Pearls & Perfection Pending

Today I was impressed by a statement made by Carl B. Cook as I read his recent conference address .  He spoke of a particularly overwhelming day he had in which he was staring blankly at the floor of the elevator he was on, when President Monson entered and somewhat humorously encouraged him that it was better to look up. "Experience" Brother Cook says, "has taught me that if we, like President Monson, exercise our faith and look to God for help, we will not be overwhelmed with the burdens of life.  We will not feel incapable of doing what we are called to do or need to do.  We will be strengthened, and our lives will be filled with peace and joy.   We will come to realize that most of what we worry about is not of eternal significance--and if it is, the Lord will help us.  But we must have the faith to look up and the courage to follow his direction. " He goes on to talk about our difficulty in consistently looking up in life.  He asks, "Why is it ...

I really enjoyed the General Relief Society broadcast last night.  Sister Allred said what I needed to remember the most, especially after the angry mom episode the other day.  She said that charity is a divine gift which we must seek and pray for.  We must have charity to enter the Celestial Kingdom.  Charity is being patient with those who let us down, or call and yell at us... Most of all, as I'm sure is true for many, I LOVED Elder Uchtdorf's talk.  Below are the notes I took on the talk. It has been a lot of fun learning to use Photoshop, which my sister-in-law, Kristen, got me for Christmas last year.  I still have TONS to learn, but...look what I made! :) Forget me not... 1. Be patient with yourself.  God knows that you are not perfect.  Do not ever compare your weaknesses to the strengths of others.  Celebrate all of your successes.  God notices them.  Do not miss out on life's meaningful experiences.  ...

I headed out to the car, late as usual, but hot chocolates in hand as always, hoping to make up for my perpetual tardiness to everyone in the carpool.  I don't remember anything about seminary that early morning, but I remember the snippets from the radio talking about some trade center building, whatever that was. Meagan and I headed to our locker to pick up our IB European beast of a book.  We met Ross Barnes  on our way to class and walked into what we thought would be another morning full of Nazis and Fascists.  As we entered the room, everyone was watching something on the television screen.  A plane zoomed into a skyscraper and Ross shouted, "Cool!  What movie is this?"  Mr. Chamberlain with his perfectly groomed goatee and squarely knotted tie said nothing.  It was then that we realized the gravity of the situation.   We spent the rest of the day watching the news in every single class.  We watched the se...

Have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Alma the younger is preaching to the people in and around Zarahemla. The first thing he feels the need to tell them is that he has been given the authority to stand in front of them from his father, Alma who built up the church they are now a part of. He reminds them of the days of his father's ministry when their father's were in bondage to king Noah, and then again to the "Lamanites in the wilderness." He reminds them that it is only because of miracles that God performed in delivering their father's from bondage that they have anything now. I think this is a very interesting point for Alma to begin his discourse with these people. Whether they have truly grown apathetic to the fight of their fathers or whether Alma just wants to bring these things to their memory, it is a unique way to start a sermon. Why would it be important to remember the captivity of your fathers? Obvio...