The Grave

I do not fear dying too much. If I had to die to save others or to support a noble cause, I think I could do it. I have never faced a life or death situation. I am certain I do not understand the paralyzing fear or sadness that accompanies it. But, if I am honest with myself, I think I could die willingly. I might cry or tremble while I face my end, but I think I could do it fear or not.

To be honest, what scares me more is losing someone I love. That has never happened to me and I dread the day it does.

Once I had a dog die. He was hit by a car. I cried a lot. I wrote down all of my favorite things about him. And I took good care of his grave for the first little while. However, the pain eventually passed, I got a new dog, and I no longer cried about it. But he was just a dog. What will it be like if it is someone I love?

Once I had a childhood friend die. However, I had not been in close touch with her for a long time. When I went to visit her grave, I cried because I was amazed that someone could just be gone. I had never experienced someone disappearing out of my life before. After I left her grave, I was quiet, but I was not sad anymore. Her death did not have a huge impact on me because we were not close. But,  how I would have felt if we had been close? The supreme sadness of losing someone terrified me.

There is a concept that I cling to. I have been taught it since I was little. It is: There is life after death. The scriptures teach us:

"And behold, again it hath been spoken, that there is a first resurrection, a resurrection of all those who have been, or who are, or who shall be, down to the resurrection of Christ from the dead.....The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame" (The Book of Mormon, Alma 40:16, 23).

We can see our loved ones again! Death is not an end! Though it is deeply painful, it is not permanent. Isn't that the most wonderful news? It makes me feel so grateful! I do not have to be afraid! I can be with all of my loved ones again, forever.

"Mother!"

"Parenting is part joy and part guerrilla warfare." Ed Asner.

That being said, my mom is the pro. She is the best at both joy and warfare when it comes to parenting. However, she did not become good at it all at once.

My mom made a lot of personal sacrifices to be a good mom. For instance, she and my dad decided, after a lot of prayer, that they would home school us. I was almost eight. My parents were tentative to take the plunge. They were terrified! My mom had no idea how she was going to handle five children at home all day every day! She certainly had no idea how she was going to educate them at the same time! However, over the next fourteen years, I watched her do it.

I remember:

Hours she spent helping each one of us through pages of grueling math problems. She was just as happy to master a concept as we were!

Her studying our grammar books so that she could answer our questions about compliments and gerunds.

Her reading stacks of books from the library to us. She would read to us and explain history and science, language and art.

She was (still is) particularly good at designing good field trips or projects! Yay for field trips!

Her going to her room to cry when things were frustrating. Sometimes, if I peeked in, I would catch her praying. 

She would often bear her testimony about little things like forgiveness or accountability while she was making us food in the kitchen or driving us to soccer games.

Mothering us was tough. I know she had to give up chances to travel with my dad, take music lessons of her own, be around other adults, work out at the gym, or pursue her writing career. She had to sit inside and deal with five different grade levels of subjects, five different attention spans, and five different tempers every day for years!

However, she has often told me that it was all worth it. She has told me that she loves me and that family comes first. I am grateful to my mom for her example and I hope that I can be like her when I grow up!

Cookies For Sale

When I was thirteen I was in a children's choir. It was a very professional little choir. We performed often and even traveled to venues outside of my home state, Virginia. We had to fund raise annually to provide for these trips. So one year we decided to have a huge spaghetti dinner and a silent auction.

I was completely absorbed with preparations for the event. I worked very hard to invite as many of my friends as I could. I also petitioned them for donations for the silent auction. I envisioned buckets of money and thousands of choir fans in response to my efforts. Over the weeks leading up to auction night, I gathered all sorts of things: snow tires, a dresser, and a dozen or so cookie tins.

The cookie tins were by far my favorite. They had adorable, seasonal themes and were shiny and colorful. Of course, the tins were going to be auctioned no matter what, but it seemed criminal to auction them empty! So, I set to work flipping through my mom's cookie recipes and writing up a shopping list. The night before the dinner, I threw on an apron and got to work. I spent five or six hours baking cookies. Chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, ginger snaps, and snicker doodles flew in and out of the oven. After they cooled, I carefully arranged them in the tins with parchment paper laid in between layers of cookies. By the end of the night, the tins were beautifully overflowing with tasty goodness. They practically glittered.

Auction night came and I anxiously waited until the end of the silent auction. I was positive my cookies would bring in a fortune. However, when the auction had ended, I saw the bids listed next each item. With horror I realized that each of my cookie tins had sold for......1¢.

My face fell. My whole soul drooped. What had happened? I certainly had put more than a penny's worth of work into those cookies! They were perfect! How could someone be so mean! I felt completely distraught. If only those mean auction people understood how much I had worked on those cookie tins.

Heavenly Father has told us that "The worth of souls is great in the sight of God"(Doctrines and Covenants 18:10).

Christ also taught, "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Luke 12:6-7).

I am sure that to God, we are like those shiny cookie tins were to me. Actually, we are worth a lot more to Him. Just as I was appalled by my cookies selling for 1¢, I am sure that when we judge ourselves or others to be of less value, He likewise is distraught.

Champion Good! Value people! Value yourself! You are worth a fortune!

Chopstick Muscles

We have so many muscles! Tons and tons! There are tiny ones and big ones, strong ones and weak ones. Some we can control and some we cannot. Today I will post about chopstick muscles.

This is my current companion, Sister Lim. She is from Korea. She likes to cook Korean food for us. I like it, even though it can be pretty spicy! However, to eat it properly, I had to improve on my chopstick skills.

So, first I got my own set of chopsticks.

