Blessing #6

Beep, beep, beep, beep....Does this sound remind you of anything? If you're cringing because you can now hear the alarm clock in your head, find comfort in the fact that I usually have the same reaction. Last week, I was just plain annoyed as my alarm woke me up from a dream I didn't want to leave. Worst. Sound. Ever. Right?.....perhaps not.

I recently saw Inception for the third time. Yes, I'm a bit obsessed. This movie is so unique and the concepts presented...fascinating! I think the movie is intriguing to all audiences as the dream world is so familiar, and yet so enigmatic at the same time. In my opinion, it was even better the third time around as some thoughts I hadn't previously considered were impressed upon my mind. I think I was finally able to move past the sheer wonder of it all and instead take in a basic and meaningful message that the movie conveys. This message represents blessing number six.

So...if you haven't seen this movie yet, you may not want to read on. In fact, I would suggest you head to a redbox right now instead :) If you have seen the movie, you know that the main character, Cobb, has an internal struggle of sorts. His wife, Mal, who passed away, finds her way into every dream he is a part of and tries to convince him that the dream world is the real world. Because of this, Cobb, who is trying to make it back to their children, never seems to have a firm grasp on reality.

The heart of Cobb's struggle, choosing between reality and the dream world, made me think a lot about my own life. Have you ever imagined how happy you might be if things were different in your life? Have you ever thought back to a choice you've made and wondered if your current situation would have been better had you chosen another path? Have you thought back to the past and longed to have "the good old days" back? Have you ever wished for something so much that you just can't seem to let it go? In response to all of these questions, I have. It's obviously not always a bad thing to have these thoughts as you (in relation to the questions above) learn from mistakes, reminisce, and work to achieve goals; however, I think many of us spend too much time living in the "dream world" and not enough time finding happiness in and being content with our own realities.

In his most recent conference address, President Monson said, "We have all experienced times when our focus is on what we lack rather than on our blessings. Said the Greek philosopher Epictetus, 'He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.'" I've always believed that one's attitude literally makes an experience good or bad. I think we, as human beings, literally have more control over our lives than we give ourselves credit for.

So why is it sometimes hard to keep that positive attitude and find the peace that comes when optimism is put into practice? I don't really know, but I am certainly, personally, going to work harder at it. I truly have so much to be thankful for and my reality is a good one. I love the final scene in Inception when Cobb makes it home and finally sees the faces of his children. We each have the same opportunity to experience such joy in our own lives as we choose to make the most of our realities.

Blessing #5

A spider. Yes, a spider of all things taught me a great lesson yesterday (very fitting for this time of year, don't you think?). First of all, let's just say that I disdain spiders. I end up paralyzed whenever I encounter one. Yesterday, however, this small, creepy creature reminded me of some important truths. I was on my way to my parent's house for a family Halloween party and right around the Lehi area, I noticed something on my windshield. There, dead center, was a small spider (on the outside of the windshield that is). My first reaction was fear and I almost turned my windshield wipers on, but that fear quickly turned to amazement. How was this little guy holding onto my windshield so tightly? I would expect that he'd be blown right off at freeway speeds. I marveled the whole way home as he tagged along for the ride. I eventually got to my exit and had to stop at the light, and in response, my little friend slowly made his way toward my windshield wipers and climbed into a small crevice as he finally had relief from the wind. I considered trying to find him when I got home since I knew he was still on my car, but decided I'd let him do whatever he wanted after he had made it that far.

So, being a nerd, I wanted to do a little research about the strength of a spider's grip. I found quite a few articles and want to share a bit about what I learned. I'm guessing some of you out there already know this, but here it is anyway:

"A team from Germany and Switzerland have made the first detailed examinations of a jumping spider's 'foot' and have discovered that a molecular force sticks the spider to almost anything. The force is so strong that these spiders could carry over 170 times their own body weight while standing on the ceiling. This is the first time anyone has measured exactly how spiders stick to surfaces, and how strong the adhesion force is. The team used a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to make images of the foot of a jumping spider. There is a tuft of hairs on the bottom of the spider's leg, and each individual hair is covered in more hairs. These smaller hairs are called setules, and they are what makes the spider stick. The force these spiders use to stick to surfaces is the van der Waals force, which acts between individual molecules that are within a nanometre of each other (a nanometre is about ten thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair). The team used a technique called Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to measure this force. The flexible contact tips of the setules are triangular and they have an amazingly high adhesive force on the underlying surface."

