Christmas Through Heaven's Eyes

My heart has been touched recently with love from God and with loving admiration for those around me. I have been blessed to feel a greater measure of the Spirit in my days. I have been blessed to see those around me through His eyes. I have been blessed to taste the love God has for my fellowmen, which has increased the love I have for them myself. In this season of Christmas, amid the business of finals and shopping and decorating and travel, I pray that I may be able to keep this love within my heart and to use it to guide my perspective and my everyday dealings with the loved ones that surround me. I do not want to sell that which is most important to me for a bowl of porridge; I do not want to overlook caring for and loving those around me for far lesser aspirations, such as doing good in school. People--not grades or goals or things--create the substance of life.

This Christmas season, I want to start looking at things a little more through Heaven's eyes.

Things I'm Grateful For

These are just a few of the reasons why today I am feeling so grateful...

I got to read my scriptures this morning.

Aunt Martha and Uncle David invited Jon, Ems and I to their place yesterday evening for a Pioneer Day BBQ.

Yesterday afternoon I got to spend time cooking and playing games with Jon, Ems and Jacob.

Yesterday morning Sarah, Ems and I got to go hiking up past the Y. It was perfect weather. It was perfect scenery. It was perfect company.

Tuesday night I went up to South Fork Park and had a bonfire with a bunch of friends from the ward.

Before the bonfire on Tuesday I got to grab ice cream with Kathleena and then the two of us talked for a while. It was so good to catch-up with an old friend.

Last week I was blessed to be able to go down to California with Jon to spend the week at his house. His family was amazing and it was an absolute blast hanging out with his little brother, David, while his mom and sister were at girls camp.

In a couple of days I get to go home for a week to go backpacking with my family!

I am dating the best man I have ever met.

In the past 24 hours I have laughed, cried, pondered, been silly and felt immensely blessed and loved. In essence, I have felt human.

I have used and seen the power of the Atonement in my life more frequently this past month than I have in a long time.

These things and more leave me sitting here at the computer, thinking and writing about them all, with a feeling of deep inner peace.

The color green (especially when it's outside!)
The smell of a campfire
The sound of the rain
Ice cream
Laughing
How to Train Your Dragon Soundtrack
Drinking ice cold water out of a glass cup after a hard and hot run
Endorphin rush after a hard workout
Doing hard things
Walking home late at night after a very long and productive day on campus
Looking up at the night sky
Sunsets
Reading the Book of Mormon
Long, deep, meaningful talks
Calling home
Happy secrets
Eating healthy
Going to the temple
Going hiking
Getting sucked into a book
Waking-up early
Finally getting enough down on the paper
Doing what I thought was impossible
Getting enough sleep
Writing something awesome
Getting a letter in the mail
Being crazy and silly
An exchange of subtle, dry humor
Italian food
Counting my blessings
Realizing my prayer was answered
Christ
Feeling peace after making a hard decision
Sunshine
Water from Washington
Reading a good General Conference talk
Teaching
Getting to know how awesome everyone around me is (which is, yes, everyone)
A kind thought voiced
Fantastically worded quotes
Being barefoot
Pondering
Watching family home videos or looking through old picture albums
Being with people I love
Checking something off my to-do list
Making delicious food
Making Cards
Yard work
Shopping at Winco or Costco
Writing with colored ink
Taking it all in
Going to church
Being still
Being AWESOME
Recognizing the hand of God in my life
Being the Lord's hands
A good story
Inspiration
Bike riding
People, people, people
Flip-flops
Being understood
Thoughts that make me smile to myself
Integrity
Watermelon
Period films
Getting excited with someone else
Organizing things
Doing the dishes
Really feeling
A clean room
Feeling the Spirit
Memories
A fresh snowfall at night
When the mountains change colors
Power naps
Little kids
Ambition
Back and neck rubs
Feelin' like I look good
Sharing and caring
Feeling lighter after a good cry
Praying
Alma 36:6-7

Giving Him Joy

"Jesus' life and sacrifice bring joy to us, and our coming to Him can and will bring similar joy to Him. I find profound purpose in knowing that in that one small, personal way He 'needs' me. 'Men are, that they might have joy' (2 Nephi 2:25), but men are also that they might give joy to Him."  --Brad Wilcox, The Continuous Atonement, pg 40

I often find that I am much more motivated when I am working for others rather than myself. How awesome it is to think, then, that every good thing I do gives joy to the Lord. Every effort to progress, every effort to choose the right, every effort to resist temptation, every effort to lift another, every effort to try a little harder to be a little better--all of these efforts, and the achievement that results, give joy to the Savior. Elder Maxwell has rightly said that just about the only thing we can ever really give the Savior is our will. I would add to that that the only thing besides our will that we can give to the Savior is the joy that comes to Him when we do so. There are many reasons for the Savior of the world to feel down. I hope that I can make the choices that let me be one of the things that counteracts, in a small way, all that weight and makes Him feel happy.

25 Reasons Why I'm Grateful for the Birth of the Savior: It is Happy

Reason 22: I'm grateful for the birth of the Savior because it is happy. There is so much gloom and doom in this world. Too much. I love this time of the year because it eases away some of that. At this time, people focus on the Savior, and focusing on the Savior makes one happy. Yes--there is starvation and hatred and wars and broken families and heartaches and so much evil and badness abound, but focusing on the birth of the Savior will make you happy regardless. He was born to help us ease the burdens on our backs and to destroy the evils in the world. No matter how bad it gets, it can always get better because He was born. What could be happier?

Letters

Dear Rachel, Thank you so much for running and talking with me last night. I'm so glad we're best friends for life. You're definitely a keeper.

Dear Christopher, You never cease to entertain our apartment. Thanks for the laughs.

Dear Audrey, I'm so happy that you get to stay in our apartment for reals! Now we can continue having conversations about things that make life awkward and family and school and work and life. Awesome.

Dear Amelia and Spencer, You guys are pretty much awesome. I like it when you hang around our apartment and have fun with us!

Dear Brad, Thanks for talking to me the other day about covenants and for going running with me this morning and for making me laugh so hard while we ran. You are such a funny guy, but an even better friend. Keep being awesome.

Dear Emily, It's official. I like living with you. Let's keep doing this, okay? Sweet!

Dear Sean and Alex, It was so fun to see you both yesterday to go and eat yummy Zuppas and to talk about life. Alex--I'm excited to have fun with you this semester. Sean--you are going to be a super awesome/amazing missionary. Thank you for being an amazing example of an amazingly faithful man. I want to marry someone as good and kind as you some day. Yea for awesome families!

Dear Any, You have no idea how happy I was when I found out that we're going to be in the same World Religions class. I have been so worried about that class, but now I'm excited! I hope you can put up with my craziness. I'll try to be mild. At least you're friends with the Pisters. That means you should already be used to crazy. That makes me feel better.

Dear Brady, I'm already missing you. I have an awesome idea. What if you just get a tent and live out in the north court? I'll even let you use my kitchen every once and a while. That way, you can still stay here and play with us all the time. I really like this idea. You in?

Dear Hannah, I loved, loved, loved going to get milkshakes and talking with you last night. You are so cool! I'm sad that you're not living in the apartment complex anymore, but I'm glad that your new place is so nice. I love you!

Dear Mom and Dad and Jessica and Abby and Kate, Thank you for always being willing to sit and talk to me on the phone. Talking to you guys on the phone is the best. We should do it more often.

Dear Kristin, The past several days you have heard me rattle off about my life and not complained about it at all. Thanks for being such an amazing coworker.

Dear School, I can't believe you start next week. Help?

Dear Heavenly Father, Thanks for loving me so, so much. I love you too.

Thoughtlits

Today I am determined to be an agent. Today I am determined to be proactive. Today I am determined to become a better person. Today I am determined to be decisive. Today I am determined to help and love and serve. Today I am determined to do good. Today I am determined to be active. Today I am determined to go to bed a better person than I was when I woke up. Today I am determined to work hard and play hard. Today I am determined to be awake. Today I am determined to uplift others. Today I am determined to use my life for good. Today is a good day. Here. I. Come.

An Instrument in His Hands

"And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work." -Alma 26:3

"The greatest thing in the world is love. And if we keep that always in our hearts, and give it as a message to those about us, we will be blessed and will be instruments in blessing those with whom we associate."  -Clarissa S. Williams, Sixth Relief Society General President, Daughters in My Kingdom page 74

"The sweetest experience I know in life is to feel a prompting and act upon it and later find out that it was the fulfillment of someone’s prayer or someone’s need. And I always want the Lord to know that if He needs an errand run, Tom Monson will run that errand for Him." -President Thomas S. Monson

"Is anyone sitting there?" I asked the lady on the plane. 

"You are!" she exclaimed. She moved the bag and bottle that had been sitting on the seat and I meandered my way down into the seat. The older lady was sitting on my left and to my right, sitting next to the window, was Kim Low--a girl from my home stake whom I happened to see out in the waiting area before we boarded the plane. I was feeling pretty lucky that the seat next to her was still open by the time I got onto the plane. 

Kim and I said hi to each other and started talking. 

