Thoughts and stories, by Pal

President Gordon B. Hinckley had a lot of great things to say, particularly regarding how we can be happy in life. So here’s a compilation of tips from him!  This was on LDS Living on Dec. 3, 2014, and written by Samantha Shelley. 10 Happiness Tips From Gordon B. Hinckley BY  SAMANTHA SHELLEY  · DECEMBER 3, 2014 from LDS living 1. The purpose of life is to be happy! Life is to be enjoyed, not endured. Adam fell so that we might have joy! Don’t forget that when life gets busy or stressful or overwhelming. If you aren’t happy, you probably need to make some changes so you will be! 2. Happiness cannot be achieved if we are selfish or constantly complaining! Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others…By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves...

This was on LDS Living, on Dec. 10, 2014.  Very Interesting! What Do We Know About The Wise Men - Who Came To Honor Jesus? Written by Dr. John L. Lund 2014-12-10 When you go to Israel, also plan a stop at Petra, Jordan.  It may be the home of two of the "wise men". No one knows for sure how many wise men went to Bethlehem to honor Jesus as the newborn king of the Jews. Tradition says there were three wise men and there may have been. We do know that the wise men came from the east of Bethlehem "following yonder star." However they did not arrive on the night that Jesus was born. The New Testament was originally written in Greek. Understanding which English words the King James translators chose to use to reflect the meaning in Greek is important. Eight times in Matthew 2:8-21 the words "young child" are used when talking about the wise men looking for Jesus. The Greek word used is "pad ion" and young child is the best tra...

This was on LDS Living on Dec. 9, 2014.  We just got back from spending 2 days in the Salt Lake Area.  Last night we went to the Christmas Concert put on by the Tabernacle Choir, (our son is in it) and whose guests were The Muppets!  And also a great singer, Santino Fantana, who has sung with them before.  You can go to www.mormontabernaclechoir.org and click on "videos and listen" and then click on "watch videos" and it comes up "1 day countdown until the Christmas Concert", with Ryan Murphy, and the Count from Sesame Street.  Be sure and go right now and watch it!  It is so cute! Before we went to the Concert, we went to Temple Square, and saw the lights, which were beautiful! and we also watched 2 videos -- The Nativity, and another one, both of which can be found on lds.org.  All this really gives us the true feeling of Christmas! 20 Things You Didn't Know about Temple Square at Christmastime KELSEY BERTEAUX - 5 HOURS AGO More than...

This post may seem longer, but I included the footnotes, in case someone would want to know where Larry Barkdull gets his quotes.  Larry is a good friend of mine, and I truly  value his insight and research on this important subject.   This is in Meridian Magazine, December 9, 2014. LINE UPON LINE If your Child doesn’t come back to the Gospel in this life—Are they lost? By Larry Barkdull  · December 9, 2014 We can suffer a very long time with our wayward children. Despite our best efforts, one of our children might pass away having never abandoned his wayward ways. Is he lost? Have we failed? Not necessarily. The Lord anticipated this eventuality. To the grieving Martha, Jesus explained that the power of redemption transcends this life. The Lord’s power of redemption can reach deep within the world of spirits, offer the plan of salvation, and snatch a now-repentant, believing soul from the jaws of hell. Consider the deeper meaning of the Lord’s w...

I found this yesterday, and it is really touching.  Kayla Lemmon's father passed away around last Christmas.  To any of you dear people who have sad memories connected with Christmas, our prayers are going out to you.  My own father passed away on December 14, 1975.   New post on  all our lemmony things Why ‘God will give you more than you can handle’ changed my life: And how it fixed Christmastime by  Kayla Lemmon It's been nearly a year since I wrote  God will give you more than you can handle . A whole year. I can hardly believe it. It still surfaces as one of my most-read blogs of all time and I don't think that's a coincidence. It's because out of everything we could ever go through as human beings, that is the one thing that connects us all. The struggle--and the triumph over it. I read it again this morning, throwing myself back to the time when the Christmas lights were strung, the tree decorated, the little mang...

This was posted last year on December 3, 2013, as blog # 24.  I hope you enjoy these family Christmas stories. There are several stories about Christmas in our family, and you may enjoy these: ----  (The photos are different from last year.) My mother, Ruth, was just 6 years old when her father passed away.  In the summer of 1914, her father, John Butler Allen, got a sliver in his eye.  Later a horse switched his tail and a long hair cut through his eye again.  These accidents caused him gradually to go blind in that eye.  The infection from this brought on Bright's Disease (the old-fashioned term for kidney problems).  He suffered very much with the infection which now could be cured in a few days with antibiotics.  He grew steadily worse until on October 26th, 1914, he finally passed away.  There were 8 children in the family, the 9th child having died at just four and a half months, before Ruth was born.  His wife was left with ...