Tuesday, August 30, 2011

"I Know That My Savior Loves Me" ~


 
 This sabbath day has been one of pure joy. We drove to Spokane, Washington to attend the Priesthood ordination of our Grandson Michael; who just turned twelve. This is our 4th grandson to receive the priesthood this year. Each of these ordinations have been sacred and sweet experiences. I will do a future blog post on these 4 special events. All four of these sweet young men have such a wonderful spirit about them. I know that our Heavenly Father is very pleased with their desire to serve him.
Michael
Michael was kidnapped out of Primary by the Deacon's quorum and then ordained by his father to the Aaronic Priest and to the office of a deacon.

Next week he will pass the sacrament with members of his Deacon's quorum for the first time.

We had the added joy of our daughter Tiffani singing in Sacrament meeting with her two daughters; They sang "Teach Me To Walk In The Light" and also;" I Know That My Savior Loves Me." 
Tiffani, Sarah and Kaitlyn
I wish we could have recorded this special minute of time. Both my husband and I could not stop the tears. Their voices blended together beautifully. My two granddaughters are ages 10 and 7 years old. It brought back sweet memories of my three daughters who have sang together many times through the years. They have beautiful voices and have enjoyed singing in trios together and also solo's. I myself would love the talent of singing. In fact it is probably the only thing I have actually coveted through the years. My dreams have been fulfilled through hearing their lovely voices. Perhaps sometime I can be part of a Celestial Choir; meanwhile I will enjoy the moments that I can hear all of their heavenly voices.
Below is rendition of the song they sang as found on you tube. I hope sometime they will make their own you tube presentation of their singing.















Friday, August 26, 2011

Lesson Learned - Thanks You All For Your Caring Hearts ~




I especially want to thank all of you who commented on my last post. your thoughts lifted my heart and helped me more than you can know. I love you all for your compassionate comments. The posts that you write lift my heart and I learn so many things from you. We are all followers of Christ no matter what faith we represent and I love you all and truly feel the spirit of your words. I love your desire to have Christ Centered Homes and I thank you for that. I find that reading your posts have helped me in my quest to be a better, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, sister and friend. Thank you for becoming my blogging friends. I have a wish to meet you all personally someday.
Here is an update on my thoughts through the last few days. I wallered in my moment of depression until I couldn't stand it any longer. I must say that as usual  when I struggle with my inner thoughts, I find answers.  I had mentioned in the last post that I decided to blog my feelings.  I know from past experience it is helpful to get your frustrations and feelings down on paper. This was the first step in discovering why I was feeling the way I was. 
I learned quickly that one of the reasons that I was feeling down was I wasn't  praying to my Heavenly Father as I should. At least I wasn't pausing to start my day with prayer and I was  rushing through my evening prayers. I  frequently pray through the day and that wasn't happening as much.  I normally go by the adage given by my grandmother," always carry a prayer in your heart." 
 I also wasn't pondering on the scriptures which always bring peace to my soul. The truth was I didn't want to do these things. I know when I am in a mood like this I need to pull back and see that I am going downhill and not up and I didn't want to discover this either. I have often thought it is interesting that when I need prayer and the scriptures the most is when it seems the hardest to do this. I know that when I am doing these things; I have improved days and I seem to handle better the adversity in my life.
Over the last several weeks I have found myself so busy that I haven't had a moment to just take a breathe and enjoy my journey. Between our calling as Inner City Missionaries, temple assignment on Saturdays along with family events the time has wheezed by and left me with no way to just pause for a second to think. I would say my brain was on overload. I sometimes ponder on how our brain works and I think it is much like a computer. We are always going through our files to find and store answers. Our mind is always busy  gathering, storing, seeing, relating and feeling. When we are doing too much the computer shuts down on it's own and you have to restart it. At least my brain computer does that. So for a few days my brain just went into overload. I didn't want to really do anything. I was tired of storing thoughts and looking through files to find the answers. I just needed to unplug for a while.
During this brief break; I took more time to talk with my Heavenly Father in prayer. During these prayers I paused a little longer to listen. I am a talker. I know that many times I rush through my prayers and I don't pause for even a second to listen. It has not been a two way conversation for a while. When I am not in the listening mode; I don't feel the spirit as much in my life.
The one thing that we need most is to have the spirit in our life. Pres. Boyd K. Packer of the 12 Apostles said the following: "It's a noisy world, and you're going to have to learn personally and privately, and individually that revelation will come when the Lord can speak to our feeling...Go quietly into the world , and quietly about your affairs -learn that in the still, small hours of the morning, the Lord will speak to you. He will never fail to answer your prayers". Isn't that a marvelous promise. The Lord will hear and answer prayers. I think I have been sleeping in to much this summer and I need to open up more time to visit with my Heavenly Father.
We need to take time to just be still. We need quiet time in our lives. We need to take moments in our busy lives and listen for the spirit's quiet voice. We need to ponder and mediate more.
I named this blog "Living Waters" for a reason. I know that through Christ we can drink from his living waters on a daily basis. We can stop at the well and pause in our journey and listen to Christ just like he talked with the, "Woman At The Well."

