Mormon Bloggers

“You can have anything you want if you want it desperately enough.  You must want it with an inner exuberance that erupts through the skin and joins the energy that created the world.” -Sheilah Graham  Read More →

An aspect of life and living learned which has taught me a lot about myself and others – why we do the crazy things we do…why we react, feel or acquire the belief systems we have– Everyone is telling themselves stories about what is happening around them. No, wait! It’s really true. We have filters we’ve acquired along the way, some from childhood and all outside stimulus passes through them. We interpret what we see, hear and feel based on those subconscious filters. They’re working all the time without us realizing. My girlfriend Janie told me a simple story that relates this perfectly. You may even find yourself nodding your head here… She was sitting in the back row of Relief Society (all-women’s meeting at an LDS Church) when they announced that a young sister got a brand new calling** as the Relief Society chorister. What was only slightly unusual for our church, was this sister had absolutely no music experience. As in she... Read the rest of this entry »

In my family, we always seem to be smiling.  I’m not sure what it is, but it seems to be something that has become quite the trend, particularly with a few of my siblings and me.  Growing up I can remember how people would call one of my sisters “Smiles” and then another sister became “Smiles Junior” or I have heard people call her “Smiley.”  I have heard quite a few people talk about how all of our smiles are similar, and there have been many times that people have commented about my smile even though I haven’t been fortunate enough to receive a nickname about my smile. J  There was one time I remember when I was a senior in high school and acting in that year’s musical “Good News” that another cast member turned to me and asked me, a little out of the blue, “Why do you smile all of the time?!?!” I was a little taken aback by the suddenness of his question, but I just smiled and shrugged my shoulders a little bit while saying, “Why not?” ... Read the rest of this entry »

I feel the need to amend and clarify a post I made a few days ago. In my post about Sacrifice, I talked about the constant joy and peace I feel as I do what the Lord has asked. This is absolutely true, and it’s wonderful. But to say this alone is incomplete. I must add that constant peace and joy does not exclude the possibility, the certainty even, of sorrow in our lives. Now, this sounds at first like an incongruity or an oxymoron. How can joy and sorrow coexist? Perhaps more importantly, if we are doing everything we are supposed to, why must we expect to still experience sorrow? I asked myself this question when I came to the scripture in the beatitudes that says, “Blessed are all they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (3 Nephi 12:4) Obviously I can easily accept that Christ will comfort those that mourn; this is what He is all about. But why are those that mourn blessed? After studying the cross-references and thinking about it for a while I came... Read the rest of this entry »

The winter holidays are meant for kids.  Santa Claus is real, snow falls solely for sledding and building snow families, and a baby (just like I used to be, they’ll say) was born in the hay.  When else do we let them bring trees in the house or bury them with brand new toys, shiny paper, and glittery ribbon?  In the thick of it, they’ll tell you every bit of it is magical.  It’s not until we get a little older that particular pieces of that holiday magic begin to plant themselves in a special part of our memory.  For me, the enchantment was the Christmas tree. Growing up in Iowa, the formula for the perfect Christmas tree involved waiting for a bitter cold day and swirling biting winds.  The whole family piled out of the station wagon at the country Christmas tree farm, picked up a hacksaw and trudged acres and acres to the farthest, most un-harvested hill.  The arguments then ensued as six girls poured out their hearts in defense of... Read the rest of this entry »

Well, we have arrived to the wonderful day of Thanksgiving, so Happy Thanksgiving to all that read this today.  I hope that you all have a wonderful day, and I thought it would be fitting that I be grateful for joy today because we should be joyful and happy on this day as we remember all of the many blessings that Heavenly Father has given us.  I have always been thankful for the chances that I have been given throughout my life to laugh and to find joy.  At times, it seems almost impossible to do because of what is going on in our lives, but even though we may not realize it, I believe that there is always something that we can be happy about in our lives.  I have come to see that I can always find something to be grateful and happy for, and I wanted to share with you this idea as well. So last year about this time, I had just gotten home from the Ivory Coast, and I wasn’t feeling too grateful, happy, or joyful.  However, I eventually came to realize that... Read the rest of this entry »

