Lighthouse

I love lighthouses.  They are so super-duper cool!  Not only are they gorgeous but they have a great view of the ocean.  And lighthouses can be related to us in many ways.

Point Loma Lighthouse, San Diego CA

"I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a lighthouse.  They were built only to serve.  They weren't built for any other purpose..."

-George Bernard Shaw

Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Portland OR
Panoramio.com

Altruistic means being unselfish and thinking about others.  We can all be like a lighthouse and let our light shine for the world to see our good example.

Matthew 5:14-16

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works,

and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Leuchtturm
Marieke Jeromin

A lighthouse takes a lot of work and dedication and even some isolation from the world to watch over.  All who sacrifice this for a lighthouse are serving others with every minute of their lives.  We can serve others and be a good example to let our light shine for all to see.  We can be awesome just like a lighthouse!

Un-Digression

Looking back on my blog I realize that the beginning of my blog was A LOT more formal than recent posts have been leaning towards.  Here is my Un-Digression, a new commitment to meaningful and thoughtful blog posts.  Not to say that silliness isn't needed.  I will continue with random and perhaps spontaneous posts, but mixed in with it you can be sure to find something useful to you in your life, perhaps.  I am looking for equipoise.

Gordon B. Hinckley once said:

Cynics do not contribute

Skeptics do not create

Doubters do not achieve

This means we should be people who have optimism and hope, and we should always believe so we can contribute, create, and achieve beautiful and virtuous things.

7300 Days, One Life

I have nearly lived for 7300 days.  Of course, I am approximating, but we like round, even, numbers that are nice to us.
7300 days.  Seven Thousand Three Hundred.  That is a long time, a big number of days.  I wish I had a dollar for every day I've lived.  That would be nice.
I know you've been expecting this, but why don't you look back at each day of your life, like I am with mine, and consider what has been done with each individual day.  How does that change your perspective on the life you have lived so far?  Is it freaky to find that you can't remember but for specific moments of those days?  Do you write in a journal that can help you record how you've grown?
Each day counts, this is true, but it is also futile to scrutinize each day as an individual because you can't see yourself grow if you look at a single day.  Growth and learning take time.  The whole perspective is what you need.  Looking out of that giant window on the seventh floor and seeing it all at the same time.  You can change in one day, but what matters is that the change stuck over time.
7300 days, one life

Bliss in a Bite

My sister made me eat a S'mores crepe yesterday.  Melted marshmallow and chocolate wrapped in a crepe.  She said you take a bite and you feel bliss!  I would have to say that my mouth definitely agreed!

The Subject of Discreet Dealings

Blog Reader,
You have been the subject of discreet dealings and now must pay the consequences.  If you do not comply you will suffer.  Now that we know where you live, you have no choice but to hand yourself over.  There is nothing you can do to stop us; there is no where for you to hide.  We will find you.

Have a nice day,
D.D.A.L.A.M.

 
 Blog Reader,
You are right to ask if you should fear us.  Fear comes from the unknown.  You will be contacted shortly for the consequences to your recent activity.  We will find you, and you will submit.  There is nothing you can do.

Sincerely,
D.D.A.L.A.M.

Wisdom From Lord Of The Rings

Yesterday I posted thoughts on some quotes from Lord of the Rings, a fabulous book indeed.  Gandalf the Wizard, Frodo the Hobbit, and Gildor the Elf.  A good array of people who have wise things to say.
The first time I read the book I perceived these quite life-applicable quotes and loved them and wished to record them somewhere, but was engrossed in the reading and finishing of the book and so quickly lost the location of the wisdom.  As I am reading it again, I decided to actually do what I had planned to three years ago and record the quotes and how I find them applicable to our life.
Please join with me in enjoying the Awesomeness of Lord of the Rings as you take in these thoughts.

The Wide World

"And I warn you that peril is now both before you and behind you, and upon either side...
The wide world is all about you:  you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out."

