Living life freely

I am tuckered. A half day at work followed by flying to Phoenix to get ready for the conference is apparently wiping me out.

However, it has been a very good day, as well. I ended up sitting next to a very nice, chatty woman in her mid-70s on the plane named Trudy, and Trudy and I had a great conversation. It was so pleasant, in fact, that we talked all the way from Salt Lake to Phoenix. She told me all kinds of stories and asked me lots of questions, too.

Then as I was waiting for my shuttle to take me to the hotel, I chatted briefly with a man who was a CPA in town for a different conference. He told me he was from Iowa, "believe it or not."

I wasn't sure what I shouldn't believe, so I guessed where he was heading and replied, "yeah, I guess a few people do live in Iowa."

He laughed heartily and gently slapped me on the shoulder and said, "yeah, a few people and a lot of Indians."

Right then my shuttle came up, so I have no idea if he was being serious or not. But I must admit that I have never pictured Iowa as being populated by a lot of Indians. Huh.

Upon getting to the hotel and getting up to my room, I saw my friend Brad was online and started a chat with him. I thought I recalled that he was in Phoenix for the summer, and that proved to be correct. Turns out that his ward holds Institute on Wednesday nights, and he offered to give me a ride over. So I went to Institute. The lesson was an excellent one about the dealings of the Lord with Nephi, son of Helaman in the beginning of the Book of Helaman, and it covered several things that I've been pondering a lot lately. Maybe someday some of them will make it on to this blog. In any case, I was grateful for the unexpected opportunity for spiritual nourishment tonight.

After Institute, Brad and I hung around and talked to people for a while. One of the girls there has pet sugar gliders- with her. I'd never actually seen a sugar glider before, and I was fascinated. The glider just ran up and down the girl's shirt- and then jumped on to mine. We got to be friends there for a minute, and it was a cute little thing. Now I have held a sugar glider.

Now I'm back at the hotel- fanciest place I've ever stayed, I think. I just ordered room service for the first time. I'm on the 21st floor of the building, which is really interesting when going down in the elevator with one glass side. Great view of the city, now that the sun isn't glaring in to my room. I had a pretty good day. Now I will go take advantage of the king-sized bed I have at my disposal and sleep soundly.

Mmmmmmm

I love accidental yummy things to eat. Today I threw together a sandwich for lunch and wound up with a surprisingly delicious delicacy. i strongly recommend:
turkey, provolone, green onions, and poppyseed dressing
Surprisingly good.

Treasure

This morning when I was talking to my nephew K, the topic of treasure came up. Now, K is a very typical five-year-old boy in some respects, including the fact that he adores Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and all things relate thereunto (especially if combined with legos- he gave me a sticker of a lego Yoda and a lego Chewbacca this afternoon. I might put them on my research notebook at work . . .). Now, of course, one of the main themes in Indiana Jones is treasure. So my cousin Aly told K that I would take him on a treasure hunt and his eyes lit up. After I raised my eyebrow at Aly (just one, since it does sound pretty fun to make a treasure hunt for a nephew), K began asking me about treasure hunts I'd been on in the past, and then he asked me if I'd ever found any treasure.

After a moment of contemplation, I told him that I had found a lot of treasure in my life, but that I wasn't sure it was the same thing he was talking about. He politely asked me to describe it anyway, and so I began telling him that when I go hiking in the mountains and I find a meadow filled with flowers, I consider that a treasure. When I step outside in the evening and see a beautiful sunset, I consider that a treasure. Spending time with people I love is a treasure.

I wasn't sure if that made any kind of impression on him, because then he told me that he wanted to go hiking with a pickaxe to see if we could dig anything up.

However, later that day, we were eating pizza together on the front porch. K told me how much he loved spending time with his aunts and uncles and then paused for a moment and asked me "I think that is a . . . could that be a treasure for me?"

I was delighted, and explained that anything that brings him joy can be a treasure. He nodded and said, "Okay, it's a treasure, then."

A little while later, the combined effects of the rainy day, the beautiful colors of the flowers and the antics of my nephews made me giggle in delight. When K wanted to know what was so funny, I told him that this kind of day just makes me happy inside. He nodded sagely and said, "so that's a treasure for you, then."

Wow. This kid packs a punch sometimes. Indeed, K, beautiful days with people I love are a treasure for me. Thank you for reminding me that my treasure is all around me, blessed boy. What a treasure my sweet little nephew is.

The amazingnes of life

Sometimes while I'm at work I'll have an idea or insight pop into my mind that I don't want to forget- so I send myself an email. As I was cleaning out my email inbox tonight, I found a couple of gems that I wrote myself in March. This one I especially like tonight:

Life is a really amazing thing- because of the Fall, we have the opportunity to learn all kinds of things that we could never learn if Heavenly Father just kept taking care of us all the time and if we never had the chance to have physical bodies. But also because of the Fall, we have the opportunity to make all kinds of mistakes and do all kinds of things that hurt us and those around us. The amazing part is that because of the Atonement, we can, through the proper attitudes, desires, and actions, have the negative impact of our mistakes removed and healed, while keeping the benefit of the good things we learn- both from good choices and bad. How incredible is that?

How incredible, indeed? May I strive every day to use the power of the atonement to be accountable for what I do, say, think, and feel, and to heal the negative parts of what I create and experience and to exponentially expand the good that I create. What a blessed world.

Beauty

When I wake up in the morning, often the first thing I do is pull back the curtain a crack and peek out at the back yard. I am still in love with the fact that I have a back yard . . . hooray! And every day it grows more beautiful. It was pretty in the winter when it was all covered in snow. It was pretty in an anticipatory kind of way when March rolled around and the snow melted and the expectation of spring was there. It was pretty when the first leaves of the oak tree started peeking out.

