Small and Wonderful Things . . .

 

"The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But who gets excited by a mere penny?...It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted with pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. what you see is what you get." ~Anne Dillard 

A few of the small and wonderful things which bring untold joy into my life. It's the small things in life which truly mean the most. Simple abundance . . . it's the best.   

 

I am so grateful for this past weekend where we have been so abundantly fed by the leaders of our church. we have not been able to listen to all the talks yet as some of them are on far too late at night for us.  But we will be catching up with the remaining ones over the next day or so. 

For the second time, the Church held its shortened general conference, which is now only five sessions. In October 2017, the First Presidency announced it would consolidate general conference by only holding the general women’s session and priesthood sessions once a year.

We were pleased to have the General Women's session this time around, and it was really wonderful.

  

We were invited by our Church President and Prophet, Russel M Nelson to do the above things. We were promised that we would be blessed in doing so and I believe this to be true.  With that end in mine both Todd and myself have come off Facebook for the duration and I have come off Instagram and Twitter.  I will still be blogging.  Blogging brings far more positivity into my life than negativity and I don't see it as Social media.  To be honest Instagram brings positivity into my life also, so I am really torn with that one,  but I guess I can do it for 10 days. 

We live in a world where so much "Fakeness" is presented to us via Social Media, along with much negativity.  There is bullying on it.  People spread false information like the plague.  People lie to us and show us staged  images of what they want us to believe their life is.  I understand all of that, but many do not, and seeing all of these things can cause people to become discouraged about their own lives. They may feel like they are hard done by and be left wanting instead of being able to find the joy in their own lives and homes. 

It is fun to stage a photograph and take a pretty image of something.  I have been doing that each week with my Tea Cup Thursdays posts on Instagram.  Trying to make a pretty Tea Cup picture.  I don't think there is anything wrong with that. I am merely showing a teacup in a decorative way.  I don't think I am trying to show people a false image of how I live my life.  What are your thoughts on that?  I really would like to know. 

 

(I thought this was cute and can't resist sharing it)

One big announcement which was made was that, beginning in January, our Sunday Services are going from a 3 hour block down to a 2 hour block, in an effort to move towards a more Home-Centred and Church-Supported form of worship.  I have to admit I cried when this was announced.  I enjoy my 3 hours at church on Sunday.  For families with children, this can only be a positive thing, providing they participate in it as they should do.  For singletons and empty nesters I wonder how this is going to work. 

"As part of ongoing efforts to help Latter-day Saints “learn doctrine, fortify faith, and foster heartfelt worship,” President Russell M. Nelson announced adjustments to help balance the unique and essential ways members worship and learn and live the Savior’s gospel both at church and at home.
Church leaders are encouraging individuals and families to improve gospel learning and living at home and have released a new home-centered, Church-supported curriculum."

 

Perhaps we will move to having once a week study groups in our home?  I don't know.  I am sure we could find some others who would wish to join us in this.  I am a person who really doesn't like change much, but I trust the leaders of the church and believe them to be inspired, so while I can't totally understand this move at the moment, I know I will in due time, and that is enough for me. 

 

This means that there will only be two Relief Society Lessons a month and two Sunday School lessons a month, on alternate weeks.  I wonder how this will impact my calling as a Relief Society Teacher.  All will be revealed I am sure! 

 

I look forward to listening to and watching the remainder of the talks over the next couple of days, and in the meantime I do have a lesson to prepare for this Sunday.  It will be based on Sister Arbutos talk from the April General conference entitled With One Accord. 

 

 

 (I have purposefully obliterated the name)

 

For those of you who don't know, I do personal little paintings to help celebrate milestones in people's lives.  Birthdays, Baptisms, Anniversaries, etc.  Last Christmas I did a picture of one couple's entire group of grandchildren. 

 

 

It was a challenge, but I really enjoyed doing it and they were very pleased with the end result.  I was able to capture the personality of each child in this, which I was happy about myself.

This past week I have done a Baptism one for a family in the US. I have done Baptism ones for all of their children up to this time. This is the first boy one. I was really pleased with how it turned out and I know they are as well.  In the Baptism ones I put  the nearest Temple to them in the background as that is our goal as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, Baptism being the first step on our journey towards the Temple and then ultimately home to our Heavenly Father.  I really enjoy doing the Baptism ones! 

 

Tina and Tony are coming for lunch today!  I love spending time with these fabulous People!  I am really looking forward to spending some time with them!  

 

Video Calls with my middle son Doug. He called me yesterday on my phone to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving.  I am so grateful for a son who thinks to include me in his life in special ways.  He was in the car driving home from McDonalds and said he would call me again later today with the boys. I am looking forward to that!  Thank you Doug! 

At the end of the day the things that matter most to me in this world are Family, Friends, Gospel and Health.  Everything else is the icing on the cake.  I live a really good life, with all of my needs being met.  There are things I would change if I could, like perhaps being able to fall asleep better at night, but on the whole I am really happy with all that I have and all that I am. There are a few tweaks needed personally, but I am working on those and nobody can ask more than that! 

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *.You don't have to be positive

all the time,

Its perfectly okay to feel sad,

angry, frustrated, annoyed, 

scared or anxious.

having "feelings" doesn't

make you a negative person.

It makes you human.

~ Lori Deschene  •。★★ 。* 。 

 

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  Dirty Fries.  Mmmm . . .  and you can make them as low fat as you desire.  Easy peasy.

I hope the week ahead for you  is filled with lots of small and simple things!  Don't forget!

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And I do too!