Thanksgiving #3

I am thankful for great books. For the stories that change the way you look at the world. For the characters that reflect your own strengths and weaknesses back to you from the pages. For the masterful sentences and paragraphs that you read over and over again just to revel in the shear beauty of the language.

I'm thankful to my parents who exposed me to the joy of reading in my childhood and for my boyfriend who will randomly call me in the middle of his literature homework to share some particularly beautiful passage with me.

Thanksgiving #2

Today I am thankful for hot showers. This time of year it is both cold and dark when I drag myself out of bed on work days and once I hop into a hot shower and suddenly my morning transforms. I wake up, I'm happy, and I can even see the beauty in the frosty sunrise. So I am thankful for indoor plumbing, for water heaters, for having my little apartment, and for living in this era of technology and comfort.

Thanksgiving #1

To get myself in the holiday mood for Thanksgiving I've decided to write a small post each day from now until Thanksgiving about something I am grateful for. So here goes.

I am grateful for my morning bus driver. I ride the same bus into work every morning and have had the same bus driver almost every morning for over a year. He knows my name (because I left my Penn State ID in the bus once) and always greets me with a smile and a "Good Morning, Amber." We exchange the basic conversational pleasantries and then I got to my seat. I'm not the only one he knows, he knows all the regulars - when they get on, when they get off, etc. More then once I've seen him stop even when someone forgot to request it because he knows that is where they always get off remind someone who has drifted off, or simply wasn't paying attention. These may seem like small things, but his happy face and cheery good morning are a great start to my day at work.

One Step at a Time

There has been a lot going on in my life lately. I'm still in training for my new position at work and working hard to get things done correctly and on time. I'm coming up on the last two weeks of the term at school so everything is coming due at once. On top of that I am trying to fulfill my church responsibilities, support others in their callings, do my visiting teaching, and be a good girlfriend.

Occasionally  I have moments when I start thinking about everything that needs done and a feeling of complete overwhelmedness wells up in me it everything seems to be slipping through the cracks.  Even while I am trying to accomplish one task my mind is racing to all the other things that need to be done and in that distracted state I cannot manage to complete anything well.  Then I remember the counsel that President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave in the October 2010 General Conference: "When stress levels rise... too often we attempt to keep up the same frantic pace or even accelerate. ... It is good advice to slow down a little, steady the course, and focus on the essentials when experiencing adverse conditions. ...My dear brothers and sisters, we would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most."

I am learning that when stress comes I can take a step back, focus on one things at a time and before I know it things are getting accomplished and my life in back in order again. I am also learning to focus on the things that matter most. I could spend a few more hours obsessing over my latest school assignment, or I could take that time and visit with a sister in my branch who is struggling and leave uplifted myself. I realized this weekend that one of the best things I did for my school work was to put it away on Friday night and go to a basketball game with my boyfriend. When I went back to my school work on Saturday I was refreshed, focused, and ready to do my very best work. I guess I am every-so-slowly learning to do "all things in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that [we] should run faster than [we have] strength. [But] it is expedient that [we] should be diligent." (Mosiah 4:27)

This One's For the Girls

Today's post was inspired by randomly hearing Martina McBride's "This One's For the Girls" on the radio.

"This is for all you girls about 25, In little apartments, just tryin' to get by Livin' on, on dreams and spaghettios, Wonderin' where your life is gonna go

"This one's for the girls. Who love without holdin' back, Who dream with everything they have, All around the world, this one's for the girls"

Granted it isn't great poetry or the best song ever written but it got me thinking about all the wonderful girls in my life who seem to fit right into the description of this song. So this is a shout out to the girls who are such great examples in my life. The girls I grew up with, the girls I went to college with, the girls, the girls I served my mission with, I hang out with here in State College.

I've learned so many things from these girls. I've learned how to be selfless. I've learned how to open up and be vulnerable. I've learned how to make the best of any situation that comes my way. I've learned the value of laughter. I've learned the joy of having someone you trust entirely. I've learned how to face and overcome trails. I've learned the value of sisterhood and the Relief Society. Those are just a few of the things I learned and these pictures are just a few of the girls I've learned it from. I feel so undeservedly blessed to have all these girls in my life.

Another marriage in the family

Since I devoted a post to my older sister's wedding I now feel the need to keep you updated on the marriages in my family whether anyone care or not. A week ago I got an e-mail from my oldest brother in Taiwan announcing that he and his long term girlfriend had eloped to the Taiwanese equivalent of the justice of the peace and become legally and lawfully married. Here are some pictures of my crazy brother and wonderful sister-in-law.

Reflections on work and consecration

Lately I have been thinking about consecration and what it means to lead a consecrated life. At first glace consecration seems to be all about being obviously involved in the Lord's work; things like missionary work, service, calling, visiting teaching, etc. However, the fact is the most of us spend a very small percentage of our time on these activities. I have a full time job and am a part time student. The majority of my time is spent working on things that, in the grand scheme of things, are irrelevant. So what does consecration mean for me.
 
It is no surprise that I found my answer in the latest general conference. Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave a wonderful talk on this very subject. He said: "A consecrated life is a life of labor [...] We naturally desire to participate with Him in His work, and in so doing, we ought to recognize that all honest work is the work of God. In the words of Thomas Carlyle: 'All true Work is sacred; in all true Work, were it but true hand-labour, there is something of divineness. Labour, wide as the Earth, has its summit in Heaven." These opened me up to a new idea that any honorable work is the Lords work.

Elder Christofferson continued, "God has designed this mortal existence to require nearly constant exertion. [...] By work we sustain and enrich life. It enables us to survive the disappointments and tragedies of the mortal experience. Hard-earned achievement brings a sense of self-worth. Work builds and refines character, creates beauty, and is the instrument of our service to one another and to God. A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves, orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires."

I am beginning to realize that in addition to devoting what free time I have to the Lord's work, we can bring a level of consecration to all the work we do in our life by doing it to the best of our ability, maintaining a high level of integrity, and allowing the experience to refine our characters. I am still sorting out the details of the application of this principle, but I think I am making progress.

I will close my ramblings with a quote from J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings: "Too often have I heard of duty," she cried. "I have waited on faltering feet long enough. [...], may I not now spend my life as I will?"
"Few may do that with honor," he answered.