Thankful Thirty #7 (Election Day)

I watched my 18-year-old neighbor cast his first-ever election ballot today and it nearly made me teary.  Over the years I've known him to be a typical teenager-arguing with his parents a lot of the time, pushing the boundaries they have set, and insisting that he's an adult and can make his own decisions even though he's still in high school.  Seeing him truly come of age and make such a mature decision to exercise the right to make his citizen's voice heard was heartening.  

I myself felt the weight that comes with having my personal choice make a difference on election day.  After trying for years to fully understand the electoral college v. popular vote, I will admit it still is a little shady to me.  BUT, I KNOW it is important to make sure my choice and preferences are heard.

Most people who know me will not be surprised when I say the presidential race did not go the way I had been hoping for.  I want to make it really clear that I am not a straight-ticket republican-I had a real struggle deciding which candidate to support in our national Senate race today, and even as I type shortly before midnight, I'm anxiously awaiting the results for our new congressional district, where my preference is for the Democratic candidate.  But I did believe Mitt Romney had a clearer vision and belief in the America that I want to live in.  

I am not going to be angry,though.  I'm not going to let my fears get in the way of my faith.  Instead, tonight I was reminded by the Holy Ghost that President Thomas S. Monson, the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the living prophet of the Lord today, is still valiantly guiding us to live righteously.  The Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are still special witnesses of Jesus Christ and are still striving to spread His message of love and service to all the citizens of the world.  I believe President Dieter F. Uchtdorf when he says,

“Our fate and the fate of our world hinge

 on our hearing and heeding the revealed word of God to His children.”

Whether you voted for Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, whether you exercised your right to vote or stayed at home, whether you woke up this morning with renewed hope or a hesitation over the unknown, I want you to know that my eyes are still firmly looking towards the Lord.  Regardless of which side you are on, know that the Lord has promised great blessings on THIS country.  OUR country.  The United States of America.  Our responsibility?  Our best hope of one day seeing her take her full reward?  Live righteously.  Follow His commandments.  Serve your neighbor more than yourself.  Seek not for riches, but for treasures in Heaven.

I am grateful we can still hope in an America that is great. 

 We, the people, can make it great!

Unfamiliar with 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and it's teachings?

I hope the links I've provided above will help to answer some of your questions.

A Moment Before Election Day

"I have faith in America...I plead with you not to preach pessimism.  Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world.  This is the favored land.  This is the land of our forefathers.  It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through."

-Harold B. Lee

Please pray before entering your voting booth on Tuesday!

I'm grateful my one vote can make a difference in my local, state, and national election.

In My Heart On Thursday

"Curiosity is not a preparation."

-Elder Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple

In My Heart On Thursday

"We are all busy.  It's easy to find excuses for not reaching out to others, but I imagine they will sound as hollow to our Heavenly Father as the elementary school boy who gave his teacher a note asking that he be excused from school March 30th through March 34th."

-Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

In My Heart On Thursday

The Echo

'Twas a sheep not a lamb

That strayed away in the parable Jesus told,

A grown-up sheep that strayed away

From the ninety and nine in the fold.

And why for the sheep should we seek 

And earnestly hope and pray?

Because there is danger when sheep go wrong:

They lead the lambs astray.

Lambs will follow the sheep, you know, 

Wherever the sheep may stray.

When sheep go wrong, 

It won't take long till the lambs are as wrong as they.

And so with the sheep we earnestly plead

For the sake of the lambs today,

For when the sheep are lost

What a terrible cost

The lambs will have to pay.

-C.C. Miller, as read by Elder Richard J. Maynes, Establishing a Christ-Centered Home

In My Heart On Thursday

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints held their annual General Conference this weekend.  Available almost immediately world-wide via internet streaming and radio broadcast, I still appreciate the blessing of living in Utah and being able to watch it live on network tv.  This year I tried to keep my boys interested with coloring pages and crafts that taught the names of the leaders who were speaking.  For the first time in many years I was able to enjoy all four sessions without too many child distractions.  

So many of the messages spoke directly to troubles or worries I have in my life, but the talk I can't get out of my head today was by Elder Lynn G. Robbins.

The difference between "doing" and "being."  I asked my husband last night what he needs from me-how I can be a better wife and make his life more enjoyable.  I was expecting a long list of chores like "put away the laundry instead of leaving it folded in the clothes basket for a week" and "have all the toys put away when I get home from work at the end of the day."  Instead he poured out his heart with his desires for me to remember the beautiful person I was when we were first together.  He didn't have a big gold star to award me when I finished a checklist of household duties.  Instead he shared the pain he feels as he sees me pulling away from him and our kids, and his fear that one day I will wake up not able to remember what it means to be happy.

Now, there's no need to rush out and put me into therapy.  I have spent a lot of time lately very introverted and selfishly looking only at me.  There's a slippery slope in that and I've allowed myself to start down it.  Not too far down, though and to see that today is very refreshing.

The reason it matters to me so much all of a sudden?  A great opportunity to fulfill a dream has opened up unexpectedly.  It's the right time and will be incredibly successful, but I don't have my cards in order.  Quite a few other messages given this weekend stressed the importance of being ready for the blessings of eternity when they become available to you.  Obviously I'm already married and have two beautiful little boys; what I've neglected to work on is my time management and putting them at the center of my life.  It's hard to convince them that starting a huge new endeavour won't leave them even more in the peripheral of my eye.

And so, that is what I am starting on today.  Rededicating myself to the small and simple things-daily prayer and scripture study, listening and praising, putting away the laundry and maybe even helping wash the dishes.  The other project is going to move forward and that's exciting as well as scary.  Hopefully re-creating the strength of love for my family, myself, and my relationship with my Heavenly Father will be the piece of the puzzle that makes this upcoming venture attainable.

