MORMON SOPRANO

The ever-clever and fun-loving creators of WordPress.com have come up with a creative way to commemorate the Thanksgiving holiday. All WP Bloggers have been invited to participate in a little Thanksgiving video contest. The challenge is to express our gratitude in 30 seconds or less. Whether I win a prize or not, my best reward has already arrived: the blessing of counting my blessings! So, with no further ado, here is MoSop’s “creative video interpretation on the topic of [giving thanks]” … for life, family, freedom, faith and fun…in 29 seconds!

Prayer is one of the most fundamental aspects of my spirituality, and relationship with God. My parents taught me to pray before I could even speak the words. However, as I grew, and practiced the habit of offering daily simple prayers to my Father in Heaven, my words and feelings matured, and my spiritual communion deepened.

Mormons are a praying people. We do not say rote or memorized prayers, but rather speak from the heart. We talk to God as a child would to their father, with respectful intimacy. We pray when we awake in the morning. We pray before each meal. We pray at the opening and closing of each church related meeting and activity. We pray before travelling a long distance. We pray as a family at least once each day, and we offer private prayers. We pray at the close of day before retiring for bed.

Why so much praying?

Put simply; it is a commandment from God to ‘pray always’ (Luke 21:36; 2 Nephi 32:9; D&C 10:5; 90:24). And, because we believe in God, we take His commandments seriously. We also pray as an outward expression of our faith in God, and our acknowledgement of His hand in every aspect of our lives.

Multiple times throughout his ministry, our Savior, Jesus Christ emphasized the importance of praying to Our Father in Heaven. Jesus offered very powerful prayers – many of which are recorded in the Bible, such as The Lord’s Prayer, and The Great Intercessory Prayer, for us to read, treasure, and exemplify.

We are taught to pray ‘vocally as well as in [our] heart;. . . before the world as well as in secret, in public as well as in private’ (D&C 19:28)”.

There have been many times in my life when I have cried out in prayer to God silently in my heart. Those informal, urgent prayers have been answered in marvelous and immediate ways. Sometimes, the answer has come as a calm reassurance, or a peaceful feeling. And there have been times when the answer has been more dramatic. There is one thing I am certain of – God is our loving Father in Heaven. He hears our prayers, and I believe He is anxious to answer us. Usually, answers come in ways we do not expect, and sometimes do not like – but always in the way we need most.

David A. Bednar, LDS Apostle

“I testify that prayer becomes more meaningful as we counsel with the Lord in all of our doings, as we express heartfelt gratitude, and as we pray for others with real intent and a sincere heart. I witness Heavenly Father lives and that He hears and answers every earnest prayer.” – David A. Bednar, “Pray Always,” Ensign, Nov. 2008, 44

What freedoms are you grateful for today?

Elder Hales

The priesthood is the power of God, which is given to mankind to act in His name. It is the greatest blessing on earth today, restored in its fulness, and available to everyone. My family and I have been personally blessed beyond words by this gift from God. I invite you to watch this video,  learn more, and come partake!

President Eyring

This beautiful advice for daily living is taken from an excerpt of a talk given by LDS apostle President Henry B. Eyring entitled “O Remember, Remember“.

David A. Bednar

During the April 2009 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, apostle Elder David A. Bednar gave a talk entiteld: “Honorably Hold a Name and Standing“. Elder Bednar discussed the blessings of temple worship, and the challenges and opposition which often accompany this sacred form of worship. This video beautifully illustrates some of the highlights:

During the Saturday morning session of this month’s General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, LDS apostle Elder Richard G. Scott addressed the subject of Temple Worship. This talk has had a significant impact upon our family. When we heard the following words, the message sank deep into our souls, and spurred us to action:

Elder Scott

“Because I love you, I am going to speak to you heart to heart, without mincing words. I have seen that many times individuals have made great sacrifices to go to a distant temple. But when a temple is built close by, within a short time, many do not visit it regularly. I have a suggestion: When a temple is conveniently nearby, small things may interrupt your plans to go to the temple. Set specific goals, considering your circumstances, of when you can and will participate in temple ordinances. Then do not allow anything to interfere with that plan. This pattern will guarantee that those who live in the shadow of a temple will be as blessed as are those who plan far ahead and make a long trip to the temple.”

