Good Thoughts to Live By #8

Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.  2 Thessalonians 2:17

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


A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
  -Father James Keller

Celebrate with a treat or a party on Red-Letter Failure Days (these are days when everything goes wrong).
  -Judith Towse-Roberts


The most solid stone in the structure is the lowest one in the foundation.
  -Kahlil Gibran


Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
  -Friedrich Nietzsche

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the sea.
  -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Mississippi River near Nauvoo

Life is a gift; a gift to be opened and shared often, don’t let it collect dust or fall into the wrong hands.
  -Rebecca Spindler


You should let go and make yourself empty and calm.
  -Ying-An

Mississippi River sunset near Nauvoo, Illinois

Good Thoughts to Live By #7 & 2011 Venice Festival

. . . hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.  
  Mosiah 2:9

A dear friend we met in England travels the world and takes wonderful photographs.  She shared the 2011 Venice Festival with us via email, so I'm sharing a few of the gorgeous photos she took while there.  Thanks, Eva!

I’ve never seen before . . . but as the days and years passed by, I came to comprehend that joy is in the journeying, not at the journey’s end.   -D. Colgan

You don’t have to act as if you care; you just have to care enough to act.
  -R. Dreyfuss

Turn your losses into a plus.  I think if you approach it right, you can turn every setback you have into an advantage.
  -George Allen


Each time you look up in the sky
Or watch the fluffy clouds drift by,
Or feel the sunshine warm and bright
Or watch the dark turn into light,
Or hear a bluebird gaily sing
Or see the winter turn to spring,
Or stop to pick a daffodil
Or gather violets on some hill,
Or touch a leaf or see a tree–
It’s all God whispering, “This is Me.”
  -Helen Steiner Rice

A person’t worth to a community or a nation is no longer measured by one’s physical assets, but rather by one’s ability to render service to humanity.
  -James Cash Penney


You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die.  Or when.  You can only decide how you’re going to live.  Now.
  -Joan Baez


The only gift is a portion of thyself.
  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?
  -George Eliot


If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again


If I had my child to raise all over again,
I’d finger paint more, and point the finger less.
I’d do less correcting, and more connecting.
I’d take my eyes off of my watch, and watch with my eyes.
Would care to know less, and know to care more.
I’d take more hikes, and fly more kites.
I’d stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I’d run through more fields, and gaze at more stars.
I’d do more hugging, and less tugging.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I’d build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I’d teach less about the love of power,
and more about the power of love.
  -Diane Loomans

Good Thoughts to Live By #6 & Eden's Beauty & The Ugliest Thing in Our Neighborhood--Won't you be my Neighbor?

[he/she who] shall . . . trust in God shall be supported.  Alma 36:3; Alma 38:5  

This is what sits in my front yard to mar the beauty of our surroundings, though it is trying to blend in to the earth the longer it's there.  I would like to blow this thing up.  Seriously.  I even asked the neighbor if he had any dynamite when I was in an especially frustrated and desperate mood.  He actually had some previously, but had gotten rid of it because it had become unstable like me.

Instead of seeing our home first upon arriving at our driveway, people see this pile of junk.  It has been rotting into the ground for 18 years and has tried my patience beyond measure.  My husband is attached to it--must be one of those things only a man can understand.  It is embarrassing to tell people how to find our house:  "Drive down the road until you see this ugly, beat up, yellowish, rusty Ford pickup yard ornament squatting in our front yard--you can't miss it."

Obviously, because I have "nagged" about it being hauled away a few times over the years when I've been ready to tear my hair out, the man of the house has dug in his heels and refuses to see this is important to me.  Very, very important.  I-have-about-reached-the-end-of-my-rope important.  It is also a safety hazard due to the fact it harbors a huge hornet's nest, which is deadly if my oldest daughter should happen to be stung and not have her EpiPen.

I prayed a lot for patience when I was younger and the kids were growing up (when you really, really need it).  That prayer has been answered without a doubt.  Now, why can't my prayer be answered that this monstrosity disappear?  Or, am I missing something here?  Is this actually a thing of beauty?  An antique worth admiring?  A symbol of man's independence from women's judgement or control?

