Ward Choirs and Stake Conference

So a couple weeks ago was our stake conference and Chad and I got to go on Saturday night!!!:) They had a ward choir there and they did not sound good at all...but as I was listening to them sing, I got the distinct impression that they were giving their very best and they were being blessed for their efforts!!! It kind of changed how I viewed that choir. I really do believe that when we put forth efforts to be involved in church activities our efforts do not go unnoticed even though our efforts might not be up to par with other people's efforts, since after all salvation is obtained on an individual basis. So to go along with that I learned a lot from stake conference that night about not judging people. The stake president shared some experiences where people in very difficult situations had received blessings telling them that they had chosen to be in those situations to bless others' lives. So we don't know what God's plans for others are, we don't know their hearts, and we don't know the experiences they have had that shape their lives and help create their behavior and their attitude. It is often so easy to judge others, especially those we are close to like our spouses, siblings, children, parents and close friends, but even these people have experiences that we don't know about that shape them into the people they are. The only person that we know 100% about is ourselves, so I guess I need to focus more on judging myself according to how I should be doing and how I am following the commandments and living up to the expectations that Heavenly Father has for my life!!!

Valentine's Day

No, I am not going to elaborate on what my husband and I did for Valentine's day, I just had a realization this year that I wanted to share with everyone. Why is their a special day, just once a year to celebrate our love? I think if you are truly in love you should be celebrating that love all year long. Who really needs a special day to remind them to tell their significant other "I love you" and spend lots of money being romantic? Isn't it better to just show your love every day? Anyway, not that I am against valentine's day or anything, I love valentine's day and I think it is fun to be more romantic, but I just thought I would put some food for thought out there. Maybe we should all try to be a little more romantic this year and tell our loved ones we love them a little more often!!!:)

Forgiveness

I've recently been involved with a personal transformation and one of the projects that I did a couple of weeks ago was I forgave someone. I loved the way that it set it up...I've been trying to forgive this person for many years, because I really love this person, but it has been a real struggle for me. However, it was so easy when I did it the way suggested. The first thing that I did was I wrote my "Big Hurt" Story. I told about what happened and why it hurt me etc. and that was really neat for me because as I was writing it, I was able to see the other person's perspective like I never have before. And that right there helped immensely. Then, I answered some questions, like how does holding this grudge benefit you and what feelings do I have when I think about it. Then it asked some different questions: How would my health and life improve if I were to forgive this person and what feelings would I enjoy. It was very powerful for me and I enjoyed the opportunity I had to finally let my resentment go!!!:)

Cleanliness and Perfection

So I recently stopped by at my sister-in-law's house and I only gave her like 5 minutes warning (I don't usually do this, but I had mentioned that I would be coming 2 weeks prior). Anyway, my sister-in-law recently had her 3rd baby, and so life is a little crazy for her, and when I called she told me that her house was a mess...and I said no problem (after all I realize that she just had a baby and I remember what my house was like after I had just had my baby). So when I got there, instead of sitting down and visiting, she was running around her house picking up little things (and honestly if she hadn't of said anything I really wouldn't have noticed). It got me thinking though, I do the same thing all the time...I know someone is coming over so I try to make my house spotless and if it isn't by the time they make it over than I am so embarrassed. So I guess my point is why do we try so hard to be perfect even when we are not? I know that our purpose in life is to strive for perfection, but why are we so scared to let our true selves show. I wonder if we were to let our true selves show if people could help us with our weaknesses and we would all become better. I probably will still clean my house every time I know someone is coming over (because let's face it, I just might not get it clean if I didn't), but maybe I will strive to not worry about it if it isn't perfect, because I'm not perfect.