life in color

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...

DAY 17 - Jesus cared His mother and so can you. I wrote a tribute for my wonderful parents back on  Day 2 but Day 17 also focuses on mothers. I could rant about my mother all day long, but I'll keep it short for today and instead share a picture of her at our wedding reception: Isn't she beautiful?! I look nothing like her, but I think I inherited a lot of her best qualities (except for the headaches... I could have passed on those.) She was a rockstar in helping me plan our wedding reception. It was absolutely perfect, and I'll cherish those memories forever. The best part of the whole day was the reassurance that families are forever. Heaven definitely wouldn't be heaven without this woman. But I also gained another mother that day. This is Kimberly (who apparently also looks adorable while restocking otter pops): From the very first moment I met Kimberly, I felt her love. She is busy with seven kids, a dog, three cats, chickens, ducks, and goats, ...

DAY 7 - Jesus fed the hungry and so can you. Last April I went to my very first Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) meeting: a service activity at the local food bank. For a couple hours, we organized and cleaned the food pantry and assembled nutrition kits for kids to have food on the weekends.  I fell in love. I loved the mission and the atmosphere of Community Action Services & Food Bank. I emailed the communications director to see if there were volunteer opportunities available for me, and they welcomed me with open arms. From May to August, I went in once or twice a week to help out. My tasks were small and seemingly insignificant - entering volunteer contact information in a database and writing thank you's to donors - but I know that they made a difference. Day 7 reminds us of when Christ fed the multitude with only five loaves of bread and two fishes. (See Matthew 14:13-21 or watch the following video.) Likewise, my couple hours...

DAY 11 - Jesus ministered to children and so can you. Not having children myself, I can't tell you if I have had an impact on a child. I've babysat and directed children's theater. I've taught the children at church. I've played games and sang songs with my niece and nephew and cousins. But I don't know if I have left a lasting impact on any one of them. However, I could tell you about plenty of times that a child has had an impact on me.  This past week was crazy (hence my lack of blog posts). I had a group presentation, final papers, and six tests to take. In the midst of my academic overload, my computer completely quit working. In addition, the current burdens of my friends and family members weighed on my heart. It was a week of stress, tears, and restless nights. On Friday night, I took a break from my studies to babysit my niece and nephew. The experience could have added to my stress when the BluRay player didn't work, when an entire b...

DAY 3 - Jesus helped others to see and so can you When I saw the theme for Day 3, the first thing that came to my mind was the lyrics to the traditional Christian hymn  " Amazing Grace:" Amazing grace How sweet the sounds That saved a wretch like me I once was lost  But now am found Was blind but now I see  At times, we get blinded by the vanities of the world, but Christ helps us regain perspective. At times, we get blinded by our own weaknesses, but Christ shows us our individual worth. I listened to multiple versions of "Amazing Grace" trying to find my favorite. I love BYU Noteworthy (and I know the vocal percussionist!), so I chose to share their version today. https://www.mormon.org/christmas/in-25-ways-over-25-days/jesus-helped-others-to-see DAY 4 - Jesus worshipped His Father and so can you. worship verb /   wor·ship /  wər-shəp   Definition: to honor or reverence as a divine being In high school, betwe...