. "I started out with only one dollar and now I have five pennies!"  He took his five pennies to the front desk and showed the shiny coins to the clerk. "I would like to buy some candy."
"I'm sorry son," replied the clerk, "but you don't have enough money." The clerk explained to the crestfallen boy the worth of the five pennies. Dejectedly, the young boy slowly and sadly walked out the door with his five pennies.

Our Heavenly Father has given us the gospel (a dollar) to show us the way to return to live with Him. How often do we trade this gift for things of the world that are of little worth? When we return to the presence of our Heavenly Father what will we have to show him? A big screen TV? The nicest car money can buy? Worldly possessions? Or will we come with a testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ? Knowledge of the scriptures that our Heavenly Father has given to guide us? Let us not trade things of eternal value for those things that only bring us temporary, earthly satisfaction.