Thoughts and stories, by Pal

  The Parable of the Purple Pig: What Have you Stopped Noticing? By  Joni Hilton  · January 26, 2022 In many ways, life is like The Parable of the Purple Pig. In this story, a man who owns a gas station in the Midwest comes across a garage sale in a nearby state, where they’re selling a sculpture of a pig. Nearly twice the size of a real one, the man thinks it would be a hilarious prank to buy it and put it in a friend’s pig farm. He loads it into his pickup truck. But on the way home, he gets an even better idea. He’ll spray paint the whole thing purple and put it in front of his gas station. It will draw attention, maybe increase business. So, he does this. Only people find it an eyesore. Opinion letters appear in the local paper. The local radio station bemoans his poor taste. Disgruntled drivers tell him to take it down. This offends him and he stubbornly vows to keep it up as long as he’s alive, by golly. The ruckus finally dies down as people realize it’s simply goi...

 I love Meridian Magazine and you probably have seen, I reuse many of their inspirational articles, and I always give credit to whomever wrote it.  This is another really good one! Fact-finding or fault-finding? By  Joni Hilton  · November 25, 2021 We live in an era of sharp division, harsh words, and violent flare-ups. We see it in the streets and sometimes in our own families. Somehow, we have forgotten how to agree to disagree. Instead of fact-finding when we encounter someone with a different view, there is fault-finding. Someone’s differing view suddenly defines the person. Hatred of an opinion has become hatred of the person who holds it. We seem to have forgotten “hate the sin but love the sinner” as our society sinks into personal attacks and cancel culture. Why must our dislike for a political position have to become dislike for the person who holds it?  Do you dislike people of other faiths?  Folks who cheer for other teams? People who like the mo...

This makes you think! We don't want to lose our testimonies! How’s Your Testimony During this Pandemic? By  Joni Hilton  · September 2, 2020 The closure of our churches due to the pandemic has left many of us longing to mingle with each other again. We miss taking the Sacrament there. We miss the comradery, the music, the insightful instruction.  And we miss our monthly Fast and Testimony meetings when our hearts can be stirred by the expressions of ward members. Some churches have opened partially, others are still waiting for the green light. Mine is still in lockdown, and I caught myself this week thinking how much I miss hearing other people’s testimonies. And then it hit me: For as long as I can remember, church leaders have told us that our own testimonies strengthen by the bearing of them. President Dallin H. Oaks once said, “We gain or strengthen a testimony by bearing it… testimonies are better gained on the feet bearing them tha...

This touching article tells how much loving and kind caregiving for those who are disabled -- can do for the person being served, and those serving! The Mark of a Good Caregiver By Joni Hilton  · June 19, 2019 Sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please  CLICK HERE I’ll just say it: I think we need a National Caregivers’ Day. Not only should they receive boxes of chocolates and bouquets of flowers, but friends should step in and take the entire day for them, if they can. It’s hard to imagine any job more exhausting, more tedious, more without a moment’s relief, than constant caregiving. And with the rising numbers of elderly and disabled, caregiving is falling upon more and more shoulders. If you haven’t already experienced it, you may.  As a matter of fact, I feel such admiration for this unheralded group that I wrote a tribute song to caregivers for my upcoming musical about cancer. And this demanding task doesn’t compare to all the...

This is a great article!  I have known some who were a bit let down from where their missionary call was, but after they have been there, they love it! What’s the Most Exciting Mission Location? By Joni Hilton  · May 22, 2019 Sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please  CLICK HERE Right now I’m picturing some young men and women who are awaiting their mission calls. They’ve prepared all their lives, they’ve “put in their papers,” and now they—and their families– wonder where they’ll be spending the next 18 months or two years of their lives. But they have no idea the phenomenal surprises that await them. First, let’s be honest. Even though we know the most important thing is  that  they serve, we all see the screams of delight in videos of the announcement when an exotic location and language are revealed. As a people, we still struggle to get over the  where. Let me tell you where I would pray with all my heart for my chil...

This is a lovely article about how the Holy Ghost is truly a comforter. Accessing the Gift of the Holy Ghost By Joni Hilton  · January 17, 2018 I love to attend baptisms. I have yet to witness one where I didn’t feel the Spirit, and I can see the moist eyes of others experiencing the same thing. Recently I watched an eight-year-old girl in my ward enter into the waters of baptism, after her grandmother gave a beautiful talk about the Holy Ghost. The grandmother showed a quilt of her great-grandfather’s, truly a comforter, which is how the Holy Ghost is often identified. Of course we all know he is a member of the Godhead, and does much more than comfort. He also testifies of truth, he enlightens our minds, he prompts and inspires us to take righteous and charitable actions, he helps us make decisions, he warns us of danger, on and on. But we call him   The Comforter.  We don’t call him the Enlightener, or the Teacher, the Prompter, or the...

Why a NYT Bestseller Written by a Catholic Shares How Mormons Are Getting Religion Right Are Mormons Leading the Way Again? By Joni Hilton  · August 9, 2017 Sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please  CLICK HERE After watching American churches crumble when it comes to gathering young adherents, and observing that many sects backpedal their positions on social issues as they grow more and more secular, author Rod Dreher proposes a drastic solution. He advocates going the other way—constructing a counterculture that embraces the ideas of St. Benedict of Nursia. His controversial suggestion has become a bestseller called  The Benedict Option. In his book, Dreher observes that communities are losing their connectivity, their sense of belonging. People no longer watch out for one another as they did in years gone by, and families are fragmented. He urges the world to pull away from the world and embrace the ancient Christian lifesty...

This is a great article on how to stay cheerful and happy, and be able to help others do the same.  As the holidays are over, and we again go back to our usual routines, this will help us keep that happy spirit we had during the holidays!  (Hopefully!)   This is another article I saved, first posted on Meridian Magazine on May 25, 2015. PERSONAL VOICE What ‘Sighs’ Are You? By Joni Hilton  · May 25, 2015 “Uh-oh.  You’re sighing.”  This observation by my husband usually follows repeated efforts on my part, to get something to work.  It could be anything from a machine to a recipe, but eventually my frustration reveals itself in a sigh. And we’ve all done it.  We’ve exhausted our reserves of effort, patience, or sheer stamina, and there it comes: The sigh.  Scientists say we do it to reset our breathing, after a long spell of monotony.  They also say we sigh for negative reasons far more often than the sigh of...