March 22, 2011

Sunday's Spiritual Thoughts

It might be because it was High Council Sunday, but I really didn't get much out of the talks, except maybe a little sleepy.  I was struck by the music though.  Our choir director was an inspired call.  Who knew she was so talented.  Even when the choir is small in number, they are beautiful.  I love the arrangements and the music that she chooses.  I had never heard the song that they sang this Sunday, but I want to get a copy.  I need to write the director a thank you note.  She really amazes me.

The sacrament hymn was In Humility, Our Savior.  I was struck by the lines, Fill our hearts with sweet forgiving; Teach us tolerance and love.  Let our prayers find access to thee  In thy holy courts above.  I need to focus more on having a forgiving heart, tolerance, and showing more love to others.  I've also been struggling with prayers.  I want my prayers to be more meaningful, not just words.  I want to communicate and talk to my Heavenly Father in a more intimate way.  I want to know Him and my Savior better.  I want to recognize answers better.

Our closing hymn was an old fashioned one, You Can Make the Pathway Bright.  We sang it a lot more when I was young than we do now.  Here's a few lines that spoke to me:
You can make the pathway bright, Fill the soul with heaven's light
If there's sunshine in your heart;
You can speak the gentle word  To the heart with anger stirred,
If there's sunshine in your heart;
You can do the kindly deed  To your neighbor in his need,
If there's sunshine in your heart;
And your soul will glow with love  From the perfect Light above,
If there's sunshine in your heart today.
I want to do these things.  My dad has sunshine in his heart.  He "sends a shining ray" to everyone he meets.  I want to have that enthusiasm, optimism, and love of everything that he has.  I need to do more kindly deeds, and speak kindly. 

These were my spiritual thoughts on Sunday.  I rose on Monday morning and told myself that I was going to have sunshine in my heart that day.  It didn't really work out.  I had an early morning meeting which amounted to a lot of questions, problems, and stress.  My art mom came in without a plan.  She brought a huge mess of materials and just let them have a creative free-for-all for about an hour.  It was loud, and messy, and in the end they created blobs that I made them take home immediately.  We had two hours of science and I really don't like (or understand) the unit on physics that I have to teach.  After school I went to a two hour meeting for our teacher's association, which is being slapped around by the legislature.  It was depressing and in some ways an angry meeting.  As we left at 6:30 it was pouring outside, and I didn't have any sunshine in my soul.  I need to try again tomorrow. 

No comments: