Great Post

I hopped on C Jane today for a quick peek while I sat down to nurse Coleman. I love the way she writes and always leave there inspired. Today was no disappointment. Her post about the new year spoke to my soul and encouraged me to seek after the important things in 2009 and let go of the negative. You can read her post here under the post "Be Forgot".

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! I can't believe Christmas is already upon us! I just wanted to share a few quotes I read in the Ensign this morning and then I'm off!

"True Happiness comes only by making others happy--the practical application of the Savior's doctrine of losing one's self to gain it. In short, the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit, that makes our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship and prompts us to kind deeds of service.

It's the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, obedience to which will bring 'peace on earth,' because it means--good will toward all men." David O McKay

"Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illulminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world's busy life and become more interested in people than things. To catch the real meaning of the 'spirit of Christmas' we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the Spirit of Christ." Pres Monson

A Christmas Carol

"A Christmas Carol" is one of a few books I try to read each December. I love this book! It's a quick read and has many of my favorite quotes. One of them comes at the part of the book where Marley's ghost is visiting Scrooge. Marley is truly a troubled spirit and is mourning over his wasted life. Scrooge tries to comfort Marley and himself by telling him he was always "a good man of business". Marley replies:

"Business! Mankind was my business! The common wealfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business". He laments and shakes his chains and says, "At this time of the rolling year I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me?"

Then the story moves on and before Marley leaves he asks Scrooge to join him at the window. Scrooge looks out and sees countless spirits chained as Marley is flying through the night sky reaching out to those around them. And Dickens states:

"The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power forever."

I just love this whole scene because it's not only a warning for Scrooge but for us all. This life is the time for men to perform their labors---for us to serve one another and in so doing give service to God. To love each other--and to put that errand first in our daily lives. I pray that I can rededicate myself to this First Commandment and let the useless and unimportant fall more by the wayside. (And yep that probably means a little less blogging!!)

And one last quote because I love it:

"It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself."

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Gratitude

With the coming and going of Thanksgiving and the Spirit of the season my thoughts have been drawn to the subject of gratitude. And I've been pondering three of my favorite thoughts and wanted to share them. The first is a poem by Riley. It speaks of envy but I've always applied it to the subject of gratitude. How often am I envious of someone's possessions or talents I don't have instead of seeing the bounteous feast of blessings the Lord has placed before me. Far too often I must admit.

"I saw a man and envied him beside--because of this world's goods he had great store;
but even as I envied him he died, and left me envious no more.
I saw another man and envied still--because he was content with frugal lot;
but as I envied him the rich man's will bequeathed him all and envy I forgot.
Yet still another man I saw, and he I envied for a calm and tranquil mind
that nothing fretted in the least degree--until alas! I found that he was blind.
What vanity is envy! For I found that I have been rich in dross of thought, and poor
in that I was a fool, and lastly blind--for never having seen myself before."
James Whitcomb Riley

My next 2 thoughts have always just been my favorites. Probably because they relay a message I need to hear---over and over again!

"Think to thank. In these 3 words are the finest capsule course for a happy marriage, a formula for enduring friendship, and a pattern for personal happiness."
Thomas S Monson

"When you finally develop a little gratitude in your heart, make up your mind to express it. 'Appreciation unexpressed is not appreciation'. If you can't find someone to say thank you to for something, just take a look at your toothbrush and say, 'Thank you for being. You are a wonderful little gadget!'

'Thank you' is a wonderful phrase. Use it. It will add stature to your soul. Never let a day go by without saying thank you to someone for something--and especially to your Heavenly Father." Marjorie Pay Hinckley

(the last quote is from the book "Glimpses into the life and heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley". I love this book---READ IT!

A Crooked Stick

Yeah, I kind of let this blog fall through the cracks! Thanks Sarah for motivating me to write a new post!

Okay, I'll admit it--I read in the bathroom :) Some days it's the only room in the house to find some peace (and quiet!) So I lock myself in the bathroom and read a few pages before the kids realize I'm missing and come pounding on the door! Well a few weeks ago I was hoovering in my "hiding place" and I happened upon a great article that really spoke to ME. It's from the Oct Ensign entitled "Why did the Lord call me?" In it the author quotes the line :

"The Lord can draw a straight line with even the most crooked of sticks."

I love this quote---when I read it two thoughts entered my mind. One, thank goodness this is true because I'm definately a crooked stick. And two, why don't I allow Him to use me to accomplish His work more often? I really have a testimony of magnification. I've been in situations when I felt a power beyond my own leading my thoughts, enpowering my words and strengthening my actions. The Lord can make a whole lot more out of us than we can--if we'll let Him. I pray that I can let Him more often. Here are a few quotes from the article:

“Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32).

I know that I can never be perfected through my efforts alone, and there are still times when I feel as if I am sinking like Peter. However, I am strengthened when I remember that Christ’s commandment is not for me to become perfect and then come to Him. Instead, He invites me—and each one of us—to come unto Him and to be perfected in Him. This power has helped me be a better parent and a better teacher than I could ever be on my own. When I focus on Christ, do my best, and recognize my dependence on Him, I am strengthened. Crooked though my stick may be, the Lord is somehow able to draw a straight line, and I become an instrument in His hand

“The enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement helps us to see and to do and to become good in ways that we could never recognize or accomplish with our limited mortal capacity.” Elder David A. Bednar

Mothers

Since I am a SAHM, my thoughts are often drawn to how I can be a better mother. I wish I was a perfect mother--alas I fall short in numerous areas that would take far too much time to go into right now. But I'm always trying to do better which I guess is all we can do sometimes. Anyway, to get on with my point in this post. Elder Ballard gave a talk that I LOVED in the April 2008 General Conference entitled "Daughters of God". I'll insert a link to it later if I figure out how! Here are a few quotes from it:

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. Many are able to be “full-time moms,” at least during the most formative years of their children’s lives, and many others would like to be. Some may have to work part- or full-time; some may work at home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."

"Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”(Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11)."

Well I'm going to have to cut my thoughts short cause I've got a little guy here screaming for attention--literally!

About Mare's Borrowed Thoughts

I'm a self-proclaimed borrower, mostly of ideas. I borrow ideas for Primary activities, birthday presents, preschool lessons--you name it. I guess what I'm really saying is that I don't have a single creative bone in my body :) But I do recognize others wonderful talents in this area so I borrow from them! Anyway anyone who has known me for very long knows that I like to collect thoughts--I'm so inspired by uplifting words. The problem is I have them scattered all over the place--on little scraps of paper, taped to the fridge, hidden in old notebooks--you get the picture. So this blog is going to be a collection of my most favorite borrowed thoughts. I don't really expect anyone to read this blog, it's mostly just for me. But if you come here and get inspired by what you read, that's an added bonus!