By praying, scriptures study and pondering deeply we can find the "Balm of Gilead" to our soul. Christ will heal us. He is the great healer. Christ healeth the wounded soul.
I love to read the Book of Mormon and there is a new Book of Mormon Challenge. Start the Book of Mormon on September 1st and complete it by the end of the year. I completed that challenge a few years ago and it blessed my life immensely. I try to read from it's pages everyday.

Elder Russel M Nelson in an 1999 conference address entitled; A Testimony of The Book of Mormon stated the following: "This book can help with personal problems in a very real way. Do you want to get rid of a bad habit? Do you want to improve relationships in your family? Do you want to increase your spiritual capacity? Read the Book of Mormon! It will bring you closer to the Lord and His loving power. He who fed a multitude with five loaves and two fishes - He who helped the blind to see and the lame to walk --can also bless you! He has promised that those who live by the precepts of this book "shall receive a crown of eternal live." ( Doctrine and Covenants 20:14: "A Testimony of the Book of Mormon, "Ensign Nov. 1999, 71)

This year we are reading and studying the New Testament in our Sunday school class. This is such a marvelous book of scripture.  Each time I read it my life is changed, lifted and I come to know my Savior more. I am so grateful for the living waters that I receive when I read and ponder the scriptures. My life is better when I am in communication with my Heavenly Father. I receive the healing power of the Savior in my life and I do better with my moments of adversity.
 My computer is up and running thanks to all of you and too the healing power of Christ.

Monday, August 22, 2011

"Nobody Likes Me - (Guess I'll Go Eat Worms) ~


I am very aware that I am not the only one that has depressive feelings. I just find it interesting that one day you can feel joy and happiness and the next day you can feel down and out.
I remember as a young girl feeling like I didn't have any true friends. There are also moments in my adult life that I have had these same feelings. This little songl came to my mind and I then realize I really don't feel that bad.

Nobody Likes Me (Guess I'll Go Eat Worms)

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me,
I think I'll go eat worms!
Big fat juicy ones,
Eensie weensy squeensy ones,
See how they wiggle and squirm!
I don't think I will continue to write the rest of the verses because it is way too gross.

