NEVER ALONE

This week I heard journalist Christophor Hitchins on a talk show take questions about his best selling book, "God is Not Great, How Religion Poisions Everything." He said he had been on numerous pannels since writing the book debating a wide variety of religious people and no one has ever been able to answer the question of : "What can you do as a religious person that I cannot do as a non-believer." President Holland answered the question in April Conference beautifully. I believe there is a time in everyone's life When they will need God and His strength. " Surely he hath born our greif and carried our sorrow." (Isaiah 53) Some sorrows have no mortal relief. C. Hitchins cannont access the power of God to get comfort like a believer can.

Jeffery R. Holland - Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said, “I will not leave you comfortless. [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].”

PLANTING THE SEED

This parable from the Book of Mormon has always been one of my favorite concepts in the scriptures . If obedience is the first law of heaven then patience has to be the second. When I think about the rod of iron going to the tree of life in Lehi's dream it apears to be a significant distance. Growing a tree of faith to the point of producing a good crop of preservable fruit takes a lot of years. I am still working but I can say that I am finally nourishing the seed consistently. I want to be better than I am. This scripture always gives me comfort: D&C 137:9 - For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts. This concept is also in Alma 41:3 with a little more detail. It is not where we are but what direction we are going in nourishing the seed. We just have to pick ourselves up and keep trying.

Dieter A. Uctdorf from Sunday Morning: Too often we approach the gospel like a farmer who places a seed in the ground in the morning and expects corn on the cob by the afternoon. When Alma compared the word of God to a seed, he explained that the seed grows into a fruit-bearing tree gradually, as a result of our “faith, and [our] diligence, and patience, and long-suffering.” It's true that some blessings come right away—soon after we plant the seed in our hearts, it begins to swell and sprout and grow, and by this we know that the seed is good. From the very moment we set foot upon the pathway of discipleship, seen and unseen blessings from God begin to attend us.

But we cannot receive the fullness of those blessings if we “neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment.”

Knowing that the seed is good is not enough. We must “nourish it with great care, that it may get root.” Only then can we partake of the fruit that is “sweet above all that is sweet, and pure above all that is pure” and “feast upon this fruit even until [we] are filled, that [we] hunger not, neither shall [we] thirst.”

TEMPLE WORSHIP

When my mother died I made a commitment to pray more, read my scriptures more and go to the temple more as a bargin with God to relieve my mother of her suffering from a brain tumor. This December my mother will have been gone 20 years. It is hard to believe it has been that long. Life is indeed short. In 2 years I will be as old as she was when she died. It seemed too young then and with the perspective of my present age I know she had a lot of things she still wanted to do. So many times I have needed her but the gift she gave me in her dying was the commitments I made which have changed my life and increased my spirituality beyond measure. I am not sure if I was going to the temple every week in the beginning but for at least 17 years I have gone weekly like elder Scott except I have a few years up on him. Committing to a day and time makes all the difference. I go on Friday afternoon. When I plan my week if I know Friday is out I will plan another day. I feel so blessed to have the freedom to go when I want and to have a temple so close. I am 35 minutes from leaving the house to a session. The blessings have been more than the effort.

Richard G. Scott: “Fourteen years ago I decided to attend the temple and complete an ordinance at least once a week. When I am traveling I make up the missed visits, in order to achieve that objective. I have kept that resolve and it has changed my life profoundly. I strive to participate in all the different ordinances available in the temple.

“I encourage you to establish your own goal of how frequently you will avail yourself of the ordinances offered in our operating temples. What is there that is more important than attending and participating in the ordinances of the temple? What activity could have a greater impact and provide more joy and profound happiness for a couple than worshipping in the temple together?” (April 2009 Conference)

COVETING

I once read that coveting has elements in all sin and it is true when you think about it. You covet someones wife and commit adultery. You covet someones belongings and steal. You covet your time and don't keep the Sabbath day holy or take time to honor your parents, neighbors or God. You covet whatever causes you to lie or murder. Of course worshiping man made idols instead of God is about coveting the material world.


Robert D. Hales said the following in Conference on Saturday morning. It may be the most important thing said this Conference in light of our present economic situation. His talk is a classic.


Being provident providers, we keep that most basic commandment, “Thou shalt not covet” (Exodus 20:17). Our world is fraught with feelings of entitlement. Some of us feel embarrassed, ashamed, less worthwhile, if our family does not have everything the neighbors have. As a result, we go into debt to buy things we can't afford—and things we do not really need. Whenever we do this, we become poor temporally and spiritually. We give away some of our precious, priceless agency and put ourselves in self-imposed servitude. Money we could have used to care for ourselves and others must now be used to pay our debts. What remains is often only enough to meet our most basic physical needs. Living at the subsistence level, we become depressed, our self-worth is affected, and our relationships with family, friends, neighbors, and the Lord are weakened. We do not have the time, energy, or interest to seek spiritual things.

HAPPINESS OURSIDE OURSELVES

General Conference always makes me feel happier and more hopeful. It makes me want to try harder to be a disciple of Christ--to be more loving. For the next few days I want to share some of the concepts that touched me from conference.

