En-route Thanksgiving

In 1 Nephi 2 the Lord commands Lehi to take his family from Jerusalem, leaving behind their inheritance, gold & silver and go into the wilderness, to the promised land. They come to the edge of the red sea, and after traveling for three days, pitch their tents. I love what happened next:

“And it came to pass that he built an altar of stones, and made an offering unto the Lord, and gave thanks unto the Lord our God.”
(1 Nephi 2:7)

I love that. Lehi didn’t wait to give thanks until he had ‘arrived’ at his destination, but stopped en-route regularly (see 1 Nephi 5 & 7), to give thanks. I am sure when we are promised something or are seeking for a particular blessing or gift, when it is finally received we give thanks, but how many times do we stop en-route to give thanks for the journey we are taking – I know I need to do sooo much better with that. There are always offerings of a broken heart and contrite spirit to give along the way, and figurative altars to build, where we can stand still and thank the Lord for being with us on the journey.

So much to be thankful for, and thank goodness we have today to remember our blessings.

Being Strung Up

William M. Allred, one of Joseph Smith's followers, stated that some straight-laced people had problems with the Prophet Joseph playing ball with the boys. Said Allred, referring to the Prophet:

“He then related a story of a certain prophet who was sitting under the shade of a tree amusing himself in some way, when a hunter came along with his bow and arrow, and reproved him. The prophet asked him if he kept his bow strung up all the time. The hunter answered that he did not. The prophet asked why, and he said it would lose its elasticity if he did. The prophet said it was just so with his mind, he did not want it strung up all the time.”
(Juvenile Instructor,1 Aug. 1892, p. 472.)

Take time to relax today:)

Stargazing

“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”
(Genesis 1:16)

I was thinking about these words yesterday, and the different types of lighting that Heavenly Father made for us on this beautiful earth. I thought how it’s similar to how our lives are lit as well. Mostly we feel the warm glow from the sun, there are times though when darkness is more apparent to us than light and we wait for that time to pass. It is never so dark though that light is still not seen, even if it’s just a sliver in the night-sky of our lives.

I used to love going for walks at night-time, things just seem more peaceful then, and I love looking at the stars. Something I noticed one time was that as I came away from the distracting street-lighting I could see the stars more clearly. I then noticed that if I stood still, and looked up at the sky, the stars became visible to me, and the more I looked the more I saw.

Sometimes it’s like that in life also, we all go through periods of darkness, when we don’t feel the Son’s rays warming us as strongly. It’s during those times that we need to step away from any distractions, and look up, and if we are still we will see that we have not been left alone, but that throughout the darkness are sprinkled moments of hope & joy, which are ours to enjoy, if only we would see.

I know our Heavenly Father loves us, He watches over us and He will never, ever, fail us.

Making Time for Reflection

"Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God". (D&C 101:16)

"Our lives become extremely busy. We run from one thing to another. We wear ourselves out in thoughtless pursuit of goals which are largely ephemeral. We are entitled to spend some time with ourselves in introspection, in development, in thinking, meditating, pondering things."

~ President Gordon B Hinckley ~