Eternity depends on it

Being mistreated is the most important condition of mortality.
Eternity itself depends on how we view those who mistreat us.

Pearls of wisdom

My favorite lines from conference

Feast upon that which perisheth not.

Reverence is profound respect.

Reverence invites revelation.

Knowing that the seed is good is not enough. We must nourish it.

We all fall short of the glory of God.

Out Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever.

It is always the right time to walk in his ways. It’s never to late.

The Lord will shape the back to fit the burden.

Our days are days long anticipated in the history of the world.

Discipleship is a journey.

Ask and ye shall receive. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
The Lord’s words,
“This is my church and I will establish it and nothing will overthrow it.”

Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time. One will dispel the other.

His arm is sufficient.

Pray always, increase in faith and personal righteousness, strengthen your family and serve others.

Hold fast to the iron rod. There is danger of drowning in dirty water.

Family prayer and family scripture reading will strengthen families.

There are opportunities everywhere to help someone in need. For are we not all beggars?

The Savior made the loneliest journey ever made. Even those most precious to Him would not stand with him in the end. Judas betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver; Peter, James and John slept; Peter denied Him three times; all the disciples left and fled. The supporting circle around Jesus grew smaller and smaller until in the end he endured the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal. “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It was required for the atonement that the Father had to briefly withdraw his spirit from His son. He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but to die spiritually which leaves one to feel hopelessly alone. Jesus Pressed on. He restored physical life and brought redemption. He pleased His father perfectly.

The Moral footings of society continue to slip.

If we allow ourselves to dwell only on what’s wrong we will feel oppressed. We must focus on our blessings.

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and a sound mind.

The Lord said, “Be of good cheer and do not fear for I will stand by you.

If we make the gospel of Jesus Christ the center of our lives, we will be victorious.

Faith gives us the strength we need.

The temple expands our vision.

Whenever we build a temple the bells of hell begin to ring.

God’s wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.

There is protecting power in the temple ordinances to those who honestly hold a name in standing in the holy temple. No weapon against them will prosper.

The devil despises the Lord’s house.

The protection we have from the temple stands as a great obstacle to Lucifer.
The temple is a refuge from the storm.

Now is the time to labor. Cast away the things in your life that stand in the way. Spend your time on the things that matter most and the fire of the covenant will burn on your heart.

Everything that is good and enticeth to do good is from God.

We can always trust the living prophets. Their words are the mind and will of God.

The field is white already to harvest. Open your mouths and they shall be filled.
If we love and serve one another, we stay connected to our covenants and each other.

Greed shows itself in the face of entitlement.

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

The plan of the gospel of Jesus Christ lifts us above our selfish desires and teaches us what we can become.

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” —Mother Teresa

We are happier and more fulfilled by what we give, not by what we get.”
Eternal life is the greatest gift of God.

Satan’s pathways lead to destruction.

Jesus is the Christ.

A Beautiful House

A Beautiful House

Scott and I took Anne Wilkinson with us Saturday March 22nd to the Draper Temple dedication that was held in the Draper temple. We arrived at one of the nearby chapels to be bussed up to the temple. As our bus wound up the mountain between numerous large and luxurious homes, several of us noticed that at one of the homes an angry looking woman stood on her balcony in a defiant pose with her arms held high giving the finger with both hands to all the passing busses. I couldn’t help wondering what had made her so angry. Was it the inconvenience of all the traffic caused by the dedication? Was she angry because of Proposition 8? Was she just a Mormon hater? Did she believe in Jesus Christ and if she did, why was she filled with such animosity?
As I sat on that bus, amazed at the hate of that woman, an image of the “Tall and spacious building” from Lehi’s dream came to mind.
“And great was the multitude that did enter into that strange building. And after they did enter into that building they did point the finger of scorn at me and those that were partaking of the fruit also; and we heeded them not.” —1Nephi 8:33
As we entered the temple that day, and felt the peace and beauty there, I felt so thankful for this beautiful new “House of the Lord”. Scott and I had previously had the opportunity of bearing our testimony in one of the sealing rooms during the temple open house. For five hours we bore our testimony of the gospel and felt the power and light of the temple. It is truly the “House of the Lord” and we felt His presence there.

The snow sparkles when the sun shines on it

The snow sparkles when the sun shines on it.

