Capturing Sunlight

I woke up this morning to an inch of snow on the ground and big flakes of snow tumbling through the sky so the whole world was one white, wet mass. Today is when I speak at Women's Conference and at first I took it as a bad omen. I saw its chilling, dampening effect.

But then I remembered what I have been learning about storytelling and how we create our own meaning and immediately changed my story. So now I'm thinking this snow is bringing down God's blessings (straight from heaven!) upon me. Hurray, for white, pure snow! It's a much better story that has brought me peace. I still marvel at how my thoughts can be changed so easily and the power they have to make my whole body feel and respond differently. It is amazing! It's as if I captured my own sunlight!


I speak at 11:00 on what we have discussed on Good News! about necessary and unnecessary pain. I'll be thinking of all of you as I speak, and wishing you (my blog friends) were all with me.

BYU Women's Conference

BYU Women's Conference has begun and the campus is abuzz with the laughter and chatter of women. I love that part of the conference the most. All over campus you see people discovering long lost friends and room mates and relatives. A squeal of laughter ensues and then hugs and giggles as they catch up on the years that have elapsed. I wish everyone had the opportunity of being here at least once for the conference! You can feel the sisterhood, but most of all the power that emanates from so many good people gathered in one spot for one purpose is amazing.

So for those of you who can't be here, I'm trying to recapture it all. Close your eyes and pretend for a minute. See yourself here. Breathe in the cold, snow filled air. Imagine the love and let it flow into your soul. (I'm sending it your way!) Sisterhood is amazing!

The Good News

Today I begin teaching again after the ten-day-break between semesters. I am always excited to start a new semester, but this semester I am teaching the Four Gospels of the New Testament and that adds to the excitement. The Four Gospels are the life of Jesus Christ and to study, review, ponder, and discuss the life of Christ for the next seven weeks is not only a privilege but an absolute delight.

Because it will be on my mind, I’ll probably be recording many New Testament thoughts on Good News! beginning today! But that’s appropriate since the Greek word gospel means good news.

Whenever I introduce the Four Gospels to students I am struck by the power of traditions over the people. We are so blessed to have the Spirit to guide us, but following the Spirit takes work and constant effort and requires us to be obedient and repentant. Traditions, on the other hand, are like the tracks of a train. Once you are on them they carry you without any thought on your part. Thus the ancient Jews took the easy route and became caught up in tradition instead of following the Spirit and after a few years the traditions were all that mattered to them.

There are many things in our lives that we need to evaluate. Are we doing those things because it is habit or because we are being directed to do them? Are we walking through the rituals because they are tradition or are we really thinking and pondering and renewing ourselves through the rituals?

It is easy to slip into the realm of tradition. But it only takes a little thought and effort to bring ourselves back to a state of awareness and alertness—a state that will feed our souls and keep us in tune with the Spirit.

Connecting

The other day with “tongue in cheek” I wrote about being invisible during my book signing adventure. I was trying to be funny, but I think I missed the mark. Maybe it was because I ended by asking for comments about my book Gospel Insights, but instead of comments about the book many of you left comments about me. I’m a little embarrassed that it appeared I was fishing for compliments about myself, but I do appreciate all your kind words. It was very nice of you, and I will treasure the words. But there was something very good that came out of this and it was the insightful advice you gave and how you opened up your own hearts about being invisible. I loved that part of your comments most. It just goes to show how wonderful this blogging world can be.

I sometimes hear women say they can’t “waste time blogging,” and I can see how too much time on the computer would be a problem. But a few minutes a day can be a great blessing. Blogging gives us ways to communicate with each other—to find out what others are thinking and to share our own ideas.

Years ago people sat on their front porches and visited. Or they talked over the fence as they hung out laundry or did other chores. They connected. They spoke their minds and they heard what their friends and neighbors were saying. That connection between human beings is important.

Most of us don’t have front porches now. We don’t hang out laundry or do many chores that keep us outside where we can personally connect. But we can connect through technology. Instead of dismissing technology as a bad thing, we need to use it wisely.

So thank you for making this blog more interactive! I loved your input and hope you will all continue to share with me and others! As a matter of fact, I think from now on when I post something I’ll just imagine myself sitting on the front porch (I’ll have to imagine the front porch, too, since I don’t have one!) waiting for you to come sit in the other rocking chair to have a good visit with me.

Wolves at War

I once heard an old Native American legend that I love. It is about a Cherokee chief who is teaching his people. He says to them, “There is a terrible war going on inside me in which two wolves are constantly fighting. One wolf is called by the name of Peace and he is joy, happiness, love, generosity, kindness, truth, faith, trust, and thoughtfulness. The other wolf is called by the name of Misery and he is hate, envy, greed, jealousy, sorrow, regret, arrogance, and lies.”

The chief waits for a moment and then adds, “And this war is going on inside you, also.”

Again the chief pauses until a young brave breaks the silence. “Who will win this war?” he asks.

“The wolf I feed,” the chief answers.

This is what Living in Truth is all about—learning to feed the wolf called by the name of Peace.

It's the Sabbath!

Enjoy every minute of this special day!

I Don't Like Being Invisible

I did a book signing for Gospel Insights for Everyday Living in Logan, Utah, yesterday and met a lot of wonderful people. I fell in love with Logan when I got my Masters degree at Utah State, but I haven’t been there for years and since it is one of the most beautiful places on earth, I was delighted to return. I took D5 with me and her son the Big E and we went up early to stop at some of our favorite spots—like Cox Honey where I stocked up on flavored honeys and of course bought some honey popcorn which is absolutely heavenly and something I’ve never found anyplace else on earth. Then we went on to the Old Grist Mill and bought English scones. Again—I’ve never found these delicious treats anyplace else and they are fantastic! All they had left at 1:00 in the afternoon were peach and I prefer the berry or cherry, but the peach was delicious and it is worth the long drive up there just for the honey popcorn and English scones. Then we found an Indian restaurant that was new to us, and enjoyed a fantastic lunch before going on to the book signing at the Book Table book store booth at an event held at the Riverwoods-Marriott.

Book signings are interesting things. People walk by and pretend you are invisible so they don’t have to talk to you. Do you know how awful it is to be treated like you are invisible? But even worse, it is very boring to sit there being invisible. So I have to get people’s attention. I’m not very good at this. As a matter of fact, I'm terrible at it. I’ve watched other author’s do it and some of them are masters of the art of attention getting. I think it’s because I’d rather be invisible that it makes it difficult for me to get attention. That's the part about writing I like--sitting in my library all alone exploring my thoughts on paper. But being a writer also means you have to sell your books and invisible doesn’t sell books. Yesterday, I thought I'd found a way to break through the invisibility barrier. I brought a bowl full of bite-sized candy bars and offered those for free, but it seems everyone is on a diet and refused even my candy. In short, after two hours of sitting there trying not to be invisible I only sold three books! I came home feeling rather rejected.

So if any of you have read Gospel Insights and liked it, please leave a comment and tell me you have read it and that I'm not invisible to you. Better still, go on to Amazon.com and leave a review of the book. If you have read Gospel Insights and didn’t like it, please refrain from any comments anywhere. I’ve had all the rejection I can take for one week!