Thanks Giving is for giving thanks from the last unto the first, For what our family is to us, we strive to tell in humbled verse. From Roland unto Grandpa, we'll give each soul two lines, And hopefully we'll say some things where truth with love entwines. Roland Gene is the newest babe to join us here on earth. Roland rolls us in joy and laughter. His heart is of great worth. Allie-Mae Venice is sweet & honest. She touches us deep within. Allie fills us with her love. Her warm heart helps us win. Jetta Rose Renee is full of energy. Her smile warms our hearts. Jetta's kind, caring ways touch us deep, as she does her special part. James David has fun-loving honesty reaching deep within his soul. We feel his heart & like his smile & love to watch James grow. Asa Joseph Aaron is a thoughtful son. His courage grows within. Ace's honest integrity will keep his soul from sin. Parleigh Ann Deseret is a gifted soul in art and writing too. Par's honesty and courage will safely guide her through. Ammon Abraham is a thoughtful soul, wise beyond his years. Ammon has a wondrous mind. His good choices cast out all fears. Now we move to our children & every special spouse That gives us joy & love, as we seek for God's house. Evamarie Richardson, our last daughter, is a Mom, clear and true. Eve's greatest joy is for Ben & James, to help them to grow true. Benjamin H. Richardson is a loving Dad and a true mate. He tries his best in all he does for a good home to create. Valoree Dawn Carver is a special, caring friend to all our family. Val tries her best, as wife & Mom, as everyone can see. Joshua Brian Carver is a great Dad & husband to his wife. Josh helps us when he can & lifts our worldly strife. Aaron Abraham Anderson is a good Dad & mate to his wife. Abe loves & serves his family beyond all earthly strife. Taryn Wooley Anderson is a great Mom. Taryn's children love her so. We're thankful for out daughter & friend.. She helps our family grow. Jeanne Rich Anderson is a grandma, a mom & wife, The greatest gift Bob will ever have is Jeanne, as my eternal wife. Now Robert Earl Anderson has left his part to me, Bob adds the spice in abundance to this, our family.
Attitude = Gratitude
The countdown to Thanksgiving Day (November 26) ought to spark an attitude of gratitude and turn our hearts to reflect upon the blessings we enjoy, even though 2020 has been characterized as a year of disaster. We have been conditioned to almost expect unfortunate events–to the point that we fail to recognize the ‘good’…the things all around us that bless our lives.
Yesterday I was swept away with the spirit of decorating for Christmas as I saw neighbors and family doing this in abundance. As I opened boxes and once again beheld items of sentimental importance…little things: a train, a string of bubble lights, miniature houses and battery lighted tiny trees…all, exactly the same as I left them last year. There was a ‘sameness’ that brought great joy and comfort. Despite the 2020 disastrous events, there was still happiness, just as it always has been, and, for a few short hours of decorating, I forgot the dark 2020 world outside, and all was well.
Gratitude = attitude in all we strive to do. If we're caught in Covid-19, this title still holds true. Some see this pandemic through sorrows and swollen eyes. Our prayers are for all who mourn. Our hearts feel your cries. We are an older couple. We strive to live each day. We call and text our loved ones and help in our own way. Jeanne decorates for Christmas as we prepare for family, In hope and prayer that all are well to join us. We will see? We stay at home the best we can to keep us virus free. We read the scriptures every day to keep our sanity. We work together on some chores. On some dreams, we work alone, But help each other when we're asked, to make our house a home. We pray each dawn and eve and over every meal. We feel God's love and comfort as Christ becomes more real. Gratitude = attitude. Thank Thee Lord for good and bad, For all life's experience with each lesson, happy or sad. #GiveThanks
Get Out Of The Box!
Just some thoughts today…Once you think about it–it just might seem to get worse.
A health crisis is upon us. Cases are on a sharp rise. Hospital beds are at capacity. Wearing a mask and washing your hands is easy-peasy, but some other aspects are not…over time:
Staying at home, as we are asked to do…when we need grocery items (all the time)…When we crave a burger and fries that we haven’t cooked….When we need to prepare for Christmas and shop as we have always done in the past…When we are asked to limit physical contact and who we ought to be around…when we just want to take all day and stroll through a store and just ‘look’.
So, you begin to feel BOXED IN, and the walls seem to squeeze you, and
..that only makes all the things you want to or need to do seem bigger and bigger…and the box gets smaller and smaller and pushes all those ‘things’ against you–in your face, and you can’t see anything else. And there just isn’t room anymore.
And a thousand things are undone…then, none of them are even appealing, in fact, nothing seems appealing. You don’t want to do anything, but you feel ‘driven’ to do something, but what? You can’t see any answers because all your problems have wrapped themselves around your face, and blocked off everything. Sometimes you feel you can’t breathe. Sometimes you feel the whole world is against you, and any joy that used to be vivid is now muted and dull.
