A Little Rejoicing!

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It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood! How about yours?

I am so blessed. On the days I don't teach I walk with two wonderful friends along the Provo River. As we walk and talk I learn so much from them. And the scenery along the way is exquisite. Last week we saw lots of ducks floating, dunking, playing in the water, and watched as a crane took flight, its wings stretching out majestically as it gracefully lifted and disappeared into the trees.

Appreciating the things around me is one of the great blessings of Living in Truth. I know that in the past worry, vexation, and fear kept me from noticing so many beautiful things in my life. But when I live in the present, live with what is,  my mind is free of the vexation and able to notice and enjoy so many wonders. I don't take things as much for granted, and the noticing and enjoying fills me with encouragement and joy that enriches other aspects of my life.

So today I'm rejoicing and enjoying life. It is a beautiful day, but then every day is beautiful if you know how to find the beautiful!

Take the Gift

I don't know where this summer has gone. Wasn't yesterday Christmas? But here we are with school starting and Fall in the air. Ready or not, life moves on. And another of the advantages of Living in Truth is that life moving on doesn't stress or worry us. We plan for the future, learn from the past, but live in the present.

Because we aren't focused on the past or the future, we see and discover many wonderful delights offered to us in the present. I like to think of these as gifts from God. I know that when I give a gift and it isn't acknowledged or accepted, I feel bad. So by living in the present and recognizing the many gifts given to me in a day, I hope I'm making God happy. I know I am. I can feel it.

Have a wonderful, gift filled day!

Listening to Joshua Bell

Life experiences have a way of sticking with us and making it difficult to Live in Truth unless we consciously make a decision to do so. Every moment in our lives is new, but because of past life experiences we often miss what is being given to us in the present moment. An amazing experiment done in January 2007 exemplifies this.

Gene Weingarten, a journalist with The Washington Post enlisted the help of the world famous violinist, Joshua Bell. Bell dressed like a street musician and played several violin pieces in the L’Enfant Plaza Metro subway station in Washington, D. C. for forty-five minutes. The proceedings were videotaped on a hidden camera (see it here) and revealed that of the 1,097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen and only one of those recognized him. During that forty-five minutes Bell collected $52.17 from twenty-eight people, twenty dollars of it from the woman who recognized him. The night before people had paid more than $52 per person to listen to him play in concert!

The question we have to ask ourselves is what would we have done if we had been one of the 1,097 people? Would we have assumed that since it wasn't a concert hall and since the man was dressed in rags this couldn't possible be worth listening to? Would we have let past experiences with “street people” taint our present experience? Or would we have been alive and alert to the present moment and accepted the gift of music offered to us?

In Seattle recently I realized that this is one area of Living in Truth I need to work on. While walking along the wharf, I encountered a Polynesian woman sitting on some stairs with several plastic shopping bags surrounding her. She was singing in her native tongue what sounded to me like a folksong, but as I passed she stopped singing and commented on how hot it was and offered me a bottle of cold water. Assuming that she was selling the water and probably for an exorbitant price, I smiled, declined, and hurried on. A few minutes later Mr. J, lagging behind me because he had been taking pictures, encountered the woman and stopped, engaged her in conversation, and took the water offered. He tried to pay her for it but she refused any recompense and sent him on his way with warm wishes for a good day.

Since it really was a hot, humid day, and not having any water with me I could have used the cold water the woman offered, but like the 1,090 people who refused to stop and listen to Joshua Bell, I refused the refreshment because of my prejudices and assumptions.

I'm working on it! Every moment is new and we will never know what wonderful things are being offered to us if we look at the present moment through eyes of the past.

The Power of Disregard

Forgive yourself and move on!

One of the reasons I love teaching the epistles of Paul is because Paul understood what it means to Live in Truth, and he teaches me so much about it. For example in his letter to the Philippians he says, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth into those things which are before” (Philippians 3:13).  In my own words, Paul says that he hasn’t learned much, but he does know one thing and that is that the past is past and we should disregard it and move forward. That doesn’t mean we don’t remember the past and learn from it, but we don’t dwell on the past and let it ruin our future.

