“What do you do when you have prepared carefully, have prayed fervently, waited a reasonable time for a response, and still do not feel an answer? You may want to express thanks when that occurs, for it is an evidence of His trust. When you are living worthily and your choice is consistent with the Savior’s teachings and you need to act, proceed with trust. As you are sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit, one of two things will certainly occur at the appropriate time: either the stupor of thought will come, indicating an improper choice, or the peace or the burning in the bosom will be felt, confirming that your choice was correct. When you are living righteously and are acting with trust, God will not let you proceed too far without a warning impression if you have made the wrong decision”-Elder Richard G. Scott (“Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer,” Ensign, May 2007, 10).

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
― Melody Beattie

"Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend...when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present- love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]-the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth." 
~Sarah Ban Breathnach (quoted by Thomas S. Monson)

"This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now." -President Thomas S. Monson

A philosophy professor once greeted his new class with this object lesson:

He had an empty, clean quart jar that he held up to the class.

In this he poured some rocks about the size of a half dollar. He poured them in until the jar was full. Then he asked the class was the jar full indeed. They all answered that it was full.

The professor then took a bag of smaller pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook it so they would fall into the spaces between the larger rocks. The class laughed.Once again, he asked, "Is the jar full?"

The class all answered again that it was full.

This time he picked up a cup of sand and poured it into the jar. Naturally, it filled up any left spaces as he shook it. He told his class to recognize that this represented their life. The rocks are the important things such as {GOD}, your family, your partner {SPOUSE), your children, your health, or anything so important to you that you would be nearly devastated if you lost it.

The pebbles are the other things in life that matter such as your house, job and car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff in life.


If you put the sand or the pebbles in the jar first, there will be no room for the rocks. Same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on small stuff (material things), you will never have any time for the things that are truly most important. Pay attention to the things that are most critical in your life. Tell your spouse you love her, spend time playing with your children, take your spouse out dancing, take time for medical checkups. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party, or fix the disposal.


Take care of the rocks first, the things that really matter to you. Set your priorities. The rest is just pebbles and sand! 

Copied the italic paragraphs from:http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/beautyrecipes/LifePriorities.html
Pictures from: http://tarasuetakeawalkinmyshoes.blogspot.com/

I recently got a new visiting teaching companion and she is so dedicated.  On the last day of the month she is already beginning to plan when to visit and how to serve the sisters we teach the following month. She is new in the ward and is still getting to know the three sisters we visit, but has already done so much good to help them. In addition to that she is a mother of 9 kids, two of them are adopted and have special needs. She has a lot going on so she told me she needs to make visiting teaching a priority at the beginning of the month or else it will fall by the wayside.  I know i've been so blessed with the sisters i've met through visiting teaching over the many years of being in relief society.