The other day Amy called to tell me I’d had a small influence on Zack. A newly fallen snow had just covered the earth and she suddenly heard Zack yelling, “Mom! Mom! Grandma was telling the truth! The snow does sparkle when the sun shines on it!!
We’d just spent Christmas with Amy’s family and it had snowed a lot. Everyone seemed so upset by all the snow. I told Zack that the snow can be really beautiful and that it sparkles when the sun shines on it. Somewhere that thought was stored away in his little boy brain and he was looking for the sparkle and on that day, he found it.
Last month Scott shared with me some interesting facts he’d learned about the chandeliers in the new Draper temple. The designer for the temple lives in our stake and her husband, who is on the High Counsel with Scott, shared some enlightening information about chandeliers. When I heard what he had to say, I thought about Zack and how the snow sparkles when the sun shines on it. Here’s what I learned.
The creation of a chandelier is an elaborate and very intricate process. The inside base is made from Copper, Brass or Iron. The frame has hundreds of tiny holes—because most of the crystals are placed
individually by a little hook that attaches to the hole. Some of the crystals are already in a ring that goes around the base. Part of the challenge is making sure you’re placing the right sized crystal in the right location because the sizes typically are supposed to alternate larger, smaller, larger, smaller to create the design and the lighting/prism effect.
It takes 4 or 5 people about 3 or 4 hours to do one this size for a sealing room. The much larger Celestial room chandelier takes that many or more people a couple of days. Each Crystal itself is unique, regardless of size, in that because of the way it is formed and where it is placed on the chandelier it reflects light and even colors can be seen as in a rainbow. Another interesting fact is how the crystal is made. A crystal is an amalgamation of lead and glass. The glass used to make crystals is made from fine sand. The sand is heated to a very high temperature until it melts and can be formed into the needed shape and allowed to cool. Lead has to be mixed in with the sand to come up with a crystal piece. The right proportions of these substances have to be well calculated so imperfections can be avoided.
When Pres. Hinckley was asked by a certain dignitary, what meaning is to attach to having these beautiful chandeliers in the Temple sealing rooms and Celestial room, he said simply…to give off light!
There is an obvious metaphor here. A prism only becomes beautiful when it reflects light. In darkness a prism is nothing to look at. We, like these prisms, only reach our potential when the light of Christ shines through us.
“The Lord said, “Trust me, learn of me, do what I do…If you follow me, I will lead you out of darkness”
One prism is beautiful but many prisms together, reflecting the light off of each other is extraordinary. We also can become extraordinary when we are carefully placed by the Lord to reflect his light to each other. Every crystal is part of and contributes to the whole just as we are, when we take upon us the name of Christ and become part of His church.
Each prism must go through a refiners fire just as we must go through a refiners fire to know of a surety that they have a loving Heavenly Father and that the Atonement is available to all.
I love the temple because it is filled with light. Not only the light from these beautiful chandeliers, but it is filled with the light and truth of Christ and when the Son shines on us, we truly do sparkle.

Here's Keith's latest.

Dr. Robert John Williams

I had to delete and re-upload this post for technical, search engine reasons...

(June 13th) Dad and I just got back from a great trip to Irvine. The first day Dad took a deposition in LA while I played cars with Harry. I'm always "Sister car" (A red, white and blue emergency vehicle) and Harry is always "Brother car" (A cool race car with fire painted on the tops and sides). Every time I come to visit, Harry gives me the same car and, of course, he is always the same cool racecar. I could easily pick those two cars out of the hundreds of cars in their car box. This sort of identity happens only after hours of playing with the same cars.
The next day we surprised Miles at school and made our long promised trip to "Lego Land". We didn't dare talk about it till we were well on our way as all of our other attempts have been foiled. Harry felt a little sick but not enough to back out. I made one critical error. I didn’t consider my audience. We should have started on the kiddy side first as this is what they enjoyed the most. Unfortunately the park closed early (5:00 p.m.) because it wasn’t summer season yet. (6 more days). I felt bad because the kids were just starting to enjoy themselves. Harry did get a chance to drive a Lego car all by himself. He was very serious about it and never took his eyes off the road. On his third time around, with out looking up, he yelled out, “I’m winning!” That was the best part of Lego land for me. We told Miles and Harry they could choose a toy and it was a bit stressful for Miles. To many choices I guess. Miles asked if he could call Isaac and ask him which toy he bought last summer at Lego Land. Decisions! Decisions!
On Saturday, June 7th we went to John’s graduation and saw him be “hooded”. The Lady announcing who each graduate would be “hooded” by, kept slipping up and saying “beheaded ” Miles asked me what beheaded means and, unfortunately, I told him the unvarnished truth. He seemed a bit shocked so I quickly added that nobody does that anymore. Dad and I are very proud of John. What a great accomplishment. Congratulations Dr. Williams!!!

October 9, 2008

Dad and I recently watched the “John Adams” series on television and recommend it to all. Kath and Alex gave us the DVDs and we’re watching it a second time. Because Dad’s read David McCulluogh’s book on John Adams he elaborated on his life as we watched. I love this quote from a letter Abigail Adams wrote to her son after a difficult and perilous journey with his father to Paris.

“These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.”