Tag Archives: serve

The Best Antidote For Worry

“The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired.  One of the greatest ironies of life is this:  He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.”       -Gordon B. Hinckley Today I […]

You May Be The Very Person That Can Do It

“You were born with the ability to change someone’s life. Don’t ever waste it.” We often hear that we must help ourselves before we can help someone else, and to some extent I believe that to be true.  But I also find it to be true that one of the best ways to help ourselves […]

May You Stay Forever Young

Thirty years…that’s how long ago I graduated from High School. THIRTY YEARS!…. I can hardly believe its been that long. I can hardly believe how much life I have lived since that graduation day. I can still remember so much about that day. I remember the royal blue dress I wore. I remember the royal […]

The True Measure Of Our Thanksgiving #LightTheWorld

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” -W.T. Purkiser Have you heard about the #LightTheWorld Worldwide Day of Service?  I want to give you a heads up now so you can get in on the fun!  December 1st is going to be the […]

Trials Are Empowering

“Have you ever gone through something difficult and that experience allowed you to empathize with friends or even strangers who were facing a similar challenge? Or have you seen others experience sorrow from difficult circumstances and turn their pain into a moving, empowering cause? The trials we face allow us to develop compassion for others […]

10 Tips To Help Get You Through The Hard Times

None of us are immune from having hard times in our lives. We all struggle with one thing or another. Whether its illness, or loss of a loved one, or financial difficulty, or heartbreak, or job loss, or feelings of inadequacy…everyone struggles…  Over the past few weeks I have had several close friends dealing with […]

A Lifetime In A Day

“A funeral is not a day in a lifetime, it’s a lifetime in a day.” One thing in life is certain, and that is that each of us will eventually pass on from this life. When that day comes for each of us, the best we can hope for is to have words spoken about […]

What you leave behind

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” – Pericles What a powerful reminder that quote is! When I read it I thought how it could be referring to trophies and worldly accomplishments we earn in this life like awards and titles […]

Anything Can Happen, Anything Can Be

Listen to the mustn’ts child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts, Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, CHILD. ANYTHING CAN BE. -Shel Silverstein First I have to say that I LOVE Shel Silverstein’s poetry!  He teaches so many incredible lessons through his […]

My Christmas Gift To You

Given that this blog is the last one you will read before you celebrate Christmas Day I felt it only appropriate that in today’s blog I should give you your Christmas Gift from me. As I thought through what I could possibly give that would be meaningful to each of you and that could have […]

The true essence of Christmas

The week of Christmas is upon us and my heart can’t help but think about the true essence of Christmas – to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he willingly made out of his infinite love for each one of us. It reminds me of a story I try to read each […]

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.

Of all the things I do with my time, one of the things I enjoy the absolute most is the opportunities I have to speak to groups of college students and to pass on to them as much knowledge as I can on all the life lessons I have learned in my journey from being […]

A Gift of 86,400 Seconds Today. Have you used one to say Thank You?

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’”  ~William A. Ward There are many ways to say “thank you” to others. One of those ways is to give people compliments. Someone once told me that holding in a compliment that someone else deserves is like buying […]

When you are doing the right thing there is always a right way you can get it done

It is funny how people say they want to fix a problem right up to the point where they would actually have to do something themselves to fix it. Recently I was asked to help come up with a fix for a problem that a group I happen to care very much about was having, […]

There Is Something Better…Be Patient…Live Life…

Disappointments are just God’s way of saying “I’ve got something better”  Be patient…live life… I love that quote because all of us have had those moments of disappointment…those moments when we had things all planned out in our heads so perfectly as to how they should go and then something unexpected happens and our perfect […]

Acres of Diamonds

“In ancient Persia there was a man by the name of Ali Hafid who owned orchards, gardens, and fields of grain. Ali Hafid was rich. He was contented because he was wealthy, and he was wealthy because he was contented. One day a Buddhist priest came by Ali Hafid’s home, and together they sat by […]

