The Video Game

Last week my Grandson handed me a game controller, logged on to Minecraft, giving rapid instructions on how to run, fly and navigate the scene. His figure skillfully raced through the countryside while mine bumped, bumped, fell, and stumbled aimlessly without direction or goal! I’m sure with practice, I’d have done much better.

I have been the spectator of many Zelda episodes of triumph and defeat, and have been fascinated at the not-so-obvious “drops” that yield a plethora of weapons, potions, boosts, gear, collectibles, and even a diamond pickaxe, all very useful and necessary to ‘win’ the game.

I watched you play the game today,
So skillfully....I'm proud to say.
You're little figure tramping about the countryside,
Seeking potions both far and wide.
With passion you searched, and you received
The gear to help you on your quest--the things you need.
You boldly and carefully made your way
Thru darkened night and treacherous day.
And as you did, you never missed
A chance to gain the loot you wished.

And when the foe with all it's power
Appeared.   You did not cower,
But initialized your gifts so valiantly,
And battled bold to victory.
Your perilous path was  wild and long.
You sometimes sang the victor's song.
Then, finally,  when the quest did cease,
You reached  the grand reward of peace.

Aren't we all in the 'game of life'?
We also face our foes and strife.
And need to collect the tools to aid,
Or else, we'll truly be afraid.
Then we can face each obstacle with power
That transforms us each day and hour.


 

This is a poor image of a painting I did from a beloved Babar book, illustrating some of the ‘tools, weapons, potions, or whatever, that we may need in our ‘game of life’.

On 14 January 2020, Michael T. Ringwood addressed a BYU devotional and spoke of “Gifts”, much like the ones spoken of above. I quote from a segment of his address:

“If you are familiar with classical stories, myths, and legends, you will remember that when a hero undertakes a quest, a mentor often gives him or her gifts for the journey. these gift could be special clothing, implements, food, healing medicine, or key information. Whatever the gift may be, they are essential to the hero’s success. They are the provisions to meet the challenges ahead—-to pass the test that transforms the hero, giving him or her strength to overcome hard things and do the work he or she is destined to do. And, in many cases, the importance of the gifts is not fully understood until they are needed and used.

And so it is with us. Our Heavenly Father has provided us with great and marvelous gifts for our journey here in mortality–and for the greatest quest of all: to come unto our Savior and gain eternal life. These gifts help us navigate the tests and tribulations of life: distresses, persecutions, famines (both temporal and spiritual), injuries, and even death. Without them, we cannot succeed. Yet with them, we are transformed–strengthened…”

Then, in his address, he lists 8 gifts: The Light of Christ, Agency, Commandments, Jesus Christ, Grace, the Holy Ghost, Living prophets, and happiness.

Don’t Rest Too Long

Don't rest too long, along life's song, or you may cease to grow.
Continue on, with heart and song; our Lord's light lifts our soul.

These are strange times, and often cause me great reflection. Most of the time, I feel very disconnected and isolated, and I sometimes wonder if I use the pandemic as a reason to retreat; an excuse to not reach out or communicate. In the beginning of it all, I reasoned that all of us could use this time to plan for a ‘new normal’ that would be ever-so-much better than the old one. We should do that, but as time has progressed, I see much more division and lack of unity and compassion. At first, we seemed eager to help each other out, but now that’s been replaced by a lot of anger and intolerance.

I don’t know for sure what all that means. I’m just trying to keep the family safe and free from the often devastating consequences of the virus. I try to keep fear at bay. I have contemplated ‘faith’ a lot lately, and have come to the conclusion that you can’t have real faith unless you have an eternal perspective, a real vision of who we really are and why we are here in the first place, and what is the purpose of all this….

I treasure your comments. I welcome them. I beg for them. Let’s connect.

I have found the best way to fortify faith is to read the Book of Mormon!

July 24 marked 173 years since the pioneers first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. I think we can best commemorate and celebrate that by being pioneers ourselves.

To be an example. To be a leader.

As in a children’s song—“You don’t have to push a handcart, leave your family dear, or walk a thousand miles or so, to be a pioneer. You do have to have great courage. Faith to conquer fear, and fight with might for a cause that’s right, to be a pioneer.”…or something close to that.

