Last week my son graduated from high school. As they walked onto the football field it was hard to distinguish who was who because we were quite a distance away from the entry point and they all were pretty much wearing the same outerwear, as does happen at a graduation - lol. Of course we knew that he would be in the latter 1/2, but we also couldn't see the entirety of the line of hundreds so again, we were watching carefully. For a minute I had a thought, what if we can't pick him out? However, as soon as he came through the balloon arch I immediately recognized him. This isn't the first time that I have recognized one of my children when it is hard to spot them. Ashly and Brooklyn have often been in costume, where every dancer/actor is in the same costume, with the same hair and makeup, and sometimes the lighting is super dark. Carsyn has also been clear across the field warming up for a race etc. I had the thought at graduation that of course I can recognize them I have been watching them their whole lives. I knew Carsyn. I know my children. Then the thought occurred to me that this is just like Heavenly Father. He recognizes each one of us and He can pick us out immediately in a crowd. He has been watching us our whole lives and He KNOWS us and He IS looking out for us.
0 Comments
This past weekend my family went on a hike at Cedar Breaks. We got to the end of one of the hikes and Ashly and Jesse decided to go on an additional trail to another point not too far out. We could see most of the trail and we could even see some people out on that trail. Well they headed down the mountain a bit to get onto this new trail. At one point we looked down and could tell that they had lost the trail - not a super bad "lost" - but still they were searching a bit. From our vantage point up higher we could see where they needed to go so we pointed to let them know. This made me think of two things:
Another moment on this hike happened to all of us at about the 1/2 way point out. We were at Spectra Point and we saw where Ramparts Overlook was. We could see where we were going, and we could see that it was going to be somewhat of a climb up when we headed back, but we thought it looked doable in the time we had, with the supplies that we had. We checked our water and took off. What we couldn't see completely is where the trail really went. We did indeed see part of the trail, BUT we did NOT see that it went down all of the way into the bottom of that part of the canyon. As we kept going down we realized that it was most definitely going to be harder on the return trip. (2 miles of incline) However, the trip out to the overlook was super cool with so much to see, the overlook was awe inspiring, and when we got back up to the top we definitely felt a sense of accomplishment because it was harder than we thought it would be when we set out! And we had enough water. I think this is also a part of life. We knew where our journey here on earth was going to lead us to, but we didn't necessarily know the hardships that we might face. We knew/know that we get to live with Heavenly Father and our families again. We may not know exactly what the path looks like for our own individual journey, but if we keep our sights set on the destination and we check our "preparedness" we can see amazing things along the way, and the joy at the end will be great. Anyone that knows me know that I think that the phrase "the new normal" is not cool. I do, however, believe that many good lessons have come during the pandemic:
We had an activity on Friday at the school. A year ago this activity was already being thought of. The plan was to have all of the school arrive for the start of a school day, pass out t-shirts, and then all run a mile together with some music playing and then get an otter pop at the end. A good 30 - 40 minute bonding activity about perseverance. Well Covid 19 hit and we had to make a decision on how to run this activity, or to cancel. Right now we are trying really hard to not cancel, but rather adapt so we decided to hold this activity. With that being said the Student Council and myself started figuring out the logistics. The first thing we decided is that we needed to do 1 to 2 grades at a time so that we could be more spread out. So that takes the big visual impact of having 1,000 people down to 100 - 200. So now how to we make it visually impactful? We started coming up with other things that could be incorporated. We decided to create a "storm" out of PVC pipe so that at the end of each lap the student could run through the "storm." We did have signs that said "enter the storm." (FYI - our school theme this year is "Enter The Storm; Rise Resilient!" and it's on our t-shirts, banners in the hall, and we introduced the theme with stories about buffalos and cows in storms. We are strong like the buffalo and we will face the storm and work our way through it.) The Student Council also came up with challenges, or fun things that students could do along the route. With these new plans we held the activity. It did take the whole day because each group got 25 minutes to be out and complete their mile, but in the end it actually turned out BETTER than our original plan. The "storm" was the biggest hit! AND even my little Kindergarten students finished their mile! Many students ran far more than one mile, and many many felt great about what they accomplished! There is a commercial right now about not bouncing back, but leaping forward. I am a firm believer that this can be done!! (The story of 4 close friends who were all on their missions spring 2020:
