Work Like CRAZY!

For starters. I am sorry I havent posted in a long time. I have been very busy. I just started dating a girl and I am finding every day more and more reasons to fall madly in love with her. She has been a tender mercy to me. Although I say she kinda got the short end of the stick have an ol'Gargoyle like me around I think we are really meant for each other.

 All that aside.

 In life we are meant to work. There may be a select few of us that dont have to for some reason for another.
But most of us are gonna have to work. And thats not just vocation. Thats life! See though... there is so much more merit in that though. It really doesnt take much to accept a brand new car from your parents and perhaps you feel like top dog while you drive it around. But there is something to be said about someone who works and earns and saves to afford an 1990 Plymouth Voyageur or some other archaic form of travel. The feeling of accomplishment in that far outweighs that of having things handed to you in life. Now I am not putting down parents or others who do such thing, and indeed the world needs such giving individuals.

I think the thing is that you should always love life. Work hard for the things you want. Be a giving individual.

I dont know why I thought about that... I guess I was just thinking about the value of work. and a lesson I am slowly learning about the value of frugality and saving... lol....
I will try to come up with something better in the future!

Things fall together no matter what

So I think until now most of my writings have been all about trials and life and just how to handle.
Do you ever think its a little ridiculous that when good times come we get the most tense. Almost
as if we have been burnt so many times before that when we arent getting burnt we are almost paranoid
that someone is waiting around the corner with a hot poker and is waiting to give us a little jab. I say
relax. When good times come soak it in. Let the warm waters of providence wash over you like the water
of a shower. Drink it in. Enjoy! You dont know, nor can anyone say how long it will last. It may be a brief respite from your daily grind. And maybe youve really hit your stride, and maybe its all blue skies and sunshine.
The point is its a gift from God. Dont turn it into something else.
Id like to reference the Savior and The Book of Mormon. Here is a principle that all of us can learn from.
In 3 Nephi 14 it reads:

9 Or what man is there of you, who, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?

  10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

  11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father   who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? 

God is our father and he gives gifts. They are called tender mercies. My life is riddled with them. And I testify that I know yours is also. But see... Sometimes God gives us a fish, but perhaps we dont like the kind of fish or we dont want fish we want chicken. It doesnt change that we were given a gift. We were and Heavenly Father knows full well what we need. And when we do this it is as if the fish is turned into a serpent or the bread a stone. This mindset will hollow out our desire to love. We lose our spirit of gratitude and life seems to dim into tones of dismal gray. 

My advice is similar to Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. "Love your life poor as it is."

Enjoy the simple moments. Take time to breath, their is lots of air to go around no need to 

save it for everyone else.

I wish I could just make up my mind...

So I have been attending the Foothills ward for the last 4 years. It is my home and they are my family. I really love that ward. I love it more than a lot of things in my life. They have been there in so many monumental ways, whether certain individuals know it or not. I have served as an activities committee chairperson and within the Elders Quorum. I have been tossed around these two callings over the last few years. I really feel like I was more than just a small part of the ward. I felt like, and knew that that was the exact place I needed to be, that I was doing the most good, and I was making a difference.
There has since been a change in my life. I moved out of the Foothills Ward boundaries and into the Brentwood boundaries. I was certain that I would continue to attend Foothills. I figured the boundaries are more like guidelines and I am young so I break rules as principle. Not actually, but I can dream... lol...
I continued life under that premise that I would continue on in my ward. Over the next few weeks I somewhat lost my feeling for foothills... Well thats not really it... more like I felt similar to how I felt before I moved out here. I felt that although this was my home I was needed elsewhere and must leave.
I put the matter to prayer. I offered that I was dedicated to staying in my ward and that was the decision I made. I put forth though that if I wasnt supposed to be there or if Heavenly Father desired my in Brentwood that I would straightway leave Foothills. Uneasy feelings began to dominate my heart. Every time I spoke of staying in Foothills I felt like I was covering my eyes. That although I knew the answer was there I would cover my eyes so as not to see it. I fooled myself with this for a few weeks. Finally I decided that it was time for me to go. I informed my bishop of the change and began telling a few choice individuals that I would be leaving.
Let me tell you this and make no mistake about it. I love the Foothills Ward so deeply. There are people in that ward that have spiritually or emotionally carried me on their shoulders. I have had times when I have felt so beaten to the ground and I had not the energy to lift my sunken head. These individuals have stood around me as pillars of strength. They walked with me through the trial. Not ahead of me, calling back to hurry up. Neither were they behind me like a taskmaster with the whip quick in hand. But as a friend walking beside me, helping me up when I stumble and encouraging me to stand on my feet again. I am certain that there are angels around me constantly... Some of them I see. Like my Mom, or my brother. Others I cannot see. I know that my family that has passed on is with me. They probably watch an protect me more than I would like to admit.

