Live Like That...

I headed to the Temple with some friends yesterday and it got me thinking...I am so thankful for the people who help me stand, and the ones who stand with me...

I do a lot of crazy things on a regular basis. I throw wakes, and have birthday parties for celebrities, and hell, I even rent U-Hauls and make my friends join me in the Harmons parking lot as we fill it up with food for the food bank. I've never professed to be normal. And no one who knows me would dare make that claim of me either. But I have to say that my friends are the best ever. We have started making plans for my 30th birthday party already (yes, I know it's a bit early, but we can't have anyone getting an early non-10 or 12 inch haircut!), which includes lopping off our hair and donating blood and other fun things (don't worry, there will be more details to follow and a sign up sheet for y'all!). But the thing that struck me is that they are all on board for the craziness. Ready to jump in and help out. And many of them have causes of their own that they bring to the table for us to help out with and bring awareness to.

Good people. I am surrounded by a lot of good people...

And I feel so blessed that God has sent so many incredible people into my life. People that inspire me to be better. To go out and make a difference. To be more like Him...

I listen to KLOVE quite often and I heard this song and it really struck me. It is by the Sidewalk Prophets and is called "Live Like That." I heard one of the band members being interviewed one day on a 'behind the music' thing one day and he explained the inspiration for him were a few people in his life that made him want to live more like Jesus. Their lives exemplified good qualities that lead him to want to be better.

I have some people in my life like that. I look at them in awe of their goodness, of their Christlike attributes, of the good qualities they have refined almost to perfection. These people vary in age and gender, social status and mental capacity. Some might surprise you that I look at them with such reverence and awe. But sit back for a minute with me, and I will show you...and you will see...and will soon join with me and say, "I want to live like that!"...

Who causes you to say, "I want to live like that!"?...

Sally

Sally, I just wanted you to know that I was thinking about you today. I can't believe it's been 4 years...

The other day, I got the best compliment ever--one of the ladies in the ward asked what calling I had now, and I told her I was still the Sunday School teacher...and then she compared me to you.
I was humbled and honored. It made me cry.

So thank you. Thank you for teaching our class, though we wern't the easiest to teach. Thank you for always sharing your powerful testimony with us. It was you, that kept me coming to Church each Sunday.

I think of you often and thank God for allowing our paths to cross. I thank Him for knowing you. As I told you shortly before you passed...because I knew you, I have been changed for good.
So I will keep teaching, and do my best and try my hardest to live up to the compliment I was given. If I can be half the teacher you were, I will consider myself successful...

Rain and Jesus...

Today there was a brief little rain, thunder, and lightening episode...

It made me think about how much I love the rain. I love the smell. I love to dance in it. I love to watch it roll down my window. I love the way that it just kind of cleanses everything. I love the way it makes everything shine...

Somehow my thoughts turned to the Living Water. Jesus. He is like the rain. Through Him, we too are able to become clean. His atonement provides us with baptism and the Sacrament, in which we are cleansed. And when our souls ache and the tears begin to fall, it is He who helps dry them. It is this same source that allows us to shine. Through the power of His atonement and the purifying power that comes along with it, we are refined and that light begins to burn brighter and brighter within us until we radiate and shine...

And that light that we radiate, it has a ripple effect, just like a raindrop as it touches a puddle...

Spread His light and love wherever you go...

I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world...(Thomas Edison)

I am thankful. So thankful. For the influence of such good people in my life...

I came across this quote not too long ago, and it spoke the words of my heart and life better than I could have ever said it. And it has come to mind more times than I can count...

"My choice of friends has helped keep me straight.
I have had friends who expected me to be good,
and I have tried not to disappoint them."
~Camilla Eyring Kimball

But there is one important thing I would like to add to this...and that is those friends of which I speak of, not only expect me to be good, but they show me how. They set incredible examples. And this, this makes all the difference.

This is a gift I have been given that the gratitude which I feel for it, is beyond words. Those friends, those people, have come into my life when I needed them most. And thankfully many of them have stuck around and continue to offer support and encouragement. They continue to live exemplary and inspiring lives that help me keep going when at times I begin to stumble or falter or become weary.

To these friends, I say thank you. For leading and guiding and being willing to walk with me as I learn from your example. Thank you for the countless ways you bless my life. Thank you for teaching and loving me. Most of all, thank you for being you...

~~~

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out.
It is then burst into flame by an encounter
with another human being.
We should all be thankful for those people
who rekindle the inner spirit."
~Albert Schweitzer~
~~~

Who do you want to be when you grow up?...

Whenever I was asked this question when I was young, the answer would
have been Tina Turner. I thought for a long time that I was adopted and that Tina Turner was my birth-mother...

As I have gotten older, those 'heroes', the people I want to be just like, have changed. What I want to be 'when I grow up' has changed.

Today, I had a chance to listen to one of 'grown-up-perspective-heroes'. Ardeth Kapp. I have always been in awe of this woman. In awe of the light and spirit she carries with her. In humble awe of her firm and immovable testimony.The woman can make anyone she meets feel like a dear, long-lost friend. She raidiates goodness. She is full of love and gives it freely. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

She spoke today on many things, but the one that struck me was the point she made of how important we all are. We are God's children. His off-spring. And all of the attributes He has, we have divinely placed within us too, though we might not be able to see them quite yet. A quote from her that I read some time ago, that has always stuck with me is "We did not come to Earth to gain our worth, we brought it with us."

I want you to really think about that statement...It is powerful. It is tender. We didn't come here to work each day just so we could earn love or importance in God's eyes, we already have that. We always have. Who you are is important. It is vital. Every single person in this world means something, means something to someone, and will leave a print or two on the heart of another. We are all part of the plan, and we play important parts in the lives of others as we help them feel love, God's love.

So back to my initial statement...Who do you want to be when you grow up? Who do you want to be like? My final goal is to be like Jesus. I've got a long way to go. But along the way, He sends me people. People who make me want to be and do better. People who are much more like Him than myself. They make me more. They stand as examples. Examples of love and kindness. Examples of what it looks like to really be a disciple of Christ.

And so I say: Dear Lord, Thank you for all of the amazing people you've placed in my path. I'm trying to be more like you, though some days it doesn't really look like it, as I fall so short. With your help and power, I know one of these days I will get it right. In the meantime, thank you for the gentle reminders and 'visual aids', Ive been blessed to call friends, that remind me how to be a little more like you.

I'm trying to be like Jesus;

I'm following in his ways.

I'm trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say.

At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice,...

I'm trying to love my neighbor;

I'm learning to serve my friends.

I watch for the day of gladness

when Jesus will come again.

I try to remember the lessons he taught.

Then the Holy Spirit enters into my thoughts, saying:

"Love one another as Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.

Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,

For these are the things Jesus taught."

-Janice Kapp Perry-

So yes, I have given up on the dream of being Tina Turner when I grow up. The voice, the legs, and the rockin' hair will never be me. But I feel good about what I'm trying to become, and who I'm trying to become like. I'm trying, and after today's 'visual aid' of seeing and listening to Ardeth, I am recommitted to my goal and will be trying a whole lot harder...