There is a wealth of videos, thoughts, and positive helps in these troubled times by logging onto lds.org

IN EVERY SOUL

In every soul is a piece of ourselves, if we look with eyes to see.
If we listen with ears that hear, we learn to grow more free.
Only those who strive to know another's heart and mind
Will ever find the pearls of truth that help us love mankind.

Those who judge another's ways before they strive to see,
Walk in blindness to others light that help our souls grow free.
Please, Dear Lord, give us the strength to listen with mind and heart
And overcome our vanity so we can learn Thy art.

Some souls teach us what NOT to do as we go through our life,
And show show us where NOT to go while going through our strife.
"We shall know them by their fruits," are words the Master said.
"Judge not least ye be judged," adorns each true seekers head.

So when we see another who is different from ourselves,
Let's take the time to search for pearls & increase our own true wealth.
Only then can we grow from all we choose to see.
Each soul of God on this earth can add to you and me.

Inspiration

Inspiration is a word that reaches each of us.  As we seek, we will find.
The more we learn to listen with our whole heart, soul and mind.
Prayer builds our desire to hear Truth's music to our soul.
Eternal light comes to us as we stretch, seek and grow.

Inspiration is a gift we each, who seek, will surely find.
If we strive with determination, the spirit fells our mind.
We must strive with deep desire to hear God's eternal soul.
The Holy Ghost whispers to us, when we truly strive to grow.

Inspiration grows like a seed.  We must water it with our tears.
We feed it with our hope, as our faith grows through the years.
Only by our constant effort, hope builds faith through charity,
We will grow in understanding, through our Lord's pure clarity.

In these pandemic days, there is more time for meditation and self evaluation. When we are away from things that challenge us; things we encounter as we interact, which we are doing very little of now….I think the easy way is to gravitate to the lazy, and we find that we avoid anything that takes much effort.

But effort is the gateway to accomplishment, growth, learning and satisfaction. Seeking for divine inspiration is an effort..much more than a casual prayer, but a focused desire that is accompanied by patience, perseverance, and sometimes pleading.

It is my hope that we can all restructure our lives to include the divine–the higher purpose that manifests itself by our love, kindness, compassion and reverance.

There’s nothing like somebody who cares.

Smaug

Smaug, that old dragon that strikes fear in all hearts, is jealous of his gold, and seemingly without any redeeming qualities. He could represent darkness, fear, despair, depravity, hate destruction, evil, and all that is not good, hopeful or joyous. And, in our story, we have an unlikely hero by the name of Bilbo, the Hobbit. In the painting, we see a new hero, painted to represent my grandson, and, for you, anyone dear to you.

Bilbo and our figure face extreme danger and seeming hopelessness, Their challenge is much the same, and is aptly described in the Bible (Ephesians 6:12): “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood (your real enemy is not a real dragon) but against…powers, against the ruler of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

When the fellowship of the ring was about to be overcome by this darkness, Aragorn defied the seemingly impossible odds, “A day may come when the courage of men fails..but it is not this day! This day we fight!” In Ephesians, the apostle Paul also rallied others with these words, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand..Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked..and take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.”

And so, our outmatched heroes prepare for battle, and expressed some fear and sadness, “I wish it need not have happened in my time..” and Gandalf extolled the qualities that made them heroes, “I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”

And so, we can now also exclaim that the day may come when your courage fails, but, it is not this day..this day you fight!

YOU GOT THIS!!!

Shake It Up

Wow, I finally got an image to upload..what is with that?

These have been troubling times in many ways. The pandemic seemed to start it all; then, here in Magna, Utah, on March 18th we had a 5.7 earthquake. For those of us who are not used to the earth shaking, it was both startling and unsettling, especially since we are still having aftershocks even up into the 4’s!

So, we’ve been advised, even ordered to stay safe and stay home. This has been an eye-opening experience. I’ve come to see that much of the ‘stuff’ I spent time on, when I could move about freely, just isn’t that important–almost like I was doing it to distract myself from things that matter most. I don’t know if all that makes any sense, but I’ve struggled to convince myself that I have ever contributed much positive to anything, any one, or any cause.

And, I have come to realize that tomorrow may not be just like all the other days I’m used to. It is so easy to believe that you are in control, because you are the boss of what you say and do, and where you go. And that leads us to believe that we really don’t need anybody, especially God. If that’s all I can take from this, then it will leave me a better person than I was before.