And then it suddenly turned a verdant green, with the grass and the periwinkles and the growing leaves. And now it is beautiful. Every morning when I stare out the window I wonder if it was that green the day before or if my eyes are playing tricks on me.

I was sadder than sad when the magnolias stopped blooming for the spring, but I was delightfully surprised when all the flowering cherries suddenly appeared in their pink, frothy splendor. I had forgotten that they bloom so late after the magnolias . . . bless all the people along my drive to work who have flowering cherries in their yards. They make my heart sing.

I am so grateful to live in a world with so much beauty.

It serves me to be conscious of what I'm doing . . .

Heh. I came home tonight for some party time with Michael and Angela. I discovered a while ago that it can be beneficial for me to keep certain items at my parents' house, so just in case I end up spending the night unplanned (which has happened a couple times), I don't end up going without brushed teeth or anything like that. So normally in the main bathroom there's a toothbrush, some face wash, a contact case, contact solution, and mouthwash for me.

Because of this, I often leave my toothbrush etc. in Salt Lake when I know I'll be spending the night in Orem because it's easier to not take them back and forth. Thus, when I threw some things in an overnight bag this morning, it involved pajamas, makeup, hair stuff, and clothes for tomorrow.

What I didn't count on was the bathroom renovation. I knew that Laura had taken it on herself to redo the main bathroom, but I wasn't anticipating somehow the completely dismantled room, with the big mirror taken down, shreds of wallpaper all over the floor, and yellow paint drying merrily on the walls. This is all well and good, I am a fan of progress. Then I realized that my belongings had been mostly placed on a shelf on the wall that was definitely not there any more. After a brief search in which I began strategizing where the nearest place was that I could go to buy a new toothbrush, I found most of what I was after- toothbrush, mouthwash, contact case. After a little more searching, I found a green container that looked a lot like the random facewashes that can be found in my house at times, so I grabbed them all and headed down to the basement bathroom to prepare myself for sleep. Teeth brushed, contacts out. I got my face wet and applied some of the creamy cleanser. It was exceptionally creamy, and felt a little thin for a masque- hadn't I seen the word masque on the front of the tube? Yep, there it was- "volumizing masque?" Why on earth are they advertising a facewash that is volumizing?

At this point, between the texture of the stuff and the word "volumizing" on the front of the tube, I began to get suspicious. Nowhere else on the front of the tube did it advertise exactly what this stuff was, so I turned it over. No major clarification there, either, until I started reading the instructions. "Apply to wet hair . . ."

Ah. It suddenly made sense. Most girls, while not wanting their faces to be voluminized, do desire to see more voluminization in their hair. Apparently the word s"conditioner" and "masque" are interchangeable. After a hearty chuckle, I washed off the conditioner and decided that my face was clean enough. If I wake up tomorrow morning with a voluminous face, I'll be sure to write the company and let them know that their product works. Maybe Angi just keeps choosing voluminizing mascaras, and she's not actually allergic to them after all. Hm.

Like a ray of sunshine through a bank of clouds

Tonight at Institute I had some interesting thoughts. That often happens in Institute. Sometimes I even get the impression that I should not only record my thoughts, which I often do, but record them on my blog, which I usually do not. Granted, many of my thoughts are very personal and wouldn't be appropriate to write anywhere but my private journal, but sometimes I get the feeling that someone else who may read it could also benefit from the inspiration that I've been blessed to receive.

The class, incidentally, was on the topic of inspiration. This is quite possibly one of my favorite gospel topics to discuss, right up there with the atonement, charity, and faith. Truth be known, it is one of the things that really puts a clear demarcation between my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and all other Christian denominations.

And it is one of the most wonderful ideas I've ever heard. I've been through some rough times in my years on earth. I've been through confusing times and frustrating times and times when I knew I needed to change or wanted to help but didn't know how. And I know I'm far from alone in this. I think it pretty much describes a basic part of the human condition. And I can't tell you how much comfort and confidence it has given me over the years to know that I have the privilege of receiving comfort, support, confirmation, and specific guidance from my Heavenly Father, if I want it badly enough to do the things necessary to receive it.

This, I think, is a major component of being made alive in Christ, as Paul puts it. When we are reborn, we have the opportunity to literally open a connection between ourselves and heaven, giving us the incredible privilege of not only being able to talk to God through prayer, but being able to have Him speak back- how amazing is that? I have a hard time fathoming what life would be like without that line of support. The beauty of it is that God offers it to everyone- He stands at the door knocking, it's up to us to answer the door.

One of my favorite aspects of personal revelation is the way that it can be such a powerful tool for God to bless the lives of His children who need some help, some encouragement, or just to know that someone cares. There are few things more amazing than to know that God chose to use you as the instrument to bring someone else much needed comfort or counsel. One of the talks that we used in class tonight, which was geared towards youth, spoke about how we must train ourselves to listen- and respond- to the voice of the Spirit so that as mothers and fathers, our children will not suffer because of our bad habits. I can think of few positions in life that require more revelation than that of parenthood.

Few things convince me more that my Heavenly Father loves me than knowing, and experiencing, His direction in my life. I'm not a pro and there are times for sure that I spend extra time on my knees asking for clarification or some kind of guidance. But so often it comes, like a ray of sunshine into my soul, confirming again and again what I already know- that I am a child of God and He is watching over me. And that can give you a lot of confidence to keep going.