Quoties

Gotta get some of these out so I can remember them forever!!

1. Take chances. When rowing forward, the boat may rock. - Chinese Proverb
2. Like anyone else, there are days I feel beautiful and days I don't, and when I don't, I do something about it. - Cheryl Tiegs
3. Never to suffer would be never to have been blessed. - Edgar Allen Poe
4. Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What maddness it is to be expecting evil before it comes. - Seneca
5. The time is always right to do what is right. - Martin Luther King Jr.
6. When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends. - Japanese Proverb
7. No one has ever achieved anything form the smallest to the greatest unless the dream was dreamed first. - Laura Ingalls Wilder
8. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. - Marie Curie
9. It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
10. I never see what has been done. I only see what remains to be done. - Marie Curie
11. A professional is someone who can do his best when he doesn't feel like it. - Alistair Cooke
12. Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun. - Pablo Picasso
13. There would be nothing to frighten you if you refused to be afraid. - Gandhi
14. The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. - Ralph Nader
15. What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
16. It is not good enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. - Rene Descartes
17. Concentrate all you thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. - Alexander Graham
18. Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, and acquaintance, or a stranger. - Franklin Jones
19. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself. - Charlie Chaplin
20. It is common sense to make a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. - Franklin Roosevelt
21. They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. - Andy Warhol
22. Know when to tune out. If you listen to too much advice, you may wind up making other people's mistakes. - Ann Landers
23. The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money. - Johnny Carson
24. Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. - Erica Jong
25. Gray skies are just clouds passing over. - Duke Ellington
26. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb if, go through it, or work around it. - Michael Jordan
27. The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. - Mark Twain
28. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. - Anais Nin
29. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. It is the only thing thta ever has. - Margaret Mead
30. You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there. - Yogi Berra
31. Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens. - JRR Tolkien
32. Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one. - Eleanor Roosevelt
33. Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else. - Judy Garland
34. Don't be afraid of missing opportunities. Behind every failure is an opportunity somebody wishes they had missed. - Lily Tomlin
35. A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. - Bob Dylan
36. Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I'm doing. - Phil Jackson
37. Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the name. - George Washington
38. That's the secret to life...replace one worry with another... - Charles M Schulz
39. Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. - Will Rogers
40. In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different. - Coco Chanel
41. You are educated when you have the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or self-confidence. - Robert Frost
42. How much trouble he avoids who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks. - Marcus Aurelis

He is Risen, He is Risen!

Tell it out with joyful voice!

Today in Relief Society we listened to the talk "None were with Him" by Jeffrey R. Holland (I think it's from April 2009's conference). I remember pretty vividly this talk changing my perspective on a lot the first time I heard it, and it did the same this time.

This Mormon Message is based on the talk and is awesome. :)

So when we were discussing the talk in Relief Society there were two things that really stuck out to me.

1. Elder Holland quotes Isaiah 63:5:

 5 And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought ^asalvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.

 What stuck out to me is that Christ wondered that there was none to uphold him. If Christ needs friends and people to support Him, then who am I to say that I can make it through anything without anyone's help? I tend to do that a lot...shut up in myself when something happens that I struggle to deal with, and even though often I want to talk to someone about it, I convince myself not to because somehow it will end up getting worse if I tell anyone. A ridiculous, paranoid mindset maybe, but sometimes a reality to me nonetheless. But if Christ recognized a need for friends and family supporting Him, then I definitely need to be more open to that because I am nowhere near perfect, and He is.

2. I was bothered for pretty much my entire life, until I heard this talk, about the time when Jesus is on the cross and cries out that God has forsaken Him. God is perfect with a perfect love, I always thought, why would He abandon His Son? It always frustrated me so much I couldn't think about it for too long. But Elder Holland explains that in order for Christ to complete the Atonement and feel every sorrow that we would ever feel, He needed to know what it was like to spiritually die; to be cut off from God. So it's not that God forsook His Son. God was always there, loving His Son and reaching out, just as He always is with us. But the Spirit had to withdraw from Christ in order for Him to know what it feels like to sin. And that feeling is the feeling you get when deep inside you, somethig aches, something is screaming in anguish because it is so very, very alone.

I've had that feeling a few times in my life, and as I've gotten a little wiser, whenever that feeling comes I know I need to turn immediately to Heavenly Father, but I want to have something to offer Him when I come. So I always try to search my mind for something I need to repent of (not too hard). Then I pray, and apologize for my sins, and sometimes need to apologize to other people as well, or else rectify something in some way, but as soon as I start that process, the alone feeling vanishes and is immediately replaced with a rush of comfort and love, often unto a bursting feeling.

Today I wore a ring with a big cross on it to church, just because I like to conduct sociological experiments like that and see what people will say (no one said anything). But the cross took on a new meaning today as we discussed the Atonement in all three meetings of church. Christ was utterly alone on the cross, and this He did so that I never ever have to be alone. This is the absolute greatest gift I have received from Him.

Elder Holland finished his talk with this quote, which I want to reiterate for myself and for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ:

This Easter week and always, may we stand but Jesus Christ "at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death," for surely that is how He stood by us when it  was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone.

 Christ has given me everything, and I don't want Him to ever be alone because He has never left me alone. I know that He loves me and died for me, and that has made all the difference.

Ain't I a Woman?

As of late, I have been pondering a lot about my role in this world as a woman. I have been trying to be a better woman...the kind of woman that when people think of me, they think of a strong female. Not a girly girl, cause that's not what I am and I never will be. But a woman who pulled her weight, who thought for herself, who worked as hard as she could on everything she took up, who was full of patience and compassion, and who was willing to give to anyone she found in need. To me, this is real womanhood.

While I have been working on these attributes that I want to acquire, I have noticed one major hang up. The more I try to exemplify this extraordinary woman I want to be, the less guys want to be around me. I have been taught to believe that men like women who are feminine. So this leads me to the conclusion that men and I have a very different definition of femininity.

This is understandable because of the currently degrading concept of gender roles, and the skewed idea of feminism. But my personal struggle has inspired me to write my own version of Sojourner Truth's wonderful "Ain't I a Woman?" speech (please review the history of this beautiful speech here.)

That man over there

Says that women need to be coupled to a man,

And enjoy being doted on, And receive

                                                                        flowers

for any occasion, wherever.

No man is coupled to me,

 And I'm not adored or respected,
                   And I don't receive any

 flowers.

And ain't I a woman?

Look at me.

Look at my arm.

                                I have trained,                       And served,

And taught myself how to live in this 

world,

And no man could break me, ever! 

                                                     Ain't I a woman?

I can work as much And think as hard as a man

—If they would let me—

And bear the stress as well.

And ain't I a woman?

I have borne no  

children,

Despite the desire to be a mother who will actually care for them,

And when I cried out,

In my barren grief,

None but

Jesus

heard me.