All on the same journey. All took very different paths several months ago when they left on their missions and each have found themselves on yet another very different path, yet they are all on the same path home to Heavenly Father and bringing others along with them. Jenna Day on a Facebook post about this said "like the scripture story of Ammon and the sons of Mosiah, they all rejoice when they return back together (after 14 years!) that they are still strong in their faith in Christ!" No matter which path that they travelled on. I was reading ahead in Come Follow Me as I was preparing for the next Primary post and one of the topics I decided to focus on was trust in the Lord. Alma's people were being obedient and yet still put in bondage. Yet, they still trusted in the Lord. Right now we are going through a difficult time. Here are a few things where I feel blessing coming:
1. In a recent Church News article the First Presidency said that they had been trying to figure out for awhile how to do missionary work in a world where there is ever increasing security measures being added to homes, home developments, and apartment buildings. They mentioned in this article that in these past few weeks of the pandemic as many missionaries have been in quarantine the creativity of how to keep the work moving during the pandemic has also helped with keeping the work moving with this type of residence security. 2. There is a prophecy that said that there would be a period of time when the temples were closed. Now for this brief time they are indeed closed, but the work for the dead hasn't completely stopped as the family history research to find names has ramped up as people have been home with time on their hands. There will be now be much more work ready to do in the temple as soon as the temples open back up. 3. Home centered Church. This has been a great time for our family to really build each other up. 4. Be Still And Know. This has also been a great time to do this as some of the extra things have been taken away. It's not that I won't go back and doing many of the things I can't do right now, but I definitely will keep time to Be Still And Know a priority. 5. Increased faith. There are a couple of videos that I have held onto during this time. Here is one and here is another. 6. Increased commitment. As we are seeing prophecies being fulfilled we are remembering warnings of the Prophets. Now is most definitely the time to prepare for the Second Coming. It is time to put things into order. This was kind of a wake up call and even though this isn't the "it," I feel it is kind of like a practice run for us. Now, we have a bit of time to continue preparing and we have figured out more specifically what we need to do in some areas. In other areas we have been told, we just need to remember. 7. Miracles have happened. After the World-Wide fast there was:
8. Bonus time with my grown children. It has been a really long time since we have all been together this much. (Since Ashly's Senior year of high school. It's been missions, college, etc that has kept at least one person gone, but we even have Brooklyn back for a short time.) Might we see a few things that are a "new normal?" probably. Were there a few changes that stuck after WWII, 9/11, etc - yes and they were the things that really needed to change, or really make sense, or really aren't a huge deal. Things like keeping your bags with you at airports, or taking your shoes off before the metal detector, or a movement that really started the ball moving for jobs for people of all, regardless of gender, race, etc. The human race is resilient and we've proved that over and over. At this point, with time and data, I personally think we have to categorize this pandemic with other things such as Chicken Pox, etc. That grip of fear where this was compared to World Wars, etc and of a mega bug that lasts on surfaces for up to a month, everyone who gets it will have extreme sickness with potential life long affects, life can never be lived the same, as some examples of what was out there at the beginning has been proven wrong. People are going back to normal life. People do want and need to be around people. Many people are getting it and getting over it. (This is certainly not to down play the sadness of those who know someone who was taken from us because of this disease, because anyone who is taken of us for any reason; cancer, or a car crash, etc. we will mourn, and yet we can also rejoice in the knowledge that we will see them again.) This pretty much sums up my thoughts on this topic. Here is my super short list of items that are good to have, but not urgent or even necessary, in a sheltering at home situation:
1. GUM - the A#1 thing to curb the munchies. Even just one of those little tic tac gums! 2. Forks - yes it's a thing! We found out very quickly that when most of us are home for all meals we do NOT have enough forks. Yup who knew right? All my life we have been told to have food storage. When we were first married I put a lot of money into the lists that were passed out to us at Church meetings. Well here is the deal. That's not the type of food that we eat on a daily basis and most of it went to waste, because we weren't eating it and then it went bad. So several years ago I changed and started storing what we eat. Jump ahead to our current situation and here's what has happened in the last few weeks:
I do remember when we were first starting out in our marriage and money was super tight, topics such as food storage caused some stress because we didn't really have extra money. But it's kind of like the loaves and the fishes. If you buy one can here and another can there, Heavenly Father knows you are trying to do what you can do in the moment and you will be blessed. Two AHA moments from this: 1. Always follow what the prophets tell us. 2. Good things can come from hard things. So here is the story:
