A Cornucopia of Blessings

Cornucopia comes from the Latin words cornu and copiae and literally means "horn of plenty." It is often represented in still life paintings as a horn overflowing with fruits, flowers, and grain. The dictionary also defines it as "an overflowing fullness; abundance." This weekend my cornucopia was filled with blessings and many good people.
I am grateful for time. I am grateful for time and opportunity to be with these good people. I am grateful for my friend Katie who made time in her life to come and pick me up from Athens. I am grateful that she loves me enough to sit for two hours in Atlanta traffic trying to get on the highway to come get me. I am grateful we could make time to visit my former bishop's wife. I am grateful for the time to be in her home, time to go out to dinner with her and her husband, time to catch up, time to observe, time to look forward to "the best yet to be." I am grateful to see what time and consistency in the gospel can do in the development of talents, and character, and a marriage. I am grateful that in my Georgia time I have been given time to know her.
I am grateful for time in the kitchen of a truly determined and talented mother. Katie's mother organized and orchestrated a truly magnanimous Thanksgiving feast. I am grateful for the time she took to teach me about needed culinary skills. I am grateful to see the time she takes to make her family happy. I am grateful for time with Katie and laughing until it hurts. I am grateful for time to be heard and to talk. I am grateful for a friend who enjoys things I do, like going to the High Museum of Art. I am grateful for a friend who takes the time to notice interesting quotes on the wall and wants to discuss them, or who sees opportunity for intellectual stimulation in a set of postcards about what defines a "genius".
I am grateful for time with younger married friends. I am grateful for time with their new baby. I am grateful for their enthusiasm and genuine interest in the details of my life. I am grateful for their example of support to one another. I am grateful for time in the home of a truly service-oriented wife and mother. I am grateful for a second Thanksgiving, Japanese style. I am grateful for time to know their friends. I am grateful for this time to be alive. I am grateful for this time that is mine to use well.

At Long Last!

Today I am most especially grateful for FINALLY getting to the temple. I am so grateful for a ride up with a friend from the branch and her mom. I am so grateful for safe travel back and forth to the temple in Columbia, South Carolina. I am so grateful for riding with people who love to sing--and sing we did! For an hour and a half! Every hymn we sang we did all the verses, including all seven verses of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." Marvelous. I am grateful just to see the temple, isn't it beautiful! I was even more grateful to go inside and enjoy the peace and quiet that can only be felt there. I am grateful for the gospel and the plan of salvation. I am grateful for beautiful truths. I am grateful to go to bed tonight knowing that I can answer in the affirmative, "have I done any good in the world today?" That feels good.

Thank the Lord thy God in all things

All things, right? Okay, so today I am thankful to know that I have two very healthy and properly functioning tear ducts. I cut up an extraordinarily potent red onion and HOURS after the fact they are still weepy, nose is still running.

I am thankful for the talents I have been blessed with.

I am thankful for scenes of beauty like these that are within short walking distance from my apartment.

All Things with Thankfulness

Today I was grateful for my umbrella, and a dinner invitation, which included sweet potatoes--marvelous! Today I was grateful for amazing conversations full of honesty and thoroughness and meaning. Today I was grateful for a most excellent mum who listens and imparts wisdom and teaches me. I was also grateful for the Primary songs prelude before our Relief Society meeting, "I Love to See the Temple", "I Feel My Savior's Love", and "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus". And for the little thoughts I had about gratitude and humility and for rediscovering this quote:

"The kind of gratitude that receives even tribulations with thanksgiving requires a broken heart and a contrite spirit, humility to accept that which we cannot change, willingness to turn everything over to the Lord--even when we do not understand, thankfulness for hidden opportunities yet to be revealed. Then comes a sense of peace"
-Bonnie D. Parkin, Ensign, May 2007, p. 35.

I am grateful for unanswered questions that help me remember my reliance on the Lord and how I truly do "need [Him] every hour."

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

I want to make a more concentrated effort in giving thanks in the coming week.

To begin, today I am grateful for sunshine. I worked on my graphics class drawing assignments outside in wonderful weather. I am grateful "for worthy friends whose lives proclaim, devotion to the Savior's name..." I am grateful to have a break from school! I am grateful for naps. I am grateful for people who exert great effort in their church callings. Last night was a branch activity that was a wonderful success because of the committee's many hours of preparation. I am grateful for fresh starts and new beginnings. I am grateful for clean laundry. I am grateful for baked sweet potatoes. I am grateful for modern technology that allows for instant communication with the people that I love. I am grateful for most excellent parents who tirelessly give, and give, and give to me and my siblings. I am grateful for truth, and for the Holy Ghost who can help us to see truth--to see "things as they really are, and...as they really will be..." Jacob 4:13.

This video is a good introduction to my thankfulness desire:

Can ye feel so now?

Alma poses a series of probing, soul-searching questions in Alma chapter 5 of The Book of Mormon that can be instructive in the process of becoming a true disciple of Christ. One particular question from that chapter has been on my mind the last week or so. Alma asked the people in the city of Zarahemla, and by extension, all of us, this question in verse 26, "...if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" It is part of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to endure to the endure, to "press forward" and to "continue in the way", not just once, but consistently throughout our lives. The challenge is to have faith in Jesus Christ, not last year or last month, but today, and tomorrow, and always. The challenge is to have a constant spirit of repentance. It is not just, "I did repent" or "I have repented", but "I am repenting." Faith and repentance. Faith and repentance. Faith and repentance. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and seeking the gift of repentance that comes because of His Atonement encompass so much in that continually seeking, becoming, understanding, improving process. How merciful is our Father in Heaven who offers us an opportunity on a weekly basis to feel again that change of heart. "O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way..." that we may feel so NOW.

The Kingdom of the Little People

Has it really been more than a month since I last wrote? Time flies! Life has been wonderful and busy with so many little things, I guess I have been enjoying them, but not writing about them! And...speaking of little things, I discovered a cabinet of little wonders in the visitor's center of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. Amazing what creativity and simple little things like hickory shells, acorn caps, leaves, dried flowers, and sticks can become.
I have been working on my own little models in studio, what are called palm models (about 8" by 10") with a scale of 1/32" = 1'-0. They were built from plans I drew up for a sculpture garden and had to use three different "form vocabularies". I chose to use rectalinear, arc-and-tangent, and radial. These form vocabularies create a different feel based on the foundational geometry that is used. For example, the rectalinear is based on 90 degree angles and tends to be a little stiff and formal, while radial has a flowing, dynamic feel as it uses parts and pieces of the circle as its basic geometry. I thought it might be interesting to include some of my plans and models as they progressed. I started with functional diagrams, then hardened up the spaces and established a formal plan, then built the model (rectalinear was the first step). After building the rectalinear model I evolved the plans and models into arc-and-tangent and radial. Just for a sense of scale, a person (a tall person) in this scale would be about the size of a grain of rice.