When you stop to think about it, Paul had a lot of baggage from his past. Once he came to know that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah how his conscience must have pricked him knowing that he had assented to the death of Stephen, and that he had brought great harm on families by taking parents who believed away to prison. Imagine how haunted he would have been by the remembered cries of those children after he came to be a believer himself. Paul could have had a great pity party, wallowed in his horrendous mistakes until they debilitated him, and never done any good.

But he didn’t! Paul disregarded those things from his past and reached forth into the future and did so much good. That’s Living in Truth!

My Natal Day

My Flaming Cheesecake

I am officially a day older today than I was yesterday. In other words, I celebrated my birth day. Mother came down for dinner, brought a birthday crown for me to wear, and told me all about the day I was born, sunny but cold, and how fast I was born, the doctor didn’t even make it. She loves to tell me that I was the one who made her a mother and I love to hear her say it. Present also was D5 and her family, a son-in-law, my daughter in law, four grandchildren, and of course, Mr. J.

Mr. J cooked dinner and let me choose the menu. For a man who years ago couldn’t boil water, he’s come a long, long way. He made a delicious massaman curry dish, my daughter-in-law made a wonderful salad, and D5, knowing how much I love lemon made me a lemon cheese cake AND a lemon meringue pie. The dinner was fantastic, but the best part, which is always my favorite part of a good dinner, was sitting around the table after everyone was full, talking and visiting and laughing. I loved it.

It is easy to stay in the present moment when the present moment is so delightful. I think I’ll capture the feeling of yesterday and store it up and bring it out whenever I begin to slip into the Pit.

Jazz and Truth

As I talked about yesterday, when we Live in Truth one of the benefits is that we experience more creativity. Often this happens because we are more spontaneous. When we live in the Pit of Illusion we don’t see or recognize the opportunities or even the wonderful things that are happening around us and therefore it is impossible to take advantage of them or to build upon them. We can’t dance with life because we don’t hear the music life is making for us.

But when we are Living in Truth we are fully in the present and therefore we hear the music and sense the tempo and are able to waltz or rumba or tango to whatever music presents itself. That’s the spontaneity part, and the creativity follows as you make the dance into your own—something new.

This semester I discovered that before one of my classes someone is teaching the History of Jazz. I love music but know very little about jazz. So I decided to sit in on the class. Today we talked about Country Blues and I had a delightful hour on a Mississippi levee listening to extraordinary people discuss the blues in their lives and listening and learning from them. It was delightful!

One more benefit of Living in Truth! Life is so much more fun and exciting when you Live in Truth.

There's a Blessing In This Moment For You

This morning when I went out walking the rising sun had painted the puffy clouds a deep coral. It took my breath away and I stood there for a minute unable to walk on. Besides the brilliant colors the clouds looked like a layer of cotton balls and where they dipped and then rounded the color intensified and muted like the nuances of symphony music.


Since I’ve been endeavoring to Live in Truth one of the many blessings I’ve discovered is that in any given moment God is sending me something wonderful to see or hear or feel or smell or taste or experience. But I’ve spent most of my life so caught up with stressing, worrying, wishing, or fretting that I’ve missed most of it. Living in Truth has taught me to live in the moment—to look around and be aware and most of all to enjoy. Vexing over past and future gave me nothing but pain. Living in the present, like it did this morning, has given me so much joy.

Even when I was going through the battle with Grizelda and not knowing if I would die from cancer or be blind for the rest of my life, I found that by just forgetting about those possibilities and enjoying each moment as it came I could experience joy. If I became blind, then I would be blind. But I realized that by vexing about it before it happened I was already blind. It made more sense to enjoy the present in case I did go blind.

Try it. Stop whatever you are doing right now and look around for the blessing this moment holds. Listen. Look. Feel. Smell. Pay attention to the taste in your mouth. Whatever presents itself to you in this moment, savor and enjoy it. Then thank God for that blessing. If you do this pay close attention to the whole rest of your day because many more blessings will follow.

Living Now

What a change, one day I'm teaching university students and the next I'm pushing a toddler on a swing! But both are sheer delight. That is one of the benefits of living in truth. Most people spend their time worrying about the future--which means they live in fear and anxiety. Or some people fret over the past so that they live in vexation. But when a person lives in Truth there is variety and joy to be found in every moment. Yesterday mom and baby Hugh came home from the hospital and it was so fun to watch Jane and George with Hugh. They love him already. They can't wait for him to be big enough to play with them. Oh, such wonder as you find in the eyes of a child. But the best part was that I got to hold Hugh. It has been a long time since I had a newborn in my arms. What a joy and at this point in my life it brings back so many memories. It just doesn't get better than this! I hope you are enjoying your now.

