Carpe Diem

Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace,  that has become an aphorism. It is popularly translated as "seize the day". Carpe literally means "to pick, pluck, pluck off, cull, crop, gather", but Ovid used the word in the sense of, "to enjoy, seize, use, make use of". 

This is how I've tried to view these long, cold winter days of January.

Gathering Rosebuds in Winter

As a child I developed a deep love and appreciation for the beauties of nature, especially flowers.  I remember  gathering large bouquets of alfalfa blossoms for my mother, which she received just as graciously as she would have done an expensive bouquet from the florist.  If you knew  my mother, she was even  more pleased with the alfalfa blossoms.  She reciprocated by covering my birthday cake with green frosting and freshly picked dandelions in place of candles.  I recently came across this picture and the poem below.  I couldn't help but feel the presence of my mother, and others beyond the veil of this life as I continue to wander about plucking rosebuds.

Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying. 

Robert Herrick, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

English lyric poet (1591 - 1674)

And yet they live on.

A part of my latest bouquet.

It's Time

As most of you are aware, the Logan Temple has been closed now for a couple of weeks.  We decided not to go anywhere this year during the break while they are installing new carpet and making a few other needed repairs at the Temple.  I think our decision was based mostly on our arthritic bones and the lack of desire to spend a lot of time in a car traveling around. We did make it down to Temple Square in Salt Lake City and also took in a play at the Capitol Theater there, which we truly enjoyed even though we didn't get home until after one o'clock in the morning.  That's not good for a couple of senior citizens,  but we do have the luxury of having each other and being able to sleep in if we need to, which we did the next morning. Otherwise we have stayed pretty much at home in our nice warm house and tried to stay busy.  I keep myself relatively busy reading or working on family history, however the other day Iris washed all of our Temple clothing and/or took them to the dry cleaners.  My job was to polish our shoes.  I never in my life anticipated a time when I would be polishing white shoes to go to work, but that's what we do these days.  A little break certainly has not hurt us, but both of us are ready to get back to our duties at the Temple when it reopens on the 24th of January.  It is such a wonderful place to work and to know that we are doing what we can to help others.  And besides that, it seems we see more of our friends there than about anywhere else.  We love seeing family and friends at the Temple.  And to top it off our aches and pains seem less problematic when we are there for some reason.  We are blessed beyond measure!!!

 

A Walk on the Beach

On a sunny, relatively warm day last week I decided to take  a walk on the beach.  I drove to the mouth of Logan Canyon, parked the car and walked the two miles along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  The beach that I was really walking on was the beach along the shore of ancient Lake Bonneville, which was fed by the Bear River and covered about two-thirds of the state of  present day Utah.  About 15000 years ago the level of the lake rose to a point that it breached its shores at Red Red Pass near Downey , Idaho.  The result was a flood of epic proportions.  The level of the lake dropped by a bout 350 feet and flooded much of Southern Idaho as the water raced to the sea through the Snake/Columbia River Basin.  I slightly trained eye can find  evidence of this flood all across the Snake River Plain.  The Snake River Canyon at what is now Twin Falls and is nearly 500 feet deep was filled by the raging torrent and was overflowing.  Huge boulders were deposited all along the flood route, particularly in the Pocatello, Idaho area.  The main flood is said to have lasted about eight weeks.  The Great Salt Lake is what is left of Ancient Lake Bonneville.  Many areas along the shore line have now been developed into trails for hikers, bikers and horsemen.  It was along a two mile stretch of this trail that I took my walk last week and then again today.  I tried to envision what it was like back then, when much of Utah and all of Cache Valley was filled with water.  Sometimes it helps us put things in perspective to contemplate the earth on which we live and truly depend for our food and shelter and livelihood even today just as the prehistoric peoples of the area did.  It's true, much has drastically changed, but on a basic level it's still the same.  God created the earth for us to enjoy and to provide for our basic needs.  I hope we can stop long enough once in a while to allow some appreciation for this wonderful world to seep into our consciousness.

An artists rendition of ancient Lake Bonneville 15,000 years ago.

Modern evidence that this was once a lake shore beach.

Where once the wooly mammoths roamed now it's golfers taking advantage of a rare warm day in January 2012.

Not far away a young mule deer enjoys a quiet moment in the nearby thicket.