Then I had my first practice. Rice and seaweed. Sister Lim taught me how to hold the chopsticks correctly and set me loose on the food. I did a pretty good job. While I was working away, Sister Lim told me about her childhood. In Korea, she had to pass a test in school where she moved sesame seeds from one bowl into another. If she did not pass the test, she was not allowed to eat around adults or guests!

That did it. We got out some seeds. I tried and tried and tried and finally got one seed into a cup! Yes! I felt very accomplished.

However, the next day when I tried to eat with chopsticks again, I could barely hold the chopsticks. I told Sister Lim "My chopstick muscles are sore!" She laughed. Of course, she does not even notice her chopstick muscles! Hers never get sore!

For most of us "spiritual muscles" (like faith or patience) are a lot like chopstick muscles. We have to use them to realize that we even have them! Using them at first is hard and we might get a little sore. But it gets easier. The principle is the same. Practice makes perfect. I am not as good as Sister Lim with chopsticks yet, but I am getting better! You may need some practice with your spiritual muscles, but you can can pass the test if you keep trying.

Work those spiritual muscles! Love you all!

Represent

Baptism is a covenant. A covenant is a lot like a contract. Baptism is a covenant between a person and God. He or she promises certain things and God promises them certain things in return. In a contract, if either party breaks their promise, the opposite party is freed from their obligation. God never breaks His promises, so it is up to us to keep our end of the bargain.

What do we promise God when we are baptized? Among other things, the Book of Mormon says that we promise the following:

"...To be called His people" (Mosiah 18:8)

"...To stand as witnesses of God" (Mosiah 18:9)

In the Doctrine and Covenants it also says that we are baptized,

 "...To witness unto Thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that [we] are willing to take upon [us] the name of thy Son..." (Doctrine and Covenants 20:77)

The other day I paused to think. As a missionary I wear a name tag. It has two names on it: mine and Jesus Christ's.

I literally wear Jesus Christ's name on my chest every day. When my mission is over, I will miss that. I do not want to ever take it off! I want Jesus' name irrevocably stuck to mine, or rather, mine to His. Then I remembered what I just said about baptism.

I have Jesus Christ's name upon me because I was baptized. I have promised to be called His and to witness of Him, name tag or not.

I have decided to do as Proverbs 2:3 directs.

"Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about they neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:"

Christ's name is carved upon the table of my heart. I try to do the works He would do. I would not want to dishonor His name. I honor Him by doing my best. When I do my best, I represent Christ.

Champion Good! Represent!

Lessons We Learn from Dinosaurs

#1 Don't get eaten

Spiritually speaking, a bad habit or a temptation is a giant, scary, flesh-ripping T-rex. If you want to survive life unscathed, get as far away as you can!

#2 Eat a lot

You do not maintain a multi-ton physique by eating like a bird. You have to eat hundreds of pounds of food. Spiritually, you cannot keep up with all of the spiritual work you do if you do not feed your spirit with reading the scriptures everyday. Dig in! Munch munch....

#3 Find safe nesting grounds so other dinosaurs don't eat your little dinosaurs

For those of you dinos who have little ones, no smart dinosaur parent raises their babies around predators. Protect your little ones from the powerful, bone-crushing jaws of the T-rex  and teach them the survival skills they need. Then, when they are well trained, they can fend for themselves. Spiritually, teach your children what you know about God and good choices. Protect them from evil. When they are grown, they'll remember what you taught them.

#4 Safety comes from the pack

Roaming through the bush alone is like asking to be singled out by a T-rex. Plus, hanging around the older dinosaurs means you learn cool skills like how to fight and how to find better food. Spiritually, activities like going to church or studying the scriptures with other people provides spiritual safety. Take advantage of strength in numbers.


#5 It helps to have spikes, claws, sharp teeth, clubs, or horns and use them.

All dinosaurs have some kind of built in defense. Learn to use it well. Spiritually, we all have some strengths that make it easier to fight off T-rexes when they come hunting us. Practice using it to defend your weaknesses. Don't get eaten!

Champion good! Be the dinosaur you know you can be!

Flowers

My mom used to sing me a lullaby. It went:

White coral bells upon a slender stalk

Lilies of the valley line my garden walk.

Oh! How I wish that I could hear them ring,

But that only happens when the fairies sing.

I have always liked flowers. I love how they look, how they feel and how they smell. My mom can tell you that I'm much better at taking care of flower gardens than vegetable gardens!  I have noticed lately that all of the trees and plants are bursting into bloom! It has made me consider two lessons that we can learn from flowers.

First, "Bloom where you are planted." I like this saying. It encourages me to make the best of any situation. It reminds me that no matter where I am, I should still be myself: the unique me that God created. I might not be well color coordinated with the rest of the garden. I might not bloom on time. I might not even be the plant the label said I would be! But I can flourish wherever I am.I can sink my roots, I can follow the sunlight and become a beautiful thing regardless of my surroundings.

Furthermore, Jesus Christ taught us a lesson using flowers in the Sermon on the Mount. He taught us to "consider the lillies of the field" (Matthew chapter 6 verses 28 through 33). He said:

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;

they toil not neither do they spin:

And yet I say unto you ,

that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is,

and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you,

O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying what shall we eat?

or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your

heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness;

and all these things shall be added unto you.

He was trying to teach the people that God knows our daily needs. He understands that we need food and clothing and shelter. However, our minds should not solely be applied to filling those needs.We should also seek the kingdom of God. I believe that is true. I believe that as we seek the Lord's will, our needs are met. Our lives overflow with heavenly abundance and we are happy. The beauty that we add to ourselves by this effort is above earthly standards of beauty.

Champion Good!  Be your best self! Seek God! Bloom!