Thoughts and stories, by Pal

I loved this last post of Seth Adam Smith.  I believe you will also. The Lost Words of Jacob Marley NOVEMBER 17, 2014  /  SETH ADAM SMITH One of my all-time favorite books is  A Christmas Carol , by Charles Dickens. I didn’t always like it. In fact, when I was much younger, I pretty much hated it. I felt like it was over-commercialized and overused during Christmas. A few years ago, while listening to an audio rendition of the book, I heard something that I felt like I had never heard before. The passage comes from that pivotal moment when Ebenezer Scrooge meets the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley, now a chained and tormented soul, is lamenting the opportunities he lost to serve mankind. This is what happens next: “But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself. “Business!”  cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. ...

For whose who love history, this is quite interesting! World and Church History Connections You Didn’t Learn in School JANNALEE ROSNER -  November 22, 2014, in LDS Living Ever wondered what was going on in the world while Joseph Smith was translating, or when the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated? We've done the research for you and found some surprising connections in 19th-century world and church history. Keep an eye out next week for events from the 20th century in part two! History classes for most of us were all about world events or the history of the country we lived in while church history was only learned, well, in church. But we never really put them together. When you place these two timelines side by side, you may be surprised to find out that Brigham Young sent the first transcontinental telegraph message the same year that the Civil War started , or that the first latter-day Quorum of the 12 was organized the same year famous author Mark Twain was b...

This article from LDS Living was especially significant to my husband and me, as we are both in our 80's now!  Wayne's identical twin brother and all our parents are there.  Miraculously none of our posterity are there yet, and we hope and pray they all survive us.  Our thoughts and empathy go to any of you who have dear ones who have departed this life, and are now in the Spirit World.   Life After Death: 6 Insights into the Spirit World BRENT L. TOP - from LDS living.com The restored gospel reveals many truths about life after death. Here are a few more insights about the afterlife that you may not have come across before. In 1990, I attended the annual conference of the International Association of Near-Death Studies, held that year in Washington, DC with Robert Millet. We didn’t quite know what to expect. Was the conference going to be comprised of  “UFO chasers,” people with aluminum foil hats, and the like?  But it wasn’t like that...

I enjoyed this article today from LDS Living!  You will also! Amazing Quotes from Famous Historical & Modern Figures on the Mormons NOVEMBER 14, 2014  BY:  JOHN HUNTINGHOUSe John F Kennedy “Of all the stories of American pioneers and settlers, none is more inspiring than the Mormon trail. The qualities of the founders of this community are the qualities that we seek in America, the qualities which we like to feel this country has, courage, patience, faith, self-reliance, perseverance, and, above all, an unflagging determination to see the right prevail. I know that many of you in this State and other States sometimes wonder where we are going and why the United States should be so involved in so many affairs, in so many countries all around the globe. If our task on occasion seems hopeless, if we despair of ever working our will on the other 94 percent of the world population, then let us remember that the Mormons of a century ago were a pers...

    This is an enlightening article about Parenting. PARENTING Bringing Up Our Children in Light and Truth By Wallace Goddard  · November 9, 2014, in Meridian Magazine Editor’s Note: The following is the first   installment in a serialization of  ‘Bringing Up Our Children in Light and Truth,’  a series on parenting from Wallace Goddard.   The Challen ges of Parenting We all want to be good parents. We want to be close to our children, and we want them to develop into good people. We have mental pictures of loving, peaceful, happy families extending from the dinner table into eternity. But the toast burns, milk spills, chores get forgotten. Children act childishly. And we parents get tired, distracted, frustrated, and overwhelmed. Life burdens us. In spite of our noble aspirations, we spend a lot of time being irritated with our children—sometimes downright angry. Family scripture study devolves into periodic wars. ...