So there you have it. Setules keep a spider on your bedroom ceiling, on your wall at work, or on your windshield while driving on the freeway :) I thought this was pretty cool and couldn't help but find connections to the gospel and trials. I watched that spider the whole way home and wondered how long he would hold on. I imagine the thirty minutes or so that he was stuck there, probably felt like a lifetime to him. So this got me thinking, what are my "setules" during trying times? Or what are the things that help me to "hold on" when going through something hard? The answers are simple, but are sometimes forgotten or just not utilized. They may include prayer, scripture study, faith, service, temple worship, fasting, an attitude of gratitude, etc. These are things that will help us come to know our Savior, Jesus Christ, and as we make him our rock, the very foundation of our lives (our windshield if you will), we will not be overcome by the winds of life; but will, as I'm sure my spider friend found, be strengthened, refined, and more qualified to enter the Kingdom of God.

Blessing #4

You know those moments when you just miss the past? Different things have been triggering those moments for me lately. It's usually a song or a situation that reminds me of a certain family member or event from my past and nostalgia sets in. I miss living with my family. I miss my brothers. My oldest brother Joel got married when I was in 9th grade. Daniel followed his footsteps during my freshman year of college, and Matt and Bruce continued the trend just months later in 2006....three weddings in one year for my family! I remember that time as being both bitter and sweet. I knew my family would never be the same after all my brothers were married, which is obviously a good thing with all the amazing sisters I’ve gained, but I sometimes just long for those days again where we all lived under the same roof.

I miss so many things. I miss hearing my dad ring that awful bell each morning at 6:30 to signal that it was time for family prayer and scripture study. I miss having a real family home evening each Monday (not the made up single’s ward family home evenings) :) I miss my mom putting curlers in my hair every Saturday night while watching the Boston Pops in preparation for church the next day. I miss Bruce and Matt asking me to make a TCT or a chicken ranch wrap because I "make them the best," when really they just didn't want to have to do it themselves...ha ha. I miss watching all my brothers wrestle in the front room, each one thinking they were so tough, and then watching my dad step in and kick everyone's trash :) I miss the trash talk whenever a sporting event was about to commence. I miss family vacations. I miss Joel's corny jokes and his "big brother" protective instincts even when it was my other brothers who were teasing me. I miss watching Pocahontas with Bruce. I miss Dan teaching me how to break a guy's arm just in case I ever got attacked :) I miss playing catch with Matt in the backyard or having him try to teach me the correct way to shoot a basketball over and over again. I miss listening to music with him and talking about his latest embarrassing moment on his date with Brooke. Heck, I even miss not being able to get a word in at the dinner table because of all the sports talk!

Each member of my family represents blessing #4 for me tonight. My family is incredible! My brothers are all so amazing and I look up to each one of them for a million different reasons. I can't express how much joy my parents and brothers bring to my life. It is so great to know that even when I feel lonely at times, I can feel a sense of love, acceptance, and belonging when in the company of my family. I look forward to the day when I have a family of my own here on this earth as well. It's sometimes hard to be single when you long for the blessings that come with a spouse and children, especially when you see the happiness that such a situation brings to immediate family members. Until that blessing arrives for me though, I will find happiness in being a part of each of my family member's lives. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father provided us with families here upon the earth. I find so much comfort as I think about the doctrine of eternal families....for those that I love so deeply in this life will forever be mine.

Blessing #3

Orange Starbursts...yes, that's right...ORANGE. Last night I realized I hadn't finished a bag of Starbursts that I had purchased for my trip to Florida. This is quite shocking. I rarely buy candy because I know how fast I'll eat it...so trust me; it's a miracle this bag was still in my pantry. Anyway, as I took out the first mouth-watering fruit chew, I found myself to be somewhat distraught. Why?...It was orange. I'm a pretty average Starburst connoisseur so yellow and orange aren't necessarily located at the top of my favorite Starburst flavor list. So you may be asking yourself, "Okay, why did she find this to be a blessing?"

 

Reason: I found out on Sunday that orange Starbursts are my nephew's favorite flavor and this thought brought a smile to my face. His primary teacher brought each child in his class three of the fun size Starburst packages. My nephew wanted to eat them right away, but we were headed to the airport so his parents asked him to wait til they got home. I decided, however, to take on the "favorite aunt" role so once he asked me, I opened a package for him and hid the wrappers in my purse. Sorry Becky...sometimes he asks questions way too sweetly for me to say no :)



Anyway, this story is really only part of blessing #3. I would count my whole experience in San Antonio as a blessing. I had the opportunity to watch my nieces and nephew while my sister-in-law attended my brother's JAG training graduation in Alabama. It was a sweet experience. I gained a much greater appreciation for all the mothers out there...watching 3 kids was hard work even for just 3 days, but boy, it was so rewarding at the same time! I had a blast and the kids were so sweet. One night, they took turns complimenting my cooking, my pony tail, my shirt, my "skirt" (basketball shorts), and even my talking voice...ha ha. I had no idea where it all came from and I definitely looked like a slob, but hey, who would complain? :) All of the random hugs and "I love you Aunt Kaitlyn"'s were enough for me to counter any tantrum or fight that broke out. So I just want to give a shout out to those cute kids in San Antonio and tell them thanks for all the fun! I miss you kiddos! Same goes to all my other nieces and nephews in Utah. I am a better and happier person because I have all of you in my life!