Anyway, I got up this morning with a depressive feeling. My husband didn't help much because he was having a stress filled moment at work. I tried prayer; but I don't think I want to hear back today. I have had the thought that I would love a good chat with a friend; but I don't want to be the one to call. I have thought perhaps I should connect with one of my daughters that I haven't talk with for a while. It all feels like work to me today.
I love to write so I thought maybe if I blog my feelings that will be helpful. So here I am confessing what a down day I am having.
I also remember when I was a pre-teen I had a dog names Nippy. He was named that because he liked to nip. I could tell a postman story on this one. Anyway, I loved that dog; at that time he was my best friend.Whenever I had a really bad day I could talk with Nippy. In fact, I would sit down on the porch and put my hand under his chin, looked into his eyes and then I would tell him all of my sad stories. He was such a good listener. I treasured those talks with Nippy.
So all of my friends out there in blog land I don't feel like being happy today and I know that is a choice. I choose to be unhappy today at least for a moment or two.
It reminded me of a quote in a book by  Elder Boyd K. Packer in 1982. There was concerns that many of the woman in the church were depressed and were going on medications to help with their depression. Remember this was the Molly Mormon era. At this time we were facing a job loss, a move, and younger children to help with  new area adjustments. I wasn't a happy camper then and I wasn't a Molly Mormon who could handle everything with joy and happiness in her heart.
As we were listening to conference this year there was a thought by Elder Boyd K. Packer that had a great impact on my thoughts during this time. Elder Boyd K. Packer explained: “It was meant to be that life would be a challenge. To suffer some anxiety, some depression, some disappointment, even some failure is normal. Teach our members that if they have a good, miserable day once in a while, or several in a row, to stand steady and face them. Things will straighten out. There is great purpose in our struggle in life” (“That All May Be Edified” [1982], 94).
 Another thought that was expressed by a general authority; of which I don't remember which one said something like this; "It is OK to be depressed for a few days; but don't waller in it."
I think I will just continue to enjoy this depressive moment. Perhaps later in the day I will try the old adage to just get up and go out and serve someone today, call up a good friend or visit with one of my daughters.
I know Oprah believes in keeping a Gratitude Journal which can help with depression and I do too.
 Maybe just a few gratitude thoughts for this minute of time; maybe it will help. 
. I love blogging
. I love all my friends
. I love all my friends out there in blog land.
. I love my little dogs who listen too me too.
. I love uplifting quotes on life. 

Hugs and love to all of you!





Friday, August 19, 2011

The Word Of Wisdom For Today ~

Good Nutrition and Exercise-
Our Word of Wisdom ~




Here it almost September and I feel like I haven't  had a chance to enjoy the summer. Part of the reason for this is because of the weather and another reason was recovering from ankle surgery. We had a very very long spring. I can feel fall in the air; and it is one of my favorite seasons of the year.
I am a goal setter but not good at being a doer. Thus when September comes every year; I re- evaluate my goals that I set for January. For the past 30 + years my goals each January are the same. I do add a couple of new ones every year; but basically the goals are  identical to the year before. A majority of these goals have not been reached at least in their fullness.
A few of the items on my forever list are to lose weight, exercise more, eat less and eat what is good for me. Mind you I have been struggling with weight issues for years. I am what is called a Yo Yo dieter. I never start a diet on Monday; because I will break it by Tuesday. I never diet on the week-end; because I can't resist eating out and or enjoying candy and popcorn at a movie. Therefore, I only have 4 days out of the week to actually stay on track which isn't enough time. I have tried every diet known to man. I could teach and have taught a class on what to eat, how much to eat, where to eat, when to eat. I truly do love food. I am addicted to chocolate and I may need to do the twelve step program for this one addiction. I also Yo Yo with my exercise programs.
In the last post I wrote about being dedicated to a cause. Losing weight is a commitment and no one loses weight until they have either been scared to death due to health concerns or commit totally to the concept of being healthy. I want to be healthy but I don't want to pay the price.  I have been thinking for a very long time that I need to make a health commitment in my life before it is too late for me to feel better. Already I am feeling the aches and pains of aging.
 I have hopes of living a long life because I have longevity in my ancestral lines. Right now I have 2 Aunts who are presently 97 and 90 years old. My father passed away at 86 and my mother was 90 years old.
One day I asked my sweet Aunts what they thought were reason for their longevity.

My Aunt Della and Aunt Alene
Here are a few of their thoughts. Growing up our family always had a garden and we ate mostly fruits and vegetables. We made our own whole wheat bread. Aunt Della started to make the bread for the family when she was 11 years old. We cooked from scratch and made bread, pies and apple dumplings were a favorite. When the harvest time came for our fruits and vegetables we would eat the fresh fruits and vegetables and  bottle the produce also for the winter months. We had chickens so we had eggs. We ate very little meat.  We didn't have cars so we walked every place. We played outside with friends and with our imagination we would make up games to play. We loved to roller skate and play physical games such as softball and kick ball.
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we have in our scriptures  Doctrine and Covenants 89; this is the Lord's revelation on health called the Word of Wisdom. This revelation was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith on February 27, 1833. Today this Word of Wisdom is the current belief in the world of good nutrition.
In this revelation we are commanded to abstain from : Alcohol, Tobacco, Coffee, Tea, Illegal drugs, and other harmful or addictive substances. As members of the church we are responsible to obey this commandment. The Word of Wisdom also teaches us that we should eat grains, fruits and vegetables. We are to eat meat sparingly.
The Apostle Paul referred to the body as a temple in 1 Corinthians 3: 16-17: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dweeleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. "
One of the main reasons we came to this earth was to gain a body. We do have a responsibility to care for this body, our  very own temple.
Here are the promises that are given to us if we obey this commandment as found in D&C 89:18-21:
18."And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones:
19. "And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge even hidden treasures;
20. "And will run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.
21. "And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel and not slay them. Amen."
I can see fully the path I need to take. I know that if I keep this commandment in my own life that I will be more sensitive to the Spirit, more receptive to guidance from Heavenly Father. I will hopefully listen more to this guidance. Just think we have the promise that our wisdom and knowledge will increase. We can have more peace and confidence in our lives and in our future. One of our most important assignments is to care for our bodies. In following D&C 89 we can exercise more self-control in all that we do with our body.  We can achieve a healthier body and mind. I hope to erase this one goal off my list by next January when I remake my yearly goals. I invite those who need these words to come on this journey with me.

