When you start your prayer

"If our first thought is ourselves and not of God, we are not praying as Jesus taught." Teachings of Howard W. Hunter.

Sometimes in a need I have, I start my prayers thinking about myself and the needs I have. How do you start your prayers?

Today is part of eternity

"Too often we think about eternity as something that is a long way off. Eternity is today and for a long time. Eternity was this morning, eternity is this afternoon. Eternity will be tonight and tomorrow and the days that follow and the years that make their course. We are on that road today, and shouldn't those moments be filled with sweetness in planning, in loving, and all the things that make life beautiful?"

I read this today in "The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter." I really liked this thought. Eternity starts now, not tomorrow. What are you doing now, to make your eternity beautiful? What is your attitude like? How are you loving your neighbor? How are you serving your God?

Seeing the Savior

There are many instances in the scriptures where prophets have seen God, or our Savior Jesus Christ; Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Nephi, Alma, Joseph Smith. In Matthew 5:8 it says:

8Blessed are the ^apure in ^bheart: for they shall ^csee God.

In D&C 35:21 we read:

21For they will hear my ^avoice, and shall ^bsee me, and shall not be ^casleep, and shall ^dabide the day of my ^ecoming; for they shall be ^fpurified, even as I am pure.

Have you ever wondered when and how you will see the face of the Lord? I saw it yesterday, when looking at my wife. She did as the Savior would do in serving another. I believe there are these instances that happen all the time around us. I know I need to be more aware of when it happens. I believe we are here to become like our Savior, Jesus Christ, and as we do and love and serve as He would do, we put on the face of the Lord.

Ever feel like this?

I read a scripture this morning that I feel fits me lately. It is in Hebrew 9:14:

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

It seems like the sins of omission seem to grab me all too often. Life gets busy, and before you know it you realize that your prayers may have been rushed, and you haven't spent as much time studying the word of God. It is evident in the way you feel. You do not feel the Spirit as strong in your life. Then once again, the Savior, Jesus Christ and his infinite atonement come to the rescue. I am so grateful for a Savior who gave his life, bled for me, so that I may become one with God. It will take a lifetime for me to get there, but, as I heard in a testimony last month, "I'm an imperfect person with a perfect opportunity."

I love my girls.

So no, this is not a black eye. Brynlie will be 2 in a few days and loves getting into her mom's make-up.



Linsey, apparently likes to sleep in plastic boxes. She is crate trained. :)

I am a child of God

One of the most valuable pieces of knowledge we have is the knowledge that we are literally sons and daughters of God, our Heavenly Father. Here is Alissa and her cousin singing "I am a child of God".

"burp!" "MeMe"

Let me translate. "MeMe" means excuse me after I burp. Brynlie has learned and mastered the "burp." Makes a dad proud. :)