Andrew, Emma, and Olivia

James and Jenna

Hunter

Luke and Lila

Blessing #2

....9 a.m. church. Okay, so I may not always consider this one a blessing, but as of yesterday, blessing would be the perfect word to describe my new church schedule. Here's why...I spent my afternoon at Rock Canyon Park. This may not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but coming from a girl with a desk job and no window in the office, this experience was much needed.

For all those who don't know anything about Rock Canyon Park, let me paint you a picture. Imagine yourself sitting on a large, grassy hill. It's a perfect summer/fall day. Your eyes are closed and you can feel slight winds coming from the northwest. The sun is high in the sky, its rays offering just enough warmth to combat the wind chill. Slowly, you open your eyes and take in the sight in front of you. Directly ahead, you see a lake spanning your entire view north to south, its waves visible through the streams of sunlight. To the left, you see a temple pillar surrounded by trees, Moroni atop the pillar, trumpet pointing toward the east. As you turn around, you look up and watch clouds slowly progressing over the tops of enormous mountains. The view is breathtaking. What's more impressive though is the feeling these sights have produced within you...the feeling of peace.

This was my experience yesterday. As I sat on that hill in Rock Canyon Park, I couldn't help but think of Alma when he says to Korihor, "yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." It's so easy to forget the beauty around you when you are caught up in the "thick of thin things." I just want to say how grateful I am for the reminder I had yesterday. There is a God and not only has he created this beautiful planet on which I live, but he also created me. I am one of God's creations, his daughter, and I am of great worth. I often forget this. To anyone who may read this, I hope my "tender mercy" experience can remind you of your great worth as well. Heavenly Father loves you and will provide experiences of comfort specific to your needs. He is always there for you as well as your brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. I can't express how much this experience meant to me. My testimony was strengthened and I hope never to forget the feelings I had.

Blessing #1

I've often thought about starting a blog, however, I've always associated blogs with married couples so I haven't dared to start my own since, let's face it, we single folks just aren't as interesting without all the cute pictures of kids or grandkids that other's blogs possess :) Recently though, I decided I would start one anyway.

So...here it is. I want to use this blog as a gratitude journal of sorts. I seem to never have time to write in my journal and yet find plenty of time to waste on Facebook, iTunes, etc. So I figured I'd be more likely to write if it were on a blog since I'm on my computer so much anyway. Plus, I can make it cute, so really it's a win/win situation ;)

Anyway, let the counting of blessings begin. Blessing #1 for me today is...drumroll please....MUSIC! I have a somewhat small, no, maybe a medium...okay, perhaps a large obsession with music. For example, I got a new job a few weeks ago and discovered that I did not have speakers on my new computer. Let's just say, I was quite distraught. I brought headphones the next day and listened to music during my lunch breaks for the next week. Luckily, a week later, speakers were ordered and all was well in the work world again :)

Music has the ability to calm me when I am down and has often given me a more positive perspective on life. The lyrical and instrumental combinations speak to me in ways that other things often cannot. I like to find songs that carry positive messages. I've been on a Christian music craze as of late because of the messages that are conveyed in the lyrics. Although she's not a Christian artist, I wanted to share a verse from a Carrie Underwood song titled "Temporary Home" that particularly touched me recently.

Old man, hospital bed,
The room is filled with people he loves.
And he whispers don't cry for me,
I'll see you all someday.
He looks up and says, "I can see God's face.

This is my temporary Home
It's not where I belong.
Windows and rooms that I'm passin' through.
This was just a stop, on the way to where I'm going.
I'm not afraid because I know... this was
My temporary home.

This is our temporary home.

The first time I heard this song, I had a flashback of being in a hospital room myself, holding my grandpa's hand as he was preparing to leave this "temporary home." I remember feeling so incredibly sad for not spending more time with him. But as the song states, and as I know, my time with my grandpa has not really come to an end. I will see him again. This life is our temporary home, until we return to our Father in Heaven. How grateful I am for having this knowledge.

Anyway, I could go on for hours about several other songs, but this post would likely become quite burdensome to read. So I'll end with a quote I found about music that rings true to my life:

"Music speaks what cannot be expressed,

Soothes the mind and gives it rest,

Heals the heart and makes it whole,

Flows from Heaven to the soul."