Les Miserables

Our family attended a matinee showing of the movie Les Miserables this week and I am still weeping. I'm weeping with sadness for Fontine and Javert and all the pain in the world that is caused because of wickedness. I'm weeping for joy because there are people like Jean Valjean in this world who "fight for the right" and promote goodness in a decaying telestial world.

Les Miserables is one of my all time favorite stories, and I've enjoyed so many versions of it that I was excited and at the same time hesitant about the movie. Would it disappoint me? Would the actors be as good as the ones I've come to love in past productions? Would the story be altered? Would Hollywood down-play the religious significance of the plot?

But I am happy to say it did not disappoint in the least. I am hoping to see it again in theaters and buy it as soon as it is available. For me, Jean Valjean epitomizes every thing there is to know about Living in Truth. I loved the movie.

A Fulfilling Life

We've all wished to have a fulfilling life, and we've wished the same for our children and loved ones. But what exactly is a fulfilling life?

Fulfill is an old English word that means exactly what it says--to fill until full.


Fill means to put into something as much as it can hold.

"Put into" sounds to me like investing. Thus when we are filling something we are investing in it.

Investing means to make use of for future benefits or advantages.

Reading through these definitions helps me see that a fulfilling life isn't about waiting until the end of my life and looking back to see if I've filled it up. A fulfilling life is a cumulative experience. A fulfilling life is one in which every day something has been invested to make it fuller. A fulfilling life is one in which we invest as much good in ourselves as we can hold every day, and that investment compounds and earns interest to provide future benefits and advantages..

Give Goodness

It’s a proven fact that when we make other people happy, we make ourselves happier.

When we hear that statement the tempter usually counters with thoughts of having to take a lot of time to do kind deeds or wrap up and give presents or write letters or notes or other "burdensome" things. (Burdensome is the way the tempter presents it!)

But you don’t need to go out of your way or do special things to make other people happy. There are many ways in normal every day interaction that we can spread goodness.

One thing we can do is to concentrate on how we react to the people we encounter every day and then make sure we share happiness and cheer. Do we smile at people? Do we share encouraging news and keep the bad to ourselves? Do we compliment people we are talking to? Are we sincerely interested in our associates and their families? Do we really listen to them? Do we respond to what they say in ways that indicated we really are interested?

Sharing goodness and happiness doesn’t have to be a burdensome, time consuming task. We can share goodness any time we want and in many different ways..