Quote from April 2009 Conference talk by Dallin H. Oaks
"The moment you have a self at all there is a possibility of putting yourself first—wanting to be the center—wanting to be God in fact. That was the sin of satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race. Some people think the fall of man had something to do with sex, but that is a mistake...What satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like God—could set up their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God.

"And out of that hopeless attempt has come...the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy." ( C.S. Lewis)

THE PASSENGERS

My good friend Carol Fischer called me yesterday to tell me the following experience. I started to write it for her but didn't have enough of the details to complete it so we ended up writing it together. Larry is behind and Carol and Johnny are in the cart in the picture here.

They came to church in a yellow taxicab. Maybe that should have been the first clue that they were not your everyday Mormon couple visiting our Seaside Ward. My husband Larry thought they might need a ride back to their hotel and asked if I would take them.

Oh, why not I decided. Larry told me that they were from Utah originally, but had lived in D.C the past four years, working for the IRS. And now they were here visiting the Monterey Peninsula.

When we got into the car it was a little embarrassing. The passenger seat was covered with sand where the dog had been sitting after a visit to the beach. Quickly, I tried to brush it off the best I could while trying to push the dog's water bowl under the back seat. The couple had on very nice clothes and my car was definitely not user-friendly on this day. I tried to start the engine, but my hand problem was making it difficult, and so the man reached over the ashtray (that still held my "Obama for President" button), and started the mini-van. I noticed he had monograms on his shirt cuffs.

It is funny the things I wouldn’t have noticed if I would have been alone. The dog had slobbered on the window and you could see track marks on the pane. Then there was the smell. I had forgotten that Johnny, my handicapped son, had thrown some garbage bags in the back of the car on one of his garbage runs. He gets a real kick out of throwing sacks in your car, anyone’s car, unaware. But it was not a good time to discover smelly garbage in my car when I was giving two nicely dressed strangers a ride to their hotel.

They asked me many questions; but I had a lot of questions as well. I was very curious about what he did for the IRS in Washington D.C. Instead, we talked about Johnny, my teaching, my naturopathic Dr. in Farmington Utah, his son who was going on a mission to Taiwan, their daughter who was going into special education etc. But what I wanted to know was what the gentleman did at our nation's capitol.

Finally I jumped in and said, "Well, what about you, my husband said you worked for the IRS?" "Well, not the IRS," replied the man "I worked on health related issues". I continued to pump. "So, what company did you work for?" Sheepishly, he replied and I have to admit I was surprised at his answer – he worked for President Bush. " Oh, what was your job description there?" I probed. He replied, "Secretary of Health". There was a moment of silence. I was speechless, almost. I managed to say, "wow!"

My passenger continued to reveal his business now that he was outed. He was here in Monterey, at the invitation of Leon Panetta, to be a guest speaker about health care reform. The other member of the panel was Tom Dashcle.

Now the circumstance of the untidy car was becoming increasingly more embarrassing. And I was sure that he could see that I was not a big fan of Bush (when he reached his arm over my Obama badge). Oh, well.

We arrived at the Monterey Plaza, on the historic Steinbeck Cannery Row—one of the nicest hotels in Monterey. They thanked me graciously and got out. I didn’t remember the name that they gave me, and so I hurried home and googled the information. My esteemed passenger was no less than Mike Leavitt, the former governor of Utah (for 11 years) and George W. Bush's Cabinet member for 4 years. Mormondom has no bounds for connecting.

They arrived in a yellow taxi, and I suspect that they wished that they had departed in a yellow taxi, but maybe not. All is well.

FAITH AND AGING

"The spiritual process that makes us gentler and kinder may be mistaken for the effects of aging to those who are uninformed or uninitiated. For those who have felt that distinctive (and welcome) change, it is much more than aging. It is the most serene of God's miracles. It is a process that is repeated thousands of times as we progressively rid ourselves of the natural man to make room within us for the disciple." Wallace Goddard, God Dragged Before Another Earthly Tribunal.

http://www.drwally.org/

REPOST OF ORANGE OAT MUFFINS - recipe mistake

I submitted this recipe to my Ward cookbook. Someone made them recently and told me that they were not very good...too much oatmeal. I feel bad that they ended up in two places with the wrong amount of oatmeal. I am re posting this recipe so if you saved it or tried it you can make them right. I just made them today so I know the recipe is as it should be and I still think they are good. I also took a dozen to the lady who discovered my error and ate 6 myself so they have been thoroughly tested. Thanks, Janet and sorry to anyone who made them with my mistake.

The recipe makes 2 dozen medium muffins. 1 C. of cranberries is good and nuts too if you are so inclined.

Heat 1 cup of milk until hot not boiling add 1 C. quick oatmeal and let sit while you measure everything else into another bowl.

1 T Grated orange peel

1 C Fresh Orange juice

1/2 C. oil

1 C. Brown sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Baking powder

1 tsp. Soda

2 1/4 C. Flour

Add oatmeal and mix until everything is moistened.

Bake 350 for 15 min. in well greased muffin tins

Juice another small orange or 1/2 of large - add 1 tsp. grated peel and 2 T. melted butter with enough Powdered sugar for a thin frosting. Frost hot.

