Loving Ourselves

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I wanted to write a post about Love. If we look around us, we can see evidence all around of love. As a Mom, it is easy for me to think of how much I love my children. It is easy to think of loving my husband. But, one thing I don’t think that often about is how much happier I would be if I would take more time to love myself. To love ourselves, I think we first must recognize our divine nature. We are all sons and daughters of God. He loves … Continue reading

Helping Hands

As Logan and I were driving home from the train station the other day I hear him say, “Look Mom! Those people still have their Christmas lights up!” I’m not sure why this was such a shock for him, seeing as we still have our up too, but it reminded me of a time when I was small, when the reason for this was far different. We’ve been busy this year and it just hasn’t been convenient to get up there to take them down yet, but years ago I remember our lights being up for months, not because we … Continue reading

Encouraging Kindness

It’s been snowing a lot here in Salt Lake. We probably got a good foot in the last week and with the way this winter has gone, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it just kept coming. One of the downsides to the never-ending snow is that the driveways and sidewalks need to be shoveled almost constantly. This week our sweet next door neighbor not only did our driveway but all of our sidewalks as well. It was such a pleasant surprise to go out to my car and not get stuck in the driveway this time. We have … Continue reading

Girls Night: It’s a Must!

I’ve started a new little tradition with a couple of my closest girlfriends. Every other weekend we try to have a night just for us girls. We go out to dinner, raid thrift stores, do crafts, and talk about anything and everything until all hours of the morning. For a long time I didn’t make my friends a real priority in my life. I was going to school full time, raising a child on my own, and trying my hardest to keep up on everything. I didn’t feel like I had time for friends anymore. It wasn’t until this past … Continue reading

Serving Others Despite A Busy Life

I have been thinking a lot lately about serving others. At this stage in my life, it feels impossible to reach outside the needs of my own little family that demands so much, to others that might be in need. However, I believe that the Lord expects so much more of each of us. In the book, Daughters in My Kingdom, there is a quote by George Albert Smith that states, “Our eternal happiness will be in proportion to the way that we devote ourselves to helping others.” When you really think about that statement, it is hard not to … Continue reading

What Does it Mean to Be Head of the Household?

What does it mean to be the head of the household? That’s the question someone raised recently in response to an earlier blog written by someone else on this site. In this blog I’m going to try and answer what it means for a marriage for someone to be the head of the household. Let me start by saying what I don’t think it means. It doesn’t mean that one person is in charge and rules everything that happens in the marriage. I don’t believe, as the last person who commented did, that it means the head of the household’s … Continue reading

Two Kinds of Workers

The other day we looked at the way Jesus used a parable to teach something about God. We saw How God, the landowner, called workers into his vineyard and they obeyed. God calls people to work for Him. Have you obeyed? In the parable we saw some of the workers were not called to work until the eleventh hour. In other words, they had not been given the opportunity to work earlier. There are people like that in our churches. They don’t just see a job and get in and do it. They wait till they’re asked. Perhaps there are … Continue reading

Reach Out to Help Others

Recently I had a conversation with one of my friends about the importance of giving back. It started as a discussion on the economy, and the dismal way it seemed to be going, and then it turned to the extravagant lifestyles that so many people seem to be embracing. We then talked about how we could help those around us. She mentioned a project she had completed in another town where she cut hair for the poor children whose parents couldn’t afford to get them a new outfit and school supplies for school. This is a great way to reach … Continue reading

The Bible is a Book of Contrasts

Don’t you love how the bible presents us with contrasts? Take the examples in Mark 10:32-52. Here we see two lots of different people with two distinctly different requests. In the first, John and James, after learning about the impending death of Jesus in Jerusalem, reacted perhaps not as we might have expected. Rather than concern for Jesus, their focus was on themselves and what might happen to them and what they wanted to happen. They tried to coerce Jesus into answering their request before he even knew what it was, verse 35. Jesus makes it clear he needs to … Continue reading

Never Too Old!

Some people use age as an excuse to opt out of becoming involved and helping others. Our local paper recently ran a story about an 87 year old man, Cyril Brown. Unlike some today, his main focus has never been on earning a living and looking after his own best interests. Rather, his has been a life of helping and serving others. Currently he is a volunteer who delivers for Meals on Wheels. Ironically, he is older than some of the people he is delivering meals too. When not delivering meals, he spends his time doing other odd jobs to … Continue reading