Strengthen my Hands

Prayer for today:

If there is any Good in the Work my hands have found to do, Lord, please overlook my many Weaknesses, and Establish and magnify that Good for a Higher purpose, for it came from Thee. May Thou also strengthen my Hands to continue to have power to do the Work.

- Nnamdi Okonkwo

Be kind anyway

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
― Mother Teresa

Divine Family Organization

1 - Family is the most important organization.
2 - The Lord instituted the family to endure eternally.
3 - We strengthen and preserve our families as we spend time together, love each other and live the gospel together.

Earth School

"The earth is not our home. It is our school."

- Bruce Hafen -

Modern Inspiration

"God inspires men now as He did in times past."

This includes revelation...

You are a vessel, not the source

 I firmly believe that the principle that states that one must consider oneself as not the source but the vessel or a channel through which a Higher power expresses itself, when mastered through experience, becomes, for the determined soul, the real turn key principle which unleashes the power for great accomplishment.

This is so because it informs one first of ones true relationship to others, and to one's Maker, and frees one of pride, which is the great stumbling block, and in so doing, properly aligns one to tap from a power source that is infinitely higher and more powerful than self.

Nnamdi Okonkwo

Transformation on the journey

"Life is a journey, not so much a destination, but a transformation. 

Looking back, doesn't it sometimes feel our richest times come right in the midst of our hardest moments? 

God made us to live in community, to laugh and cry, to hurt and celebrate with each other no matter what we are going through.

And transformation is tough.

We don’t always end up where we think we will.

But we have to remember, even when we struggle to believe in Him, He always believes in us. He fills our life with purpose and passion if we just let Him.

The best part of the journey is that the God of the universe sometimes allows us to play a part in changing the world. 

Isn't that a trip?"

-From movie "To Save a Life"

Where have I gone wrong?

"Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."
- Charles M. Schulz

Qualifies

...whom God calls, God qualifies.

Spending time with God

If you find yourself a bit irritated or overwhelmed, it's a sign that you're spending less time with God and more time with this world.

Coincidence

Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous. - Albert Einstein -

God like - our ability to think

This is written in my notes. It is beautiful, but I don't know if it was a quote or me writing excerpts from something.

We are most like God in our ability to think. Our mind, His mind, is expansive.

If I can do this for a moment, maybe God can do this to me permanently.

Hmmm. This has some deep stuff in it.

Flight 2013 - prepare for take off

Good Evening and welcome to Flight 2013! We are prepared to take off into the New Year. Please make sure your Attitude and Blessings are secured and locked in an upright position. All self destructed devices should be turned off at this time. All negativity, hurt and discouragement should be put away. Should we lose Attitude under pressure during this flight, reach up and pull down a prayer. Prayers will automatically be activated by Faith. Once your Faith is activated you can assist other passengers. There will BE NO BAGGAGE allowed on this flight. The Captain has cleared us for take off!

Our Birth

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The soul that rises with us, our life’s star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar.
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory, do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy.

~William Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality

Precise Human Orbits

"The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit millenia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the Babe, has given at least equal attention to placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives, so that our light may not only lead others but warm them as well."  - Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Three Degrees of Glory by Melvin J. Ballard

Found this print out in my notes and thought it would be online at this point. It is indeed!

So, here's a link to it:

http://scottwoodward.org/Talks/html/Ballard,%20Melvin%20J/BallardMJ_TheThreeDegreesOfGlory.html

Reflections in the Wind

REFLECTIONS IN THE WIND 
Written by: Karen Slater, Improvement Era, May 1969

Her I stand:
The girl I was, the person I am,
and the woman I will become.
The three of us so dependent upon the other.

The girl I was.....
laughing, carefree, young
afraid of nothing, loving everything,
trusting all.

The person I am.....
still laughing, not quite as carefree,
still young, afraid of self, loving many,
trusting few, happy and contented with all.
Needing nothing but time to grow, expand,
mature, and discover the hows and whys within myself.

The woman I will become.... laughing, purposeful, young in heart,
having won the game of life playing with God's rules.
Afraid of evil, loving all that is good, trusting in the Lord.
Full  of joy which comes from a marriage sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise,
and blessed with loving children sent from God.

I am today what I did yesterday,
and Tomorrow I will be What I did Today.
The woman I will become is dependent upon the person I am now.
How unfair, that her salvation should rest upon one so proud, so vain, so frightened, so weak.

Why curse her for my mistakes?

How careful then I must be, for mine
is not the only soul I must save fromfuture grief.
Hers too, and the girl I was....
Three of us dependent upon a bending willow in the wind.

Here I stand: The girl I was,
The person I am,
The woman I will become. 

God of Miracles

"For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith."

- 2 Nephi 27:23 -

Getting closer to God

Getting closer to God begins the painful process of unlearning the things that keep you from him.

God watches over us

"God does notice us, and He watches over us. But it is usually through another person that He meets our needs."

(Ensign, Dec. 1974, pg. 5)