Gratitude is Happiness Doubled by Wonder

As we end the year, I want to #GiveThanks for 2020. Wait, what? This terrible year with all its problems and challenges - the impact of pandemic disease, racism-provoked rioting, political conflict, etc. etc.? Yes, 2020, that's the one. I think there is much to be thankful for *because* of the problems of the year. Perhaps the extremities have given us a new perspective. Take a minute to think about what you've learned, how you've changed in good ways, or what perhaps you now have to truly be grateful for. I hope you find many things to acknowledge. Here are just a few from my list. - Gratitude for health, life, and ongoing chances. Those of us who have lost any close to us to the disease, or who have brushed up against its impacts personally, have been reminded how precious each day is. Life is a gift! Every single moment of it! And we can very easily lose that gift. - Love for family. I've had the unique opportunity to live with part of my family, with our son and his...

  Inca, our 3-year-old "border doodle," is my favorite hiking companion - often my only companion. I've come to appreciate and learn from several aspects of her behavior. Here is one example. She has enormous energy, and when I let her (when we are not near other hikers), is often running ahead or exploring off-trail. I have trained her to come to my side when she sees other people approaching or when I call her, which is appropriate behavior that gives me confidence in letting her wander a bit. However, I've noticed that most of the time she likes to keep me in sight. When she's in front she will often turn back to make sure she knows where I am, and wait while I catch up. Coming to a junction or split in the trail, she will pick an option and go about 10 feet, but then sit and wait for me to come and confirm that she has made the right choice, then either joyfully run on ahead or else quickly adjust and join the correct trail. I always love the look in her eyes ...

We always think of autumn as the time when the leaves fall off the trees. But that's not always the case! Often when I hike I see trees where the leaves have clearly died at the end of summer, but stubbornly continue to cling to the tree. Or is it the tree that refuses to let the leaves move on? They stay connected through the winter and finally drop off in the spring. Many oak and beech trees exhibit this behavior. To me, that's a reminder that we don't all react the same way, we don't all go through the same things. How we respond to experiences or circumstances can vary widely. Two people can be in the same setting, one elated and the other terrified. Two people can get the same disease, one barely noticing symptoms and the other losing his life. Two people can react to the same stimulus or provocation or set of circumstances in very different ways. Part of this relates to agency; in many settings we are able to choose how we respond to the situation. But not always;...

    Five weeks ago, I posted the first image of this set along with my thoughts about how my body was struggling to fight off the Coronavirus invader. Today I #GiveThanks that I am still able to post; there are 1.8 million victims of this disease worldwide and over 340,000 in the USA who are not so fortunate. We were lucky to deal with milder symptoms; and though I'm still trying to figure out the lingering impact to my heart and lungs, we know we dodged the proverbial bullet. When you donate blood through the Red Cross, they do a COVID antibody test as part of their analysis. After recovering enough I was eager to donate and see the report of the presence of the antibodies confirming what I already knew. My body did its job! Now, in theory, I am protected from the invaders, as if I were defended by a shield. The antibodies in my blood would quickly disable any incoming live virus I am exposed to. There's a lot still not understood about COVID immunity, but it still leaves a ...

  Another of the great gifts we are given, and which we take for granted until it is lacking, is the gift of sleep. The chance to "turn off" the world and its cares, to allow our body to relax and rebuild, to give time and perspective to cares and concerns - these benefits are so important in our ongoing physical and emotional health! The scriptural injunction about sleep mentions the benefits "that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated" (D&C 88:124) and is surely accurate. When, for various reasons, we struggle to fall asleep or to get adequate sleep (length and quality), we can struggle; if the problem persists it can be dangerous to our health and well-being. There's an associated principle of resting. When we live very active lives, we need time regularly to slow down, catch a breath, or change perspective. "The bow that is always strung soon loses its spring." Relaxation and recreation are key aspects of productive lives. And a step fu...

  Christmas Party, 2019, Buenos Aires Have you ever been blessed in ways you don't expect? or found the proverbial "silver lining" in the clouds of a stormy and challenging time? Bonnie and I were called to serve an 18-month humanitarian mission to Argentina, that we expected to extend from September 23, 2019 to March 23, 2021. We served in Argentina for exactly six months, until March 23, 2020, when the COVID pandemic sent us home to continue our mission remotely. We were frustrated and disappointed to leave the country, naturally. But we have worked hard from home and feel we contributed greatly to the humanitarian relief needs in Argentina during the challenging time. Meanwhile, we've begun to notice that there are reasons to count our blessings that we are in Utah instead of Argentina during this time, many of them related to unexpected medical concerns. Those issues included a dental situation that required oral surgery, which had begun treatment in Argentina but...

