Facebook Status Quotes

Today I had a facebook app setup a picture with a lot of my status's from the past year. I thought this may be a good way to remember all the quotes that I found and loved. And here it is for your viewing pleasure!

Charity

In the spirit of last month, I am going to focus on another facet of my life for a month. This time is not going to be so written about, it's going to be more of a private venture for my own personal growth. This month I am choosing to implement another talk from Pesident Monson this year, "Charity Never Faileth." In this talk we are admonished to be more charitable towered others. When I think of charity, I usually think of service towers others. However this talk addresses our tendency to judge others.

Thus is something that I seem to struggle with, especially in my mind. I tend to make judgments about people before I get to know them. I don't like this about myself and I want to change it. President Monson tells a story in his talk that illustrates this point well.

"A woman by the name of Mary Bartels had a home directly across the street from the entrance to a hospital clinic. Her family lived on the main floor and rented the upstairs rooms to outpatients at the clinic.

One evening a truly awful-looking old man came to the door asking if there was room for him to stay the night. He was stooped and shriveled, and his face was lopsided from swelling—red and raw. He said he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success. “I guess it’s my face,” he said. “I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says it could possibly improve after more treatments.” He indicated he’d be happy to sleep in the rocking chair on the porch. As she talked with him, Mary realized this little old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. Although her rooms were filled, she told him to wait in the chair and she’d find him a place to sleep.

At bedtime Mary’s husband set up a camp cot for the man. When she checked in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and he was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, he asked if he could return the next time he had a treatment. “I won’t put you out a bit,” he promised. “I can sleep fine in a chair.” Mary assured him he was welcome to come again.

In the several years he went for treatments and stayed in Mary’s home, the old man, who was a fisherman by trade, always had gifts of seafood or vegetables from his garden. Other times he sent packages in the mail.

When Mary received these thoughtful gifts, she often thought of a comment her next-door neighbor made after the disfigured, stooped old man had left Mary’s home that first morning. “Did you keep that awful-looking man last night? I turned him away. You can lose customers by putting up such people.”

Mary knew that maybe they had lost customers once or twice, but she thought, “Oh, if only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear.”

After the man passed away, Mary was visiting with a friend who had a greenhouse. As she looked at her friend’s flowers, she noticed a beautiful golden chrysanthemum but was puzzled that it was growing in a dented, old, rusty bucket. Her friend explained, “I ran short of pots, and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn’t mind starting in this old pail. It’s just for a little while, until I can put it out in the garden.”

Mary smiled as she imagined just such a scene in heaven. “Here’s an especially beautiful one,” God might have said when He came to the soul of the little old man. “He won’t mind starting in this small, misshapen body.” But that was long ago, and in God’s garden how tall this lovely soul must stand!"

I really like this story. How often have I judged someone because they did not look the way I thought they should? In John 7:24 it says, "Judge not according to the appearance." If the Savior says this, obviously it is important. So this month my focus is on judging others less. Mother Teresa said, "If you judge people, you have no time to love them.". This is so true. This month not only is my experiment to judge less, but to learn to love others more. I want to have more charitable love for others in my heart.

Excitement!!!

This week I got to train on the ropes course. Wednesday was spent training myself and learning how to train others. Thursday was spent training others. I am now a certified ropes course trainer. I love it! It was so much fun. It took a lot of time and I had to get all my other stuff done in our small breaks, but it was awesome. Tomorrow I get to learn how to work the laser room. This next week I'll be training on redemption games, our computer system and other such things. It's so exciting! I love this. It is so different from everything else I've ever done. It's all so new, but it's all so exciting. Being able to learn and experience all of this. It just makes me that much more excited for when the center will actually open. Wahoo!

Gratitude Day #30

The last day of gratitude posts. I am grateful for the experience that this has provided for me. I have really experienced a feeling of being more grateful this past month. As things happened throughout the day, I as more grateful for them as the came. I was more able to say thank you as things happened instead of remembering it later. It has really effected my interactions with people. I know that by taking the counsel of the prophet and applying it in my life I will always be able to see results. I am grateful for a prophet that leads and guides us in the world today. I know He is called of God and will never lead us astray from the truth. 

Gratitude Day #29

I am grateful for the good people who came to interview. We had an overwhelming success for the past two days. I only hope that next week is that way too. 

Gratitude Day #28

Today I started interviewing. I am so grateful for this. I feel more in my element when I am interviewing and interacting with staff. That's when I feel more like I am great at what I do.  Watching people interact and helping it run more smoothly is one of my specialties. And managing is a part of that. Here's to the start of amazingness!

