Thoughts and stories, by Pal

Today was our daughter Pam's birthday, and our grandson Cameron's birthday.  I need to write a "This is your Life" for Pam, and also our son Jeremy, whose birthday has passed, but it will have to be in a few days.  Perhaps a few weeks -- life has been quite busy lately, and we have a wedding on January 15th to help plan.  Life events are really special aren't they! ! ! I really enjoyed this article, and it has a very important message for all of us! LINE UPON LINE Is There a Dependability Gene? By Joni Hilton  · December 17, 2014, in Meridian Magazine A couple of weeks ago the Ward Financial Clerk called to remind me about my tithing settlement appointment with the bishop. I asked him if he had to call everyone who had signed up. He did.   I wonder if he had any idea that, twenty years ago, no one needed a reminder call. People cared enough to write appointments down and remember them. I suppose I’ve joined that generation of...

This was from mormonwomenstand.com -- 7 Ways to Replace Stress with Peace During Christmas W e know that this season is often an incredibly busy and sometimes stressful time for many families . We all want to have a happy and peaceful Christmas so we can remember the real reason for the season.We tell ourselves that this year will be different. But every year, the hustle and bustle creeps in and things get frantic and unbalanced. Throw in unforeseen trials like financial problems, illness, family issues, selling a house, moving, or getting (or losing) a job, and things can become a bit overwhelming. With all the to-do lists and people pulling at you from every angle, it can be hard to feel peace and the spirit of Christ. Many voices from the world in which we live tell us we should live at a frantic pace. There is always more to do and more to accomplish. Yet deep inside each of us is a need to have a place of refuge where peace and serenity prevail, a place where we can re...

Christmas Should be Happy and Bright By Carolyn Nicolaysen  · December 16, 2014, Meridian Magazine Why do we make everything so complicated? Now is the time to decide this holiday season you are going to make some small changes to help simplify so you can enjoy your family and friends more. Establish traditions. Traditions bring peace and comfort, and create happy memories. Traditions are important to the mental health of adults as well as children. We all need the reassurance that all will be well. Family traditions help us to understand that no matter the situation, we still have each other, and together we can handle anything . Keep it simple this year and plan to add more complicated ones in the future. Need a few suggestions? Keep a journal and have a family member write in it before bed each night . Record Christmas related events, the Christmas newsletter you received, cookies you baked and the recipe, decorations you hung, favorite Christmas carol...

This was in LDS Living on Dec. 15, 2014.  Also to our friends in Indonesia who are reading these blogs, we have a grandson, Elder Jacob Lieske, now stationed in Jodja, or Yogyokarta.  He arrived Sept. 24, 2014.  We hope you get to meet him sometime.  Elder Holland grew up in my home ward, and he is especially dear to us -- and the whole Church! Elder Holland: To My Friends Who Want to Believe EXCERPTED FROM ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND'S NEW BOOK "TO MY FRIENDS" -  This is an excerpt from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's new book, To My Friends. This is not the full excerpt from this chapter. To read the rest of it, go to  deseretbook.com and order a copy of this fabulous book! On one occasion Jesus came upon a group arguing vehemently with His disciples. When the Savior inquired as to the cause of this contention, the father of an afflicted child stepped forward, saying he had approached Jesus’s disciples for a blessing for his son, but they were not ...

Tonight, Wednesday, December 17, 2014, we had a choice experience.  I'll have to admit that I haven't kept a journal for several years.  When we had our golden wedding in 2005, we were in the process of writing a book of our life stories, and we finished it in 2006.  It was a hardbound book of 635 pages, and included histories of each of our 9 children up to that point, with pictures of their children, our grandchildren, and a few of our great grandchildren born then.  I had kept journals for many years, and drew stories from them for our book.   The next year we did a book of our letters to each other over a 14 month period while Wayne was in the army.  We met on a blind date in August, 1953, very soon after Wayne returned home from his mission to Sweden.  He didn't write to me until 8 months later when he was in Trieste, during the Korean War.  But we began writing, and ended up writing 2 to 4 times each week, before he came home on July 4th,...

This beautiful article has changed my thoughts on priorities of helping and feeding the poor.  I have condensed it somewhat, to make it not quite so long, and I have highlighted certain parts.  I hope you enjoy it. SCRIPTURE STUDY “Feed My Lambs”: Jesus’ Last Great Teaching By Robert A. Rees  · December 15, 2014, in Meridian Magazine *The phraseology in this paper is taken, variously, from the King James, New English, and New International versions of John. In his 2014 General Conference address, “Are We Not All Beggars,” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland reminds us that in announcing the focus of his ministry, Jesus proclaimed, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and … set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18). Elder Holland says, “Jesus’s first and foremost messianic duty would be to bless the poor, includ...

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...