When I was in High School I went snow skiing for the first time with a group of friends. There were about 6 of our guy friends and then 3 girls, including myself. The guys were all great skiers and one of the girls said she was good to teach myself and the other girl how to ski. The guys took off shortly after we arrived, being assured that we were going to be fine. Here's how the rest of the day went. First, my friend who was "teaching" us had only been skiing one time herself. Yup, that's right, once! So the first thing that we had to accomplish was successfully getting on the lift. It's a little bit tricky to even maneuver yourself in line, which we did with moderate success, but we did manage to get on the lift. We started up the mountain and I just kept thinking "how in the heck am I going to get off of this thing at the end." I was also thinking about the one piece of advice that I had and that was to keep your ski tips up. Well as we kept going up and up and up and up, I started wondering if we were in the right place for us. We happened to be at Snowbird and we were heading for Upper Big Emma. Yup. Not a place for people who have never put on a pair of skis before - LOL. With that being said I kept my ski tips up and and at least cleared the unloading area before crashing. Okay so those who are familiar with ski resorts might now think: "they'll just take the outer easy way down." Yup, that would have been a great idea, IF we had actually had that knowledge in our pocket. So looking down this very intimidating mountain we went for it. This "going for it" was not at all glamorous. Pretty much every minute or so one of us was crashing. And yes, it was so bad that at one point a child, probably no older than 8, came to give us a hand. He taught us about putting your skis in a V shape. Yes, yes, if you didn't know this will help you go slower so that you have more control. Up until this point we would just go and crash, go and crash, and yeah you get the point. When I say go, it wasn't very far because we were kind of just heading down the mountain. It was not a pretty sight. Needless to say we did get down, BUT it took us about 3 hours. Not even kidding!! For those who don't know that is WAY beyond slow. Well the rest of the day we did a few more runs, working on keeping our ski's in a V shape, AND we managed to get ourselves on the run that was way more appropriate for us. Needless to say we were a bit battered up after this day on the slopes. My hands were sooo sore from gripping my poles. And yes, for those who know, most times when you are recreational skiing you don't even really use your poles. Needless to say my parents got myself, and my sister, ski lessons. With the guidance of someone who knew what they were doing, within a lesson, I really ended up enjoying skiing. I was able to go with friends to many of the resorts in Northern Utah, over the course of the next 6 years. But NOTHING can compare to my first every ski trip. Now to the aha moment from this - oh and how do you choose just one: 1. First and foremost - if you are following someone, even if it's someone you trust and like, make sure that they know WHERE they are leading you. If we had gone on an easy green trail, I think we would have figured out some things, but on the trail we ended up on, we were just basically in somewhat of a survival mode. 2. The knowledge is out there take advantage of it - in hindsight we should have asked our guy friends. I should have asked my dad for a few tips before we left. But nooo, we just went with our pride and although we did come out on the other end, it wasn't without A LOT of bumps and bruises. (Read scriptures, listen to the prophets and other leaders and teachers, watch conference, and ask your parents, it will save some you from some bumps and bruises.) 3. With that being said - we MADE it. It was super hard, and quite frankly a bit scary, but we did it. AND after that we sought out the knowledge that we needed to make the next trip easier. This certainly didn't mean I never crashed, but it never took 3 hours to get down a mountain on a ski trip again. (Now there's the time a friend broke her ankle at the top of Mt. Timpanogas and it took 3 hours to get down. AND there is the first go a water skiing, but those are stories for another time.) I kind of relate this AHA lesson to enduring to the end. I don't like the image of enduring to the end meaning it only gets harder and we get way more tired and weary where we lose our faith and joy. I like the quote from Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather a skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, Wow what a ride!" Yes it is that time of year again. The weeds are going to start coming. Through the years I have learned that there are two key things that I need to do so that I come out ahead of the weeds. And yes sometimes the weeds did beat me :(
#1 pre-emergent in January and then again in April. Ideally I do it on a rainy day, but since those are few and far between here in Southern Utah I sometimes have to put in the extra work to use a hose for the water step, but it's definitely worth it. #2 have spray and a hula hoe on hand at all times to catch those weeds that still get through If I do these two steps I stay on top of the weeds getting in. If I get too busy, or wait too long, then I have a much harder time battling the weeds. This to me relates to what I need to do for my testimony. I think the pre-emergent is like Conference. These are the times when I can really get a big refill to my spiritual bucket. The spray and hula hoe would be church, scripture study, and prayer. Consistently there and used. So I've got quite a few things happening right now and was getting a bit frustrated with my kids, because they weren't really cleaning up after themselves. So I sent them all a please clean up your own things plea. Then a bit later I went into the kitchen to see things partially cleaned up. At first I was really frustrated and then it hit me how many times have the prophets plead for us, on behalf of Heavenly Father, to do something different, or better, and I have partially done it. Hmmm probably more than I care to admit.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2021
Categories |