Our family falls under the category of “living in the shadow of the temple”. Literally. A glorious LDS temple is within a 20 minute walk from our home, or a 5 minute car ride. Thus, Elder Scott’s words took on a personal meaning, and bore deep into our hearts. First, we felt the great need to (more…)

In my last post rant, I’m afraid I came across quite a bit cranky and less than patriotic. That was not my intention. OK. I admit I was cranky. But I want to reassure you that I still love my country very much, I am eager to see good things come from our new administration (there is always hope), and contrary to my attitude problem, I do not believe we have reached doomsday.

Therefore, I apologize for the downer post.

As penance, this morning I awoke with a scene from one of my favorite movies GroundHog Day running through my mind (over, and over, and over…).

I was replaying the moment when the character of Phil Conners (actor Bill Murray) has kidnapped the town groundhog and is speeding down the road in a stolen truck with the police in hot pursuit.

Bill sardonically lectures the groundhog: “Don’t Drive Angry! Don’t Drive Angry!” I got the message, and said to myself:

“MoSop, Don’t Blog Angry! Don’t Blog Angry!“

Therefore, today I give thanks for the wisdom of the groundhog. There’s no use in letting ourselves get frustrated on the road of life. I know this. It is actually one of my oft repeated mantras here at the site. A theme, if you will. In the end, we are all going to end up at the same destination (well, at least initially), so we might as well travel with grace.

I have resolved to think happier thoughts. To the left I have provided a “happy box”. To start things off, I will add a couple. Then, I invite you to please add some of your own via the comments. Don’t hold back. (We can always get another box if we fill this one). I think we could all do with some happy thoughts right now. Don’t you?

#1. Wisdom from Pooh Corner:

“When late morning rolls around and you’re feeling a bit out of sorts, don’t worry; you’re probably just a little eleven o’clockish”.
– Winnie the Pooh

#2. A commercial from the U.K. that I think is brilliant

The Diva Days

Don’t change that dial…yes, this is still MormonSoprano! However, in honor of the upcoming New Year celebration, I made a few little festive changes. I also activated my “falling snow” feature, as it makes a nice double for confetti, don’t you think?

It is hard to believe that we are already ushering 2008 out the door, and 2009 is marching boldly in. I don’t know about you, but this year flew by for me!

One year ago, things were decidedly different in my life. “Happy New Year 2008″ evoked excitement and trepidation as I prepared to embark on a completely different direction. Change is like stage-fright. If it doesn’t kill you, the adrenaline rush will thrill you! In fact, I believe that over the past 5 years I have experienced enough big “CHANGE” to accumulate an amount of adrenaline equal to experiencing my debut at the Metropolitan Opera. So there you go. In some sort of circuitous “virtual” logic perhaps I have managed to “accomplish” that life-long dream of mine (without actually ever doing it). Maybe I will cross it off my bucket list.

I know that life is unpredictable, but I always find it surprising. It is hard to believe that only 18 months ago I was living an hour-by-hour existence, praying my child would live another day. Some people keep warning me that long posts are a waste of time because people don’t like to read them. However, I’m going out on a limb here to share a personal story in celebration and gratitude. (more…)

Our family is now officially entering Week 16 of unemployment. Hunky Hubby (HH) has exerted a heroic effort securing temporary work along the way. But the last three weeks have been a particular struggle as the already slow flow of available Temp jobs first turned into a trickle, and then dried up altogether. “Employment” seems to be a rare island oasis in an otherwise vast and endless desert.

According to the pollsters and statisticians, we aren’t alone. Our family is just one of thousands who have fallen victim to the ‘job drought’ – aka, “economic downturn”.

So, what is one to do in this situation? The title of this post offers one popular choice. The phrase ”Basket Case” is a (more…)