it's a miracle. (more than one.)

i'm back.

hopefully not temporarily. turns out being angsty and mad at the world/boys (a.k.a. last year) makes for better posts and me wanting to get my feelings out via the internets. but now that i'm not angsty or mad at the world/boys, maybe my inspiration is gone?

nah. i've got inspiration. i just feel silly talking consistently about how much i love a boy. :)

the boy who gave me this ring.

gosh, i love him.

happy (and hopeful) sunday

it's 4 a.m. and i can't sleep.
(4 a.m. is a magical hour in time.)
i was looking around my room and i noticed the christmas present i made for ginger not long ago, which quotes part of a scripture i love. and in french (so i double love it).

"...car l'amour parfait bannit toute crainte."

"...for perfect love casteth out all fear."
moroni 8:16

sometimes that phrase will be a repeating song in my head that i've listened to a hundred times (in both languages), and i always wonder what it could mean.

naturally, perfect love in our heavenly father; perfect love in christ. these kinds of love casteth out fear, for with this perfect love, we have faith. we have faith in them and how they will keep their promises to us and bless us. "fear and faith cannot coexist in our hearts at the same time." we could even turn that around and say that the perfect love they have for us helps to cast out the fear in our lives.

but what about love for other people?
perfect itself doesn't mean what we think it means in society. we've distorted so much what perfect really is: complete. finished. fully developed.*

of course, we can't be perfect in this life. we're human. we make mistakes. that's why we have the atonement to lift us up when we humanly fall. but what about having perfect love?

can we perfectly love our children? our friends? the people we serve? can a husband perfectly love a wife, and vice versa?

and maybe it comes down to this: we can't have perfect love for those people all the time. there will be moments when my dad irritates me and in my imperfect state i say something i regret. there will be moments when my friends break promises and i feel hurt. there will be moments i forget to serve with full purpose of heart.

but can we have it sometimes?
is it possible for us to have perfect love for people?

i feel the very fact that we have the ability to love shows how much god loves us.** and because He's full of so much abounding and abiding love for every one of us individually, and because He's a perfected being, perhaps our love isn't perfect all the time, but has glimpses of perfection. moments where we are closer to heavenly father and jesus christ because we are loving [as much as we can] like they do.

perhaps that's why i love that scripture so much.
because there are so many hopeful things that come from those seven words.










*click on the actual word "perfect." you'll see its definition.
** please read that whole chapter. not because i want to preach to you, but because that chapter fills me with so much hope and happiness i couldn't not tell you to read it.

teaching

i witnessed something magical today.
[or miraculous. either one works.]
i watched forty-some-odd girls come
together in one purpose.

we learned to love.
i could see it.
i could feel it.
and it was wonderful.

bless this gospel
and the relief society.








bless my sisters.

wonderment

sometimes you realize when things are meant to be.
and when you blatantly realize that they aren't,
it's even more miraculous.

more miracles to come

two more miracles from today:
getting to hug see-ya-later to these lovely europeans.
a.k.a. my grandparents

happiness

miracles so far for today:
emailing back and forth with this guy for ten minutes or so.
yes. he's wearing church clothes. in a hot tub.
today is a branticus day. one of those days where i really just needed to talk with a guy.
but! happy news!

hota hota is coming back in three months!
count 'em....THREE!
then they'll just come back quick. i hope.

when you think it's bad

there's a lot to be thankful for.

like these ladies.
especially the one on the far left


like this guy.
and his letter.


like this guy branticus
and his letter.


like the ducklings at the park.
you can't look at them and not smile.


like this song being number eleven on my cd.
eleven = my favorite number

and this song being fabulous.
and entitled one of my favorite names.

and this song.
for being beautiful.

lights will guide you

remember this song?
i didn't then.

but now i do.

those lights have been miracles.

my miracles.

i've seen many of them.

now remember what i said
at the end of this post?

i think i can say that now.