The beauty, diversity, and steadfastness of this earth, even amid dramatic change, never cease to amaze me.  There are those who think my appreciation of ancient Lake Bonneville comes because I was there and experienced it first hand.  Oh, well, old age has its benefits.

An Unseen Hand

50,064 and  50,147 and More and More

Early in December I discovered a gold mine/two gold mines.  Well not exactly, but in the eternal scheme of things, it is without a doubt more valuable than any gold mine could ever be. Not only that, I discovered a way to help others get their own personal gold mines with practically no cost to them. 

A short time later, I was looking through some of my books in search of  something good to read or reread.  I came across a book, that had been given to me by a dear Sister (Viginia Sneddon) in Montpelier whom I home taught for many years.  She gave it to me as a token of appreciation of  in her words "many years of faithful home teaching."  I must admit that I was always more uplifted by our visits than any thing I could have ever done to help her.  At the time I received this book, I was busy with other things, and though I do remember glancing at it and reading a few pages her and there, I certainly had not let it seep deeply into my soul.  After locating the book, I brought it upstairs and laid it on my reading table in our bedroom, where I often sit and read and ponder things of importance to me.  I would get on to read it soon.

That night I had a dream.  It was a vivid dream and occurred off and on several times during the night.

In this dream I was walking down a path elevated a few feet above my surroundings.  There were people on either side of the path.  The people seemed to be rather stressed for some reason or another. They were looking up to me and pleadingly asking me to give them something.  At first it didn't make sense as all that I had in my hand was a rather large book.  The book was neither famous, nor in my view particularly valuable.  It was not the works of a well know author, nor was it elaborately bound or in any way a  valuable show piece.  It did not contain a single picture.  Most of you know how much I love pictures and visual materials.  In fact, all it was basically was a list of names, 50 064, to be exact. Finally, I began  by giving the book to the people on the side of the path.  As I did so the book was magically replaced in my hands each time I would give it away. What was I to make of this dream?  Was I just having some sort of weird dream or a nightmare of some sort?  To be honest, I kind of thought I was losing my mind. and most concerning of all to me was that the dream just wouldn't go a way.  The dream just kept recurring for most of the night. I thought of the Prophet Joseph on the night he was visited by the Angel Moroni.  I'm sure my experience was not nearly as far reaching as was his, but in a small way, for some, it may be equally important.

Finally. because I couldn't sleep, I got up to get a cold drink, in hopes that I would be able to relax and settle in for some much needed rest.  As I started to leave the bedroom for the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of the book Virginia had given to me three years before lying on the small reading table by my recliner.  It seemed as though a beam of light from outside was lightly shining on the book.  I assumed it was the moon light.  I'm not really even sure now that it was even a moonlight night, nonetheless, the dim light attracted my view.  I picked up the book and took it into the living room and sat down on the couch.  I began to read.  The very first paragraph caught my attention in a way that few lines of writing have ever done.  I read them again and again and again.  Eventually they started to gel in my mind and the Spirit gave me a view of the future, at least some of it, and of my role in shaping this future.  I was shown how I can help the world to become a better place here and now and more especially in the world to come.

The first paragraph of the book, Your Divine Purpose, by Richard Paul Anderson is quoted below.

"It is a matter of trust.  It is a matter of letting go and acknowledging that a perfect plan for your life exists.  Because when all is said and done, the value of your life will not be  determined by your accomplishments, but by what Heavenly Father has been able to accomplish through you. So it is a matter of trusting who is really in control, who your life belongs to,  and who has purchased it."

It's all about forgetting self and allowing our will to be  "swallowed up in the will of the Father."

I wondered at first if I should share this with anyone, but as I have contemplated it more, I  have come to realize how much meaning are in the words "through you" in the above noted paragraph.  It is my desire to share and help, not manipulate or force, others to see how critically important, perhaps in different ways, our lives are in helping others to discover for themselves what their "perfect plan" is.

And so, though I am now "retired", I think, I have found a great purpose to keep on keeping on.

The Lord willing, I will do so until I draw my last mortal breath and beyond.  I know I will falter, but I will not fall nor fail as I keep on striving.  An Unseen Hand guides us all, if we will.

Boredom?  What is that?

Don't tell me there's nothing to do.