A stained-glass depiction of the nativity that dates from the 12th century, located in the Basilica St. Denis in Paris. I love the warmth and richness of these glass windows. Mary is reclining with her baby; the unifying blue of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus is warm and inviting. As we near the end of a wonderful Christmas day, things have quieted down a bit to leave time for reflection. We #GiveThanks for the great blessing of spending today with those we love most (in two different shifts). We are particularly blessed to be physically very close together right now as a family, and pray that blessing will last for many years. One of the things I love at this time of year is pondering representations of the event commemorated on Christmas. Depictions in sculpture or painting date from the earliest times of Christianity, and have changed and varied through the centuries. Included here are four very diffenent ones; see the caption on each individual image for a few comments. Scholars tell us t...

  "Sing, choirs of angels, Sing in exultation; Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!" "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:13-14) The accounts of the birth of Jesus don't actually say that heavenly choirs of angels were singing when they appeared to the shepherds in the fields. It says "saying," not "singing." But most of us can't read the words they shared without hearing in our minds Handel's arrangement from Messiah. And we often associate singing with the most joyful expression of emotion. That is certainly felt at Christmastime. I love Christmas music and look forward to enjoying it each year during the weeks leading to Christmas. Many of our most favorite carols and hymns are so familiar, but yet so powerful. Through the years I've found several lesser-known Christmas songs that ...

  How can my heart not be filled with joy and gratitude? Behold our six treasures: Madison the sheep, Allison the donkey, Katelyn as Mary (great with child), Brandon the shepherd, Daxton the wise man, and Avery the angel. I #GiveThanks for the blessing of these little ones and the joy they bring to our lives as we see them grow and develop.

    The vast immensity of space! In our day, I don't think we are nearly as "in touch" with the sky above us as were our ancestors. We don't judge time by the sun. We can't navigate by stars, or discern the seasons. But every now and then, a phenomenon catches our attention and we look up for a while. When that happens, we would be wise to take time to ponder what we see and what it means. The conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter drew much attention, partly because of the proximity to Christmas and the fact that it happened on the Winter Solstice, the shortest night of the year. As seen by the naked eye, the planets joined to form a very bright star. With a little bit of zoom magnification, you can discern the two separate lights. But it's interesting to understand what really happened. Here are the ponderings of a very amateur astronomer who has been fascinated since he got his astronomy merit badge 50 years ago! Planets are not light sources; they don't gen...

      I love taking photos, and sometimes playing with them in Photoshop. It's interesting how you can change a message as you adjust a photo. For example, in the first of the attached pictures, even though the quality is poor there is nothing apparent to cause concern. But pulling back a little shows that I am standing near the edge of a large cliff. Further perspective shows that it's the Half Dome in Yosemite, and I'm standing near a sheer vertical drop of over 2000 feet. From where I was standing as the photo was taken, it really didn't look at all risky. There was even a step down that I could have taken to be closer to the edge. But of course, even from where I was, a slight stumble or misstep could have been disastrous. I'm sure there have been other times in my life (and each of our lives!) when I was truly within inches or seconds of tragedy but did not realize it; we #GiveThanks for each new day of opportunities, for intuition and promptings that keep us s...

  I love flowers. Wildflowers in the mountains are particularly intriguing; I take photos by the hundreds every summer and have been cataloging them into a blog. They are so distinctive, so varied in color and form, often so intricate and delicate. Some are highly specialized to be polinated in certain ways, at certain times. Some are edible, some are poisonous. Most require their own specific growing conditions (soil, moisture, light, elevation) in order to thrive. The "passion flower" shown here is representative of this but with some unique aspects. It's a flower that grows in many places around the world; the photo shows one that Bonnie and I stumbled on in a botanical garden in Buenos Aires. There are supposedly over 500 related species in the genus, that vary in color and presentation. The name "passion flower" supposedly originated with Christian missionaries in Europe some 500 years ago. They attributed symbolism in the flower to some aspects of the ...

