Good Thoughts to Live by #12

General Conference is over until October and the grounds around Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah, are certainly beautiful for everyone to enjoy.  It is a stark contrast to what it'll look like in Oct., though there may still be some flowers, the fountain most likely won't be flowing.

Below is a quote from the spiritual feast we call "Conference" where the world can hear prophets and apostles witness the truth of the gospel and that Jesus Christ lives--just as in days of old when He was on the earth.  This is very exciting and meaningful for those who follow the Savior of the world.

"If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing. In all conditions, we can choose the right with the guidance of the Spirit. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ to shape and guide our lives if we choose it. And with prophets revealing to us our place in the plan of salvation, we can live with perfect hope and a feeling of peace. We never need to feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service, because we never are. We can feel the love of God. The Savior has promised angels on our left and our right, to bear us up. And He always keeps His word."

—President Henry B. Eyring, "Mountains to Climb", General Conference, Apr. 2012

Those who have eyes to see. . . well, will be struck with wide-eyed wonder no less.

Be a lamp to yourself.  Be your own confidence.  Hold to the truth within yourself, as to the only truth.
-The Buddha

It is not the treatment of a people that degrades them, it’s their acceptance of it.
-Brown vs Brown

You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
-Christopher Robin

Once a yogi, sitting on the banks of the Ganges, saw a scorpion fall into the water.  He scooped it out, only to be bitten by the scorpion.  It happened again, and again, with the same result.  A bystander asked the yogi: “Why do you keep rescuing that scorpion, only to have it bite you?”
“It is the nature of scorpions to bite,” replied the yogi.  “And it is the nature of yogis to help others when they can.”       
-Hindu Mondo

Spring has sprung--yay!

You should know that no one can hold the mind by himself, if it not be held by the Spirit.  For it cannot be held, not because of its mobile nature but because, through neglect, it has acquired the habit of turning and wandering hither and thither . . . A mind thus inclined and withdrawn from God is led captive everywhere.
-St. Gregory of Sinai

In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post office.  You may depend on it, that poor fellow who walks away with the greatest number of letters, proud of his extensive correspondence, has not heard from himself this long while.
-Henry David Thoreau

Blossoms and the Salt Lake Temple.  Blossoms are in the trees everywhere in Utah now.

Benedicto: May your trails be crooked,
winding, lonesome,
dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. 
May your rivers flow without end,
meandering through pastoral valleys
tinkling with bells,
past temples and castles and poets’ towers
into a dark primeval forest where tigers
belch and monkeys howl,
through miasmal and mysterious swamps
and down into a desert of red rock,
blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and
grottos of endless stone,
and down again into a deep vast ancient
unknown chasm
where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled
cliffs,
where deer walk across the white sand
beaches,
where storms come and go
as lightnings clangs upon the high crags,
where something strange and more beautiful
and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams
 waits for you–
beyond the next running of the canyon walls.
-Edward Abbey 

To me, Tulips and Daffodils represent Easter and the resurrection, which brings bright hope for new beginnings.