You Are Not Forgotten

"As a child, when I would look at the little forget-me-nots, I sometimes felt a little like that flower—small and very insignificant. I wondered if I would be forgotten by my family or by my Heavenly Father.

Years later, I can look back on that young boy with tenderness and compassion. And I do know now I was never forgotten.

And I know something else. As an Apostle of our Master, Jesus Christ, I proclaim with all the certainty and conviction of my heart and soul—neither are you!

You are not forgotten.

Sisters, wherever you are, whatever the circumstances may be, you are not forgotten. No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you, with an infinite love."

—President Dieter F. Uchtdorf


Note: Photo came from http://sxc.hu/.

Forget Not the Happiness That Surrounds You

Yesterday President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, First Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint, spoke to women all over the world.  I felt that a lot of what he said went perfectly with the theme of this new blog, "See the Good." You can watch the entire talk here: http://lds.org/general-conference/watch/2011/10?lang=eng&vid=1180453706001&cid=7


President Uchtodorf used the forget-me-not flower as a metaphor for his talk. He said that although the flower is small in size, and easily unnoticed among larger flowers, it is still beautiful and vibrant.  He used the five petals of the forget-me-not flower to represent five things we should never forget. The one that I'd like to talk about in this post is, "forget not the happiness that surrounds you."

Forget not the happiness that surrounds you:

Using an example from the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, President Uchtdorf described how one of the characters, Willy Wonka, hid golden tickets within chocolate bars, promising to reveal wonders to five people who discovered the tickets.

President Uchtdorf said, “In their anxiousness, people began to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar. The candy bar itself becomes an utter disappointment if it does not contain a golden ticket.”

"So many people today are waiting for their own golden ticket — the ticket that they believe holds the key to the happiness they have always dreamed about."

Whatever a “golden ticket” may represent to each person, President Uchtdorf warned to not put your happiness on hold as you wait for a future event, or golden ticket, to appear.

“The lesson here,” he said,” is that if we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us.”

I love the quote on my kitchen wall.  "Happiness is a journey, not a destination."  And another in my living room, "Enjoy the journey."

Toward the end of his talk President Uchtdorf stated, “You may at times feel a little like the forget-me-not—insignificant, small, or tiny in comparison with others.”

He continued, “I hope (the forget-me-not) will be a symbol of the little things that make your lives joyful and sweet.”

May we remember to see the good in the little things, for they have a beauty and a joy of their own.


Note: These photos come from http://sxc.hu/.

Moments That Matter Most

I love this video.

A few weeks ago life was going full speed ahead.  There was much to do and I was busy as could be.  My infant son was not happy with me.  He wanted to be held and would cry when I put him down.  Finally I threw my hands in the air and said, "I give up. You win."  I turned a movie on for my older children, then went upstairs and laid in bed with my son.  We watched "Star Trek" together on the laptop, ate chocolate cupcakes and M&Ms.

Although my husband would probably see this as a waste of time and my son will never remember this experience, it's moments like these that I will remember when he's grown and gone on his own. Simple, seemingly insignificant moments, when I took time out of my busy schedule just to hold and be with my son.

What Good Do YOU See?

Several months ago I was watching a program on BYU TV.  After it was over a commercial came on about a man who worked in a scrap metal yard. Someone came up to him and asked him to take a picture of anything that he saw that was good.  Since I am a photographer and love to take pictures, this commercial really captured my interest.



There are several similar commercials that I also love.





I love the question at the end of them all. What good do YOU see in the world?

We are surrounded with bad things going on in the world.  When we turn on the news, how often do we hear about something good that has happened?

We always seem to be aware when bad things happen to us, but how often do we look for and focus on the good in our own lives?  If each of us was given a camera and asked to take pictures of anything good that we saw, what would we take?

This purpose of this blog is to help me personally seek out the good in my life, even when life gets tough, and to hopefully help others do the same.  I'd like to share experiences from my own family, inspiration from my faith and a bit of my photography, things that I see that are good.