A Writer's Gratitude

Recently our family has been going through some, well, we'll call them "learning experiences." If I were prone to whining I would tell you all about them, but you'll understand more about why I'm not exercising my whiner muscles in a bit.

The point is, it's been bad enough and we've tried everything we can think of to improve our situation for long enough, that the most effective of all weapons has now been in play for several months:

The Visiting Teacher.

My amazing visiting teacher has been praying for me, like always, but has been specifically praying for inspiration in her role as VT for ideas to help me in my current situation. A visiting teacher is a woman, part of a two-gal ensemble, who is charged with the care (spiritual, mental, physical, what-have-you) of her own little flock of ladies. It is a function of the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (oldest and largest women's organization in the world, woot woot!) and since each "companionship" has several sisters, everyone gets a little extra watching-out-for and we care for each other. So, MY particular visiting teacher takes her job very seriously and has been praying for ways to help me and my family.  She came up with this idea:

You think of the blessings you need, and you find the promise in the scriptures. Then, you work backwards from there. SO in my case, we needed financial blessings. We've got tithing down. She found scriptural promises attached to keeping the Sabbath, we are on that like gangbusters. In my studying, I found a biggie:

And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.  
                                       Doctrine and Covenants 78:19

So that's what has been on my mind, every channel, all day and night. How can my family be more grateful. I'm reminded of President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk about gratitude from the last General Conference, and how we have to have gratitude not just for THINGS, but for ALL things (same as the scripture above), and how it becomes not just "counting our blessings" but a true spirit of gratitude.

SO, how does this help me/you/everyone as a writer? I propose these ways. There are more, these are just my top three:

1) Look at the scripture. Made glorious. Things added--an hundred fold and more.  That's sorta self-explanatory.  There are promises made to the grateful heart. 

2) Having a spirit of gratitude colors your world. As my family and I have been concentrating on gratitude--true gratitude--and as I have been conscientiously seeking to find ways to improve my grateful spirit and heart, I find that trials don't weigh me down. The stinkin' finances don't occupy my every thought. There's more room in my brain for deep thoughts. I have more happiness and more inspiration. 

3) This is a developing idea--kind of my "next stage" in my gratitude studies. If we are grateful, we care for the gifts we are given.  We are good stewards of our blessings. So, we budget our money. We hug our kids and act like we actually are thankful for them, not that we want to strangle them and oh-my-heck will they just HUSH... sorry.  Work in progress.   

We GUARD our time. We DEVELOP our talents. We know we are blessed with the ability to put pen to paper and express ourselves, and because we are grateful for that gift, we don't squander it with clever Facebook posts and angry letters to school administrators.  I'm not saying don't do those things, just don't make that ALL you write.

What's holding you back from really diving in to your talent that the Lord has given you? Fear? Lack of time? Motivation? GET RID OF IT. Don't you bury that talent--there's no excuse for that. 

IF we are truly grateful for our writing talent, we will develop it and use it and turn it into a gift for the Lord. 

What better motivation is there than that? 

Gratitude is the ultimate writer's muse. 

(I have more on gratitude, but that's for another day) :)  Write on, my friends!

Leann

One Person CAN Make a Difference

Late last night, just before heading to bed, I stumbled across this story on a friend's page.  I was so touched and moved by this little girl's plight, I immediately Tweeted and added it to my own FB profile.

CLICK HERE: Through tragedy, one 9 year old girl gets her wish to save thousands

Here is proof, that even after we die that our legacy still lives on.  Now, through this tragic accident this girl's wish is allowing so many other people to forget about their trials and remember the other wonderful sons and daughters on this earth. To remember why we're here.  Not just to go through our daily trials and learn to accept the plan of our Father and move on... but to also inspire, help and uplift one another.

What an amazing example this was to me.
And may I always have cause to think of all the people around me.
May I always remember the higher, greater purpose, for why I am here, now, at this time.  Because the Lord trusts me and knows I will make the decisions that could change lives forever.

Thank you, Rachel, for teaching me that even the smallest people can make a difference too.

Jenni James

Gifts from Heavenly Father

I wanted to build on Kristy's comment about the mindset of talents from last week. What is the first thing you think about when you hear the word talent?

I usually think of painting. Violin. Sewing...

How do you define what a talent is, really? What do you think about being a good listener? Being a good friend? What about a being a patient mom? All these can't be displayed at a talent show, right?

I learned a whole lot more on talents one Enrichment Night five years ago. We made a list of all the things we felt the Spirit the strongest. For example, I feel the Spirit the strongest when I sing. I love to sing. I cry when I sing. I cry when I hear other people sing! I can tell you right now that I have no opera voice! Far from it. That night, I learned that singing is one of my talents.

Before I shed some more spiritual light to the matter, I'd like to share this quote Rebecca found for me by Howard Taylor. "I believe that the range of human ability, the range of what we're born with in terms of talent, is minuscule compared to the range of human accomplishment."

With that in mind . . . What about writing?

I love to write. I feel the Spirit when I write. Ideas flow into my head when I am ready to create. It has been a long road and I still need another thousand miles to travel. I started from somewhere. An awkward poem in fourth grade. An eye-rolling story in the sixth. A "gag me!" novel in high school (even after I took a creative writing class!)

President Monson said: "Each of you, single or married, regardless of age, has the opportunity to learn and grow. Expand your knowledge, both intellectual and spiritual, to the full stature of your divine potential. There is no limit to your influence for good."

He also paraphrased this thought (which I hope everyone reading this today takes to heart!):

You never know what a girl is worth,
You’ll just have to wait and see;
But every woman in a noble place,
A girl once used to be.

In this article, he was referring to our talents. Our gifts from Heavenly Father. We come upon them by expanding our knowledge. The things we learn in this lifetime need hard work to be developed along with inspiration from the Lord.

How are you developing your gift of writing?