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Fall Risk

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I read a friend’s Facebook post the other day showing her sprained ankle and a hospital issued wrist band that said, “Fall Risk”. She laughingly mentioned that she wished she had the bracelet earlier, before she had fallen. I recently had a medical procedure myself, and got my own wristband that labeled me a “Fall Risk” because of the anesthesia I had.  A day later, I was feeling well in the morning, but took a nap before going to my temple shift. I felt out of it during the beginning of my shift and soon found myself about to pass out in the middle of an important task. I informed the person in charge and was quickly (and very lovingly!) sent home. Though everyone was very kind, I couldn’t help but feel defeated, knowing I’d only done a small portion of what I had been assigned to do, and embarrassed for needing special treatment and making a spectacle. Unfortunately, this is not a new feeling for me. My health often gets me more attention than I want. In fact, before...
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Counterfeit forms of worth

A couple semesters ago, I had a teacher bring up the idea of counterfeit forms of worth. These are items/standard/expectations/basically anything that we base our worth as a human being on. We discussed a few different things we place our value on. I've since noticed more forms of counterfeit worth, all of which I have held at least for a time. We can place our value on physical items, such as how much money we have or make, the grades we receive, our style , our home, and our beauty . We can also put our worth on how many friends or followers we have, how many likes we get, or how many compliments we receive. We can also place our worth on the quality of our relationships. On how hard we work or how talented we are. Or, in my case, how perfectly I hold up to the harsh standards I set up for myself. Thinking of all of these makes me feel like I'm clawing my way desperately to the top, unable to distinguish myself amidst all the clutter, and certainly unable to surface. Am...
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Nature and Nurture

As a student studying human development, I am often found in a class discussing the age old battle of nature and nurture. For those who do not know about this theoretical crusade, I will explain. In the 50s, there was a man named Watson who said he could make any child become what he wanted by changing his or her atmosphere (we all wonder at the state of his children). His argument was for NURTURE. He said that a person's environment determines who they are. Later, we had others come along who believed what makes a person (their choices, thoughts, etc) is their genetics. They argue for NATURE. Somewhere during the beginning of class, I realized that what I thought was an archaic argument is actually still raging on today.  By the end of our class discussion, it dawned on me that this war of words and ideas is based on the question                                        "Who a...
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When Paradigms Shift

I was in class this week, learning about family paradigms. To be honest, I was a little bored, but as I've thought about what I learned, I've seen some amazing parallels to what I've been observing about life.  I never knew there were so many ways to define a family until I took this class. There are four “paradigms” that families typically fall under: the closed  family, the r A n d o m family, the open family, and the synchronous family.  Each family is characterized differently based on their attitude toward rules and how those rules come into being. Here’s a brief overview: The Closed Family. This family is defined by tradition. They love rules from a distinct authority figure and hate anything new from outside influences. They may not be the most welcoming and will probably not take change well. Think ‘The Croods’. The Random Family. Far away from a closed family, the random family is defined by individualism. They are go-with-the-flow and have no ...
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Graven on the palms of His hands

There's a scripture in 1 Nephi 21:16 (and Isaiah 49:16) that has always struck me. The idea is very personal to me. The message sticks in my heart. "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." I am graven on the palms of Christ's hands. He has placed me there. By His agency, His freedom, He decided to yield to the Father's will and be pierced and wounded and scarred so that I might have a hope of eternal life. He didn't have to do it, but He did.  I am eternally grateful for this sacrifice. I don't acknowledge and remember it as I should, but I owe my all to Him. Not only has He made salvation possible, ensuring that all who lived on earth will be resurrected in perfect bodies, but He has given us His grace. The statement "thy walls are continually before me" has been sticking out to me recently. I think of my walls as my weaknesses and my shortcomings. He knows my blocks, He k...
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Unexpected Miracles

In Regional Conference, one of the speakers talked about the Hastening of the Work. As I sat there, I thought of what a miracle it was in my life to serve a mission. This led to me think of a host of other mercies the Lord has extended to me that I never expected or dreamed possible. So here's my mission story: When I was 17, I had a friend (Allison) who was about to serve a mission. I expressed my reluctance and fears about missionary service. I did not want to wear a long, blanket like skirt every day and I did not want to tract. The lifestyle was not for me. But my spiritually in tune friend read to me a part from her journal where she talked about how excited she was to serve the Lord. The Lord began to soften my heart. I even went so far as to tell my Stake President (a church leader over many congregations) who smiled, asked me how old I was, and told me to come back in about 4 years. A few months later, I was standing in my kitchen at college, just making something to ...
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Back at BYU!

These past few weeks have been crazy but wonderful! Mom and I road tripped it out here to Utah (and had a blast!). We read 2 whole books, learned life lessons, put the windows down and the music up, and just enjoyed ourselves. It was a lovely trip. Dad flew out and we got to see Grandma Hall and Uncle Gary's family. We also saw Aunt Joyce and her family as well as Uncle Duane and Aunt Chris. It was so good to see family and go to my cousin Kade's homecoming! In my human development class, our teacher brought up that through this semester, we may not be good at everything from the start. He advised us not to give up and said to maintain a "developmental" viewpoint/mindset. This entails that we are always growing. We are always changing our brain, and we will get better. This reminded me a lot of eternal perspective. I read a quote once that talked about how things that live longer take longer to grow. A deer takes only a few years to mature, but live the fract...
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