Come Ye Thankful People Come

Andy Rooney, on 60 minutes, wished that people would stop and honor Thanksgiving Day. It is an American Holiday, a day to be grateful. Well, I listened to a talk this morning and it talked about two researchers who wanted to research gratitude. They had three groups of people. One group kept a list of their daily happenings, the second kept a list of the bad things that happened. But the third group listed their daily blessings. The researchers found that those who counted their blessing were less depressed, less stressed, more optimistic, more enthusiastic, exercised more, moved more quickly to their goals, felt more loved and did more acts of kindness. Isn't that just amazing? Gratitude is a commandment, but it is a commandment that is for our good, cause it brings us good things. God really loves us.

Happy Birthday dear Carol

Today is Carol's 57th birthday. I wonder what a 57 year old Carol would have looked like? Would she have grey hair, or would she have kept it auburn. She just loved auburn hair. Did you know she loved oriental things? She did. Did you know that she took violin lessons in 1st or 2nd grade, well I am pretty sure it was violin lessons. But then we moved. Did you know there was a place next door to our house that we called the jungle and it was soooo scary? Carol, Carla and I would creep through the fence, and then scare ourselves so badly that we would come screaming back. She always remembered the recipe for the stuff that made the Italian hair on the lip (not a mustache, just darker hair) go light. And I don't. And the other day, I needed to tell her something that only she and Carla would have remembered. Happy Birthday Carol. I miss you a lot and often. Chrissy, I am sure glad you are still here.

Let the Lower Lights Be Burning

I heard the most amazing talk the other day. There is a hymn that Mark and Gary and someone else used to sing. The chorus was, "Let the lower lights be burning; Send a gleam across the wave. Some poor fainting, struggling seaman you may rescue, you may save. " hymn 335

The speaker said that the lighthouses weren't enough in really bad storms, so the lighthouse keeper would send words to the houses along the shore, to keep their lights burning, they were the lower lights. The Savior is the lighthouse, but we are the lower lights. It is so important, especially now, that we make sure that our lights are on and that we are reaching out to those who are struggling. We cannot judge others, just make sure we are following the Savior and that our lights are on to show the way.