My Simple Daybook for June, 6, 2020

Our lives pass swiftly by! 

We must find our own quiet place to discover who we are.

Remembering and recording everyday

 moments are great gifts to leave behind.

The big things are important, but it is in the details

that our story is born.

The telling of the ordinary moments

are the threads from 

which the bigger stories emerge.

These things are important links to the outcome

 of what our posterity will inherit from us.

These Daybook posts are my attempt at it.

Just for today~May 21, 2020

Outside My Window:  Today it is really nice out.  Our temperatures have been all over the map lately.  In the 100's one day and cold and windy the next. Like everything right now, it is just a crazy time to be alive!  But today is ideal.  In the 70s and peaceful weather-wise.  On the other hand, we are on the last day of getting a new roof put on and there are three men on the roof right above my head pounding and walking around and dropping big bundles of roofing material right overhead.  After three days of it, you'd think one would get used to it but I jump every single time the bundles get dropped.  So I'm trying to concentrate on this and move forward.

Spiritual Thoughts: As the pandemic rages on now, with protesting, civil unrest, and improper actions by both the law enforcement side, in some cases, and the equally inappropriate retaliation by protesters that have at times escalated to rioting and looting, we are in a real mess.  Of course, the news coverage is biased and we only get to see the worst of the worst.  So I have found myself on a roller coaster ride dealing with health issues, worry about our country, our friends and family, and I find myself emotionally exhausted. Yesterday I pretty much crashed and burned after many months of trying to hold it all it together. 

I woke up this morning with a new perspective.  I love the mornings when things seem to hold a clearer vision on most days. I realized that we can either see the world through rose-colored glasses, regular glasses, or dark-colored glasses.  We get to choose.  The glasses are a metaphor for the filter we view everything through as we go day by day. It is not so much about our moods but about the foundational believes we have that govern our perspective of things.  We have to keep looking to what anchors us, to keep us on top of what we think day by day. 

For me, that foundation is a Christ-centered life. We believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We believe that we are all children of our Heavenly Father that loves us. That includes every single person that has been born in the past or will come in the future.  All are equal unto God and always will be.

We believe that God the Father sent his only begotten Son to the earth to teach us how to be more like Jesus. He paid the price for everyone's sins because he loves all of us.  The atonement will heal us in mind, body, and spirit if we allow it. We must partake with faith in it. We believe that through this atonement of Jesus Christ, we can all return and live with God someday.  

He has given us the way and now we can choose for ourselves. We have our agency to choose how we will live and think.  Will we follow Jesus, and hear him, and learn from him?  Or will we choose our own path in the world?  Will we serve and love our brothers and sisters or not?  Will we choose good over evil?  We are all human.  We all make mistakes.  Do we hold fast to our choices when we make mistakes or do we repent and course-correct our thoughts and actions?  This repentance is an ongoing practice as we travel through life. 

What I have learned from this crazy time is that I truly need to see the times and happening with my regular prescription glasses where my acuity is just right, close up, midway, and in the distance.  I can see my blessings as well as the challenges we all face now.  

We know that life will not always be rosy and that sometimes it will be very dark.  But with our regular glasses, we can clearly see that God's plan is our foundation.  We know troubled times will come throughout our lives.  It is part of God's plan to refine us. But we also know our trials shape and teach us great lessons and the Lord never leaves us alone. In essence, what I have learned is that our circumstances are always in flux.  This too shall pass.   How we choose to see it and cope with things makes all the difference.  "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he". Proverbs 2:37  Our thoughts shape our attitudes in all things. And every action is shaped by our thoughts.

Praying for: more learning and understanding of life. More ways to apply what I learn each day.  Praying for more compassion for everyone no matter with they are going through.  Praying right now especially for our dear friends. He has had several strokes two brain surgeries in the last few weeks  Their family has gathered around as they all wait, pray, and hope for a miracle.  We all are praying for what is best for him. 

What Can I Do To Make A Difference For People...thinking of our friends above we can stand beside them in prayer, we can help them temporally with specific tasks to lighten the load like yard work.  Jim and some friends from Church did that last week and preparing a meal for the family that is gathering this weekend as we have been doing today.  But most of all we can, going forward, give them more support, more love, and more of whatever they need.  There is the shock of it, and it is made so much worse that she has not been allowed to visit him in the hospital because of Covid-19.  Because even though we know they will be together again in the next life, the time in between is getting harder. And the wait and see is pure torture.