If you have a moment stop by my blog; Serving In The Inner City Journal - You can find the link on the sidebar at the top of this blog.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Dedicated To A Cause ~

The City Of Enoch
I have been thinking about the word dedication. I have been asking myself; am I a dedicated wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, and friend? Am I devoted to my God and to my Savior, Jesus Christ? Am I committed to my calling as a Missionary and Temple worker? I guess I am asking these questions because at times I grumble about having to do so much. Sometimes, my day is not devoted to the things that matter most. Sometimes, I simply do not feel zealous in the work.

The definition of the word dedication is devotion to a cause, ideal, or purpose. Another word for dedicated is committed. Other similar adjectives are devoted, sworn, enthusiastic, single-minded, zealous, purposeful.
I believe that our Savior wants us to dedicate our lives to the things that matter most; which would be the things of eternity.
In The New Testament: Mark 12:30-31
30. "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment.
31. "And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."
I am struck by the words, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength. There are many days when I don't even want to exercise my spiritual strength by praying, reading the scripture, and service. I just want to read a good book and take a nap.
Here is a lovely poem I recently read by Christina Rossetti. This poem caused me to think hard and long on where am I on this important first commandment?

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part,
Yet what can I give Him?
I can give him my heart.

 The only way back to our Heavenly Father will be through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We must be dedicated to his purposes and give him our heart, mind and strength. I realize that I need to be more aware of my priority list each day. Am I giving my heart and soul to know the Savior and my Heavenly Father?Am I a loving and devoted companion to my husband? Am I cultivating good relationships with my children and grandchildren? Am I reaching out in love to my extended family members? Am I serving with a good attitude in my callings? Am I a loyal friends? I believe in the Pre-existence that  one of our assignments was to come to earth and make a difference in the lives of others; perhaps even to change lives. 
Jesus gave his all. The Prophet and Apostles both past and present give their all. Brigham Young said:"The Kingdom of God or nothing." The Savior does want us to be dedicated and devoted to the things that matter most. Am I giving my all to the cause?I know what I need to do and I love the motto of President Spencer W. Kimball when he stated: "Do It!" At this time he also stated: "Do It With A Plan."
Sunday in a meeting at church the thought came up that our assigned  ward could have the Savior visit us if the members could become unified and pure in heart. The  ward's theme for the year is Unity and Purity. Could this goal be possible? Perhaps we should study in Moses 7: 21-24;  62-64.  This is the story of the city of Enoch. The Prophet Enoch dedicated his life to teaching those in his city to become unified and pure in heart.
  Moses 7:18: "And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them."
They became so righteous that they were translated from a telestial world to a terrestrial level. They will join us someday during the great millennial era. I found it interesting that the name Enoch in Hebrew is Hanokh, which means dedicated.
Someday we will report back to our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ that we have finished our work. I want to report that I was dedicated, committed and zealous in the work.
 One of my favorite scriptures is found in  D&C 93:1 "Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am." I want to see my Savior's face and walk with him. I want and need  to be more dedicated and zealous in the cause.




