Here is another piece from an art show I perused this week. Michael Malm titled his piece "Focus on Joy." Christ's joyful expression is what caught my eye, along with the rich colors and lighting. From a statement next to the painting:

"In this image, Malm emphasizes Christ as the source and exemplar of joy. Radiant light behind the Savior's head illuminates His amiable countenance. The light surrounds Jesus's head in a halo form, a traditional Christian symbol of holiness that here seems to underscore His divine power and an aura of hope. Malm painted this image as a Christmas gift for his family.  He wanted to create a focal point in his home that echoed prophetic counsel to center our lives on Christ."

 

David Dibble

"Sanctuary"

David Dibble remembers the experience of walking home through the fields with feelings of exhausted contentment at completing another day's labor.  This barn, framed by the setting sun, becomes a meditation on the sanctity of work.

When I saw this piece in person this week, the color of the sky was stunning.

Friends are such a blessing! There are friends I text with, friends I walk with, friends I sew with, friends I call and talk with on the phone, friends that laugh with me, serve with me, and friends I exchange Marco Polos with. I love to discuss gospel principles with friends, or parenting, marriage, health or time management tips, etc. I have friends I feel comfortable sharing deep feelings with. I am lifted and encouraged by friends.  This season of life provides more time for friends than other chapters of life have.

"We are not designed to be autonomous, self-individuals. We are designed for love.  We come most alive when we are in relationships of dependence and trust.  It is in connecting with another that we begin to know who we are."

Jenet Jacob Erickson, Y Magazine, Winter 2023, pg. 31.

"One of the most important things we can do on earth is develop relationships that will support us through different seasons of life and help us endure to the end."

Jessica Anne Lawrence, "3 Things we Learn from Christ about Relationships," Liahona, April 2024.

"I've listened to someone as young as 14 and someone as old as 100 talk about their close friends, and there are three expectations of a close friend that I hear people describing and valuing across the entire life course: somebody to talk to, someone to depend on, and someone to enjoy. These expectations remain the same, but the circumstances under which they're accomplished change."

William Rawlins, Atlantic.

 

 These pieces from Jay Bryant Ward are beautiful!

"In Humility Our Savior"

"Away in a Manger"

"A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief"

"I Will Comfort You"

 

This is a picture of the Draper Temple, the temple I go to most often. These thoughts and questions by Anthony Sweat help me focus while in the temple.

Three great questions to ask yourself are: What does the Lord want me to know from this experience? What does the Lord want me to feel from this experience? And What does the Lord want me to do because of this experience? When you ask these questions in meekness and humility, great insights flow from God’s house of revelation. As you approach God asking what He might have you know, feel, or do and faithfully visit and revisit the Lord’s holy house, insights will unfold.

As you participate in the temple endowment, try to do so in an attitude of approaching God to obtain further truth and knowledge from Him.

Pay attention to how you feel and to what it is about the temple experience that is helping you feel this way.

As you worship in the temple, pay attention to the Spirit of God’s influence upon your spirit.

When you enter the holy temple, you may want to continually ask yourself, What would God have me do based on what I am learning or feeling? What would he have me become? 

Overall, as you attend the temple, ask yourself, What can I do to better live my covenants? Or What can I act upon, today, to live this divine law? If you and I are to abide in the presence of God, we must live His celestial laws and act in obedience and submission as He requires. 

Because the temple is a place set apart from the world—a gate between heaven and earth, if you will—it is an ideal place to get heavenly help for the challenges of earthly life.

(Taken from The Holy Invitation: Understanding Your Sacred Temple Endowment by Anthony Sweat)

 

A few lines that I have read recently that have made me smile:

I was reading a book on helium.  I couldn't' put it down.

People say, "It's always the last place you look." Of course it is.  Why would you keep looking after you've found it?

A journey of a thousand miles begins with running back in the house for something you forgot. (This is so me!  I turn around often to make sure I put the garage door down).

The part of the baseball game I most identify with is the umpire neurotically dusting home plate after the players mess it up.

I went to Macy's to buy something.  As i pulled out my parking ticket, I asked the lady behind the counter to validate me. She hugged me and said, "You're a good person."

Yesterday I attended a church service of another denomination before attending mine. The first service I attended had a friendly congregation, an accomplished choir, and a place for children to go to so that they didn't have to sit through the entire service. The pastor provided a sermon based on scriptures from the New Testament.  I enjoyed the sermon and learned from it.

In Come Follow Me we have been studying about Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and the translation of the Book of Mormon. I have been pondering the great blessing it is to have in my possession scripture in addition to the Bible. This past week I read from the Doctrine & Covenants and the Book of Mormon. I read Jacob's description of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and my understanding was enlarged. In the Doctrine & Covenants I read of several directives given by Christ to men in the latter-days, and how He is willing to answer if we ask. 

As it says in the Christmas hymn "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," "God is not dead nor doth He sleep." I worship a living God. God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ are alive.  They spoke to prophets of old and they continue to speak to prophets who are on the earth today. They are concerned about us and they know what is happening on earth, in every country, and in every family. They have not turned away from us. They have not shut off communication. Revelation is ongoing. 

I value the Bible and I value the additional scripture that God has provided.  I listen to the living prophet as he has pertinent guidance for my day. I am blessed beyond measure to have many sources in which to learn about God and feel His Spirit.

 

Tonight our Book Club had a wonderful discussion about this book.  It was an unusual night in that everyone seemed to have liked the book. There were many lines and paragraphs that I have reread and pondered.  Here is a sampling:

When Naomi passed, I asked God to take away the pain.  I believed he could, and I pointed out to Him that doing so made sense.  Spare me this grief so I can get back to work, I told Him.  But He didn't; He saw me through the pain, but He didn't take it away.  He honors our sorrow by allowing us to experience it.  How else to deepen us? How else to increase our trust? Instead of fighting the pain, He asks us to surrender to it. Only then can it begin to heal us.  Thank Him for the emptiness.  He will fill it when He sees fit (pgs. 272, 273).

I have come to accept that at present I have only a partial view of reality; there are answer I will not be given until I leave this life.  I know that my Lord is the God of wheat fields and oak tress, of mountains and valleys. and that His answers, like HIs works, often require time (pg. 278).

This growing old is the great test, you know--the challenge we've been preparing for all along (pg. 264).

Today I read these tips written by Edwin Friedman and I agree with his suggestions. I need to work on #6, specifically calming my mind while I work on one thing, and not thinking about other things but completely zoning in to where I am and what I am doing at the moment.

Suggestions for coping with stress:

1.       Find an outlet for working off stress.

2.       Talk to someone about your worries.

3.       Learn to accept what you cannot change.

4.       Try to balance the time between work and recreation.

5.       Be sure to get sufficient rest and sleep.

6.       Do one thing at a time instead of trying to tackle all of your tasks at once.

7.       Get out and make yourself available instead of sitting alone and feeling sorry for yourself.

8.       Do something for others (pgs. 216, 217, Generation to Generation).

Not only is the scenery magnificent in this video, but the message is also marvelous.