Stories of Jesus

I have found that stories are an excellent way to connect with my children. They drink them in. Especially if they are told orally. While eating lunch I asked sam, "Sam do you know what the most powerful thing is in the whole world? The strongest thing in the whole world?" He thought about it and said "what?"... "LOVE...love is the strongest and most powerful thing in the whole world. And do you know who has all the Love power?" "JESUS!" Sam yelled. "And do you want to know the BEST Love story in the whole world?" "YEAH!" He was captivated and wide eyed.

"Well there was a group of people in heaven...GODS. And there was a problem because one of the gods rebelled and started a fight. This rebellious god started doing things that would hurt all the Gods children. So the good Gods, they had to come up with a plan. And they needed someone who had enough LOVE. Someone who had so much love that they could win the fight and save the children of the Gods. The fight was really REALLY big. JESUS was chosen because he had enough love to overcome the rebellious God and help all the children be saved from the terrible evil. So Jesus was born down to earth. He came down and was a sweet little BABY! He was so precious and his mommy was named MARY." (at which point Sam exclaimed to me that Mary was his mommy in heaven and his mommy on earth because he KNEW it He knew that Mary was both of his mommies.) "He was a baby and drank milkies and grew bigger and bigger. He was a kid..like you! Jesus once was three years old! And as he got bigger he remembered more and more that he was the man who had SO MUCH LOVE that he was going to win the fight. He remembered that he was the CREATOR, that he created the earth. He remembered that he was the DELIVERER, that he was going to deliver all the people from the evil, rebellious god, He remembered that he was KING OF HEAVEN AND EARTH." I then proceeded to tell him about the life of Jesus and how in the Garden of Gethsemane he began fighting. And that he overcame all the darkness and sadness and anger and pain with LOVE POWER. That LOVE IS STRONGER than fear, stronger than pain, stronger than meanness, stronger that evil. LOVE WINS. Sam was beaming. This was the best story. Somehow I was telling it in the perfect way for him to connect with it. Sam then said "MOM Jesus is THE CONNECTOR! He connects all of us back to LOVE! When we have sadness he helps connects us back to LOVE so we can win!" YES SAM!!!! YEEESSSS! That is it. I was blown away and in awe at how perfectly his THREE YEAR OLD little self had made this connection. I mean COME ON! WOW! I then told of how Jesus was hung on the cross and what that meant. And how his friends were really worried. There was a hush and sadness that I think was probably felt throughout the angels and the heavens as well. "was it going to work? He is dead? Everything will fail if this doesn't work, whats happening?" And the rebellious god and all the darkness got really big. They thought they were winning. BUT GUESS WHAT! Three days later JESUS CAME BACK TO LIFE AND OVERCAME ALL THE DARKENSS! HE WON! LOVE WON! HE SQUASHED THE DARKNESS DOWN WITH HIS LIGHT (using Sams words)" And then I told of the ascension into heaven and the resurrection and what that means. And Sam said, " I am so happy that Jesus is the connector mom! That means I can have love mom! When I am sad or angry Jesus will help me have love, and love has all the power!
Telling this story was amazing. We talked about how sam then came to earth years and years and years later as a baby. He drank milk and grew and grew and is three years old. And as he keeps growing he is going to keep remembering what he is going to do on this earth. Because Jesus has special things for Sam to do that are all about LOVE and helping people find "the connector" so they can have love too. I was just in awe at what had just happened. SO much connection and understanding. He is 3 YEARS OLD and was learning so much. It was like his soul was on fire and for twenty minutes he just got it all, he knew it all. It was all so familiar and fresh and clear. I am going to keep finding ways to tell this story, because it is the greatest story, the best love story, and there is power in breaking from the cultural way we tell the story and start telling it in the language of our kids. I will never forget this moment, this connection and this space that was created on a typical day eating noodles and broccoli. 

The Birthday Chain

I have had the intention for a while now to connect daily and often with my children. The real connection where suddenly this beautiful space is created where we both feel our real essences shine through. Where love is permeated through the room and our hearts. Connection.

