Category: gratitude

Posted on

What To Do

Have you ever felt like there was just too much stuff to accomplish in one lifetime and that you’ve no idea how to do it all? Now, wait–I don’t mean that like, “Wah-wah…so much to do! Wah…”

No, I’m talking about all of the incredible things that I want to learn and make, or make up…even. I actually get all giddy and weird when I look at patterns and pictures and instructions for things like that.

I’ve even made lists of everything and it turns out to be pages and pages long and I can’t seem to stop myself, or take any of it away.

I want to sew baby clothes and make peppermint soap and raise buff orphington chickens and write hat patterns and make cheddar cheese and milk a real goat and crochet bolsters and booties and purses and blankets and learn to quilt and make yogurt that tastes good and read every book on my shelves and make every single Christmas present because I want to not because I have to and grow potatoes and make compost and bake whole wheat bread every week and bottle salsa and…

hmmmm…

Maybe you get the point. Sometimes there’s just so much that I’d like to accomplish that I’m not sure, exactly what to pray for–

a really, really REALLY long life…

or a second pair of hands.

I’m thinking both.

PS~AND I’d like to pour my own lip balm and sprout wheat grass and grow seedless sweet green grapes and crochet a canopy for my bed and make real tamales and dry fruit leather and dye Easter eggs with spices and berries and learn homeopathic remedies…

too.

:}

Posted on

Doing Nothing

Yesterday–since I was staying home from church, tending Miss Chompy Sniffles, it ended up being one of those put-your-feet-up, kick-back-in-the-chair sort of days where it kinda feels good to sit and do a little bit of, you know…

nothing.

I could have made some serious headway on the baby’s ripple blanket, but alas…

it was too much of something, to fit into the category of…

nothing.

I really thought about catching up on some light reading, but again–too important to be considered–

nothing. So they just sat there staring at me.

I thought, for a while, about baking something poofy and warm that would make the house smell like Snow White’s cottage in the forest, but it was too much trouble, and…

well, you get the picture.

There are just some times when it has to be ok to sit back and soak it all in and let everything else be big and important and necessary, on another day.

Believe me, it felt just lovely, thank you very much.

Posted on

{ A Grateful Heart }

“With our Father’s help, all of us can choose to feel more gratitude. We can ask Him to help us see our blessings more clearly, whatever our circumstances. Giving thanks in prayer can allow us to see the magnitude of these blessings and all of our other blessings and so receive the gift of a more grateful heart.”

President Henry B. Eyring

Posted on

For Another Day

Every year, in preparation for the holidays there are dozens of sewing bags or craft boxes or piles of yarn strewn throughout the house–so that no matter what else is going on, in the event that there is a spare moment–somewhere, the handmaking can continue, uninterrupted. I love it this way, because these particular hands are just too fidgety and restless to sit still for very long, without some purpose–any purpose.

But something interesting happened this year. There were the same stacks and piles and bags and yarn, all with a certain important project to be finished, but quite often, a little whispery voice would nudge me to just put it down…and so…quite often…I did.

True, the Babushka ornaments will have to wait another year to get their flowers…

the button trees are only partly put together…

the girls’ headbands are nearly finished…nearly…

and the cards never got sent at all.

I couldn’t find the laminating sheets for the nativity set…

and the snowflakes were never hung.

But in the end–there were the same smiles and giggles and hugs that come with the season– even without a few “vital” projects–that no one seemed to miss. And for me, the conscious decision to slow down, and be present and enjoy the moment with those faces I love–

turned out to be the greatest gift of all.

Posted on

{ The Real Christmas }

“If you desire to find the true spirit of Christmas and partake of the sweetness of it, let me make this suggestion to you. During the hurry of the festive occasion of this Christmas season, find time to turn your heart to God. Perhaps in the quiet hours, and in a quiet place, and on your knees—alone or with loved ones—give thanks for the good things that have come to you, and ask that His Spirit might dwell in you as you earnestly strive to serve Him and keep His commandments”

Howard W. Hunter