You Are You For a Reason

Hello!  I feel like sometimes it's hard to remember that you are you for a reason, in this time and in this place.  It's not an accident. Heavenly Father wants you to be who you are right now. He wants you to keep getting better too, but he accepts what we can offer right now.

Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great (D&C 64:33).

You are doing good things that will lead to great things. Be happy you are you.

A Wee Bit of Inspiration

I am finding inspiration these days in unlikely places: CHURCH! Don't laugh, I'm serious. When you have five little children to keep quiet during sacrament meeting, the idea of actually HEARING what someone is saying up front is pretty ridiculous. But for a few moments yesterday, I got to nurse Miriam in the Mother's lounge with only ONE extra kid and so, I got to breathe and listen to the words. It was lovely, and beyond the speaker, I had some ideas that I need to get into a word document. That doesn't happen much on Sundays (ever, actually, I try not to work on Sundays), so rather than risk losing my ideas, I jotted them down right then and there (also a miracle, I HAD A PEN AND PAPER!)

I'm thankful for small tender mercies, like a hungry baby and a quiet toddler. I'm thankful that my spiritual self is learning to listen over a bit of chaos as well. Sometimes my best ideas come while I'm wiping off a table or loading the dishwasher, and I'm grateful for that.

(Please note the pile of rocks behind my notes. My life is strange. I can't deny it.)



So, I'm trusting that John 16:13 is true when it says, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."

I trust that I will hear and be shown the things that I need to do to get this project finished. :)

In the meantime, I shall also continue to try and not yell at my kids when they make messes when I'm distracted. It's a process, people. A PROCESS.

Happy Friday!

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” 

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Airman's Odyssey: Night Flight / Wind Sand and Stars / Flight to Arra

When you look at this quote from a gospel perspective, it takes on a whole new meaning. Nothing left to take away... we will be perfected and eternal in the next life. There will be nothing to take away, only perfection upon eternal progression. What an awesome thought!

In this life though, as they say nothing is final until you're dead, so can we ever be perfect? Not so much. Our job now is to simply keep swimming. 

So, to send you into your weekend with good cheer, don't give up. Keep getting a little better each day.

There is Sunshine in My Soul

I'm not feeling particularly sunshine-y today. It's already been a rough morning. But I am determined to not give in to the frustrations that are threatening. So I whipped this up to remind myself of all that IS good, and IS right in my world. Let's face it, most of life IS good.

May your day be full of sunshine, even if you really have to peer through the clouds to find it. 

<3

Why is it Called "Practicing Perfection"?

Derek and I hashed this out a bit last night. We want the message of all THIS to be "No one is perfect, you can't be in this life, but that's okay because we keep trying to improve, to be better and in the end, our Savior makes up the difference."

But that was a very long title for a blog or book.

So, we settled here: Practicing Perfection. You keep going, you don't stop trying, you try a little harder to be a little better. You practice for eternity each and every day.

The JST of Hebrews 6:3 says, "And we will go on unto perfection, if God permit." 

Go on, eventually, someday, we'll get there in the next life. This life is a trial, a practice-run for the real deal. Practicing, improving and getting better, working toward our eternal goals is vital. So that someday, through Grace of our God, we'll be perfected in Him.

So, we practice. Every time we get out of bed, we are working on being better, and having faith that in the end, it'll all be okay.

Excerpt from Chapter One, Practicing Perfection

As women, we are the experts at guilt, self-deprecation, anti-ego, and well, all things that we deem as humility, but are in fact, just slandering ourselves against the talents and abilities with which we have been richly blessed. Satan, that dastardly father of all lies wants you to believe these things. He wants you to think that your neighbor is better in all aspects because her lawn is green and beautiful, while yours is bit scraggly. He wants you to care deeply what others think, and feel stunted and worthless when you believe yourself to be less than them. He wants to use the very things you've been blessed with as tools to drag you down. He will continually knock you down, make you feel stupid, fat, poor and useless.

And we so very often let him. Oh my friend. We let him more than we even realize. Every single day in our pathway to perfection, we allow Satan to tell us how much we stink. Far too often, when he hisses in our ears that we shouldn't bother because we’re just going to fail anyway, we believe him. We believe him, and we revel and wallow in our unholiness.

Now see here, I don’t mean to tell you that you’re bad! No indeed. In fact, for someone who despises the light so very much, Satan spends a great deal of time hanging out with those who try to be the most full of light. Wallowing in darkness of the truly evil isn't that much fun. In those cases, Satan has already won. The most evil and vile of things are Satan’s trophies. He likes to visit them and pat himself on the back for winning most thoroughly. But like a true competitor (Satan is absolutely a competitor), a trophy room isn't enough. He needs to be always adding to his collection. So he sneaks into the lightest of places, where Christ is invited to dwell, and pulls at those who despise evil and love light. He tells them they ought to stop bothering because they’ll never be good enough anyway. Then he glories in our defeat, as we hurt, and ache and wish we were more. 

It doesn't take much-- just a nudge to send us in the wrong direction. Regardless of our life experiences, and so much knowledge and confirmation from the Lord that we are good, that we are worthy, and that perfection is an eternal pursuit, we allow the snake to tell us otherwise.This does not please our Father. He doesn't want us to waste time wallowing in self-pity and despair. Remember the famous moment in Anne of Green Gables, when good, stalwart Marilla Cuthbert tells Anne that “To despair is to turn your back on God.” She is so very right.  Despair means that we cannot be saved, that we can be brought back up again. God wants you, in your moment of self-doubt and jealous observation of someone else’s perfection to stop, to pray, to seek the comfort from the Holy Ghost with whom you have a personal confidence, and remember who you are.

Oh my dear sister, remember who you are. 

Do Not Be Afraid

***souce: Morgan***

Practicing Perfection: An introduction

Welcome to Practicing Perfection!

****Source: Morgan****