Ah (light bulb goes on), I am starting to get it.  It is all in how one wishes to look at this.  It is actually a work of art in the process of becoming a pile of rust, which cannot reach its destiny until the elements have worked their magic upon it.  Oh.

The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose.

   -Kahlil Gibran

We see things not as they are, but as we are.

  -Talmud

A giant goldfish?

We advance toward our destiny when we encourage others to reach theirs.
  -Paul Wesselmann

Our next-door neighbor's sign

Remember there is no such thing as a small act of kindness.  Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.
  -Scott Adams


In the midst of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.
  -Albert Camus

The future belongs to those who see and trust the best things in the worst times.
  -Harold Blake Walker

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.
  -William Arthur Ward

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things . . . I am tempted to think . . . there are no little things.
  -Bruce Barton


You can get everything you want in life, if you just help enough other people get what they want.
  -Zig Ziglar

Let your Life speak.
  -Quaker proverb

We must use time creatively and forever realize that the time is ripe to do right.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

I saw, of course, the cliff,
I saw the turbulent ocean blue;
But everyone else was going that way,
So I thought that I would too.
  -Larry Lemming

All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.
  -Emerson

Good Thoughts to Live By #5 & Ogden Valley Winter Photos--Stringtown Road

" . . . whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe."  Proverbs 29:25 & Alma 61:13

Does this look like an axe that just chopped the moon in half on top of the Logan Temple?

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry and see a picture every day of his life, in order that worldly care may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful.

  -Goethe

Where but in the West will you see such an elaborate mail box?  This is located a few houses  down the road from our house.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply.  Willing is not enough; we must do.

  -Goethe

The end is nothing; the road is all.
  -Willa Cather

A road down the street from our house

Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but rather a manner of traveling.
  -Tennessee Williams

Success is a journey, not a destination.
  -Ben Sweetland

The Love Diet:  Take three love meals, three snacks, three minutes each (at least) of:
Attention 
Appreciate
Affection

Flowers in the window of an old home up a ways and across the street from our house

In the long run, the pessimist may be proved right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip.
  -David L. Deardon

You can look through this old, beat up gate and see the beauty beyond.  Actually, the beauty of the gate  is right there in front of us.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

   -Mother Theresa

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little.  Do what you can.
  -Sydney Smith

Well, considering that last quote, I can take photos today, but I can't mow the lawn 

The most revolutionary act one can commit in our world is to be happy.
  -Hunter “Patch” Adams


There’s no place like hope.
  -Kobi Yamada

At the end of our dead end street is a place where the ice fishermen park and walk down to the reservoir.  They hope the boards will help them across the thin ice on the shore and take them to a more secure place to take their equipment out to fish.

Here you can see an ice fisherman's hut out on the ice.  I could also hear the ice groaning.  It is an eerie sound.

What you want to be eventually, you must be every day.  With practice, the quality of your deeds gets down to your soul.
  -Frank Crane

Who lived in this old place once upon a time?  Did he, she, or they have the same dreams and hopes we have today?  I suppose if those who lived here wanted to be farmers, they had to farm--every day.

Good Thoughts to Live By #4 and Guiding Growth

They that trust in the Lord . . . abideth for ever.  Psalms 125:1 

This is the main road out of Ogden Cemetery where my mom is resting under a pine tree.  One of the little pine cones I used to decorate around her graver marker has planted itself.  I will have to rescue the little tree in the spring as the mowers keep chopping its top off as it tries to grow!  It hasn't given up yet, and it will probably spread out and damage the stone if I don't take it elsewhere to grow.  Hum, interesting thought, isn't it?  If we hurt someone or something, or stunt his/her/its growth (so to speak), will it grow in a way to harm things or others more than if it was left to grow on its own?  Or, does the wise gardener (parent/teacher/mentor)  notice its (his/her) path of destruction and gently guide it in a different path for more positive outcomes?  Isn't in marvelous to know that God watches over the growth of all living things and decides what is best in each individual circumstance?   Yes, trust Him to know what is best for us.

The "Family Life" http://uofacesfamilylife.wordpress.com blog site asked today what beauty we experienced today.  I replied:  The sun making the snow sparkle and my husband going grocery shopping.  Some of you won't understand how the second half of that statement can be a thing of beauty and, if you don't know, I cannot explain it to you.

