Category: Thought

Thought

Gardening is kinda like writing songs!

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Hello all you friends! You made it through a 4 day week (Labor Day)….how was it?

Today I’m thinking a lot about gardening. And song writing. And how they’re similar- at least we can draw parallels between them.

It may have had something to do with shredding 6 huge zucchini’s and preserving 100 tomatoes while listening to a creativity podcast! Our garden has been so generous this year and it has been an honest delight. In case you’ve never thought about it (or have and want to walk with my thought process!), here are some ways that they’re similar!

IDEA 1-GARDEN:

I have been going out to my garden early in the morning to discover the raspberries that have ripened overnight. What a miracle! What used to be green stalks with some leaves now are giving me big, juicy, deep red raspberries? Are you kidding me? (Are you salivating yet?!). No, ripe beautiful raspberries don’t pop up through the weeds just for funsies without any effort on my part (although I suppose that’s huckleberries for you, but I have more to say about those yummy berries another day…). They required planting in a place where they would get a lot of sunshine, and watering, and weeding, and picking them, and if there a lot of them, preserving them to enjoy for a longer period of time (or sharing them!). But as I put in effort that was possible for me to do, then these ripe berries ripened one after another and it felt like a miracle. And really it was.

IDEA1-SONGWRITING

Songwriting feels much the same to me. I go up to my songwriting space early in the morning. Some ideas have ripened overnight- and they feel easy to “pick.” Some projects need some areas addressed. Some problems I can solve, others aren’t solveable yet- at least not that I can tell. I can tell that some of the work I do, and often a lot of it, is made possible because of the preparation that has gone into developing my songwriting process and skills over several years. The berries I pick now are getting bigger, jucier, better. Not every single day, but much of the time.

IDEA2-GARDEN:

When I pick a bunch of tomatoes and put them on my counter (like I did yesterday), I have a wonderful satisfying feeling. I grew these! Wow! Don’t they look beautiful! At any moment I could slice one and put it on a salad or in a sandwich! But they don’t last forever. I can stick them in my fridge to buy me a little time. But if I don’t use them or preserve them in the next several days, mold will begin to grow. That which came from the ground will go back into the compost pile to return to the soil and nourish it for next year. A process for preserving allows the produce to benefit me and others for much longer than a week or a day.

IDEA2-SONGWRITIING

Sometimes, right before I go to sleep, a melody drifts through my mind. “Wow, that’s a neat one!” I’ll think. It’s tempting to leave it at that (on my counter, right?)….but if I fall asleep, I can almost guarantee that it will be gone by the next morning. Reluctantly, I often use my phone to light the notepad by my bed. I jot down a few notes and then go to sleep. (This is similar to buying me a few days in the fridge!). If that’s where I leave it, it has quite a short shelf life. After a few days or weeks, that chicken scratch will be hard to make sense of and it will likely end up in the garbage eventually. It requires a process to take a small idea and preserve it into a song. That takes time, dedication and effort, but what a beautiful result when it is preserved into a song that can be shared.

IDEA3-GARDEN:

Walking in my garden almost always makes me think about my Creator. I am amazed at what will grow with a little water, soil and sunshine. It’s clear that I did the thing (plant, water, weed) but I didn’t do all the things (make these things grow). It reminds me of being pregnant. Our efforts are so small compared to the development of the lungs and brain and nerves and all the things inside this little being in our belly. We did a thing, but we sure didn’t do all the things! My Creator is generous- how much He offers with comparatively little effort! My Creator is loving- I feel like he gets so much joy out of delighting us! What a kind thing for Him to do. And I feel a connection with Him as I work with him, side by side, in this experience of creation. Something is now physically present (tomatoes, zucchini, raspberries, etc) that didn’t exist before. Wow. I’m so grateful to learn from Him.

IDEA3-SONGWRITING

Writing music makes me think about my Creator. With efforts in learning chords, and lyrics and song form, something can come together and have meaning and movement that was not there before. I can do a thing- but I’m not doing all the things. Ideas come to my mind and heart that I didn’t ask for or think of all on my own. Solutions sometimes feel offered when I feel stuck, getting me to the next step. I feel nudges to try this or that, develop in a new area, or seek out new connections. With His touch, my reach is bigger than my circle of influence. Sometimes a song comes alive and can touch hearts, even change lives. As I create, I ask for assistance from my Creator. I need his help to navigate the path of creation. As I listen to both my own desires and His Guidance, I develop, play, delight and grow. With my preseved “fruit,” I share and lift and strengthen. What a gift to get to create alongside my Creator. I am so grateful for this way to learn from Him!

Now back to preserving these tomatoes….

Love,

Laura

Thought

Certain Women

Melodies of Light1 Comment

Happy Sabbath, all!

This week has been full of so many thoughts! One of my favorite has been about “Certain Women.” There is a General Conference talk by Sister Burton that talks about regular, ordinary women in the bible who were witnesses of our Savior’s ministry. Here’s a large excerpt from her talk:

“The New Testament includes accounts of [certain] women, named and unnamed, who exercised faith in Jesus Christ [and in His Atonement], learned and lived His teachings, and testified of His ministry, miracles, and majesty. These women became exemplary disciples and important witnesses in the work of salvation.”

Certain women

Consider these accounts in the book of Luke. First, during the Savior’s ministry:

“And it came to pass … that [Jesus] went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,

“And certain women, … Mary called Magdalene, … and Joanna … , and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him.”

Next, following His Resurrection:

“And certain women … which were early at the sepulchre;

“… When they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had … seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.”

I have read and passed over the seemingly unremarkable expression “certain women” numerous times before, but recently as I pondered more carefully, those words seemed to jump off the page. Consider these synonyms of one meaning of the word certain as connected to faithful, certain women: “convinced,” “positive,” “confident,” “firm,” “definite,” “assured,” and “dependable.”