"Why were you in Vancouver?"

"How are things at school?"

"You've graduated already, haven't you?"

"Where are you working right now?"

It occurred to me while we were talking that I should maybe take a second to say hi to the lady sitting to my left. I usually try to at least introduce myself to the people I sit next to on planes. But Kim and I were having a good time talking, and I figured I could introduce myself in a bit.

We were still waiting for the plane to take off when there was a brief lull in our conversation.  

"Do you two know each other?" piped up the lady, filling the pause.

Kim and I looked at each other and then back at the lady. We explained to her that we were from the same stake and also both went to BYU.

"I know the tennis coach at BYU," the lady said. "His name is Pierce. The tennis team is really good. You should look him up."

I asked her how she knew the coach.

"My son does tennis.  But he doesn't go to BYU. I'm not Mormon. But Pierce is really nice." 

I was beginning to feel like the lady really wanted to talk. Not about tennis or BYU or Mormons, necessarily, but that she just needed to talk. So I turned myself towards her, leaving Kim to read her Harry Potter book, and Paula and I talked for the next hour and a half while our plane made its way to Salt Lake City. 

The conversation I had with Paula is one of the best conversations I've had my whole life. It wasn't the content that made it so special, but the spirit that attended it. Throughout the conversation she mentioned that the reason she was in Oregon was because her father had just passed away and that she had been taking care of him and then, once he died, she had to take care of her mother. It seemed like she wanted to talk to someone about it, but I thought it would be good to talk about some other things first. So we did. We talked about her time as a nurse. She asked me what I was studying at BYU. We talked about God and serving people. We talked about Methodists (her choice of religion) verses Mormonism and about how sometimes it's hard for her to live in Utah because there are so many Mormons and she's not one of them. We talked about education. We talked about her son who's in Japan serving in the navy and her other son who's starting his senior year of high school and wants to go to NYU to study film. We talked about her involvement with a program her church does called Family Promise where they help single moms and their kids start over again. We talked about how she met her husband and my own dating life. 

In the middle of our conversation, when I felt like we knew one another a little better, I asked her about the experience with her father, and she was so glad to talk about it. She shared how hard of an experience it had been for her. She told me that her mother had althimers and that it was really hard to place her in a home. She told me about how, right after her father passed away, she went in the other room and suddenly felt a great sense of peace and love and knew that Jesus and her father were telling her it was okay and what she needed to do. She said most people thought she was silly for saying that and I told her it was the least silly thing I had ever heard. She really opened up and told me everything, and I had the sweet opportunity to be able to listen. 

"God sent you here to sit next to me," she told me several times during our flight. "You're not a coincidence, you're a God incident. He's always sending angles into my life. You're one of those angels."

At other times she would laugh and say: "I can't believe God sent me a BYU student to help me!" 

Paula and I laughed. We were serious. We hugged each other. When the plane landed I walked with her out to the baggage claim and pick-up area. 

We said goodbye to each other and gave one another one last hug. 

"Thanks again, Lindsey. You're so sweet. I would have cried the whole plane ride home if it hadn't been for you." 

I left, and that was it.

Now. I haven't shared this experience because I want to brag because I helped someone out who was having a bad day (Alma 26:11-12). I hate self-righteousness. I share this experience first of all, because it's something I want to always remember. I also share it because I want to add my testimony to President Monson's and testify that it is a truly humbling and sweet experience to know that the Lord has used you to help someone in need. I followed the Spirit when he prompted me to talk to Paula, and ended up having an incredible experience. I wasn't there to convert Paula or to shove a Book of Mormon down her throat. I was just there to be a friend. Through the experience, I got to feel the Spirit and the love Heavenly Father has for her. I know that she is special and that she is a daughter of God who is doing her best to be her best.  

I want my life to be filled with Paulas. Like President Monson, I want the Lord to be able to trust and rely on me to answer the prays of others. I cannot describe to you how humbling it feels to know that the Lord used me to help someone who was in need. That He trusted me. That I was an instrument in His hands. 

Seek out those promptings of the Spirit and determine to follow them when they do come. I promise you that   you will live with greater peace and joy when you let the Lord use you to do His work. When you do, some of the greatest experiences of your life will follow.