Sams birthday is coming up. Recently he has been more whiney with wanting to go buy new toys, especially a robot toy. Somehow this idea came into my mind to make a count down chain to count down to his birth soon approaching in two months. He was elated and that on his birthday he would receive a special gift, a new toy. We went down to the basement and he picked out some of my decorative paper. Blue with read, purple and green designs. He watched me excitedly as I cut each strip. I counted how many strips I had after cutting the only sheet and to my surprise it was exactly how many days till his birthday. We stapled them together and hung the birthday chain above our back door. The awe was tangible. He looked me sincerely in the eye with a hand on my shoulder and said "mom, how did you know I would love a birthday chain? Thank you so much. This is what I love!" Hearing those words was priceless. And then it got even more amazing. After we cut off the first chain I told him of how I knew I was going to have a little boy named SAMUEL because when I was in the temple Jesus told me so. My sons name would be SAMUEL. And then later I was on the back lawn of the temple when I was surrounded by angels and they all whispered to me that I was going to have a son named SAMUEL. I told Sam this and that Jesus helped Sam get ready to come to this earth. Amazing right? He soaked it in. This was HIS STORY. His eyes welled up with sobbing tears of joy and there was such CONNECTION in the room, in our hearts and with heaven, the way things really are. It was like something suddenly clicked in his soul that said "yes! it is good to be on earth! This is right where I am suppose to be, and I am supported and loved!" So with this connection, and story and emotion Sam said to be with such sincerity and urgency..."Mom! I am going to say a prayer to God to tell him I am so glad I am on earth! I am so glad I CHOSE to come to earth Mom. It was my choice! I chose to come to earth and I am so glad to be here with you!" After this amazing remark coming from my vocab smart three year old, with out skipping a beat he walked over to the other side of the rug, knelt down facing the birthday chain with his darling hands placed on his thighs and began to offer the sweetest prayer with tearful sobs of joy(literally). "Heavenly Father, Thank you for helping me come to earth. I am so happy I chose to come. I am so happy I am on earth. I am so happy I am with my mom. Amen." 
I was stunned. My whole being was SO connected to him in this moment. He felt something. And it was big and beautiful and deep. The space in our little room was so, so I don't even have words. After he said the prayer he stood up ran over to me wrapped his three year old arms around my neck smiled in my eyes. He then hugged me so deeply and intently. IT WAS PURE JOY. We now have the tradition that every day I tell him a little tid bit of HIS STORY, how he came to earth, his womb experience, his birth. It is magical. Each day has been like a light that flickers on. He wants to know. He loves it, and I love it. There is a feeling of BELONGING and REMEMBERING that is happening. I am grateful beyond measure that this tradition has begun and that Sams little heart has been so deeply opened and inspired.

Honor the Present Moment

I find that when I am not actively journaling my happenings with my children and within my personal life that I begin to feel like I am losing something very special and grand. Like I am missing out. Sometimes I even feel a touch of panic. I realized when something is heard and HONORED that it peacefully rests. My memories are the same. They want to be heard and honored so that I can move on to the next present moment, with out the fear that those precious experiences have expired forever. So this is one of MY NEW GOALS/INTENTIONS:

     -To HONOR THE PRESENT MOMENT, by hearing it, seeing it, feeling it, valuing it, embracing it, and      letting it go. (And I can let it go more easily when I am journaling....)

    -To JOURNAL about the present moments that most heavily impact, strengthen, transform and enliven my present moments on this earth. (because these present moments are most valuable in my soul evolution on this earth.)

**I am easily finding myself honoring the present moment...seeing it, hearing it, feeling it. **
**I am easily finding myself journaling about those present moments that are most valuable and transformative to me and my path.**

Praise and worship

Praise and Worship

-elevating god and removing the self/selfish natural man. 

-at one ing with the divine

-remembering testimony of who god is and what he does so during crisis you know what who and how to have faith. 

Worship is the act of sacrifice. Sacrifice of the natural man/carnalmind/ ego/that which will die/that which leads to death pain and captivity and bondage. Sacrifice is removing identification/at one ment with these and connecting to the creator of all that is. It is a wonderful connection being made with the divine only. With laying thyself down and taking up the divine identity. With basking in gratitude praise for god. Worship is exalting god and abasing the false self. This is surrender. No wonder worship is arms stretched wide. It is surrender and receiving the blessing of the creator. Being in the flow of divine power. All that we do may become worship/surrender. 

Thoughts on prayer

Prayer

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

Mahatma Gandhi

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.

Søren Kierkegaard

Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.

