Words to Live By

From time to time in my reading I come across messages which inspire me and which I like to share. This You Tube video is from a BYU Devotional, given on May 14 1996, by Elder F. Enzio Busche and is well worth sharing and listening to again and again. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snAjZ8mfoYw

This is the Closest We Have Ever Been!

Whenever we went on a trip with the kids a question that was commonly asked was, "how much further will it be?" And in response the answer was always, "this is the closest we have ever been!" Well, today I can say that to myself about the house, "this is the closest we have ever been!" Today we had the carpet laid and the blinds hung. So what's left you ask? The punch list goes something like this............

• Doors need to be hung
• Tile entryway
• Remove door and refinish door frame leading to upstairs
• Shelves in closets and storage closet
• Some electrical to finish up
• Move sound system upstairs
• Touch up painting (Ashley & Justin can you come back)
• Paint the garage
• Cement work for third-bay garage

It has been seven months since we started this project. And now that the dust is finally starting to disappear we are so excited and can hardly believe that this is the closest we have ever been!

Maxism

Max: "When is SuSu's birthday?"

Jim: "Tuesday."

Max: "How old is she?"

Jim: "I'm not sure."

Max: "So......she's so old you can't remember?"

I love that boy. I tend to get caught up in the birthday number game but if you can't remember how old you are, then who's counting?? Not me!

Paint

We are in the process of doing some major painting inside the house. Most of which is in the addition but since the paint was out and we had “painter helpers” (Jim, Shawneese, Justin & Ashley) we decided to paint the hall as well. This meant clearing out the hall of pictures, corner tables, etc. Since there is little place for these kinds of items to go (what with Teigen Man crawling about, ruining my prediction that he would be walking by now) it was determined the best empty space was our bedroom. This has made maneuvering around our room interesting at best; if not down right dangerous at times. The first morning in the dark was like bumper cars since we get up before the dawn. We couldn’t see our way just feel our way around things. You are probably thinking just turn on the light; but at that hour the light is equally as blinding. Anyway, this morning when I got up which was day five of the bedroom invasion I was able to weave my way though without a bump. It hit me as I was weaving through the maze that life is that way too. There are always obstacles. Do we learn from them, do we constantly bump into them resisting them thinking our way is better, or do we accept them as lessons and learn from them and move on. Today I learned that there can always be light even in the darkness. I learned that even with obstacles in my life I can work with them to overcome them for I know on Saturday these current obstacles will be put back in their proper space and all will be right with the world and the next time I get up before dawn’s early light I won’t have to fear an obstacle in my way.

Is it really 2009?

It seems like it has been forever since my last post. But after reading part of Elder Holland’s devotional he gave at BYU on Tuesday I’ve decided not to dwell on my deficiency .

Here is an excerpt from it:

“Counseling his audience to not dwell on days now gone or yearn vainly for yesterday, Elder Holland reminded "the past is to be learned from but not lived in," drawing upon experiences as one looks ahead. God doesn't care nearly as much about where you have been as he does about where you are, and with his help, where you are willing to go."

When the complete text becomes available I will for sure be looking it up I would love to read the whole talk. So many times I find myself looking back. He talked about Lot’s wife looking back and we know what kind of trouble that got her into. Don't want to go there.

So today I will look forward to all my tomorrows and all that they bring……no more looking back for me it is full steam ahead.