Dance!

I have some really Good News! this morning. If you woke up stressed about all you have to do today. If you are worried about making it through the day, or if you are discouraged about the routine of the day then stop right now and remember that “man are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25).


In other words, life isn’t meant to be a race that you are stressing to win. Life isn’t a battle that you have to worry about losing. Life isn’t about maintaining a routine. Life is a dance.

So today live in the now. Don’t push your vacuum, dance behind it. Don’t bathe the kids, play in the water. Don’t drive to work, sing yourself to work. Don’t worry about tomorrow, but listen for the music of your life and dance to that music. Perhaps you’ll hear it in a child’s laughter or a friend’s sigh or a verse of scripture that jumps off the page and wraps around your heart. Perhaps you’ll feel the motion of the dance as a gentle breeze invites you to join in. Enjoy every breath. Look for the color. Listen for the rhythm. Drink in the joy and let your body DANCE. Now!

No matter what your circumstances there is joy in the now. You CAN dance. It may be a waltzing day or a polka or jitter-bug day, or perhaps it’s a modern dance free form day. Whatever music you hear, there is a dance waiting for you—IF YOU WILL LISTEN TO THE NOW AND JOIN IN.

Celebrate Now

Breathe deep and feel the now.

Feel the peace, the love, the hope?

There is always a gift waiting for us in the now, and the more we learn to Anchor our lives in the present moment the more gifts we receive.

Practice living in the now by concentrating

on what you feel, hear, see, smell, and what you can taste while you are doing whatever you do today.

Don’t let your mind wander to the future or the past, but sense the now and enjoy what happens.

I Am Where I Am

I love the phrase, “Wherever you are, there you are.” But I would add, “And there you should be.” That’s the essence of Living in Truth. Wherever you are physically that is where you are and is what you need to deal with. Being in a situation or place physically and worrying about where you are going next or where you have been is vexing and sinks you in the Pit of Illusion. But when we recognize and accept the situation we are in both physically and progressively, we can deal with real life, with the truth.

All we have to deal with in life is the current moment. It’s all we have control over. Right now I can make choices and each choice leads on to other situations, but I can’t deal with them until I get to them. 

The Savior can fix the pass if I repent. He can lead me into a brighter future if I trust in Him. But I have no control or power over that past except to repent and I have no power or control over the future except to make the best use of right now. 

Realizing that helps me dump worries, longing, and vexation over the past and the future. My power lies in the moment and so I will concentrate on this moment and leave the rest to God. I am where I am and that’s where I should be.

Sweet Autumn

Fall is in the air and here in the Rocky Mountains that means color, brilliant color. But brilliant orange, yellow, gold, and red dotting the mountains isn’t the only sign of the season. Autumn means crisp air that invigorates with every breath, but those things aren’t the best things about autumn. The very best part of autumn is the music. Leaves crackle and crunch under your feet and the wind stirs the branches which in autumn make more than just a swishing sound. In autumn the branches make a distinct percussion crackle that sinks into the very marrow of the bones and tickles the heart.

Autumn is the perfect time to concentrate on living in the present. Anchor yourself and drink in all the marvelous feelings that are available in the present moment. Feel it. Taste it. See it. Hear it. Smell it. Drop the worry about the future. Stop thinking about the past—you can’t do anything about it anyway. Experience the wonder that is now and see how much better everything around you becomes.

Take The Joy!

It’s a snuggly autumn day here in Utah—the kind of day when breezes dance among the tree leaves, the sun lazily appears once in awhile, and a slight chill invites you to cuddle up in a comforter and read a good book. It’s as if the very air whispers that life isn’t going to last forever, so enjoy it while you can. It’s a good reminder to take pleasure in every moment. Drink it all in and taste all there is to taste.

God has create such a beautiful world yet we so often worry through it without noticing. So for awhile at least, drop the worry, stop fretting, slow down, take a deep breath and savor every second. Joy is here for the taking! So take some.