Putting Him First.

Morning comes and I find myself on my knees, supplicating my Heavenly Father for guidance, direction, strength, and grace.  Then I retreat to my chocolate-brown couch to curl up in a fuzzy blanket and read His word.  From this vantage point I can see to the left my beloved painting of Christ walking on the water and to the right, the serene countryside through the picture window.  This is my time with the Lord, and I treasure each minute.  With young children who wake up early, it isn't long (only 30 short minutes), but I strive to make it quality time.  The morning hours, are to me, so quiet and still and ripe with promise of a beautiful day.  It is in the stillness that I feel closest to my Father and can introspectively examine the state of my heart.  Despite how tired I feel each morning as I awake and contemplate another busy day with small children, this one practice of a morning devotional has greatly blessed my life.  It is worth the sacrifice of a little sleep.

It hasn't always been this way.  Since the time I was young, I have always tried to spend time in the words of scripture, but because of changing times and seasons, it hasn't always been first thing in the morning, and it hasn't always been for the same amount of time.  It has been quite a journey to finding the perfect way for "me" to feast on His word, but I can attest that for now, this way of physically putting Him first as well as mentally, is the way He has led me.

We are all different, and our schedules and demands placed on our time differ as well.  But one thing can be common among the host of Christ's disciples.  We can strive to always put Him first.  We can soak in His word and meditate upon it throughout the day.  We can teach what we learn to our little ones who live at home, or who are all grown up and living away from home.

And now, some of the practices that have helped me strengthen my own spirituality daily are as follows:

*In my morning prayer, I ask the Father to bless me with inspiration to apply what I will read to the day's needs.
*I purchase an inexpensive copy of the scriptures each year so that as I read each day I can mark them up and write in the margins what impresses me and how the verses apply to my current situation.  In this way, my scriptures become a sort of study journal for me to go back and reflect on how far I've come.
*I leave the scriptures open on the coffee table to one of the pages I have studied and marked so that each time I pass, I am reminded to glance down and remember the words I have studied for the day.
*I pray to follow what I have read often throughout the day.
*My husband and I take a minute to share with each other what we learned before we go to bed.
*I strive to share with my little ones a simplified version of some of the principles I have learned.


May we each have the courage to search within our hearts and ask the Father if we are truly putting Him first in our lives.  I know He will shower down His blessings upon us as we do so.

Thoughts.

I have long struggled with my thoughts.  It seems as if discouragement, negativity, and doubt enter in the holes in my heart so easily.  I have found that the adversary uses every means possible to tempt us and bring us down--and this is one of the ways he succeeds so often with me.

But today is a new day, a new dawn, a new beginning.  Each day can and must be so if we are to attain the perfection our Lord requires. (see 3 Nephi 12:48).  And today I have chosen to meditate upon a verse of scripture that will empower me to press on and rise above.  And perhaps when I do this, the Savior can heal my holes, patching them up with the perfect peace only He can bestow.

The word brings us closer to Christ.  And why limit the time we feast to the small hours of the morning when we study?  Shouldn't the word be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path?  All day long?

They can be.  And these verses we ponder, and memorize, and cling to will become "stalwart friends" filed away in our memory to call upon when we are in need of comfort or guidance or strength.

So I write out a verse on a notecard...just a simple verse from Psalms, only eight words.  It's burning into my heart just a little more each time I recite it, building my faith, filling me with the Spirit.  And tomorrow there will be a new verse to memorize and recite and draw upon.  What grace the Lord has shown me today in prompting me to begin this small and simple practice.  He knew I needed empowerment.  He knew I needed Him.

"I will love thee, O Lord, my strength."

{Psalms 18:1}

Thoughtful Thursday...Wonder.

We hear that peace stems from thanksgiving.
We experience happiness in the habit of thanksliving.

But pure wonder is born from the art of pausing to notice God's grace.

Pause, and see God's graceful, {grace full} masterpiece in this awe-inspiring clip.
(Pause the music player at the bottom of the page)

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

Preparing for the Sabbath

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

"Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

"But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God. ...

"...Wherefore, the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

~Exodus 20:8-11

If He rested on the seventh day, and hallowed it, and made the Sabbath for man, should we not consider this the pinnacle of our week?

A time to come before Him in worship, for as Elder L. Tom Perry states so beautifully:

"The pattern of Sabbath day observance must always include worship." 

And we worship first and foremost by coming to the Sacrament table to partake of the sacred emblems.

The bread to remind us of His broken body which was bruised and torn for us, but now lives again triumphantly resurrected.

Teaching us that we too may become whole and healed in body and spirit through Him.

The water to signify his blood, which was shed in the garden "for the remission of [our] sins."

Truly, "Partaking of the sacrament is the center of our Sabbath day observance."

They who lived long ago would bring a sacrifice to the altar, to give away, pointing to the great and last atoning sacrifice of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who gave us His very life.

And while the burnt offering was fulfilled in Christ, we still can and must bring to the altar a sacrifice.

A sacrifice of sin, a desire to give them all away in order to know Him.

For our Savior said, "And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit."

So might we begin anew? 

To come to the Sabbath with outstretched arms and cupped hands, ready to receive His divine grace.  Ready to receive His sacrament, ready to sacrifice our sins, ready to rest from all the cares of the world.  

For in Him, they are all swallowed up,

and only peace and joy and love left in return.

Indeed, the Sabbath is a hallowed and holy day.

{This post is also linked up with A Holy Experience and Women Living Well}

Thoughtful Thursday

There were days when the very thought of getting ready for the morning...the washing, hair coiffing, and makeup painting...was enough to make me weary.  Then before I'd blink, sun would set, little ones were tucked away into dreamland, and night would be fast upon me.  The process would begin again....the washing, and the brushing, and the flossing.  Why so much hassled effort to get ready for the day just to turn around and get ready for the night?

I pondered this puzzle for years.  Until one evening, the water was running clear and my cupped hands reached up to fill with the purity that cleanses pores.   

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." 

 Could this be it?  Could I be engaging in a small ritual of not only physical, but spiritual washing in the morn and the eve?  At night, washing away distress and and anxiety and the tarnish of the day, and in the morn, washing away the soot and dust of slumber?

Washing to prepare to meet my Lord?

For isn't it ironic that evening prayers and a surge of the Word follow evening washing?

And isn't it interesting that morning prayers and a feast in the Word follow morning cleansing?

We wash to "strip ourselves of all uncleanness," to cleanse and purify our bodies and spirits for a small entrance into His presence, for "no unclean thing can dwell with God."

The scales of darkness fall from my eyes as the water runs down my face.

And now I understand.

{This post is also linked with Raising Homemakers, Time Warp Wife, and Women Living Well}