Hide for a Bit

 If for a bit, you would "hide" yourself from worldly worries, drama, and schedules of all kinds...you might find the peace you so desire.  Steal a moment from "should have", "need to", "should do" trains of thought (and noisy trains at that!)

Seek a quiet place, a place where the television news is muted, children are napping, everyone else has gone to bed, or where, just for a little while, you can spare a few moments for some of these activities:

• Read a good book.  Read the Bible.  Read and fly away into a sky full of fluffy clouds where you can just "be".
• Study the scriptures, make notes, and think about what is written.  Seek inspiration from church leaders, from poets.
• Write what you are thinking.  Write verses, poems, or journal something.
• Be quiet.  Go rest on a bench and observe your surroundings.  Is that a bird with a freshly caught worm?!  
• And finally (or not), sleep is the great healer.  It doesn't matter if you nap or if you just lie still for a few moments.  We all need a place of respite, sometimes.  A closet, a bedroom, the garden, etc.

Here are some possibilities for contemplation:

1. Seeking Peace:  https://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Peace-Chronicles-Worst-Buddhist/dp/1594484406
2. Read a Good Book:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1148891.Seeking_Peace
3.  Do some kind of hard physical labor?
4. Shell some peas (I think this worked for my mother)!
5. Listen to quiet non-intrusive music?
6. And yes, tend a garden, but take a few moments to complement your efforts with quiet observance and stillness.

 Refuge can be found, also, by observing what around you is inspirational, quiet, and holds the promise of a revelation...for example, a painting.

 

•  https://theawesomedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Famous-Paintings-28-1.jpg
•  https://wallpaperset.com/w/full/f/d/f/51681.jpg (
  
•  https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RiwERptCzyQ/Tcb0s6_ZfbI/AAAAAAAAAAM/M3HChhy4f1s/s1600/world-famous-paintings-2-2.jpg

 

General Conference October 2020

 The recent occurrence of the October Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has weighed heavily on my mind and stirred me to consider gospel principles.  

I go to the scriptures for greater light and knowledge.  I can review and listen and/or watch the talks that have just been given.  I had initially "skipped" the Women's Conference on Saturday evening, but began yesterday to review those talks and themes, also.  I have been drawn to look at related messages from other church sources at the Church website.  For example, an article, [The Book of Mormon is] "A Book about God's Love.".

In this article the author, Lenet Read, writes"The gift of grace is that our sins may be covered, figuratively speaking, with “beautiful garments,” and we may become sanctified, without spot, if we come unto Christ and return his love with our love"...(January 1988) struck a chord with me.  

I had been thinking, after President Nelson's address, that almost no one is beyond the reach of the Atonement.  

God loves all His children but will not force them to Heaven.  We came to earth so we could make choices, so that our agency, our free will offering  to our Heavenly Father and our Savior, might count for something precious!  

When you think about it, that is all we really have to offer the Savior, and the most precious gift we can give.  Even similar to (but much more magnified), the gift our Savior chose to make for our eternal salvation: the gift of His life (both while walking the plains of Judea, teaching the Gospel of love), but also in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross).  The Gift of Himself.  His agency.

Here is an article that says all this much clearer that I can express.