Quotes I Love..."if you want to be a light to lift others you first have to glow yourself."  Russell M. Nelson, The Prophet's Words: Ensign June 2020, page 60.

Prettiest Photo on Pinterest Today...I love Pansies.  My dad used to grow them in our garden in the backyard when I was growing up.  I enjoyed helping him.  They are so beautiful and delicate and they feel like velvet. He also grew snapdragons.

Pinterest

https://tinyurl.com/y8omvr3d

Thinking about...how I used to love blogging so much and when I really started slacking off with it was when I could not get the Blogger platform to stay in the same font or font sized or color and it would drive me insane.   Fingers crossed, but I think I have finally figured out why and have been able to fix it.  I hope I am not jinxing myself.  I really like spending a day doing this if it works right.

I Am So Pleased...that I am getting in the mood to cook again.  Weird but true.  I have found this young lady named Rachel that has a fun blog and does Youtube Videos.  Her handle is "The Stay At Home Chef "and she does some really nice recipes and demos them on Youtube.  She makes it look so easy and hassle-free.  At my age that is what I am looking for.  She also does a lot of the old favorites and some fancy things too. 

Feeling Excited About...feeling better and another few weeks closer to normal. Also, I am also feeling really happy about being able to help people remotely with their family history.  They get on their computer and I get on mine and together on the phone I walk them through their problem area and I can then refer them to the exact place they can look in The Family History Guide and find more help. All they have to do is have two tabs open <family search.org> and <thefhguide.com> It is working very well.

I Must Be Getting Old Because...I see the world in a different light than when I was younger.  I think maturity just adds such a rich perspective on things.

My Near Future Holds...getting more of everything done now that I am feeling better. Morning walks with Jim that are so lovely.  I am loving the feeling of being so much more attuned to nature when I can get out in it.  I've been in the house for a long time.  The magnificent way in which things happen in nature is just so fascinating.  There are three turkeys that have lost their flock apparently and each day we see them in the exact same place.  They are walking around in the same area and one appears to be the leader. It's weird and interesting.  When we come out of our driveway we do not see them and they appear each morning as we are about at the curve in the road.  It's like they had an internal clock.  When we come back they are always gone. There is a woodpecker that is always in the same group of big trees.  He greets us each morning with his pecking. 

Our little babies wrens have hatched and it is so much fun to hear them chirping so loud for food as their parents are working like crazy to find it.  It is a pattern that we as humans parents also follow.  We prepare for our kids and we work hard to feed them for a long time!  The wren family is adorable.  We think there are five babies but it is hard to tell.   When we peak into the dark tiny hole we just see gray little furry balls of fluff that make them look like one giant bird. The parents are teachers, they are industrious and they bring joy to us.  Such a simple and yet very complex thing to behold. It reminds me of the scripture, "If any would not work, neither shall he eat." 2 Thessalonians 3:10. The mother and father birds have it covered.

Movies We Have Seen Lately...last week we watched School Ties.  An older and very good movie about prejudice towards the Jewish people.  It is set back in the early 50s after WWII when sentiments and prejudice were very high.  It is about how a Jewish student is drafted by an ivy league prep school as a football star and how he is treated when people find out he is Jewish. The thing with prejudice is it just needs to be drastically fixed and changed within each individual.  In each heart, in each society, in each place in the world, there is room for change. 

It is not God's way or the right way to live.  God has no favorites he loves all his children just as all great parents do. It was interesting to see Matt Damon and Brendon Frazier when they were very young and  School Ties evokes a lot of thought and desire for change.  Very applicable for today.

Books I'm Reading...I have a bunch of things going with Audible.  I really like it and have a lot to finish before I get anything else that is new. I have a crazy variety of things all cued up depending on my mood at the moment.  I want to read The Seat of the Soul, by Gary Zukav when I get finished with the ones I am in the middle of right now.  I saw him interviewed by Oprah and she says it is her favorite book ever!  It taught her how to live intentionally. 

A Photo I am Sharing...is actually a video.  This new father-daughter duo is absolutely a sensation since COVID-19 kept them home looking for some things to do. They are Mat and Savanna Shaw and they are so wonderful!  She is only 15!  Check them out on Google or YouTube.  I cannot get enough of their music or them.    Click here to give a listen!  https://youtu.be/NZQSxDFDcxc