  Our relationships with people (beyond our close family bonds) are enriching and important parts of our life. Sometimes we have extended, long-term involvement with someone like a neighbor or work associate, or a very close friend. Sometimes a person touches our life once and then goes a separate direction and we never interact significantly again. There are a variety of scenarios between those two extremes. One example of a variation of this scenario is illustrated by the attached graphic, and by an experience I currently am having. It's the person who touches our life significantly, at different times and in different ways, sometimes separated by many years. Some 30 years ago I taught an early-morning seminary class in Colorado. One of the very bright young high school students in that group was a young man named David (great name, right?). I appreciated his involvement in the class and his bright personality. He obviously had a lot on the ball! But after a year, we moved away f...

    In honor of the 250th anniversary this week of Beethoven's birth, I turn my thoughts to music. Some years ago, I came across this saying (supposedly from a German opera house), and purchased a poster with the imprint for my Mom. She loved it, and hung it prominently in her condo near her piano. Bach gave us God’s word. Mozart gave us God’s laughter. Beethoven gave us God’s fire. God gave us Music, that we might pray without words. Mom really appreciated that sentiment, since she was a great lover of great music - particularly Bach and Beethoven. I am surely blessed to have learned a love of music from her. I am not sure how much I absorbed it at a young age when my taste in music was pretty pedestrian (including the rock & roll of my teen years). But as the years passed, I became mature enough to both appreciate Mom’s insight and gain my own, and I grew to love what we call "classical" music. Today I enjoy a variety of genres, but there is a power in classical mus...

  "Watch me, Pops! Watch me!" Little Avery was bouncing on the Cellercizer™, and wanted me to pay attention. She gets only a few inches of elevation, but in her mind, it's probably a few feet. She spins and twists, kicking up a foot here and there. She imagines herself an elegant dancer or gymnast, while I'm just hoping she doesn't fall and hurt herself! There's a special delight in watching a child perform, in any kind of setting. Most children love to have attention focused on them, and in their minds they are doing something really impressive. From the perspective of a little body with only a little experience, it must seem elegant and athletic. Adults with more perspective have other things to compare, and easily recognize the difference. But we dearly love our little ones and praise their enthusiasm. There is a lot we can learn from children. When we are doing something as well as we can, trying our best - we should be proud of our accomplishments. This i...

  Yesterday afternoon, a lady shot me in the eye with a high-powered laser, burning part of the back of my eye. This went on for several minutes, firing the laser repeatedly as she moved it around. In my GOOD eye - the one that has the best vision after glaucoma damage. And I let her do it. Not only that, I PAID her to do it. OK, so it wasn't just any lady; it was a highly-trained doctor of ophthalmology at the UofU Moran Eye Center. This is the same "lady" who did my cataract surgery a few months ago. The process today was called a "YAG laser capsulotomy" - a common follow-up procedure after cataracts are removed. A protein film, similar to what created the original cataract, had formed on the back wall of the capsule that surrounds the lens of my eye. Using a laser the doctor effectively burns a hole through the film, allowing more clear passage for light into the inner eye and the receptors of the optic nerve. There are a number of wonders and miracles in thi...

    A few years ago, I had the chance to join a fine group of friends to climb Mt. Rainier, the highest mountain in the state of Washingtom at 14,411'. Though the mountain is considered an active volcano, its summit is covered by 26 major glaciers and extensive permanent snowfields. So climbing requires mountaineering skills and significant preparation. Crossing or climbing glaciers and snowfields always presents risks, especially on steep mountains. The conditions of the snow can change and shift. Glaciers by definition are bodies of dense ice that move and flow under their own weight, often creating crevasses (deep fractures or cracks) and other dangers. Experienced climbers in these conditions will always travel as a group, as a team, and will wear harnesses that enable them to be connected to each other by a long strong rope. If one of the climbers slips or falls (including falling into a hidden crevasse), the others in his ropeline are trained to anchor themselves and hel...

  Sometimes you see a photo of someone in an impressive setting next to a dropoff, and you think, "What an almost impossible effort it must have been to get to that point!" Having no other information than what is in the picture, you think the person must have scaled a sheer cliff. While that kind of climbing is possible for a few who are highly trained, it's not how the majority of us get to mountaintops. There are almost always a variety of routes to a summit, with a variety of levels of risk and exposure. The two summits pictured here, Hayden and Olympus, are examples of that. I got to the summit, not via the cliff you see pictured, but by a much more gradual and reasonable route. We also climb SYMBOLIC mountains in life. We may have a goal, or a challenge, that requires extended and prolonged effort. We can see or envision a desired result, that sometimes seems very far away, and sometimes even unattainable. In such a setting, if we choose wisely and carefully we can ...