Friday, August 12, 2011

Helen Keller and President Heber J. Grant ~ A Sweet Story by Emma Lou Thayne


This story caught my attention for a couple of reasons. Emma Lou Thayne was my husband's College English teacher. He has remarked to me on more than one occasion how much he treasured having her as his English teacher. She was such an inspiration to him.
We have a 8 year old blind granddaugher who is an inspiration to us. She has come a long way in her blind world; and we are grateful to have her as our granddaughter. She plays the piano by ear and we love it when she plays for us.

Emma Lou Thayne
The following is a vey sweet story out of the book, "A Place Of Knowing" by Emma Lou Thayne.
Many years into my adulthood, when asked by a Jewish poet friend why I stay in my Mormonism, I explained it with a story, the details recounted by my mother. It is my mother’s story transposed into an allegory about my believing.
When I was a little girl, my father took me to hear Helen Keller in the Tabernacle. I must have been about eight or nine and I’d read about Helen Keller in school, and my mother had told me her story.

Helen Keller
I remember sitting in the balcony at the back of that huge domed building that was supposed to have the best acoustics in the world. Helen—everybody called her that—walked in from behind a curtain under the choir seats with her teacher, Annie Sullivan. Helen spoke at the pulpit—without a microphone—but we could hear perfectly, her guttural, slow, heavily pronounced speech. She spoke about her life and her beliefs. Her eyes were closed and when it came time for questions from the audience, she put her fingers on her teacher’s lips and then repeated for us what the question had been. She answered questions about being deaf and blind and learning to read and to type and, of course, to talk. Hearing that voice making words was like hearing words for the first time, as if language had only come into being—into my being at least—that moment.
Someone asked her, “Do you feel colors?”
I’ll never forget her answer, the exact sound of it—“Some-times
. .. . I feel . . . blue.” Her voice went up slightly at the end, which meant she was smiling. The audience didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
After quite a lot of questions, she said, “I would . . .. like to ask . . . a fa-vor of you.” Of course, the audience was all alert. “Is your Mormon prophet here?” she asked. There was a flurry of getting up from the front row, and President Grant walked up the stairs to the stand. She reached out her hand and he took it. All I could think was, “Oh, I wish I were taking pictures of that.”


President Heber J. Grant
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
“I . . . would like . . . ,” she said, “to hear your organ . . . play .. . your fa-mous song—about your pio-neers. I . . . would like . . . to re-mem-ber hear-ing it here.” All the time she was speaking she was holding his hand he had given her to shake. I liked them together, very much. I remember thinking, “I am only a little girl (probably others know) but how in the world will she hear the organ?” But she turned toward President Grant and he motioned to Alexander Schreiner, the Tabernacle organist who was sitting near the loft. At the same time, President Grant led her up a few steps to the back of the enormous organ—with its five manuals and eight thousand pipes. We were all spellbound. He placed her hand on the grained oak of the console, and she stood all alone facing us in her long, black velvet dress with her right arm extended, leaning slightly forward and touching the organ, with her head bowed.
Brother Schreiner played “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” each verse a different arrangement, the organ pealing and throbbing—the bass pedals like foghorns—as only he could make happen. Helen Keller stood there—hearing through her hand and sobbing.
Probably a lot more than just me—probably lots of us in the audience were mouthing the words to ourselves—
“Gird up your loins; fresh courage take. / Our God will never us forsake; / And soon we’ll have this tale to tell— / All is well! / All is well!” I could see my great-grandparents, converts from England, Wales, France, and Denmark, in that circle of their covered wagons, singing over their fires in the cold nights crossing the plains. Three of them had babies die; my great-grandmother was buried in Wyoming.
“And should we die before our journey’s through, / Happy day! / All is well! / We then are free from toil and sorrow, too; / With the just we shall dwell! / But
if our lives are spared again / To see the Saints their rest obtain, / Oh, how we’ll make this chorus swell— / All is well! / All is well!”
So then—that tabernacle, that singing, my ancestors welling in me, my father beside me, that magnificent woman, all combined with the organ and the man who played it and the man who had led her to it—whatever passed between the organ and her passed on to me.
I believed. I believed it all—the seeing without seeing, the hearing without hearing, the going by feel toward something holy, something that could make her cry, something that could move me, alter me, something as unexplainable as a vision or a mystic connection, something entering the pulse of a little girl, something that no matter what would never go away. What it had to do with Joseph Smith or his vision or his gospel I never would really understand—all I know to this day is that I believe.
Emma Lou Thayne wrote Hymn # 129," Where Can I Turn for Peace ..."