-Gildor

To be of the world is wrong.  It's true, but hard to do because of how hard the world is pushing.  We are told to be in the world but not to partake of it.  Be the example that is there, shining in the darkness.  So as you feel like keeping the world out of your fence, know that you can live in the world and with it, just remember not to live in harmony with its evil.

The Road

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river:  its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary.  "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," he used to say.  "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to."

-Frodo

Each of us has a path we can follow.  We must choose the right path and keep on going, no matter how afraid or discouraged or weary we may be.  It will be hard, and we may not know the right way at first, but we can make it.  There is one Correct Road, then there is the wrong road, the one you don't want to follow because it doesn't take you anywhere.  Make sure you're on the right road when you walk out your door and then all that risking the dangers of the world will be worth it.

Our Time

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf,  "and so do all who live to see such times.  But that is not for them to decide.  All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

What is more important than this:  deciding what to do with the time given to us?  Living in the past, wishing we didn't have to do what we need to do, all this is time wasting.  Embrace what you have been given and the trials you have been challenged with and you will be stronger and get the better part in the end.  How have you spent your time?  Will you answer that question with regret?

An Argument For Star Wars

Recently we all celebrated Star Wars day:  May the Fourth be with you!  I hope you all spent the day wondering who you could share that wonderful phrase with (and simultaneously share the fact that you are a complete Star Wars fan!).
So, do you think that Star Wars is applicable to life?  Maybe not, but my little sisters do!  And I would have to agree with them.  Dark Vader is a play character, and not a good guy (can you believe it!).  And you know the theme for the Sith Lord?  Yes, my sisters made sure that they were dun-dun-dun-ing that while playing with this Dark Vader.  Not only does George Lucas have in impact on little children but John Williams creates such awesome music that 3- and 5-year-olds know and remember it!  What awesomeness is Star Wars!?!

"Do or do not, there is no try" -Yoda

Look What I Found!!

  

High Speed Bullet Photography

This is some pretty high-tech photography right here!  A bullet being shot through...I don't even know what!  I Love It!  WOW AMAZING!

Are You Bushy?

Bushiness

One of the wonderful words that exist in the English language.

Reminds me of Gandalf

The Newest Fashion

Everybody will be wearing them!

Braided Grass Ring

Dance and Dance some more

We love to dance.
Here's the proof!
DANCE

I am Victorious!

I have conquered the enemy, a vicious forest full of carnivorous plants that are only defeated by the chopping of their leaves to tiny bits.  It was a hard fight and several times I had to retrace my steps and begin anew.  But their ferocity is diminished and they are no more a threat to our castle that houses the princesses of The Bend.  These young princesses will grow someday to become the queens of the land and they must be protected from the plants that threaten to overwhelm the garden.
But for now, the hero has pushed them back and all the kingdom is safe again.

Toenails And Butterflies

I painted my toenails!  Aren't butterflies the perfect icon for spring?  And pastel purple, green, and pink just epitomize the spring feel!

Learn From Our Lemons

This is so great.  The newspaper article on this video was called making lemonade out of lemons.

Comment

I felt like going to a friend's blog and commenting.

Then I didn't see any recent posts that I had a comment opinion about so I came to my blog to comment here.
Well, I challenge all of you to comment on this comment.  And to make an interesting post out of this comment instead of sitting there, in your chair, keeping your opinion selfishly to yourself.

I wonder who reads the comments anyway?

Do You?

Some Not So Nice Poetry

A Dream Deferred

by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--and then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

Some Very Nice Poetry

TO AUTUMN. (John Keats)
                                            1.
    SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
        Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
    Conspiring with him how to load and bless
        With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
    To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
        And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
            To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
    With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
        And still more, later flowers for the bees,
        Until they think warm days will never cease,
            For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.
                                            2.
    Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
        Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
    Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
        Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
    Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
        Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
            Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
    And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
        Steady thy laden head across a brook;
        Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
            Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
                                            3.
    Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
        Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
    While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
        And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
    Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
        Among the river sallows, borne aloft
            Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
    And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
        Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
        The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
           And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.