Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Rewards
This what I found on my morning run:
This is what I found when my friends watched my kids while I dashed to the beach:
There are rewards for exercise and for inviting friends over for lunch. (We ate left over ministrone soup, bread and spinach salad. For dessert: homemade applesause (thanks J!), cheese, dried cherries and nuts.) Thanks friends!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Agency - Covenants - Faith
Today was Stake Conference, which is a large gathering of all the LDS congregations in the area. We meet for two hours and enjoy learning and being together. Two hours is long time for kids to play quietly, but we managed and though out the reading, providing snacks, and other tricks I use to keep the kiddies quiet, I did hear a few thoughts.
As I reflected on the thoughts I heard, I noticed a theme of sorts. There were talks about agency, that great gift that allow us to choose our path, speakers at the conference talked about covenants that we make with God and how He blesses us when we do our part and while there weren't lots of words spoken about faith, that is the part is what has been in my heart.
Some bloggers that I follow choose a word to focus on over the year. I have admired that practice but tend to set goals for the new year, it is just how I like to do it. But this year, in addition to my goals, I have chosen Faith as a word to reflect and study on and to put into practice.
The remarks of our Stake President (the leader of all the congregations in our area) helped to tie together these thoughts I had swimming in my head. He explained that when we use our agency to make covenants with God and act on those covenants, then faith can grow. And I want my faith to grow.
One of my goals this year is to find a verse or saying or quote and put it by my sink. I don't have a dishwasher and I spend a lot of time at the sink. So this is what I have there for this month.
It is from The Book of Mormon, the book of Nephi, the 2nd chapter of that book.
19 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart.
20 And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands.
We see here that Nephi is a great example of using his agency to make covenants and his faith is rewarded with something in the future. Now, we might not want land, but there are promises that we all desire in life. So with 2012, I am not only thinking about faith, I am going to be taking action. I am excited to see how it turns out!
Kirstin
As I reflected on the thoughts I heard, I noticed a theme of sorts. There were talks about agency, that great gift that allow us to choose our path, speakers at the conference talked about covenants that we make with God and how He blesses us when we do our part and while there weren't lots of words spoken about faith, that is the part is what has been in my heart.
Some bloggers that I follow choose a word to focus on over the year. I have admired that practice but tend to set goals for the new year, it is just how I like to do it. But this year, in addition to my goals, I have chosen Faith as a word to reflect and study on and to put into practice.
The remarks of our Stake President (the leader of all the congregations in our area) helped to tie together these thoughts I had swimming in my head. He explained that when we use our agency to make covenants with God and act on those covenants, then faith can grow. And I want my faith to grow.
One of my goals this year is to find a verse or saying or quote and put it by my sink. I don't have a dishwasher and I spend a lot of time at the sink. So this is what I have there for this month.
It is from The Book of Mormon, the book of Nephi, the 2nd chapter of that book.
19 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart.
20 And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands.
We see here that Nephi is a great example of using his agency to make covenants and his faith is rewarded with something in the future. Now, we might not want land, but there are promises that we all desire in life. So with 2012, I am not only thinking about faith, I am going to be taking action. I am excited to see how it turns out!
Kirstin
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Saturday's Sampling
I took the kids out. Just needed to get out of the house. Child #1 was still in his jammies (at 10:00)!
Here is what we found:
This piece of sea glass fits the description of a "mermaid tear". It is a perfect sea foam color and the shape is similiar to a tear shape. Sea glass is occasionally referred to as "mermaid tears".
It was a soothing, Saturday morning stroll on the sand.
The kids were in the stroller and it was sunny.
With the diScovery of sea glass - satisfying!
Kirstin
Here is what we found:
It was a soothing, Saturday morning stroll on the sand.
The kids were in the stroller and it was sunny.
With the diScovery of sea glass - satisfying!
Kirstin
Monday, January 9, 2012
The Start of Something Good
For the past two months, I have faithfully gone out running. Each time I am out, I make it a point to check the sand. Sometimes I even ran along the sand looking for sea glass. Nothing! (And sadly to say, my waistline doesn't show much change either! Pooh!)
Until today! I didn't expect much, although the surf has been huge. But, I was wrong...
Isn't that like life? We have seen the good days and experience the not so good days, always looking, hopeful that they'll return. And then one day they come (maybe not all together, some good some bad), but like the return of the glass they do come!
Waiting is something that we all do. I am not that great at it although I have done a lot of waiting in my life. I have learned that with all my waiting- it makes me grateful for what I have waited for. Being a Christian, I do my best to "wait upon the Lord", meaning to trust in the timing that God has decided is best for me.
An Apostle of Jesus Christ stated:
Until today! I didn't expect much, although the surf has been huge. But, I was wrong...
I think it is the start of Sea Glass Season!
Can I hear a hooray?!
Isn't that like life? We have seen the good days and experience the not so good days, always looking, hopeful that they'll return. And then one day they come (maybe not all together, some good some bad), but like the return of the glass they do come!
Waiting is something that we all do. I am not that great at it although I have done a lot of waiting in my life. I have learned that with all my waiting- it makes me grateful for what I have waited for. Being a Christian, I do my best to "wait upon the Lord", meaning to trust in the timing that God has decided is best for me.
An Apostle of Jesus Christ stated:
What, then, does it mean to wait upon the Lord? In the scriptures, the word wait means to hope, to anticipate, and to trust. To hope and trust in the Lord requires faith, patience, humility, meekness, long-suffering, keeping the commandments, and enduring to the end.
To wait upon the Lord means planting the seed of faith and nourishing it “with great diligence, and … patience.” - Elder Robert D. Hales
This statement came from these remarks: http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/waiting-upon-the-lord-thy-will-be-done?lang=eng
Without further ado, I'll show you the "goods"!
This photo is the collection from my run this morning. It was just me and two fishermen on the beach, if they hadn't been there I would have hooray-ed outloud.
I also found this pair of gloves and shovel on the beach - I find unusual things on the beach! I love to bring them home and show them to the family.
This was from my afternoon excape to the beach to see if more had washed up! YES! Lots more and bigger glass!!
These beauties were gathered together in a rock wash right in front of my house. Have I expressed lately, how lucky I am to live where I live?
This was another unusual find that I had to bring home. On the bottom, stamped into the glass are the words CLARIOL. Outdated hair coloring bottle? Isn't the light from the setting sun lovely? It is my favorite time of day.
Piece of ceramic jar - perhaps a broken lid?
Now if I could just get such exciting and varied results from my exercise routine (such as a flat stomach, toned, arms, thin waist)!
Kirstin
PS I am going to try something new for this new year ... open up my comments. I haven't done that in the past because I don't want people to feel like that have to say anything. So I'll try it - if I find it isn't working, I'll turn them off. And speaking of new, did you notice I changed the photo at the top of the blog? Gems from today's outings.
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