CHICKEN ENCHILADA CASSEROLE

I found this on http://chronic-fatigue-recipes.blogspot.com/2009/03/mexican-style-chicken.html this week and cooked it last night. I changed a few things because my husband would not touch the green peppers or the onions. This is my version. It is very simple and quick to put together (a great leftover rotissere chicken dish) and I thought it was very tasty. I will make it again.

Ingredients1 T. oil
2 Cloves of Garlic – grated
2 10-3/4-ounce cans cream of chicken soup
1 10-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles (I used the ones with jalepenos), undrained
1-1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
12 - 6 inch corn tortillas, cut into thin, bite-size strips
2-3 cups cubed cooked chicken
2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese or a mexican blend. I added a little more because my hubby likes more and it was good.

Directions

1. Cook the garlic in the oil until it starts to brown add everything down to the tortillas.

2. To assemble, sprinkle about one-half of the tortilla strips over the bottom of an ungreased 13x9x2-inch baking dish . Layer half of the chicken over tortilla strips; spoon half of soup mixture on top. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cup of the cheese and another one-half of the tortilla strips over the soup mixture. Layer with remaining chicken, soup mixture and half of the remaining cheese.

3. Bake, uncovered, in 350 degree oven about 35-40 minutes or until bubbly around edges and center is hot. Remove from oven; sprinkle with remaining cheese the last 5 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serve with Salsa, Sour Cream, Guacamole, Green onion or as is. Makes 8 servings.

THE WORD OF THE DAY - ASTRONOMY

As a writer I am excited about a tool that I have learned from Cori Connors (see my blogger friends) Cori has been using this tool for years to generate stories (and songs) and she is a master at it. Right now she has committed to write every day of the 40 days of Lent (she is not Catholic) If you want a treat go read her "Word of the Day" entries. She gets her words from a "Random Word Generator" on this site : //watchout4snakes.com/creativitytools/RandomWord/RandomWord.aspx

Cori says she will pull up about 3 words and then chooses one to incorporate in her musings. When I teach writing classes I try to get my students to do a "stream of conscious" writing session every day with no thought of anything but practice. The "Word of the Day" concept is more focused and perhaps easier to do. I am not sure I would be able to publish 40 in a row like Cori is doing but I am enjoying this adventure. Here is one I did this week and no, it didn't fall out of my brain necessarily as it appears here. I had to work on it plenty after the initial session. But, without the inspiration of the word I might not ever have written this:

WORD OF THE DAY - ASTRONOMY

We began as astronomers, Mike and I. Mike was intrigued with the stars when we met and I tagged along because I liked the stars he put in my eyes.

Mike understood lots of things that I didn’t. It was enough for me to recognize a few constellations and know that planets don't twinkle but stars do. Orion is exciting because it sprawls over a huge expanse of overhead sky. This Hunter is easy to spot with the bright jewel like stars in his belt. Scorpius is my astrological sign so I like it with its giant tail curled up on the Southern horizon. Once during our astronomer days the red planet Mars was plunked in the middle of Scorpius. It was a rare occurrence, symbolic and poetic so Mike wrote a poem about it. Did something about stargazing enchant his poetic mind at this time? He waxed eloquent often then.

Then there was Cassiopiea the Queen in the shape of a giant leaning "W." I could always find her. And I liked the Corona Borealis, the crown, as a "C," symbolic in my mind of Charmaine. Yes, it was a very romantic time.

I bought a little telescope that we used a short while. Someone broke into my Salt Lake Avenues apartment and stole it along with a small record player I had. I remember how upsetting it was to me. I had so little in material treasures then. In an attempt to feel better I tried to dwell on the scripture in Matthew 6:20 when Christ said: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

I haven’t had a lot of things stolen in my life. Someone snatched my purse after a baby shower in San Pedro when we lived there. It only had a few dollars in it. I guess I am lucky because this first big invasion was very painful at the time.

Sometime in our astronomy life Mike bought a 4-inch reflector. One summer, on warm balmy nights, we would set it up in his sister Alicia’s back yard to look for exciting celestial things. My favorites were the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter, which were both clearly visible in the telescope. I also liked the craters of the moon because they appeared so large and close.

Mike had infinite patience with this stuff. My job was to hold the star map with a nebula or a star cluster pinpointed in the sky. It could take hours, but Mike was always excited when he located what he "thought" was it. I tried to be excited too as I peeked into the finder to see a fuzzy spot of light. I suppose the idea that you knew what it really was (and the time it took to discover it) made the find something to celebrate. A couple of times that summer we hobnobbed with the local astronomy geeks at the planetarium’s star party looking for fuzzy lights in the sky. It was fun.

Telescope or no, there is nothing more awesome than a clear night sky, void of city lights, strewn with the milky way and constellations clear and distinct marching around in a wondrous pattern. I understand why men have always been fascinated with these magical lights in the night sky.

Then we got married and life seemed to crowd out the time and energy to be astronomers. The 4-inch reflector sits in our storage room rarely opened since those long ago summer nights. Maybe there is still time to get it out so Michael and Luke can see the rings of Saturn, craters on the moon and the moons of Jupiter.