Although I am no longer attending my beloved Foothills I look forward with an open mind to what lies ahead.
From the silly Hobbit cartoon from what I am sure was the 70s or 80s "The greatest adventure is what lies ahead." Also some advice given me by my principal, from my highschool, "If your not scared, your probably not doing anything exciting."

So I am taking all my courage and fear and all that I got and pressing forward. I know that The Lord will watch over me no matter which ward I attend. I know that there is no place that I can go that I could possibly hope to hide from him. He will find me and love me. I hope that I can show love back.

My rhetorical question is, how does one love him back? I know what is says in John 14:15

but that is too easy... there is a greater answer... or more of an answer there.

Just some photos

Finding the beacon

So today I had to make a trip to Edmonton. I had to do it for work. This is pretty much the only time I ever go to Edmonton. I would consider myself a Calgarian now and therefore I dont like going to Edmonton. lol ;) I remember a few months ago I had to make a similar trip. The weather conditions weren't great and it was a struggle to make it there. I didnt know the city and I got lost. I needed to find a gas station that sold Diesel. This was pretty tough. I got even more lost because of bad directions from a gas attendant that didn't speak great English.
I started to worry. I was on a time budget and needed to get home quickly. I started to call friends who were familiar with the area. I got a hold of a very close friend, who was able to direct me. The next thing I did was to call my mom. As I drove along she was able to comfort me and help me to feel safe again.
I ended my conversation with my mom so that I could concentrate on driving. I had been driving for a while and was beginning to become certain that I had somehow missed my exit to head back home. Worry again enveloped my mind. I began to scan my surroundings to see if my chance there were any clue as to where I was or if I was on the right track. As I rounded a corner the Edmonton Temple came into view. It was a beautiful white building. A white spire shot into the air and I could see the golden statue of the Angel Moroni. The Spirit flooded my heart. All fear was swept away. I knew my course. I hadn't missed my exit. The spirit seemed to confirm I was going in the right direction. 

 I know in my life sometimes I am scared or am worried that I am not going the right direction. Maybe I am not even on the right road.

The Temple is my beacon. It helps me to know when I am pointed in the right way. 

When you feel lost look to the Lord and he will show you the way. He will be there for you. He will come to you in a way that you will best be served. I know that he always sends me a friend. Most of all he inspires my angel mother. I know God loves me because of my mother. She is wonderful. She helps me to see the beacons in my life.

May we all walk the path with eyes wide open. So that we may see the hand of the Lord guided and watching over our step. 

Glory in the moments

You know there are moments in life where it seems that time stops. You know moments that although there bad things going on in your life or there is some kind of chaos but in that very moment you seem to understand. Somehow you understand the plan. You seem to understand

maybe for a brief moment that God knows whats going on in your life. You may being doing anything. You could be at your favorite spot or with someone who is so special to you.

I ve posted some pictures that I have had such experiences. I wish I could say I could remember how I feel when I look at the picture. I remember that I had the experience. These experiences are gifts. They ought to be cherished. These experiences should be the things we write about in our journals.

Its these tender mercies that give us the strength that pushes onward. You see God loves us so much. He wants all the most special and lovely things. But honestly what would we be if everything was easy. You know its so easy for me to even say that, but where would we be? I know in the midst of my own trials I wish it would be easy. I wish God would sweep away my trials and drop a wad of cash in my lap or something of that sort. But He cant, or at least he doesn't. And why? Because he wants us to grow. I think of all the troubles in my life. I think of the times when I feel like life has beaten me to my knees and I dont have anything in me to lift my head. God wont take that away, but he is gonna do something better. He is gonna cheer me on. He is gonna give me the strength I need. He will bless me with profound moments that I will see in perhaps only a brief moment the larger plan. And I will know... Its all gonna work out. And I will be better for the trial. I think of my personal hero Rocky Balboa. He said, "Going in one more round when you dont think you can that's what makes all the difference in your life." and it does. Staying in there, not letting anyone stop you no matter what. And believe me life is more interesting that way. Life would be so flat if there were no battle to fight. No personal victory would exist if there were no battle.
Two quotes from Theodore Roosevelt that have impacted my life.

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

So one last word of advice to say is that there may not be many moments of glory in your life... but live so that you glory in life's moments.

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

I took this picture at grassi lakes near Canmore. I obviously took the road that everyone in my group took. But I just was thinking about decisions in life and why we makes decisions in certain ways. Perhaps we do things for other people or because we feel we are supposed to. How often do you do things for yourself.