The Lord Delighteth in Plainness

"For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men."  -2 Nephi 31:3

"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."  -1 Kings 19:11-12

Too often we spend our time seeking out grandiose occurrences and signs in order to find the hand of the Lord in our lives. It is important, however, in our quest to find the Lord to realize that He is in the small things. The majority of the Lord's work is not done with the wave of a flag or with a powerful clap of thunder in the skies. Rather, the Lord does His work in small and simple ways through ordinary people like you and I. We do not need to be the leader of nations to make a difference. Think of the men the Lord has called upon in the past to do His work--Moses who couldn't speak in public parted the Red Sea, Joseph who was sold into slavery spoke to Pharaoh and David was just a little boy when he took down Goliath. The majority of the work done in this world is done by people like you and I. Don't hold yourself back from believing that you can do great things. You are more capable than you think you are. You have more power for good than you think you do. When you fight for the right the Lord is on your side and He will not let you down. 

I challenge you today to look for the small and simple acts of the Lord in your life. Take time to slow down and recognize the multitude of significant, yet small, blessings in your life. I testify that if you take the time to slow down you will come to a greater realization that He is alive and active in your life. He is there and He cares about you. Then, take the confidence in His presence which you gain and use it to go out and do small and simple things for others. This pattern of living makes to-do lists manageable, long days bearable, and living more worthwhile. 

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

Small and Simple Things #8: Tomorrows

Some days when the to-do list feels too overwhelming and all the crazy/perplexing/wonderful/confusing thoughts of life all come crashing down on you all at once and you wish you could just know the answers to everything but know that you have to wait and that you really should have been doing your homework for the past two hours but really haven't--on those days it's good to know that you can put everything on hold for a bit and wake-up to a fresh, new tomorrow. Heavenly Father knew we would need tomorrows. If it weren't for the need for sleep I think I would work myself nearly to death. But Heavenly Father, in His wisdom, figured out a way to make me have to stop, to calm down, and to start over on all the craziness with a fresh, strength-renewed, happier and hope-filled tomorrow. That's why tonight I can finish up this post, put my thoughts to rest, and get-up to face them again in the morning. I can have another try. Another chance. I'm so grateful for tomorrows.

Small and Simple Thing #7: Jeans

Today I'm grateful for jeans.
For legs to wear them on.
For materials to make them with.
For machines to crafts them.
For employees who make those machines work.
For inventors who created those machines.
For stores to sell them.
For construction workers who built those stores.
For cashiers, custodians, and floor personal who work at those stores.
For truck drivers and pilots who deliver them to the store.
For moms who go to the store to buy them.
For cars to drive moms there.
For dads who go to work to provide the money to pay for them.
So many people put forth effort so that I can wear a pair of Levi jeans.
Today I'm grateful for them.

25 Reasons Why I'm Grateful for the Birth of the Savior: It Was Simple

Reason 19: I'm grateful for the birth of the Savior because it was simple. Often, we think we need to make things grand in order to make them monumental. Christ's birth, however, teaches that we don't need to do things on a huge scale in order for them to be important. It happened in a stable rather than a palace. Shepards were invited rather than princes and kings. Mary was a simple, ordinary girl rather than a women of power and influence. Joseph was a lowly carpenter  To the everyday Jewish man, the birth of the Savior appeared to have no more importance than that of their neighbor's. In fact, in many cases, the circumstances made it something people frowned at rather than rejoiced over. The Savior was born into plain, lower than ordinary, seemingly unimportant circumstances. If something as important as the birth of the Savior could occur in such a simple manner; then our weddings, birthdays, Relief Society activities, anniversaries,  vacations, and day-to-day doings can--and should--too. After all, it is by small and simple means that the Lord accomplishes His work, and He is the one that we should be trying to please. We need to stop enhancing the center pieces, bedazzling the wardrobe, adding more to the program, and one-uping the neighbor; it is the heart that He is concerned about.

"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls."  -Alma 37:6-7

Small and Simple Thing # 6

Today I'm thankful for indoor tracks so that I can go running with Sarah Porter and talk about the craziness of life with her. It's awesome.

Small and Simple Thing(s) #5

These are the small and simple things from my day today that let me know Heavenly Father is there:

1. I felt awesome when I woke up (leaving my warm bed usually isn't a pleasant experience for me)
2. I got an awesome seat in the library this morning
3. I got to talk to my mom
4. The friendly people in the WILK were passing out apples on one of the only days I didn't bring a lunch with me to campus
5. I texted a friend I haven't heard from in a long time--Stephen Brown!
6. When I went to the library tonight my friend, Weston, who works at the front desk told me where Emily was sitting and I got to go tell her hi
7. I didn't have to worry about cooking dinner because I got to eat at the ward activity
8. I got invited to go to the temple tomorrow with Jenna and I'm super excited to go
9. I got to go to the ward activity and see all my awesome friends
10. I got to see Diehl, which always makes me happy
11. I got to listen to my coworkers tell silly stories
12. I have MoTab on my computer to listen to so that I don't have to freak out about my Shakespeare paper
13. The library is open until 2am
14. I have friends that are awesome and willing to help out those in need
15. I have tons of people who love me

Small and Simple Thing #4: The Urge to Pick-Up Litter

Today I'm grateful for the urge I get to pick-up litter. On Saturday my friends and I were walking to the Marriott Center to go see Christmas Around the World (which was AWESOME!) We were half way there, walking through campus, when I saw a piece of paper on the ground and decided to pick it up and throw it away in the nearest trash bin. Once I picked it up, I realized that it was actually an envelope with two ticket to Christmas Around the World in it. On closer inspection, I realized that the tickets belonged to a girl in my ward. I called her, she confirmed that she had dropped them, and we were able to meet up and give them to her so that she and her friend was able to go to the show. Moral of the story: pick up trash. Not only does it make the scenery more pleasant, and not only does it make you awesome, but it helps you help people. Even if you're not going to pick up someone's tickets, your saving the poor grounds crews/custodians from having to pick it up. Such a small and simple thing that takes almost no time, yet enables you to make someone's day. Those sorts of things are my favorite.