As I pondered those powerful descriptors, I remembered two of those New Testament certain women who bore positive, confident, firm, assured testimonies of the Savior. Though they, like us, were imperfect women, their witness is inspiring.

Remember the unnamed woman at the well who invited others to come and see what she had learned of the Savior? She bore her certain witness in the form of a question: “Is not this the Christ?” Her testimony and invitation were so compelling that “many … believed on him.”

Martha bears testimony of the Savior

Following the death of her brother, Lazarus, Martha, the beloved disciple and friend of the Lord, declared with what must have been great emotion, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” Consider her certainty as she continued, “But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.” She further testified, “I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”

We learn from these sisters that certain women are disciples centered in the Savior Jesus Christ and have hope through the promise of His atoning sacrifice.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2017/04/certain-women?lang=eng

I am in charge of planning the music for Stake Women’s Conference coming up we have been thinking about including this song as part of the program:

Beautiful, right? As I thought about who would be the best individual or group to sing this piece, the thought occurred to me that we could do a type of flash-mob musical number…picture this:

Many lines of the song could be sung by individual women who stand up where they are, sing a line, handoff the microphone, and then walk to the front. Some of the lines (like” I am certain that he lives”) could be sung all together. As women throughout the room stand and sing one by one, and the group in front testifying grows, it will help us all see ourselves as those “certain women”- who are imperfect, yet capable of carrying out a great work. We are the certain women of our time!

There are times that this responsibility to be in charge of the music has felt stressful or overwhelming. Today my heart is full of joy thinking about orchestrating such an experience for the women of our area, and how fun it could be to gather with other women to prepare and enjoy spending time together.

Love,

Laura

Thought

Empowering

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If I had to choose one word about the process of building our home (we’re hoping to be in some time in February!) it would have to be “empowering.”

This weekend I finished laying vinyl flooring in our downstairs bathroom. I had a little help on two tricky spots, but other than that, I did it all by myself. Maybe I’m revisiting my toddler years where the cry is constantly “Myself! Do it myself!” Regardless of where the impulse to try is coming from, I’m loving the feeling of breaking out of what I previously had thought my limits were.

It’s not conscious- but we end up drawing a box around ourselves, defining what we “can do”- and by default, what we cannot. And then an opportunity comes along and we get to decide if we’re up for an adventure our of our box. Sometimes that yes is easy, sometimes it’s harder, but it’s usually worth it.

Well, the bathroom floor is done, and fortunately that’s not the end of my opportunities- with the house or otherwise. For now, two more bathrooms await, as well as painting projects, trim projects, staining projects, landscaping projects, moving-in projects….and a whole host of others that I’ll discover along the way. Sometimes the opportunities present themselves rapid-fire (hello, this year!) and other times I have to work a little harder to find an adventure. But I’ll be forever glad that I said yes to this huge house-building adventure and many little projects along the way that took me outside my box to discover a little more about my potential.

Happy Sabbath!

Love,

Laura

Thought

Creation

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What do you think of creating? Stepping into the unknown…wishing you had some directions, wond’ring why you feel alone.

This is the first verse to my new song! This song is all about my experience with creating. It expresses the discomfort, the encouragement I need to give myself, the beautiful discoveries in the process, and the unfinished business that is music writing.

A few weeks ago, I read an article that talked about how we need to “sit chilly.” (See https://stevenpressfield.com/2011/03/sit-chilly/). I love this concept which refers to sitting on a horse and tolerating the fear without being fearful (and communicating that to the horse!). In the chorus it says “Feel the cool breeze and embrace it.” I am learning how to do that!

Have a happy Saturday!

Love,

Laura

Thought

Manna

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A few weeks ago, I sent this encouragement to a stranger over the internet. I have decided to post it here as well.

Are you familiar with the story of Moses and the Children of Israel? They were wandering in the wilderness and the Lord provided them with food – straight from heaven – that the Israelites would gather every day. They called it “Manna” which literally means “What is it?” I think that name is hilarious, but it has also come to be very meaningful to me. A few years ago I listened to a talk by Elder Todd Christofferson. He shared a story about a struggle he had been through and though he desperately wanted the problem to be solved by God, he gradually learned to ask for daily bread, or in other words, manna. He learned that the miracle God was willing to give him was what he needed for that day. There was still a lot of uncertainty, but he could trust that if he acted in faith that day with what he’d been given, the next day more manna would be supplied. That is the background for this comment which refers to manna.

I am so sorry that life is so difficult and dark right now. I know in my darkest times what I wanted desperately is rescue, but often I would feel the question “He may not be willing to take it all from you because He knows what’s best for you, but what is a little miracle he may be willing to grant you right now?” For me, one night, that was the miracle of being able to fall asleep, which I felt I needed so badly- and that was my “manna” for then. I knew I would need more, but I was able to get the sleep I needed to try again the next day. I hated the fact that I was not helped in the way I wanted to be helped during the hardest times, but I can look back and see what he offered was what I needed most- it was the gift of “the Peace that Passeth all Understanding”- it would come in moments- not all the time; but those moments got me through until the next time. And gradually helped me figure out how to slow down and accept His timing. It sounds like you are in the fight of your life- you’re not alone!!! Angels on both sides of the veil are there to help and strengthen you, and though it’s not pleasant, we came here to develop the things you are in the middle of developing, even though it’s hard to see that it’s going in a positive direction. Hold on to hope and keep reaching for the Savior- he knows exactly what you need and will be there to help you through it all, even when you can’t feel Him there. Sending hugs!!!!

Love,

Laur