Gratitude Day #27

Second Thanksgiving! I was given a free turkey from work. I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn to cook a turkey. And for my dad for walking me through how to do it. I love thanksgiving leftovers!

Gratitude Day #26

Yesterday I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm grateful to J for taking me to see it. It was amazing. Blew my mind. Now I can't wait until July so I can see the last installment. I need to see it. Seriously. Thus was definitely the best movie they've put out yet. 

Gratitude Day #25

I'm grateful for prayer. Prayer often just becomes a habit for me, but the past few days, I have been reminded once again of how prayer is my way to phone home. I often times need to phone home to my mom, and she usually is readily available to talk to me. It always helps so much to be able to have her calming influence in my life. These past few days, I've been reminded again of how much more the Lord does that for me in my life. When I am feeling any emotion and I am unsettled, I know I can offer a prayer to my Father in Heaven and He helps me to figure things out. I love that He is there for me and that after uttering a prayer, I can gain a perspective on things and remember what is most important in my life.

Gratitude Day #24

I had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with J and his family. We were with his aunts family. It was such a great opportunity to experience something new for me. The food was standard. It was what I'd expect at a thanksgiving meal, and that was definitely a comfort. But they had other traditions which were so fun to be apart of. We got to make gingerbread houses! It was such a great time. I am grateful for families today. Even though I wasn't with my family, I was able to feel the love that this family had for each other. Families are the most important part of this life and I am grateful for the love and support that I feel from mine everyday.

Gratitude Day #23

Today was the funeral for a coworker. Today I sat in a chapel and was uplifted by those that knew her the best. The last time I remember being at a funeral, I was little. I only remember bits and pieces. Walking into this funeral felt a bit weird. However, once everything got started, it turned into a beautiful experience. I am grateful for this woman's example and legacy that she left behind. She was a woman of strength and integrity. While listening to the thoughts of all those who spoke in remembrance, I was impressed with the memories and impressions they all had of her. I only hope that I can become half the woman that she was in this life. I am grateful for her example.

Gratitude Day #22

Today we are supposed to have the storm of the century. So far it's been the flop of the century. However, BYU closed campus early today lin anticipation of the storm. Because of this, I was able to spend hours more with J, the boy I'm dating. This I am grateful for today.

Gratitude Day #21

I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost. I have had the opportunity to feel the Holy Ghost in my life in the capacity of comforter many times, but each time I am blessed with that opportunity, I am once again so grateful for that blessing in my life. 

The first time that I remember feeling the Holy Ghost as a comforter in my life, I was about 8. My parents had gone to a church thing where they were talking about being prepared in case of emergencies. I don't remember all of the details of everything, but I'm sure my parents told me about some of the things that they had discussed. I found myself very scared and very afraid that our house was going to burn down. I couldn't sleep because I was so afraid of that. 

I remember my parents encouraging me to pray, so I did. After my prayer, I was overcome with such a feeling of peace. I was able to sleep. My mind was put to ease. I was no longer as afraid. I knew it was going to be okay. 

I look back now and I see the way it is still the same in my life. I am no longer scared that my house is going to burn down.my fears are still real though. My doubt and confusion still lives in me. At times it can be even more overwhelming than my child fear of losing my home. These fears are more mature fears, but they still take me back to those primal fears and deduce me to a childlike state. I still get to the point where I can't sleep. I remember the example my parents taught me those many years ago and I climb out of bed to my knees to offer my simple prayer. 

As it happened when I was a child, I still feel that peace overcome me. The comfort is real. It brings rest to my mind, and ease to my soul. So today, I am once again so grateful for the comfort that is brought through the Spirit of the Lord to uplift and bring peace.    

Gratitude Day #20

I am grateful for good people and good food. Sundays are the day I miss my family the most and especially missing family dinners. We always have a big family dinner. Dinner time is the time we all sit and talk and are super goofy together. Family dinners are our time. And Sundays especially. Today I was able to have a normal big family dinner. I cooked a meal that is common at my house and was able to share it with others. We played games and had a fun evening. It was exactly the little piece of home I've been missing. I get to go home in a month. It's not soon enough. But today I'm grateful for the good people that I got to share a little bit of home with. 

Gratitude Day #19

I got a new phone today!!!! I am so grateful to have something newer and more reliable to use now. It's such a good feeling.