Mother Teresa

The Simple Path

Silence is Prayer

Prayer is Faith

Faith is Love

Love is Service

The Fruit of Service is Peace

Mother Teresa 

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

Gibran Khalil Gibran

Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.

Corrie ten Boom

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love,

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Francis of Assisi

In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.

Mother Teresa

Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.

L.M. Montgomery

Give me the Love that leads the way

The Faith that nothing can dismay

The Hope no disappointments tire

The Passion that'll burn like fire

Let me not sink to be a clod

Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God

Amy Carmichael

Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.

Mahatma Gandhi

Many people pray to be kept out of unexpected problems. 

Some people pray to be able to confront and overcome them.

Toba Beta

The more you pray, the less you'll panic. The more you worship, the less you worry. You'll feel more patient and less pressured.

Rick Warren

We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.

Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don't want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of 'good time' is seldom in sync with ours.

Oswald Chambers

When every hope is gone, 'when helpers fail and comforts flee,' I find that help arrives somehow, from I know not where. Supplication, worship, prayer are no superstition; they are acts more real than the acts of eating, drinking, sitting or walking. It is no exaggeration to say that they alone are real, all else is unreal.

Mahatma Gandhi

I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.

Martin Luther

For the happy man prayer is only a jumble of words, until the day when sorrow comes to explain to him the sublime language by means of which he speaks to God.

Alexandre Dumas

The inner voice is something which cannot be described in words. But sometimes we have a positive feeling that something in us prompts us to do a certain thing. The time when I learnt to recognise this voice was, I may say, the time when I started praying regularly.

Mahatma Gandhi

For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.

Thérèse de Lisieux

Prayer makes your heart bigger, until it is capable of containing the gift of God himself. Prayer begets faith, faith begets love, and love begets service on behalf of the poor.

Mother Teresa

Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.

Andrew Murray

The wise man in the storm prays God not for safety from danger but for deliverance from fear.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The best way to obtain truth and wisdom is not to ask from books, but to go to God in prayer, and obtain divine teaching.

Joseph Smith Jr.

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?

Corrie ten Boom

I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him.

Ravi Zacharias

We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.

Oswald Chambers

Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.

James Hudson Taylor

Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.

John Bunyan

And if you but listen in the stillness of the night you shall hear them saying in silence,

"Our God, who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that willeth.

It is thy desire in us that desireth.

It is thy urge in us that would turn our nights, which are thine, into days which are thine also.

We cannot ask thee for aught, for thou knowest our needs before they are born in us:

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all."

The best way to navigate disappointment and trials is to examine what they expose. 

“Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.”

~Tori Amos

Avoiding deception

These are wise words spoken by Denver Snuffer. I really have enjoyed pondering them and finding where I can weed out further pride. 

"Any time a teaching, doctrine or precept appeals to the vanity or pride of the audience, it should be questioned. Flattery is of the Devil. (2 Ne. 28: 9-12; Jacob 7: 2.) On the other hand, if it brings you down into the depths of humility, provokes repentance and an abandonment of sin, it is from God.

A strait and narrow way will be found by only few. (Jacob 6: 11-12.) To find it the few will confront dozens of voices imploring them to diverge from what God has underway (2 Ne. 2: 11), crying “Lo, Here!” and “Lo, There!” (JS-H 1: 5.) It is required for the few to reject false offers of salvation, purported higher knowledge, pacifying doctrines, flattery and errors coming from teachers who command people to hearken to their precepts. (2 Ne. 28: 20-32.)

Fear not... “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.” (John 10: 27-30.)

Becoming a minimalist: focusing on the important matters in life

Questions for minimal life

If this broke today would I miss it? Why? 

Is the benefit of having/storing this, greater than the benefit of being freed from being owned by it? 

Am I doing what is most needful in this moment? 

Ideas for filling small moments with what is most important to me. 

-worship god: singing a song of praise is singing my testimony and offering a prayer. 

-pray and meditate: be present in the silence of the present moment where I can find that unshakable core of peace and joy, where I can connect with the unlimited source of life and love all about and within me. 

-express love to my children. Take the moment to really see them. Their wholeness and beauty. 

-say thank you. Express gratitude. 

- connect with others. Write a note. Lift a weary hand. Give space for a grieving heart to unwind and find solace. 

-be brave enough to say yes to the truth. To seek the truth and let go of illusion. 

-find a way to help someone's day be a little brighter, a little lighter