Among those whom I admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
  -W. H. Auden, The Dyer’s Hand


There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything.  Both ways save us from thinking.
  -Alfred Korzybski, Manhood of Humanity


The family is the essential presence–the thing that never leaves you, even if you find you have to leave it.
  -Bill Buford in The New Yorker


Humor can be an incredible, lacerating and effective weapon.
  -Carl Hiaasen


It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.
  -Warren Buffett


We make a living by what we get.  We make a life by what we give.
  -Winston Churchill


If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking.  Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.
  -Raymond Inman


You may as well keep your mouth shut.  If you talk about yourself, you’re a bore.  If you talk about others, you’re a gossip.
  -Beulah Collins


I believe in the sun–even when it does not shine;
I believe in love–even when it is not shown;
I believe in God–even when he does not speak.
  -“The Hour of Power”


The great doing of little things makes the great life.
  -Eugenia Price

Good Thoughts to Live By #3

 None . . . that trust in him shall be desolate.  Psalms 34:22

Contemplating in the Sacred Grove - upstate New York


All truth passed through three stages.  
First, it is ridiculed.  
Second, it is violently opposed.  
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” 
-Arthur Schopenhauer

A smile raises our face value, and if you can’t smile, let the bottom middle of your mouth droop.
  -Ben Franklin    


Ordinary youth think about problems.  Extraordinary think about how to solve them.   
  -Ben Franklin


The Constitution only lets us pursue happiness–you have to catch it!    
  -Ben Franklin


There are many compliments that may come in the course of a lifetime, but there is no higher tribute than to be loved by those who know us best.    
  -Dale E. Turner


The only factor becoming scarce in a world of abundance is human attention.
  -Kevin Kelly in Wired


To love what you do and feel that it matters–how could anything be more fun?
  -Katherine Graham


People seldom become famous for what they say until after they are famous for what they’ve done.
  -Cullen Hightower


It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.
  -Mark Twain


Sometimes even music cannot substitute for tears.
  -Paul Simon


Ten thousand
flowers
in spring,
the moon
in autumn,
a cool breeze
in summer,
snow
in winter.
If your mind
isn’t clouded
by unnecessary things,
this is
the best
season
of your life.
   -Wu-Men

Good Thoughts to Live By #2 & Don't Worry, Be Happy

. . . be followers of that which is good. 1 Pet. 3:13

Denver Duck in Water World--taken in 2009

I especially have to focus on the thought by Mother Teresa today because there are ongoing troubles with those I love.  Anyone with a family or friends will face worries and have concerns for their loved ones, but "they" say there is nothing worrying helps, other than to create stress, which is not healthy.  We are constantly reminded that worrying changes no situation and even the most intense worrying cannot control outcomes (yes, we know that on an intellectual level).  Carrying worry with us each day causes us to be less productive and unappreciative of what blessings are unfolded (I remind myself).  Worry banishes peace (ommm).  I courageously stand forth and declare we dump all our worries in the drink and paddle through our trials with a little quack here and a little quack there.  Before we know it, we'll be cruisin' on down the river of life with a brave smile (uh huh) to face whatever comes our way.  We do have the power to create a path for the journey of the day that will reveal itself as time marches forward.  Whew, that little spiel left me breathless.  Do I worry?  HA!  What do you think?

Yesterday is gone.
Tomorrow has not yet come.
We have only today.
Let us begin.
  -Mother Teresa


Work is love made visible.  And if you can’t work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit a the gate of the temple and take alms of the people who work with joy.
  -Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong; because someday in you life, you will have been all of these. 
  -George Washington Carver

Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall.  Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.  Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down, And this is all that life really means.  
  -Robert Lewis Stevenson

Seize the day, and put the least possible trust in tomorrow.  
  -Horace

I have learned to live each day as it comes and not to borrow trouble by dreading tomorrow.
  -Dorothy Dix

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.    
  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life is not a spelling bee where one mistake wipes out all the things we have done right . . . not a test for which the passing grade is 100% and anything else is a failure..    
  -Kushner

It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect.  The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become toward the defects of others.
  -Fenelon

Usually the bad apple needs help the most.
  -Dr. Carolyn Barcus, professor Utah State

I expect to pass through life but once.  If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.    
  -William Penn