Up and Doing

"I am an old man!... I’m given to meditation and prayer. I would enjoy sitting in a rocker, swallowing prescriptions, listening to soft music, and contemplating the things of the universe. But such activity offers no challenge and makes no contribution. I wish to be up and doing. I wish to face each day with resolution and purpose. I wish to use every waking hour to give encouragement, to bless those whose burdens are heavy, to build faith and strength of testimony."   -President Gordon B. Hinckely

Today's a day to be happy. A day to serve a little more. Be a little more grateful. Look to God a little more frequently than we normally do. I want to help those around me to have a better day. I want people to feel noticed and loved because of the time I take to be with them. I want others to feel that I genuinely care about them--because I do. This life is not meant for easy, idle pursuits. We are meant to work. We are meant to serve. We are meant to give. We are meant to love. That's what I want to do with my time.

Goals, Motivations, and Aspirations

"While understanding the “what” and the “how” of the gospel is necessary, the eternal fire and majesty of the gospel springs from the “why.” When we understand why our Heavenly Father has given us this pattern for living, when we remember why we committed to making it a foundational part of our lives, the gospel ceases to become a burden and, instead, becomes a joy and a delight. It becomes precious and sweet."   -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Forget Me Not", 2011 Relief Society Broadcast

Why I Do What I Do:

• So I can help others return to Heavenly Father
• So I can return to Heavenly Father
• So I can one day be happily married and raise righteous children
• So I can become a better person
• So I can learn
• So I can uplift others
• So I can be eternally happy
• So I can one day be like God
• So I can show Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that I love and care for Them and am grateful for all they do for me
• So I can go to the temple
• So I can have the Spirit's comfort and direction in my life

Desires I Have

• To love God and feel His love for me in return so that I can share His love with others
• To serve, uplift, and inspire people
• To be happy here and now
• To get married
• To have children
• To know, understand, and love the scriptures
• To graduate from BYU with an English teaching major
• To love, respect, and care for my body
• To love going to the temple
• To love, support, and help my parents and sisters
• To feel confident that I'm living the life God wants me to
• To return to live with my Heavenly Father for forever
• To have a firm relationship with my Heavenly Father and Savior here and now

My "To Be" List

• A good daughter
• A good wife
• A good mother and grandmother
• An avid scriptorian
• A helper
• A happy person
• A missionary
• A friend
• A disciple of Christ
• A humble person
• Someone who develops her talents
• Someone who loves being a girl and understands why that make me special
• Someone who knows the Lord and talks with Him multiple times a day
• Someone who wisely makes her own decisions and confirms them with the Lord 
• A person who understands the divinity which God has given me 

Don't Worry--Be Happy!

“If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful.”

-D&C 136:28-29

“Do you think our Father in Heaven wants you to feel depressed and sad? He wants no such thing. He has provided the commandments, which are the royal road to a life of purpose, peace, and joy. All we need to do is follow it. Knowing and living God’s commandments really do lead to fulfillment and to joy. Our destiny is greater than we can imagine. If only we understood who we are and what is in store for us, our hearts would overflow with such gratitude and happiness that it would enlighten even the darkest sorrows with the light and love of God, our Heavenly Father.

The next time you feel unhappy, remember where you came from and where you are going. Rather than focus on things that dampen your thoughts with sorrow, choose to focus on those things that fill your soul with hope. You will realize that these things are always connected to serving God and our fellowmen. It is well for you to laugh! It is well for you to be happy! Lift up your voices and “praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving”.

I cannot imagine a heaven filled only with somber beings who never speak up or who do not enjoy music and visiting with each other. That is not heaven for me. I am certain that you were not created to spend the hours and days of your lives isolated from each other in worry or despair. You were created to have joy, so let’s celebrate the merciful blessings of a joyful and loving Heavenly Father!

You don’t need to wait for permission to fill your hearts with thanksgiving and happiness. You can do this nicely on your own. It is my earnest prayer that the knowledge of who you are and what you may become will fill your souls with the peaceable love of God and that this will ignite within you a happiness worthy of your true heritage, for in truth you are princes and princesses, kings and queens.”

-President Uchtdorf

It's hard for me to stay optimistic and upbeat during winter. Everything just seems gloomier, darker, sadder, bader, worser. Turning to Christ and serving those around me is the only way I've found to beat these winter blues. I think sometimes we focus too much on how Heavenly Father wants us to grow and improve to be more like Him and not enough on how extremely super much He wants us to be happy. When we are happy it makes Him happy because we are not only His work and His glory, but His source of joy.

And besides--there is SO much to be happy about! There's family and friends and school and church and scriptures and prayer and sunshine and heated homes and birthdays and books and shoes and socks and food and yummy smells and technology and chocolate and laughter and bodies and music and marriage and service and work and kids and cute old people and the color green and ice cream and washing machines and dirt and showers and chick flicks and letters and smiles and goals and purpose and feelings and so many other wonderful things. Refuse to let Satan pull you down. Fight back, make the hard choices, and be happy.