There are opportunities everywhere to make a difference

The world is full of all kinds of problems that we can’t solve in a day, but what we can do is find a way to give a little bit of service here and there…whether it’s just a few hours a week or only once a month, every small effort up over time. And when […]

The Kindness of Strangers

Late Friday night my husband and I began our drive home from Idaho where we had attended our Aunt’s funeral, back home in Utah. We had intended to get an earlier start home but we had spent the day scanning in all of our Aunt’s photos and papers so the family members could have digital […]

She was really here and she really lived

Today I want to pay tribute to an amazing woman named Iris who happens to be my Aunt. Aunt Iris would have celebrated her 98th birthday this week, but sadly on Friday we got word that Iris had passed away. On the one hand I am incredibly sad to see Iris pass from this life because she was such a […]

Opportunities come when we actively seek to do good

First, I want to take the quick opportunity to say “Thank You!” to all those who sent birthday wishes my way. I can’t think of a better birthday gift then words of kindness from others and I received that today in spades 🙂 I also want to share with you an amazing birthday gift I received today […]

You don’t need money to lead a rich life

“You don’t need money to lead a rich life. Good friends and a loving family are worth their weight in gold.” Last week was a week about friends and family for me and it was definitely a reminder of how our friends and family really are worth their weight in gold. From the start of […]

Lessons on Surviving, Turning Trials into Trails, and Choosing Happiness (Part 5 of 5)

Today is the part 5 of a 5 part blog series I have been sharing all week this week. Throughout this week I have shared snippets of emails that my daughter Ashley sent home while she was serving her 18 month mission. For those who have followed along all week this week I am hoping […]

Lessons on Study, Selfishness, Repentance, and Never Looking Back (Part 4 of 5)

We have come to month fourteen of the eighteen months of lessons learned along the journey. I hope you are all enjoying reading these email snippets from Ashley’s emails. The life lessons she shares as she learns them was so valuable to me and I hope it proves to be valuable to all of you […]

Lessons on Love and Charity (Part 3 of 5)

Today was one of the happiest days of my life!!  My daughter Ashley is HOME!!!! Yep, after 18 months of doing service as a missionary she is finally back home with us and I am beyond words with happiness. This enitre week I have been sharing snippets of emails I received from my daughter Ashley while she was out serving her […]

Lessons on Character, Change, Hardships and Blessings (Part 2 of 5)

Today is a continuation of yesterday’s blog sharing some favorite snippets of my daughter Ashley’s emails she has sent home over the course of her 18 month mission with the valuable life lesons she was learning along the way – these lessons are such relevant lessons for all of our lives and I hope you […]

Incredible Life Lessons Along an 18 month journey (Part 1 of 5)

This week is one of my happiest weeks EVER as my daughter Ashley is coming home from her mission Tuesday! In last Thurssday’s email I explained just how much I have loved getting Ashley’s weekly emails she’s been sending home over the last 18 months because they share the cool life lessons she has been learning along the […]

Feeling Like A Little Kid On Christmas Morning!

Going into this weekend I feel just like a little kid on Christmas morning! I have waited 18 months for my daughter Ashley to finish serving her LDS Mission so she could come back home to me…and next week she is finally coming home!!!   YAYYYYYYY!!! I literally cannot describe how excited I am. It’s impossible to describe […]

The best thing in life isn’t things

The best thing in life isn’t things…its family. Family is a pretty amazing thing. First and foremost it is made up of our own immediate family, then our extended family, and then our friends that we love as family. Last week was a wonderful week. My own family was able to host several other families […]

“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”

“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”-Edmund Burke I have been thinking about that quote a lot as of late. I think we sometimes let ourselves think that if we aren’t doing anything bad, that we are therefore, good enough. But in this world where so many […]

You’re Better Than You Think You Are (Forbes Article)

We’ve all experienced times where we’ve had a false sense of security, but we’ve also experienced times were we’ve had a false sense of insecurity…in ourselves. Too often we are our own worst critics. When circumstances of life don’t go the way we hoped for, we often allow them to make us think less of […]