Courage

Speaking of prayer

I've sure often enough heard our Heavenly Father described as "just a phone call away." I believe He hears and answers our calls, our every prayer... this below (a reminder from Sarah as one day she and Kent and I discussed prayer and she showed us this from the LDS Bible Dictionary) sure puts these frequent communications with Heaven in perspective.

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship.

Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them.

Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings."

Counsel from a Prophet

"Beyond comprehension, my brothers and sisters, is the love of God for us," spoke President Thomas S. Monson in this past April General Conference. "Because of this love, He sent his Son who loved us enough to give His life for us that we might have eternal life. As we come to understand this incomparable gift, our hearts will be filled with love for our Eternal Father, for our Savior, and for all mankind."

Earlier he stated, "Love is the very essence of the gospel, and Jesus Christ is our Exemplar. His life was a legacy of love. The sick He healed; the downtrodden He lifted; the sinner He saved."

"Brothers and sisters, some of our greatest opportunities to demonstrate our love will be within the walls of our own homes. Love should be the very heart of family life, and yet sometimes it is not. There can be too much impatience, too much arguing, too many fights, too many tears. If we would keep the commandment to love one another, we must treat each other with kindness and respect. Forgiveness should go hand in hand with love. Blame keeps wounds open. Only forgiveness heals."

From President Monson, "Love at Home - Counsel from our Prophet" in the August 2011 Ensign (link): "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow up, loved ones pass on. It’s so easy to take others for granted, until that day when they’re gone from our lives and we are left with feelings of ‘what if’ and ‘if only’…"

“Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey and share our love with friends and family. One day, each of us will run out of tomorrows. Let us not put off what is most important.”

About the heart

I've been reading the book "Almost Heaven" by Chris Fabry and, whew, finished it! Remember I posted (link) awhile back? Here's another tidbit about the heart from it, page 329. The main character Billy is talking to a young girl named coincidentally Natalie.

"God has given you a gift, Natalie. And I've learned over the years that your strength can be your weakness. Do you know what that means?"

She thought a minute. "That the thing you were good at can get in the way?"

I nodded. "If you lean on your own strength and understanding, you'll spin your wheels. If you let God use the thing he's given you, and also use the things you feel weak in, your life will be an amazing song sung to him every day."

"How do I do that?"

"There's no formula. Stay close to him. Talk to him. Don't see the trouble as him being mean to you, but him trying to get you closer. And whatever you do, give it all your heart because your heart is the best thing. It always will be."

Be strong

Down by the bay

A couple of days ago Laura and Sarah and I went to Farmington Bay for our morning walk. What solitude among these marshes on the perimeter! A beauteous place of grasses and birds and, no doubt, ew, rodents. (We saw none.) (Thank you.)



Not to mention sky, sky, sky!



We saw relatively few birds this time of year, but followed a birder (a man in his car) and talked with him about the best time of year to come. Winter, he said. September to about March. Who knew... here we are a day late and a dollar many-several birds short.

Descending to the perimeter from designated parking.



Snowcap still, wow. What a perspective from this west desert, our mountains we live among far, far away. Very cold water.



I got right down by it (dunno if you're supposed to or not) for this pic. On a jutter - mm, piece that juts, see?



The public isn't invited in these off months to motor the perimeter of Farmington Bay, though there IS this road to get on, and we did – walking. It goes for miles.



Last look as we walked back to the car; turned, and... lovely!

Like this

I'm reading "Almost Heaven" by Chris Fabry. I think I like it. You know how you don't know about a book for a chapter or two and can either close it because it's not holding your attention or sentiments or turn the pages and turn them again, swallow it whole because, well, it does and is! You wish everyone you know was reading it too.

I picked up Fabry's book "Dogwood" first and read a while and put it down and didn't think I'd probably read the other I'd gotten at the library the same day, this "Almost Heaven." Thought for sure nah. But this week I did... and am still with it. Granted, I'm just in the first few chapters.

I like it enough to post a quote from it already. A mother is consoling her teen-aged son. These two are destitute, displaced by a dam break that flooded their town and from which they themselves barely escaped; an older son was killed in Viet Nam years earlier, tragically by a sniper, and the father has just taken his life in terrible physical and emotional pain. I do especially love the part in this quote about the broken heart. What God can do with a man...

"'The Lord has given you something special, Billy. I think God has something special in mind for you. I don't know what it is. I don't know where he's going to lead you, but I know God is going to work in you and through you.'"

"'What makes you so sure?'"

"'I don't think God trusts just anybody with so much heartache. The world has not yet seen what God can do with a man who gives both halves of a broken heart to him. And I don't doubt that a man like that can change the world... or at least a little part of it.'"

"Mama and I never talked much about Harless and Daddy after that, except in her final days that were even more of a heartache. But after that day, I was determined to be the man she was talking about. I wanted to be the one with the broken heart God would use. I didn't have any idea how he would do that, of course. I took me a long time to realize what was right in front of me." ― Chris Fabry, Almost Heaven

I was at the end of the chapter as I read these words and went to turn the page. Rather, I closed my eyes and held the image here... pondered brokenheartedness. Not so much the broken heart, the two halves, but the contrite nature that offers it to God.

How can I be more like this?