Renewal: Facing Forward

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth;
shall ye not know it?
-Isaiah 43:19

New house on top of a hill. New room with large south facing windows. New coat of vintage grey paint with glossy white trim. New earrings. New haircut. New year. New opportunities. New plans. New me.

A new start.

Words that have sown meaning in my life lately....

New: adjective- 

not existing before;
made, introduced, or discovered recently or now for the first time;
different from a recent previous one;
original and of a kind not seen before;
fresh;
just beginning;
reinvigorated, reformed, or restored.

A grateful heart will give you a touch of refinement that can come in no other way. 

- Marjorie Hinckley

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 

-James 5:16

Go forward 

and not backward. 

-D&C 128:22

I will seek it yet again... 
For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again. 
-Proverbs 23, 24

If for a while the harder you try,

the harder it gets, 

take heart.    

So it has been with the 

  best people who ever lived.        

- Jeffrey R. Holland

And the rain descended, 

and the floods came,

and the winds blew, 

and beat upon that house;

and it fell not:

  for it was founded upon a rock. 

-Matt 7:25         

She perceiveth that her merchandise 

is good. 

-Proverbs 31:18    

The future 

is as bright 

as your faith. 

-Thomas S. Monson

Reflection

When will my reflection show

who I am inside?

-'Reflection'

Spent some time reflecting, and rewriting my 'About Me/Experiencer' page on this blog....



Over the years I have developed a picture of what a human being living humanely is like. She is a person who understands, values, and develops her body, finding it beautiful and useful; a person who is real and willing to take risks, to be creative, to manifest competence, to change when the situation calls for it, and to find ways to accommodate to what is new and different, keeping that part of the old that is still useful, and discarding what is not.

-Virginia Satir

Who am I? is a question I often ponder. Who do I want to be? is something I am constantly striving to figure out. Who I am, of course, is always going to be someone in need of improvement, of learning, of change and growth; but who I am is also someone whose characteristics, knowledge, beliefs, and experiences are hopefully shaping her into the person she ultimately desires to become.

So, Who are you?, you are wondering - I am someone who believes that you should always do what is good, honorable, and right simply because it is good, honorable, and right. I believe that people are the most important things in this world; love is always reason enough; time is more valuable than anything else; happiness is a choice; and that lessons learned and relationships made are the only things we take with us into the eternities. I believe that our bodies are beautiful gifts - awe inspiring vessels that help us express our souls, make connections, forge bonds, and experience the world and eternity to it's fullest. I believe that we should love and respect our parents and learn from children. I know that heartbreak is a necessary part of life, for it keeps our hearts soft, pliable, resilient, and humble. I live for the idea that progression is eternal and there is never an end to creation, growth, and change. I know God is my Heavenly Father, and we are eternal child spirits whom he created an immense universe for. I know Christ is the Savior, who sacrificed himself and experienced every pain and sorrow so we would not have to endure them alone. He is our advocate and comforter. I know we are guided by heaven through the Holy Spirit and everything good and beautiful in this world is a manifestation of God and his love. I know God is love, and His gospel and law are truth - truth is light, light illuminates our lives, and life is a wondrous and incomprehensible gift...one we much too often take for granted.

Who are you becoming? - There are so many things that I am working on - trying to cultivate and make a part of myself. Patience, temperance, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, humility, honesty, kindness, and love are all virtues I strive to adopt and desire to emulate. I hope to be found reliable and trustworthy by those who call me friend. I wish to be everything God and those I love need and want me to be. I want to run and not be weary, and walk and not faint. I want to never tire of learning how to love better, and to always...

...be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

-Jeremiah 17:8



Ch-ch-ch-changes...

"Ch-ch-changes...turn and face the strain..."

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; and you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief. -Kahlil Gibran

My apologies for the long absence, especially after what seemed like such a good start for more postings, but I'm afraid you're going to have to indulge me and accept my leave for a little longer.  Life is very full, and filled with many changes at the moment; some difficult, some exciting, some of choice, some of circumstance, some good, and some I'm not sure about yet... But, the only thing that is ever constant in life is change, and the best thing to do is accept if for what it is, embrace the good and joyous blessings that always surround you, and take that leap of faith forward into the unknown.  Life is wondrous, if unpredictable.  Winter is approaching - please excuse me while I take some time to learn serenity through understanding.

The future is bright and full of possibility!  You are all marvelous!

Much peace and love...  Janna

Fascination

Childhood is the world of miracle or of magic:

it is as if creation rose luminously out of the night, 

all new and fresh and astonishing.

-Eugene Ionesco

This is my new little sister Kuralai.

Her eyes are inquisitive, and deep, and steady.

Her mind is alive, and quick, and hungry.

Her fingers are busy and her voice is active.

She is made of, and constantly seeks, all that is new and fresh and astonishing.
(And her hair always sticks straight up.)

I am fascinated by her...

Wondrous Blossoming

 Flowers

Excerpts of the poem from Voices of the Night

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous,

God hath written in those stars above;

But not less in the bright flowerets under us

Stands the revelation of his love.

Bright and glorious is that revelation,

Written all over this great world of ours;

Making evident our own creation,

In these stars of earth, these golden flowers.

And the Poet, faithful and far-seeing,

Sees, alike in stars and flowers, a part

Of the self-same, universal being,

Which is throbbing in his brain and heart.

In all places, then, and in all seasons,

Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings,

Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons,

How akin they are to human things.

And with childlike, credulous affection

We behold their tender buds expand;

Emblems of our own great resurrection,

Emblems of the bright and better land.

Read complete poem

Birthday blossoms & blooms from Longfellow's garden...