do this and joy...

In the church talk I mentioned in the last post, the sister missionary talked about asking for blessings and then living our lives so that Heavenly Father can give us those blessings. She also shared this thought that stuck with me:

 "Roots before Fruits"

One example of this concept she shared described a family where the parents were raised in the gospel and praised their childhood because of the great values that were instilled in them. They enjoyed church and got along well with their siblings because of the lessons they learned there. And although they said they wanted the same values and lessons for their children they chose not to actively live the gospel or take their children to church anymore.

She said this was ridiculous. 

You can't expect the fruits of the gospel if you don't have the roots of the gospel. 

Although, I suppose this should be obvious and is essentially why you hear the ABC's or sunday school answers of the gospel so often... it stuck out to me.

So as a reminder to myself to be better and to live this gospel I know to be true, 
"Roots before Fruits"

I have a family... they are so good to me

The senior missionary couple spoke in church, and though I only got to hear the first talk (thanks tuck...) I really enjoyed it. 

The sister shared a story. 

She described how when she and her husband were younger, they had only been married a few years, had 2 young children and were very poor. She said sometimes she'd go searching through the couch cushions to find an extra dime to be able to buy milk for the babies. One such day, her husband and her were feeling down about their situation and decided to make a list of all the things they would buy if they had the money. 

She said it was fun and made them feel better to make this list and pretend money wasn't an issue for a moment.

Fast forward 3 years and they are packing up to move, when she happens upon the list they had created one night. She marveled at the fact that she had everything they had written on their list including a dryer (this was probably 1960ish: dryers were a big deal), a new car, and they just bought a house which is why they were moving. 

Her point being sometimes we need to ask Heavenly Father for the blessings we want and then live our lives so that he can give us those blessings. 

As we drove home, Cary and I decided we needed to make a list, so we too can have everything we want in 3 years... and the list started with things such as all the infomercial crap we've ever wanted to try (read: nuwave, no!no!, dyson vacuum, every workout video, etc.) and other silly items, I thought to myself "I am so blessed." 

We are so blessed to obviously have everything we need/want to the point where our list of wants includes crap off informercials I see in the middle of the night. 

Feeling pretty lucky tonight.

What more can He say

Thoughts 1.0 (idea stolen from mary)

1. As much as I do not love Provo, I occasionally have to count the blessings of living here. Today's example being a regional conference where I was privileged to hear the counsel of Julie Beck, General RS President, and two apostles of the Lord, President Packer and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.

2. Sometimes (read: a lot lately, since I have no major distractions, occupations, projects in my life) I observe friends lives and get a little down on myself.

I surround myself with extremely talented, good-looking people (obviously, because friends rub off on us, so I for sure want the good rubbings). My friends include individuals who have sung with the mormon tabernacle choir, play collegiate sports, raise beautiful well behaved children, compete in marathons/triathlons, get masters degrees, buy houses, win beauty pageants, travel the world, play every instrument, and get prestigious internships.

At church you often hear people recall that someone spoke on just the thing they needed to hear that week. I was fortunate to have this same experience yesterday. Sister Beck got up to speak and announced that she hadn't written a talk. She had instead just had different impressions of what to say. She then said "I feel that I need to tell you, you're doing better than you think you are."

I couldn't help but feel like she was saying that to me. I'm not one to say woe is me, because I'm acutely aware of the over abundance of blessings in my life. Especially, as of late, I often think to myself that I got it 100% right in the husband department, so everything else is just details.

Yet, I am often extremely critical of my own situation, and it was reassuring to have a servant of the Lord tell me that I'm doing alright. Ha, followed by "but, you can do better."

What a loving heavenly father, that he gives you a hug and tells you it's ok, but then gently shoves you to go out there and be the best you can be.

3. On the same note, a good friend shared this video with me




4. So... here I go. I have a long ambitious to-do list for today, and I'm applying to a job that would be a good place for me to start. Wish me luck!