The alarm rings at 5:25 and I groan.  My back is killing me, reminding me that I have only been asleep for 5 hours because I had to work until 12:15 last night.  I stumble into the bathroom, hating the glare of the bright light that early in the morning.  I go downstairs and the house is dark and cold.  But I refuse to the heat on yet.  I’m not ready for that.  I turn on the music and try to wake up while ma.king lunches.  4 lunches this morning.  Every morning.  Day in and day out.  I miss hot lunch! After breakfast, I try to get kids moving.  The Princess takes another 45 minutes to eat. I am telling her every 5 minutes to hurry up, hurry up, hurry up.  I feel the need to tape myself and just put it on a loop!  Because she takes so long, so we don’t have time to do an elaborate hairdo, just a rolled braid.    As soon as I get them out the door, I have to race out the door too.  I am taking... Read the rest of this entry »

~by René 2 Nephi 2:25: ” Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” What is joy? Can you be sad and have joy? Yes! Three years ago my daughter lost her husband in a car wreck. She was five months pregnant with their second daughter. Her oldest, Elise, was 20 months old. Her husband, Mike, had just graduated from the Police Academy in Washington State, USA. He was a severe diabetic and the fact that he had graduated from this grueling training was a miracle and a sign of the dedication that he had always exuded. When my daughter called me, asking me to come to their town, that Mike was dead, she wasn’t sobbing, she wasn’t hysterical, she was in charge. She had two babies she had to take care of and she had a crisis on her hands. She was sad, she cried, but she had a funeral to plan, an apartment to pack up, and a baby growing inside her that demanded that she take care of herself. We had to go shopping; she didn’t have funeral clothes.... Read the rest of this entry »

The alarm rings at 5:25, waking me from my slumber. My back aches, as it does every morning. I sit up and pause in the dark while saying my prayers. Finally, I stumble into the bathroom, squinting in the bright light and saying good morning to my sweet husband, who gets up at 5:00. I go downstairs, and the house is dark and quiet. I turn on lights and music to help wake the children up. I start making lunches while singing “Puppy Love” with Donny Osmond. My youngest two are off track, so I only have 2 lunches to make this morning. And it’s even easier because we have leftovers from supper last night. My teenagers love leftovers. They love cold lunch in general because they get more food and more time to eat than when they have hot lunch. The Doctor makes his own lunch because he likes to make a salad. Lunches are done, and we have all made our way to the living room. It’s 5:50, time for family prayer. My heart swells with joy as I look around at my family kneeling in a circle.... Read the rest of this entry »

I anticipate. I think ahead. I plan ahead. I look forward to the future. I also anticipate the bad. I act in advance to prevent disaster. I worry. I fear. The first is healthy. The second is not. To encourage the first type of thinking and reduce the second, I’ve been practicing mindfulness—thinking and living in the present, [...] All Content Copyright (C) 2007-2009 TJ Hirst. No content may be reproduced without the copyright owner’s express written consent. Thinking Now, Not Thinking Ahead  Read More →

There was nothing like sitting in my father-in-law’s office the week he passed away to remind me that when we come to death we leave behind all our material possessions. I sat in his chair and thumbed through the books on his desk, taking home one that interested me. A few weeks later Paul traveled [...] All Content Copyright (C) 2007-2009 TJ Hirst. No content may be reproduced without the copyright owner’s express written consent.What Do We Take With Us When We Die?  Read More →

By: Kimberly Have you ever paused to think about what a miracle it is? Not only to exist, but to exist so well? To be a person who chooses, every day after day after day, to live and be? To love and laugh, to hurt and weep, to struggle and to soar, to remember and be remembered, to fear and ache and yearn. And then, the very next day, to do it all over again? What a miracle that is. Every day is a big bundle of uncertainty. We don’t know. We never know. We can plan. We can guess and speculate about what the hours ahead might hold. But we never know. Tomorrow lies ahead of us full of potential. The potential for pain is always, always there. And we know that. We’ve tasted it before. We’ve been there in that moment when the potential morphs into the pain. We’ve felt the actuality of that so many times that it seems to be a foregone conclusion. We know there will be a tomorrow with pain in it. It is one of life’s inevitabilities. We cannot choose to exist without accepting that.... Read the rest of this entry »