Sundays

I'm grateful for Sundays, for being able to go to church, and for the peace the gospel brings to my life.

It's so beautiful to know that after a crazy week, I have Sunday, a day filled with uplifting spiritual messages that only Christ and His word can bring.
By living the gospel, I find balance, and comfort. I know that I am not a perfect person, neither are the people who go to this church--but the gospel itself is perfect and that is where I place my trust and my heart--in the hands of Jesus Christ, my savior and redeemer.

Sundays.

A day for rest and contemplation.

For church and service.

There is a particular talk about "Sundays". . . it got me through a lot when my great Grandmother died. . . and dear young friend, Abelina passed away. . . as well as my soccer coach who we always referred to affectionately as "Coach Grandpa." This type of doctrine can be applied to other hard trials as well though I think. . .
I encourage you to read it.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/sunday-will-come?lang=eng&query=sunday+will+come&cid=facebook-shared

Growing up LDS has been such a blessing. I will never be able to fully express my gratitude for my parents for making sure I was raised in the church or for my wonderful, amazing grandparents for making sure my parents were also raised in the church.
Even though I've been taught the basic principles for eternal life and happiness through Christ and His church since I could talk, I still had to go through my own conversion process. It brought me to my knees time and time again in fervent prayer. Being Mormon wasn't easy during high school, but is made easier as I've matured with the right kind of perspective. If the church was true, the Book of Mormon a true book, Joseph Smith a true prophet of God, and the doctrines taught were indeed real life applicable principles and consequences--than there was no reason for me to wander off the straight and narrow path. I had to know. I had to be 110% sure. . . .

I'm not going to lie, I struggled a lot with this as a teenager. Satan is very real and very strong and he only grows stronger. Don't believe me? Pay attention to what is happening in the news. What kind of contention lies in public opinion, even. Pay attention to politics. Pay attention to the degradation of morale--to the evil that lurks just outside your door or maybe even in your own homes. Families are falling apart and its a scary place to live anymore. . .

Unless you have faith.
Faith and fear cannot coincide within us.
My favorite scripture is Joshua 1:9
       Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest.

How beautiful is that?
Very.

I can tell you today that I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's true church. I testify that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that there exists a Prophet for our time, today. I know that if I continue to live my life in such a way that is harmonious to Christ's teachings that I will be happy and safe from the evil influences of this world.
Bad things will happen, but by living the gospel, I am comforted with the though that Sunday will come. . .

I learned a lot from my mistakes as a reckless teenager but I do NOT advise making mistakes solely to learn from them. It is so much wiser and better to learn from the mistakes of others and keep yourself pure and clean then to jump off the path to take a swim in the murk for a while.
The Atonement is real and it is beautiful but its a serious and sacred thing and should not be taken lightly.
Forgiveness is a necessity for the Plan of Salvation and I'm grateful that Heavenly Father has so much mercy on my imperfect being.

Sundays.
The day for rest and contemplation.
Church and service.

I'm so happy to have a day specifically set aside for me to breath and remember my covenants. I become drained through out the week but on Sunday I am rejuvenated and full of rejoicing for I know that God lives that Christ lives and is my loving Redeemer and the Holy Ghost resides within my heart to give me comfort and aid when I need Him most. 

I know that my life would be empty without this knowledge and I would not be as happy a person as I am today without it.

So thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us Sundays to remember Him and his atoning sacrifice; for remembering you and your mercy and love.

For letting us take time to catch our breathe and for providing us with challenges that let us grow. . .

Amen

--Missa

Dance parties and that one song. . .

Goodness today was a fantastic day.
For one, I finally took time to go buy some food!! Wooo!! FOOD! So I'm no longer munching on cheerios and scarfing down toast. I can eat some real stuff, and the real stuff is the good stuff--fersure.

Then it was a day filled with wonderful Chemistry. . .. and more chemistry homework. . .and some more chemistry  homework. In fact, I would have sat here all day at this computer at my desk studying if it weren't for the wonderful Michelle Snow. She's the reason I have a social life.

BYU Soccer game. Bliss.
Nuff said.
Dancing in the stands to that one song. . . you know the one. . .

Aaaaah yes. . . that ridiculous cheesy-Korean-dance thing. . .
Did it. Rocked it. Three of us did, in fact. Michelle, Selene, and myself. For some reason, every time Selene and I are doing that dance, the same guy always ALWAYS walks by and sees us. . . weird yet hilarious. I don't even know his name. But he was definitely there when we were Gangnam Styling it up last night at work as well as tonight. I can't get enough of this song. Its so silly but makes me so ridiculously happy. How can you stand still with that beat pumping?

And goodness gracious--gotta love dance parties! There's a dance party over yonder. . . still going on probably. What a lovely dose of endorphin. Ya know? I'm glad I'm capable of doing silly dance moves whether randomly in the middle of a soccer game or adequately on the dance floor.
Life is made beautiful again after a good hour or two of dancing (and solo dance parties definitely count).
I think if I could go back and do anything over again, I would have stuck with dance lessons. I was young and the girlies were mean so it didn't last very long. But that's okay--I turned out to be a dancing fool anyway. I think I'll take Latin dance next semester. We'll see if it fits in with my insane schedule though.

Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly: man, if I had some favorite dancers--these two would be it. 

Granted, my dancing knowledge is very thin.

But can I just say I absolutely adore Gene Kelly? What a dream boat. . . 

This post, however is dedicated to dancing, not Gene Kelly. . . . 

but I'm grateful the world was blessed with Gene Kelly--well him and Cary Grant--but don't get me started on Mr. Grant. 

*whew*

Anyways, never EVER pass up a chance to dance. 

Sing for me, Marley

Thank goodness for Bob Marley.

It's a Friday night and I'm here studying, doing chemistry homework, working on a research project. . . tis the life I lead.

I'm so grateful that I have Bob Marley to sing me through it, however. Seriously, people.
I even woke up to three little birds on my doorstep this morning. . .
and what did I think of?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaGUr6wzyT8

I can't help smiling when I hear some of his tasty jams.
So, don't worry
About a thing
Every little thing
Is gonna be alright

I'll toast to that. :)

Steam

I slept in today and missed my first hour 8'o clock class. 
Because of this, I actually had time to take a shower before I left for school. 
Nothing really beats a nice hot shower (or cold, depending on your preference). 
How lucky are we to have indoor plumbing and water heaters?? 

I'm currently learning in my history class about the Indus River Valley people--one of the very first known civilizations dating back to about 2500 BC. 
Their cities have been excavated near the Indus River and (if I remember right) archaeologists have found their homes to have a specific "bathroom" area where they theorize they might have bathed and took care of business--INSIDE the privacy of their homes! No doubt, these kinds of buildings were probably owned by the wealthy. However, I still find it fascinating to think that this whole "indoor" bathroom concept isn't quite as new as I had supposed. 
Thank goodness, its come so far to be even more convenient and user-friendly in our day and age. 
I've always taken being clean for granted. Its not really something you think about unless you're camping out in the wilderness, ya know? Its a daily ritual. Wake up, get in the shower, brush your teeth, get dressed, brush your hair, etc. 
The reality of it, is that I'm really quite spoiled to be able to participate in this daily ritual in a relatively nice shelter--a home. . . . 

So today's post is to acknowledge the blessing of indoor plumbing and being able to smell fresh every day I go to class and sit next to all those cute, unattainable, married men. Heck. Yes. :P 

Today, the first day of this "gratitude" journey

Today I am grateful for silliness. 

Correction: Every day, I am grateful for silliness. 

I am a research assistant. Thus my work is sometimes tedious--though usually interesting. In order to ensure reliability as well as accuracy of our work, the research assistants work in pairs. 

I work with a fella who doesn't realize just how cool he is. 

He's married (so mom, don't get excited). 

Today, in our weekly pair meeting, I was venting out some of my frustration, telling this wonderful listening fella how stressed I was and how I wasn't able to do everything I needed to do in the short time allotted me to do everything in. 

He proceeded to lead me in the silliest breathing exercise (perhaps the only breathing exercise) I've ever done in public. Palms together, fingers pointed to the ceiling, we raised our arms up in this "prayer-like" pose, puffing out our cheeks and snorting out our noses. We put on quite the scene going about breathing in unison making ridiculous noises (me trying not to break the "seriousness" of it all by laughing out loud).

I only glimpsed at the gentleman directly beside us. His face showed amusement as well as incredulity. 

My research buddy then very seriously and calmly, asked, "Do you know why we did that, Melissa?" 

"Tell me," I said with a grin. 

"Because humor makes everything better."

Profound, no? 

On that note watch this funny video and feel better about life: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPYiS5ebGgk

and this one...

http://www.wimp.com/bestperformances/

The Importance of Gratitude.

So many people do not understand the importance of having a grateful heart. 
I know this, because I have seen it and have been guilty of it from time to time. Most of our troubles would seem small in comparison to our blessings if we just open our eyes and take time to notice how beautiful life really is. 
I believe that developing a consistent attitude of gratitude can improve and change someone's life for the better and through this blog I am going to prove it, personally. 
Gratitude is a positive thing--heck!--we all get together and stuff our faces with delicious turkey and food surrounded by loved ones to celebrate having an attitude of gratitude. Like the idea of "living with the spirit of Christmas" all year around--let us also strive to "live with the spirit of Thanksgiving". 

Right now in my college career, I am experiencing a very challenging semester. My desire to conquer the world has lead to me to take on a great deal of projects. To add to that, my class workload seems to be a bit larger this year than years past and sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in books, papers, and chem lab reports. The limited digits in my bank account also makes it necessary for me to have a job and make some kind of financial income. So this blog is my goal that no matter how crazy my day is, I will take time to find one good thing about that day and write about it on this blog. I know I have many faults and there are many things I lack. No longer making these the center of my existence will improve my daily life for the better.  

The Greek philosopher Epictetus once said, “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

This is what I'm striving to do. As well as: 

Alma 34:38-- ...that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessing which he doth bestow upon you.

This blog is mainly for my benefit but I don't mind sharing. 
If you do read this, I encourage you to take time out of your busy day and offer up a prayer of joy and thanksgiving to your Heavenly Father who knows of your needs and loves you very much.  Be appreciative of the people you love and never hesitate to say thank you. 

My favorite hymn: 

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Refrain

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.