The Small and Simple Thing #3: Wintertime

As I mentioned before, I haven't been the biggest fan of this whole change-from-summer-to-dark-cold-depressing-winter thing. I miss the warm weather. In an attempt to battle the on slaughter of negative thoughts, I've decided to find all the little things about wintertime that make it awesome.

1. Scarfs--They're cute. They're warm. They're easy to wear. They're my favorite accessory ever.
2. Drinking from a Mug--I love going outside when it's cold with a mug of cider or hot chocolate. While you hold it, it warms your hands and when you slowly sip your drink it warms your body. Plus, I have an awesome Peanuts Christmas one and an awesome giraffe one with an actual giraffe in the inside. I love it!
3. Cold Air--I love being bundled up outside when it's cold. I love being with friends outside when it's cold. I love the way the cold air tastes. I love going outside, into the cold air, and feeling like you're ready to face the world.
4. Christmas Time--It's my favoritest season. 
5. Snow--Even though it's super cold, there's something magical about snow. It makes everything quieter and peaceful. It's also super fun to play in!

Small and Simple Thing #2: Visiting Teachers

On Tuesday, I was feeling a little down. I was in the WILK and stood up to go to class just as my visiting teacher, Brynnley, walked by. She stopped, said hi, and then the two of us walked all the way to our classes together (which happened to be right next to each other). Having her talk to me was such a small and simple thing, but it was the turning point of my day and made me feel so much better. I'm so grateful for the visiting teaching program and how Heavenly Father uses our visiting teachers to help, uplift, comfort, and love us!

Small and Simple Thing #1: The Sun

I figured I should actually get started on this "Small and Simple Things" project of mine.

Actually, I'm just trying to avoid doing homework or going running. But what's new.

Today's small and simple thing is the sun. I love the sun (just ask Ems--I've not been the biggest fan of Utah's cold, Winter weather). The sun is warm and bright and happy. It makes me want to get out of bed and do something with my life! It radiates. It chases away darkness. It illuminates.

And isn't there another type of Son that does the exact same thing for all of us? Doesn't Christ radiate? Chase away darkness? Illuminate? Isn't He warm and bright and happy? And doesn't He make you want to get out of bed and do something with your life?

The sun is marvelous, not just for how it makes me feel happy and for how it makes life on earth possible, but for how it reminds me of Christ. Think on that next time you step outside and feel the sun's warm rays reaching out to you. It's not the only "sun" trying reaching out.

Over and out.

101 Small and Simple Things: An Introduction

I know this quote has absolutely nothing to do with my post, but I like it and think it's awesome and think that you should think so too. 

My favorite scripture of late has been Alma 37:6-7, "By small and simple things, great things come to pass..." I have come to love this scripture because, over the past year, I have learned that it is through recognizing the small and simple things that we find happiness. Each small and simple good thing is a manifestation of God's love for us. It truly is how He does the majority of His work.

We are happy when we recognize the small and simple things because they help us realize that God is invested in us to the extent that He even takes the time to care to the seemingly insignificant details in our lives. He wants us to know that He loves us, and so He shows us in millions of tiny ways. We just have to open our eyes to see them.

I've decided that I want to keep track of these small and simple things on my blog. 101 of them, to be exact.

Why 101? Because that's how many dalmatians there were and because everyone always picks 101 and I felt like giving into social pressure at the time I wrote this post. Don't judge me.

Do I have a date that I'm planning on having all these 101 posts done by? Nope. To be honest, I'll be surprised if I make it up to 25. I'm horrible at keeping journal-writing oriented goals.

Do I write these things on my blog because I think I'm awesome and that everyone should be like me? While I am pretty awesome, I don't really think everyone should be like me. You are ten billion times more awesome as yourself than as me, so please be yourself.

Then why do I write things on my blog? Because typing things is faster than handwriting them and because the egoist in me does hope a little bit that just maybe something I say can help someone else be happy or thankful for the small and simple things in their life. There. I admitted it.

So really, I don't even care if you read what I write? Pretty much. Most the time, more than anything, it's a way for me to dump all my emotional build-up out into the online vortex of anything and everything worth and not worth reading.

And what do I think about the fact that you've taken the time to read all the way down to the bottom of this post? First, I must say that you must be really bored. Please, get away from the computer, and go and do something fun. It's a three day weekend, for heavens sake. I'm sure there's someone doing something somewhere that you could go and join. Do. It. Second, you must be a pretty awesome friend. No one else would read to the bottom of this post. Thank you.

That's pretty much it in a not so very small nutshell. More to come later (hopefully maybe?)

Over and out.