Where can I turn for peace?
Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,
I draw myself apart,
Searching my soul?

 Where, when my aching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know, where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.

 He answers privately,
Reaches my reaching
In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
Constant he is and kind,
Love without end.

My Blog Update:
I have been invited to have my blog Living Waters link added to the following Christian Devotional page which features the various blogs that have joined together with Devotional Christian to promote God-focused blogging that encourages other Christians in their daily walk with God. I am excited to have my blog included.
Here is a great site for good Christian resources and ideas for a Ministry for Children: 
http://ministry-for-children-com/  This site has great articles to help in raising children.  

I have moved my Inner City Mission Journal Moments to a new blog site which you can get to by clicking the button at the top of my side bar. We are enjoying our mission very much and I thought that when we complete this assignment I would want to have my journal published for our family. Thanks to all of you who visit my blogs. I have gainned many friends in the blogging world and I love reading all of your posts and I consider you very dear friends.
Keep on enjoying those moments!







Monday, August 8, 2011

An Attitude of Happiness -

Through my life experiences I have come to realize that our attitude is directly connected to our joy and happiness in this life. Attitude is a choice and we can choose to be positive and happy or we can choose to be negative and unhappy. The Prophet Joseph Smith stated the following: "I delight in a glad heart and a cheerful countenance".
In the world of today we are surrounded by negative influences. Most of the news is negative. Very few TV shows are movies are positive in nature. We are bombarded with violence, sexual situations and language. In the schools bad language and other negative influences impact the lives of our children.
So, the question is how can we choose to be happy and positive in our daily lives? Pres. Spencer W. Kimball gave the following thought; "And when we are asked why we are such a happy people, our answer is. “Because we have everything—life with all its opportunities, death without fear, eternal life with endless growth and development.”
The Savior said "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33.) We can overcome the world. We can choose not to read, listen to, or watch negative things. Heavenly Father wants us to have joy in our life."Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (2Nephi 2:25). As disciples of Christ we need to be more cheerful and optimistic about the future.
Take a moment to ponder Matthew 5; the Beatitudes. Perhaps think of the beatitudes as beautiful attitudes. All of the characteristics in the beatitudes are positive, happy, uplifting and blessed.
I know that I am the happiness when  I am obeying the commandments and serving and helping others. When we are just into Me's; we will find ourselves looking down instead of up towards our Savior.
The Savior also said: "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." (John 13:17) .
When you are happy it will show in your countenance; there will be a smile on your face.

May the smile on your face come straight from your heart.~ Ann Reinheart
A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.~ Dwight Evans
Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
~ Mother Teresa
A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you're at home.~ Bishop Sheen
Everyone smiles in the same language. ~ Randall Scott
 The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.~ Marcus Robinson
Life is a Gift enjoy it ~Mother Theresa

Think about our modern day prophets; they are men of positive and happy attitudes.

Pres. Gordan B. Hinckley said; "Be Believing. Be Happy. Don't get discouraged. Things will work out." Our prophets know that we will have discouragement, difficulties, and afflictions in our life; but they know that the Savior has overcome the world. On the night of Gethsemane, the Savior said; "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you....let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid:.(John 14: 27).
Let us choose to be happy. Again, the Savior said, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John 13: 17).

My Happiness Gifts for today -

176.The sweet face of a great granddaughter

177. My husband's smile
178. A hug from a friend



179. A listening ear
180. A prayer that is answered
181.The beauty of the earth
182.The smile of my dogs

183. A moment of good news
184. Hearing my daughters sing
185. Watching  grandchildren play
186. Good thoughts
187. The warmth of the sun
188. A cool breeze on a hot day
189.The beauty of a sunset
190. A spiritual moment in the temple
191. A test that is passed
192. A phone call from a child
192. A cheerful heart
193. An early morning walk
194. An encouraging scripture
195. A happy family
196. The song of a bird
197. A race that is run
198. A good night kiss
199. Chocolate, chocolate and then chocolate
200. The ending of a wonderful day

A-Wise-Woman-Builds-Her-Home