life in color

December is here, bringing with it final projects, exams, and gift shopping. To say I've been stressed is an understatement. (I really should be working on homework and not blogging.) In the midst of my crazy life, I am grateful for the Light the World program. For each day leading up to Christmas, we are given a short video, a scripture verse, and a call to serve. Too often I focus my gospel living on myself: How can I be better? Am I doing enough? As Tom Christofferson pointed out in a recent interview, the first two commandments don't focus on our progression at all but rather focus on loving God and loving others. I am grateful for this Christmas season that reminds me to turn outward as Christ did. My sweet husband was inspired to share the following video for family night, and it brought me to tears as another reminder to look outside myself and #lighttheworld.

In the wake of tragedy, human nature calls for some type of response. For many, their response is simply to pray. Some people criticize individuals who call for prayer and extend their sympathies in times of trials. These critics believe that these sentiments are a cop-out for real action. I understand where the critics are coming from. Prayer won't bring victims back to life. Prayer won't change policy or laws. Prayer won't prevent all future tragedy. Prayer won't eradicate all evil in the world. So why do I pray? Prayer gives me comfort and peace. Prayer gives me hope. Prayer shows me that there is still good in the world. Prayer motivates me to fight these wrongs. Prayer gives me guidance to know how to act. Prayer gives me something meaningful to do until that course of action is made clear. And prayer does make a difference for the victims of tragedy. I heard the story of a woman who lost a child. Prayers and condolences came ...

I've been mulling over this post for a while but hadn't gotten the push to sit down and write it... until today. I woke up early this morning with an intense headache that felt like a small creature was trying to crawl its way out of my left eye. After 3 naps, 2 sumatriptan, an excess of caffeine, a trip to the bathroom to throw up and 11 hours of frustration, I'm finally starting to feel better. My battles against my head aren't normally this bad. However, regular headaches have been a part of my life for a few years now (passed down from my sweet mother's genetics). There is rarely a day that I'm not conscious of my body and making minor adjustments to try to prevent an attack.  I don't tell you this to get sympathy. There are far worse ailments of the body and mind than this, but headaches are (and I think will continue to be) one of my trials. And as with all trials come blessings and insights, and I wanted to share a few of the lessons I hav...

I probably haven't earned my right to use a Star Trek quote as a blog post title since I've only seen two of the movie remakes, but an image of Spock with his jet-black hair and pointy ears and hand raised in the Vulcan salute kept running through my mind as I read my scriptures the other day. In my study, I came across a verse where the Lord promised His people that if they were righteous, they would prosper. I hadn't ever really taken much notice of this phrase, though it is oft repeated throughout the scriptures. Was this prosperity solely in terms of land, flocks and other temporal blessings? As I pondered, I decided that the blessings of prosperity must be more than just financial stability because I have met a lot of really faithful people who struggle to put food on the table. I do believe that our Heavenly Parents provide temporally for Their children, but I also concluded that to truly prosper means to be provided for spiritually, to be filled with joy an...

I wish I was good at blogging. The budding PR professional in me knows that blogging is a great skill to have. But I've realized that successful bloggers have a niche, and I don't think I've quite found mine. I'm not especially outdoorsy or crafty. I don't have work-out tips or makeup tutorials to share. All I have are the thoughts in my brain and the feelings in my heart. And those are sometimes hard to share. One, because they're personal, and two, because they're hard to put into words. It sometimes takes me days before I craft the perfect 140-character tweet; writing a blog post is even more of an ordeal. And to be honest, sometimes I just don't have deep thoughts. My lack of thoughts is actually what I wanted to write about today. Life is very fast-paced. I feel like there is constant information being thrown at me through my classes, the news, social media, etc. Sometimes I receive the information but don't take the time to really pro...

This past Sunday was Easter, and I was blessed to celebrate with my dear family. As part of our preparations for the holiday, we watched Bible videos that corresponded with each day of Holy Week. On Thursday evening, we watched Christ enter into the Garden of Gethsemane. In the sweetest understatement I've ever heard, my two-year-old nephew stated, "Jesus sad." In those fateful moments, Jesus was more than just sad; He experienced pure agony as He took upon Himself the sins and the pains of the world. He truly descended below all things ; no one has ever felt as low as Christ did that day. Just a few short days later, an angel declared to Mary Magdalene that "He is risen." I love the word choice here. "Risen" implies that Christ was (1) restored back to life, (2) that He physically got up and left the tomb, and most importantly (3) that He became elevated to a higher state. Christ overcame death and sin, He received a perfect, immortal body, a...

I haven't been too successful at my goal to be a regular blogger. I have many thoughts that often make it scribbled into a small notebook in my purse or hastily added to the notes on my phone, but my thoughts rarely make it into coherent sentences posted for the internet to read. I hope to be sharing more of my thoughts with you in the next few months as summer arrives. Figuring out my summer plans has been stressful. I am (finally) in a major that I love, but boy is it competitive. It seems like every day the professors announce, "You should have five internships by the time you graduate." And every day I hear other students describing their elaborate summer plans to work in New York City or intern for a national PR firm. As everyone else's summer plans solidified, I started to worry that I wasn't doing enough, that I wasn't going to keep up with my peers, that I wouldn't graduate as a marketable employee. I started frantically looking for internships...

Christmas has come and gone. All that remains are empty boxes, trash cans full of wrapping paper, and many happy memories. I promise to write about those memories in a future post, but today I wanted to wrap up my thoughts on the #LIGHTtheWORLD campaign: I truly believe that this campaign was inspired for this Christmas season. Following a tumultuous November, we needed a little hope and love in the world; Christ is the perfect antidote to fear, anger, and despair. Each day I read about the ways that He selflessly served, and I tried to implement the concepts of service into my daily activities and into my writings. I didn't blog about all 25 days, but I wrote as often as I could. I don't know if my service or my words have made a difference to anyone but myself. But I know that I grew closer to my Savior throughout December. Here is a picture of me at Temple Square and my final thoughts about #LIGHTtheWORLD:   Day 6 - Jesus read the scriptures and so can you. I ha...