And in that closing box, even vision is now limited to not even beyond your nose.
I CALL THIS DEPRESSION !
It’s a very ugly thing. See it for what it is, and get out of that box!
getting out of the box will make the walls of your home seem even expansive! And your sight will lengthen out and discover the many things inside your new expanded space–the things that you CAN DO without even leaving the house. And you are so busy thinking of those things that you no longer notice what it was that you CAN’T DO.
That’s the trick…get out of the box
Sometimes, just knowing you’re in a little box is all it takes to step out and re-focus…but, we’re lucky if it ends up being that easy.
Sometimes we sit in the box, and we know we are in the box, and we want to be out, but we can’t break away.
Friends and family may help if we want them to. Call them. Doctors can help if we need them to. Call them. Jesus Christ will help is we pray him to. Pray.
Just get out of that tiny box!
To Ponder
To ponder is to meditate upon some special thing Like a death or our Mother, or a psalm we read or sing. Our pondering helps magnify the longings of one's heart, As we choose to ponder, sacred feelings in us start. If we ponder through deep sorrows, we can understand how to cope. To ponder on the life of Christ, lifts us up and gives us hope. Our Lord helps us to ponder if we strive through humble prayer, We can grow through deeper feelings if we pray to learn and care. We each can choose to meditate on each sacred day, As we learnt to place importance upon our Lord's sacred way. As we study God's true Son and overcome all worldly fear, We will find more inner peace as we grow from year to year. May we learn to truly ponder, as Mary did on her son, our Lord, Christ. Then by true meditation, pure peace will lessen strife. Lord, help us learn to ponder with a humble, searching soul, For Thou art our greatest teacher. Help us ponder, trust and grow.
This phrase, “..And Mary pondered these things in her heart.”, are repeated several times in the New Testament, in speaking of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. We define ‘ponder’ as to weigh or consider carefully. In our world, there is much competition for our attention, and we typically find ourselves busy, with our thoughts occupied with a task at hand… And, somehow have come to think of being busy as being a good thing, even a sort of badge of importance. We feel that we are lazy if we should sit for a few minutes and do NOTHING. Pondering is a quiet thing. It not only gives our mind a chance to connect with our heart, but also gives heaven a chance to connect with our heart too.
The Little Things: like pigs
The summer weather had finally dropped in temperature, allowing me to stroll my 10 month old grandson around the block without overheating. And so I did. It’s the first walk we ever had taken, and he seemed very interested in the whole process. As we passed a near-by house with a chain-link fence, a black pot bellied pig trotted eagerly up to the fence. This did not go unnoticed by my grandson. He immediately screamed with delight and then giggled at every move the pig made, especially when he pushed his messy, slimy nose up to the fence. But it was when the pig turned around a wildly wagged it’s small tail that my grandson totally ‘lost it’ with delight! Oh, to be that excited about a pig wagging it’s tail!
I don’t recall ever being that excited for anything, ever. But, here he was in total unrestrained delight. His bright eyes scrutinized every movement, every snort, every blink, and found it all totally delightful.
Time stopped, and for a fleeting time, we both lived entirely in the moment. The cares of the world were flung from my mind. All was well with the world. There were no problems, no fears, no Covid, no politics, no deadlines, no chores, no bills, no pressures….just joy. I will reflect on that walk again and again, and be refreshed every time I do. I will see the world in a renewed awe, and, hopefully will look through the eyes of a child as I view the world around me.
My Mom used to call that ‘smelling the roses’!
Bob wrote a poem entitled “Spiritual Treasures” that applies to this experience:
Spiritual treasures are all around us, if we have eyes to see. The dawn's first light is filled with grace as light touches each tree, On through each day, as trials come, prayer guides us who listen clear, Until eve's colors kiss the clouds, as we feel God's love grow near.
Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid.
This image is a watercolor I created from an illustration in one of my beloved Babar kids books (Babar the King). In the story, Celestville, the city of the elephants has an unusual number of stressful occurances (snake bite and house fire). These, like many things we worry about and stress over, caused Babar to fall prey to fear, but, in his dreams he envisioned winged elephants (hope, love, faith, patience, etc.) driving misfortune away.
These are troubled times. We read in the book of Kings about the prophet, Elisha, who finds himself and the city surrounded by the innumerable enemy. His young companion, upon seeing this asked what they could possibly do. (2 Kings 6:16) “And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them….And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about …”
And Joshua is promised, “..Be strong and of a good courage: be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:9)
Rudyard Kipling wrote, from his poem, An astrologer’s Song:
Though terrors o'ertake us We'll not be afraid. No Power can unmake us Save that which has made: Nor yet beyond reason Or hope shall we fall-- All things have their season, And Mercy crowns all! Then, doubt not, ye fearful-- The Eternal is King-- Up, heart, and be cheerful, And lustily sing:-- What chariots, what horses, Against us shall bide While the Stars in their courses Do fight on our side?