Doing It Before I Think About It

The Deseret Book at Temple Square is presenting a watercolor art exhibit through the end of the Christmas Season.  The artist is Elder Richard G. Scott (Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints).  After admiring a friend's artwork, Elder Scott began exploring his own artistic abilities and 40 years later is sharing the product of that decision.  A nuclear engineer by trade, Elder Scott has found inspiration and escape through painting.  A hidden talent now on public display.

This particular art exhibit has thoroughly intrigued me as I struggle daily to find inspiration in sharing my own talents.  I am a writer, I feel confident enough to say.  I find joy in putting words together and enjoy when other people read what I have to say. Just as with Elder Scott, maybe people are not aware of that talent within me.   I have not exercised my ability in some time.  Call it writer's block, or laziness, it has been a long time since I've been able to stream together a series of sentences that anyone else would want to read.  It seems the more stressed or overwhelmed my life becomes, the quicker I am to turn away from what should be a source of release.  I feel like I have absolutely nothing to say.

My father-in-law, Duane Hiatt, has been a performer all his life.  Singing, orating, and enacting historical impressions, his talents and abilities have always been out there for the public to see.  When Ben and I were first married it was so exciting to see him performing Lincoln or giving a fireside or singing old 3d's tunes.  I use to be so baffled that his own kids and other in-laws were not as captivated as me.  I've deciphered, though, that it's because Duane has not spent his life afraid to share those songs and stories; they are well-known and well-appreciated by the people who have known him for long periods of his life.

And, so, I find it encouraging that he is now writing a blog in which he's sharing stories and lessons that not everybody has known.  It is surprising people and generations that have known him for awhile, that his ability to tell a story through the written-word is as entertaining as all his other abilities.  Obviously, Duane is in a different time of life than I am, but he's still a busy man finding time to share his thoughts and bring brief rays of light in my sometimes uninspiring days.

We hear all the time that each of us has talents to develop and share.  I know a lot of people but wouldn't say that I know the special abilities of too many of them.  That makes me sad.  I want to know what inspires you, what gives you joy and a break from the mundane-ness of your day.  I want to find more inspiration to share my talents with you-maybe talents I don't even recognize that I have, but definitely the writing ability I know I do have.

With these thoughts as my inspiration today, I'm going to spell-check and post without doing any other proof-reading.  If I take one moment to review and re-think today I know this will turn into one more thought that never makes it out of my head.  Thank you for reading.  Give me the opportunity to reciprocate with your God-given talents and abilities. I look forward to it!

My Reflection

My grandfather passed away 10 or 12 years ago after a long period of heart ailments. I was a teenager then-at an age where I wasn't included in the adult conversation but still indirectly aware of all that was going on. Intimate communication has not been abundant within my family and the difficulty my father had with that momentous occasion in his life caused the lack of conversation to be all the more apparent. I remember Grandpa Aalbers being a source of humor and joy in my life. He was a hard worker and a joker. My memories begin well after he had sold his farm, but he and my grandma still had sheep and chickens and row upon row of home-grown vegetables. I can remember feeding the baby sheep out of a glass bottle with a black rubber nipple and watching the sheep run up the shoot to be loaded on the truck and taken to auction. I also can remember the stench of the chicken coop, dozens of cats swarming over my feet to reach their food, and picking strawberries in the field across the street. My most frequent memories of my grandfather, though, are of him teasing my sisters by calling them the wrong name and laughing as he sat in his recliner. He always had pink bubble gum in a cardboard cigar box in the sun room and it was a special treat when he took it off the shelf and opened up the lid. We used to crawl in the sprawling vinyl backseat of his car and he and Grandma would take us for soft-serve ice cream. He didn't go to church, but he always drove Grandma there and often came to visit us while he waited-always bringing with him a selection of the week's freshest garden crop. It is common to hear someone remark, "he was a humble man," after the passing of a loved one. I do not know if my grandfather was humble. When he died I wasn't yet to an age when humility meant anything to me. I don't know if he was an intelligent man or a wise man. I just know that he was my grandpa. Tonight as I ponder the loss of the beloved President Gordon B. Hinckley, prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I ask myself why the "old men" that lead our church are able to inspire me. I have heard criticism from people outside of the church that the high leadership is too old and too male to understand and guide people as we move into this new century. Only now as I'm typing away on my keyboard am I beginning to understand why they mean so much to me. The elders and apostles of the Mormon church are each in their own right educated and accomplished individuals. They've come to their position as church leaders from all facets of business and industry-medicine, law, agriculture, aviation, education...the list is long (the same can be said for the many women in church leadership roles). They are smart men with a desire to share their knowledge. They are humble men who show no hesitation in displaying their flaws and what they were brought to learn from those flaws. Each season at our church General Conference we are counseled of the dangers of our day and admonished to do what is necessary to find ourselves outside of the destruction. Our leaders are disciplinarians, even when it is not in their nature to be so. Also, they wear their faith on their sleeves. I have heard it recounted time and time again that to meet these great leaders in person is to feel the Lord's countenance shining. They are mortal men aspiring to live the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they are succeeding. I am in a different place in my life as I enter my thirties than I was at the passing of my grandfather in my mid-teens. My grandpa was a good man and had a hand in shaping my childhood. I now look towards these wise and reverent men for hope and guidance in the ways which I should go. I'm just now beginning to realize these men remind me of my grandfather; they are hardworking and personable and often show a great sense of humor. My ability to be inspired and affected through their words and actions comes from a feeling that, like a loving grandfather, they want the best for me and are willing to share all the attributes I've listed to make the path my path easier.