Be sure to check out all the good stuff on www.churchofjesuschrist.org

Website Intelligence

And so I sit before this screen.
I feel so dumb, I want to scream!
There is a note to update now,
But I seriously do not know how.

I log onto the site to chat
In hopes of learning this or that,
But when all is said and done,
I only feel supremely dumb.

I really do like to share our poetry, but the technical side of our blog site is mind boggling to me. I did not grow up in the computer age. I remember when I started to work at LDS Hospital in 1970, everyone was awed at the modern computer system just installed. It took up a whole floor of the hospital.

Anyway, just venting my frustration. Another frustrating thing is that Bob says we are missing valuable comments. He believes the spam programs are eliminating them. So, if you are reading this, please send a comment, and if sending comments is cumbersome, do it anyway and tell me about it..please!

This is how dumb I feel.

The link above has nothing really to do with the poem or picture, except that we should always be open to learning new things from the challenges we face.

Birthday Miracles

Dawn calls us through a window (freed from ivy vines)
Through the labor of my best friend with her heart, body and mind.
God gives us each talents and watches what we do.
We each have our agency to choose what we want to.

The Son's gold touches the sky.  The clouds catch His first rays.
I rose up slow and careful and stretched my pain away.
I gave my thanks to Heaven, to live just one more day--
rose and dressed and slipped away, as my mate slept on today.

I went out our front door and drove to a special place
Above the wake-up noise of each soul's fleeting race.
I watch the Son's miracles caress each cloud on high,
And gaze in awe-struck wonder, of this earth, clouds and sky.

From deer to bunny rabbits, to the birds that praise each dawn,
Each miracle reflects God's eternal song.

Now I sit again, in silence as my mobile turns before my face,
Reminding us of each precious goal; each family's special in time & space.


Bob wrote this on his birthday–July 20. Here it is, almost September, and I’m supposed to post a poem every Monday. Well, that hasn’t happened this summer. We’ve really been on the run and have not been home-based. But I suspect there aren’t many of you who race to your computer on Monday morning to catch the newest post, do you? If I lived for comments, I’d be dead! So that’s a scolding for both of us.

This is China Cove…one of the places that has distracted me from the blog this summer.

Little Hummingbird

You are special to me,
My little hummingbird...
Your happy face,
Screams of delight,
The way you want to hold my hand,
Your silent, thoughtful manner,
Your explosive enthusiasm,
Your ever-present wit,
The way you play together,
Your faces when you sleep,
The way you take pickles off cheeseburgers,
Your excitement over a penny,
The way you stick up for Jetta.
You make no demands of me.
Your creative talent,
The little poems you write,
Your tender feelings,
The way you sing Moana songs,
The way you stick up for yourself,
The way Grandpa is your best friend,
Because you are my tent buddy,
The way you eat cheeseburgers.





I found this poem saved on my desktop, and I don’t know who wrote it, so, somebody confess! I don’t know where it came from. Another sign of my old age, I guess. I could have written those words because they ring so true to me, but I didn’t.

Little things mean so much: The way we do things, unique to ourselves. It’s like Mr. Rogers used to say, “There’s no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.”

Little Hummingbird

But, You Can!

If I wrote about a vacation, who would want to read it? Is there anyone as interested in the details as I am? I don’t think so….I think I write for me; kind of making a road map of life events that somehow allow you to take that road again–maybe not in the car or on the plane–maybe so, but maybe not. You don’t have to because you’ve already been there. You’ve already seen the show and it slips into one of those folders in that huge filing cabinet small enough to fit invisibly in my mind, or is it my spirit?..It must be because it’s not tangible. But I can open up that folder at will…that’s why I write. That’s why I take photos; otherwise, I fear the folder might be empty–what then?

Then I can’t achieve a ‘state of being’. I can’t dance to the music again. I can’t skip down the street. I can’t sparkle inside. I can’t absorb the saturation of excitement, and it can’t lift me, can’t give me wings….ah…but my folder isn’t empty, and so I can! You see, I don’t have to really come home to stay. Neither do you. Just take that smile , vision, thrill, tear, that time when you held your breath and when you held so tight, sang so free, felt so glorious, and heard their wonder, exhilaration, awe, fulfillment…it’s all there. It’s a state of being, bolted and bonded, never to really ever slip away. Isn’t it wondrous?