I don’t know what you do to reduce anxiety, but these verses of scripture and poetry really do open up a pathway for me, and, like the winged elephants, really do help chase away the grip of misfortune.
What do you do? What helps you? Your comments are so welcomed.
A Worthy Routine
With permission from my son-in-law, Joshua Carver, I am posting a delightful and poignant poem:
I lift him us as he wails against an uncertain world, And he weighs me down like a warm anchor. I hold him close while you watch us leave. Somehow, you trust that he's in good hands. He weighs down the bed between us like an anchor, and I see a blanket of peace drape over your face. Somehow, you know he's in good hands-- They reach for each other in the dark. I see the blanket of peace still over your face as we feed the creature whatever we can. He watches us reach for each other in the light, grinning at the spectacle of his two happy keepers. We feed him whatever we must, or hide him away in the dark cove of the beach. His grins are never far from my thoughts as we laugh and rest against one another, waiting. He wakes in the dark cove of the beach. I toss him up so he knows I'll always catch him, and we laugh and rest against one another. My blood swells as I watch you breathe love into him. You toss him to me so he knows we'll always share him. We fawn over him as he wails against an uncertain world, and My blood swells as all three of us share our love at once. I hold him close while you watch us leave.
A worthy routine, indeed!
Bandit
I still remember the day that my son, Aaron, who worked at a nursing facility, came home from lunch bringing a leashed Bandit home to stay. His son, Ammon had been wishing for a dog, and, Bandit had been a companion dog for one of the recently deceased residents of the facility.
Bandit had the appearance of an aggressive, no-nonsense dog, not to be fooled with; but he was anything but that. He did bark ferociously at intruders (anyone who came through the door), but that was never backed up. He was shy and scared and timid. He became a beloved family dog, welcoming in another 3 kids, besides the two already there.
He loved being a part of the family and expected to be treated as one of the kids, including having McDonald’s cheesburgers, even if he had to steal one. And so it was sad to see his physical decline in the last few weeks and months, finally sucumbing to death last week.
So, here’s to Bandit and all the love our pets freely give us.
Bandit joined our family; a nursing dog, kind and true. He loved each member from Abe to Allie, and me and you. Bandit served us in kindness, in his own loving way. We know God has a special place where souls like Bandit play. Aaron learned from nursing, how to love each passing soul. He comforted and helped Bandit to join God's forever show. Your Dad gave you precious moments to share with a dear friend, Through Bandit's last days here on earth, with his dear ones, to the end. We feel for your great loss of this dear loving soul. His memory will live in us where ever we may go, Until that day, we met again, somewhere beyond life's trail, And run and play with our dear friend, somewhere beyond the veil.
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.
War and God
This is the title of an article written for “The Stars And Stripes” newspaper, printed by the New York Herald and distributed to servicemen in the army and navy. The date on the newspaper is Monday, Dec. 25, 1944.
I don’t know why Dad saved pages 3-6 of this paper, but, there it was, in his army scrapbook. The book contains a plethora of memorabilia from his tour in Germany with Patton’s 3rd army. He was an auto mechanic in an artillery battery.
I’v seen this paper many times, but never paused to read it, until last night. Oddly enough, I was drawn immediately to this article in the small section reserved for comments from the GI’s. This one by a Pvt. James A. Decker, quoted now:
“Many suggestions have been made relative to the achievement of a lasting peace when this conflict is over, but one of the best considers religion of paramount importance.
Religion is a potent force in the world today, and it should continue to play a leading role in world affairs in the future. Without a strict adherence to religious ideals, the world cannot hope to avert another war in a generation or so.
As we prepare to observe another Christmas Day we cannot help but wish that the whole world would be reconciled to God and there would be peace among men. Instead of men living in harmony with one another we see human beings destroying other human beings. Bitter hatreds and various destructive influences such as Nazism and Fascism abound in the world today, attempting to undermine our spiritual foundations. Even in our own america, which has always symbolized equality and tolerance, we fine racial and religious antipathies.
The eradication of these hatreds and the substitution of Christian ideals is absolutely necessary if nations are to be at peace with one another. As long as hateful germs thrive and are propagated, then the recurrence of another war is inevitable.
The renunciation of Christianity by a large portion of the world has been a major contributing cause of the present war. Only by a return to the teachings of Christ can we hope to have a genuine peace in our time.”