Friday, December 10, 2010
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!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
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!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
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.
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