Happy Endings

Last week my daughter called me to "confess" that she messed up. She was upset that she didn't follow through quick enough on a prompting to help someone. A woman in line at Panda Express in front of her had her card denied and had to leave without her food. Said empathetic daughter told the cashier she would pay for the woman's items, but by then, the woman had left and couldn't be seen in the vicinity, so the moment passed. Flash forward to my recent experience. I was at a stop light and saw the unkempt old man with the ubiquitous cardboard sign. The only word I noted, which was darkened, was "HUNGRY." I knew I had no food in the car and rationalize it's no good to give money, and then the light changed and I moved on. But immediately my daughter's recent experience came into my mind and I thought, "I can do SOMETHING right now." I drove the few blocks to Taco Bell, bought the Big Box Meal and turned back to the intersection, hoping the man would still be there. He was. I rolled down the window and extended my offering, calling out, "Dinner?" He ran over, took the food gratefully and said, "Wow! this is great! Thanks!" I drove off, but not without emotion overtaking me and tears pricking the corners of my eyes. I called my daughter to tell her what had occurred and why. Her experience had prompted my actions.
But the story didn't end there. That night I lay in bed and remembered that my scripture study that morning had been cut short, and I wanted to finish the chapter I had started. I turned to where I'd left off 12 hours earlier and read:

11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have ^atasted of his love, and have received a^bremission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own ^cnothingness, and his ^dgoodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of ^ehumility, ^fcalling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing ^gsteadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.

 12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the ^alove of God, and always ^bretain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the ^cknowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.  

16 And also, ye yourselves will ^asuccor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the ^bbeggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.

 17 Perhaps thou shalt ^asay: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just—

 18 But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.

 19 For behold, are we not all ^abeggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?

 20 And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a ^aremission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his^bSpirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with ^cjoy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.

 21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to ^aimpart of the substance that ye have one to another. (Mosiah 4:11-21)

I was overwhelmed with the Spirit, testifying to me of the love of my Heavenly Father, His mindfulness of me and my family, and how He wants to bless us. I was grateful for this opportunity to be receptive to His promptings, not only to help another fellow human being, but to comfort my daughter and uplift her, and to received this special "God wink" through His scriptures. My heart is filled with joy! 

 

Who are your villagers?

We all know the phrase, "It takes a village to raise a child," but have you ever applied it to your own experience? Who are the influential people in your life, past or present, who have shaped and influenced you?



Here's my top 10:

1. & 2. My parents. Of course. They are the first influences on any child. My mother's example is one of generosity, love, humor and selflessness. She is always putting others first. She can laugh at herself and has a flair for bringing smiles to others. I'm sure my love of service and the gratification it brings is her legacy. My dad, also very selfless, was the first person most of his family and friends thought of if they needed help of any kind, and especially in the department of mechanics. Growing up I thought he was the smartest person ever. When I went away to college I would call him and describe the noises my car was making so I could get the right diagnosis before going to the local mechanic. His love and trust in me gave me the wings and the courage to succeed. They both epitomized unconditional love.

3. & 4. Holly (Olson) Hastings and John DeVilbiss. Friends during high school who had the courage to reach out to me and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with me. Their examples of righteous living amidst teenage angst and peer pressure were extremely important and served as role models for me. Don't even want to imagine where or who I'd be without their influence.

5. & 6. Missionaries! The two missionaries who taught me the gospel (once I was directed to them by Holly) were Orson West and Larry Johnson. I'm so grateful for their willingness to sacrifice two years of their lives to serve in that capacity. They were very patient with me as I questioned them again and again, but they were firm in their testimonies and convictions so that the Spirit could reach and teach me. Our family is still in contact with Orson, forty years after our baptisms. He is an example of the scripture in D&C 18:10, 15-16:

10 Remember the ^aworth of ^bsouls is great in the sight of God;

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one ^asoul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

 16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the ^akingdom of my Father, how great will be your ^bjoy if you should bring many ^csouls unto me!

7. & 8. Teachers. In high school it was William Boyle, who taught Latin, and Rita Mallahy, who taught English. Their enthusiasm and love of their subjects helped me to not only want to learn those subjects, but to want to learn, period. I could tell that they really loved their students and teaching as well. Having a teacher show interest in you at that age is very nurturing.

9. & 10. Gospel teachers, Jim Foley and Vern Wolf. Jim was my seminary teacher in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Seminary is the religious instruction for teens. He taught me the Book of Mormon that year and his classes were so interesting! I learned about Chiasmus, and likening the scriptures to my life, and looking for the positive in every day. Now I am a seminary teacher (again!) and call up the inspiration and influence of Br. Foley as I teach the youth each morning. Vern Wolf was a Gospel Principles teacher I had at Brigham Young University. He took my knowledge and testimony of the gospel to a whole new level. Every day was inspirational and thought-provoking. He challenged us to write out our testimony and conversion story and that exercise has remained a reference point for me to this day.

Who are your villagers?

Consecration

 

I've been searching for over a year for a marathon to run. I've done one half-marathon and several 5ks but this would be my first 26.2 and I had a lot of criteria. That criteria has changed over the past few months. At first I was training in my Vibram 5-fingers so I was looking for a trail run, but then I developed foot pain from running wrong and had to wear shoes with inserts so trail running was out. I was looking for something close by, relatively flat, not on city streets and not on a Sunday. Then in September, Rich and I began our callings as temple workers, which is every Saturday morning. Now I had to look for a marathon that wasn't held on a Saturday as well. Good luck with that, you say? Well, I strongly believe in the promises in 2 Nephi 32:9 so I asked for Help in finding a marathon and then accomplishing the goal to run it. I soon found this one and have felt inspiration and help all along the way as I prepare:

• I was worried about what to eat before and during that long of a run, and then I got the same advice from two different people on the same day to use Chia seeds. My son-in-law got me a great recipe for chia/honey/lime water and that has proved to be the best fuel for all my long runs so far.
• I'm not very good about warming up before runs, and I started getting some knee pains. The next day I found in my inbox a video from Care2.com about the best routine for warming up: The Lunge Matrix. This has helped tremendously with my knees.
• After I began using DoTerra essential oils on my feet, my arthritis and foot pains have been greatly diminished and actually go away while I'm running.

Tomorrow is my longest of the training runs before the marathon on January 1st: 20 miles. I'm more excited than nervous and am confident things will go well, as I "run the race set before [me]" (see Heb. 12:1).

For a Wise Purpose

Just got an email from my sister with this accompanying map. It reminded me of the 116 pages of the Book of Mormon translation that Martin Harris got from Joseph Smith. God knew hundreds of years before that incident that He needed to prepare a second set of plates to replace the 116 pages that would be lost, so he had Nephi make the Small Plates of Nephi (see 1 Nephi 9:3-6), then he inspired Mormon to include those plates with his abridgment. (see Words of Mormon1-6-7). I don't know when these school district boundaries were made, or what the initial reasoning was to create this little "bump" that goes into Cortland County, but they have certainly served the greater purpose of allowing our Toby to attend a school that will be beneficial to him. I'm glad someone followed the prompting they must have gotten to do it!