Keep Reaching!

 

Keep Reaching!

I have a feeling the rose in this picture had no idea that it would grow so much higher than the rest of the roses on this bush. I can imagine it just kept reaching... up toward the light. It just did what it does. Grow and be beautiful. There may be scientific reasons this happens. Perhaps it had a better source to the nutrition in the plant or maybe it was protected on the outside by all of the other roses. But for some reason it grew heads above the rest. Bret saw it first ... the picture does not show its velvet beauty the way we saw it. I didn't even have the heart to pick it to make the bush look even...I just let it have its moment. I was thinking, "This rose found it's calling!" How do we find our calling?...We keep reaching!

What I have learned

I learned that I should never give up searching for my calling. That it isn't the destination, it is the change in me that will matter in the end.

This week I watched a video "A Hero's Journey". I have found myself sharing principles I learned from it with so many friends and family this week in leisure conversations. When you are as old as I am the end of life seems way too close. You can relate to the questions, "Have I contributed something meaningful?" "Was I a good person?" "Who did I love and who loved me?". ( A Hero's Journey Video, BYU-I)

• Have I contributed something meaningful? What does this mean to me?...Have I used my gifts, talents and resources to benefit the world I live in? Did I help to make a difference for good? Do I choose to take the journey of a hero? You may want to ponder what it means to you.  I have spent the past 37 years raising my family. I have to say, looking back on my dreams as a child, and my love for science, or my dreams as a teen and young adult to be a fashion designer, has actually been realized in my parenting experience! How many science fair projects I have assisted my children with. You could maybe call my life so far "The Parenting Experiment."

• Purpose: Raise amazing, hard working loving children that know their value.
• Hypothesis: I think that I can raise amazing children by loving them to pieces, teaching them to work hard and that they have something of value to offer the world.
• Result: I have amazing children that work hard, love their fellow men and teach their children the value of service! 

As for fashion design:

Well does prom dresses, wedding dresses, halloween costumes and endless alterations count?

I have been so grateful for the ability to use these skills to serve my family and others.

Now I am in a position to ask myself "Where do I go from here?" I remember always loving to cook. My mom was a great cook. But from years of gardening and cooking for my family I have developed a fascination about food. Everything about it creates an amazing experience, especially when you cook and gather with friends and family. Often even making new friends in this process. I want to find ways to share this experience with others. I have what I call my 'Tuesday Night Cooking Experiment".  For the past 3 years I use a couple of Tuesday nights a month (more or less depending on the time of year), and people just come over and cook with me. We try new recipes or even make up our own trusting our taste and smell, feeling the texture and making something plain become appetizing and beautiful....but what is really beautiful is the learning that is taking place and the smiles on faces as they experience new tastes and smells. I learn too as they share recipes from different cultures and backgrounds. Could this ever become something more?

• Have I been a good person? Wow....here is a thought you can ponder for a long time. Sometimes I think I am a really good person. I try to live by moral values. I am a believer in God and do my best to follow what I understand about Christs teaching. I try to be generous and kind and happy. But every once in a while I have a moment. One where my mind tells me I'm not good enough.  The speaker in the video, "A Hero's Journey" says, "...live every moment of your life as if it matters, because it does ...live as if you have an important mission because you do ...It means seeing struggles as adventures and setbacks and lessons...what matters most isn't the prize at the end, but how the hero has changed in the process.". As I heard this I realize that goodness isn't necessarily a destination, it is a process. We can be a good person that has moments, and we can become better as we continually...keep reaching.

• Who did I love and who loved me?  Again, "A Hero's Journey" gives the sound advice, "Choose your fellow travelers well for it is a trip you only take once." "You will come to be like the people that surround you." "How precious and fleeting the moments...with a young child...they can never be recaptured." We just celebrated Mother's Day. I still have a stack of cards on the counter with specific individual expressions of gratitude and love. Where did this love start? Did it start with the love I had as I dreamed of becoming a mother or the moment I discovered I was going to bring children into the world...or did it begin when they loved me and let me be their mom.  LOVE seems to have no beginning or end...it has the ability to multiply rather than divide. The more children I had, the more people to love and the more people that loved me. It can be the same in any relationship. People feel loved when they are valued and respected. That love and respect is reflected back and meaningful relationships form that last beyond a lifetime. 

"The Hero's Journey" is about making a difference in the world and that, "using your gifts to change the world will change you in the process and you will realize you serve a force in the universe that is far bigger than you are." ( A Hero's Journey Video, BYU-I)

"The Hero's Journey" is understanding that showing gratitude makes you more grateful and that this journey "is all about you, but it's not about you at all."( A Hero's Journey Video, BYU-I)

What I Have Yet to Learn

• I feel I need to either be happy with how long it takes me to do my homework or learn to do it faster. I believe perseverance is the way... I'm just impatient...UGG!
• I need to improve my organizational skills. I think this will help as I work on my time management.
• I need to improve in listening with understanding 
• I still have much to learn in the ways of technology

President James E. Faust shared from his experience some things to learn that bring opportunities and blessings to us: 

1. How to organize and use time wisely
2. The importance of hard work--that you reap what you sow
3. Leadership skills
4. People skills
5. The value of gospel study
6. Respect for authority
7. The importance of prayer
8. Humility and dependence on the Lord

Spiritual Insights

The Lord will help us find our calling.

 John 15:16:

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the father in my name, he may give it you."

I believe the Lord has a plan for each of us and is willing, if we ask, to show us the way.

Goals

• Learn one new computer skill this week 
• Write congrats to all the high school graduates I know and wish them well in their life journey!
• Plan a grandma day with my little kiddos
• Go over trip plans with Bret
• To actually look at my time management chart this week and not just think about what is on it...

Tuesday Night Cooking Experiment: Artisan bread, caprese, rosemary and lemon lavender butter, hummus, avocado spread, black berry jam and oil and grape balsamic vinegar and deli slices.