Sparrows/One by One

(Copyright Intellectual Reserve)

Okay first I'll share the scripture, and then ill share an experience I had. I couldn't decide which title this should be so I left both!

Matthew 10 says (and listen hard to this, because this is YOUR SAVIOR speaking:)

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. 

Look at that sparrow up there. Now, I love birds. I spent a majority of my middle school years bird watching. But believe me when I say I had to look long and hard to find a sparrow picture that was pretty. And even that one is not as effervescent as a hummingbird or as glorious as an eagle.

So, I guess it's worth is not in beauty. Maybe function? The sparrow serves as prey for snakes and cats, it eats seeds, and lives a couple years. Not much of a niche to brag about (haha ecology word!). We can count out function. The sparrow is not valued for its strength, or cunning, or beauty.

It's the value of their meat then! That must be it! No wait, Christ just said they were only sold for half a farthing (I looked it up, it was the smallest roman coin in use, and small in Greek as well. Under the value of two US dollars)

So why is it that God is aware when just one falls? It is because God loves the sparrow, he created it, and nothing more is needed to earn his love.

What about us? We are of more value than many sparrows (thanks, that makes me feel a lot better :). But hold that sarcasm. Because God knows when each sparrow falls.  There can be no doubt in our minds that he knows our small victories and weaknesses, our service and shortcomings, our pity parties. We are God's children, and he is our Father, and he loves us. 

Never fear! God loves you. However, these things are easier said than applied. The world just wants you to get down on yourself.

These past couple months have been kinda a roller coaster. I have days when everything's great, I'm so grateful to have moved away from drama and into a great neighborhood, I have friends, and everything's great. Then it seems in a few hours I could be crying and pleading to feel God's love for me because I don't feel love anywhere else. Sitting alone at lunch is awful. People gossiping about you is awful. Not having inside jokes with people or knowing everyone's history is awful. But you can know that God is always there for you, and knows your struggles and joys.

One thing that is so great though, is that God gives tender mercies to all his children. I'm so grateful for the tender mercies I've been shown just this week. For this week, two people who i admire so much from Va emailed me to see how I was doing.  I don't think that's a coincidence. It really helped me see just how much my Heavenly Father cares about me.

God loves us one by one. He knows your name, and all your pain. He knows your smiles, and wants to help you. One of the greatest comforts to me has been this song. Listen to it, and remember, there is always someone who loves you.

Power of a Smile

(Copyright Intellectual Reserve and lds.org)

Today was kinda a blah day. Rain. I wish I could dance in the rain. 

I heard this story once about a guy who went everyday to this bridge. He would smile and wave at every car that would pass by. In the beginning, people would sometimes wave back. But for a while nobody smiled back at him. This really hurt him, and one day he wrote a note and left it in his apartment saying that if nobody smiled at him that day he would jump the bridge into the river. He had no family or friends, and so those smiles people gave him was his world. When that stopped, his world stopped. That day no one smiled at him. :(

I hope your smile never needs to be a factor into a life or death situation, but the point is, you never know what struggle or pain is going on in a person's life. So you should try to brighten everyone's day. Smile at people you pass in the hall. Give a compliment to someone you barely know. 

There was a girl I knew once. She was a little overweight, and bullied a lot. She was quiet and barely looked into peoples faces because she was afraid that she would get hurt. 

I kept feeling like I should do something nice for her. I would smile and talk to her sometimes, but I knew I could do better. So for valentines day, I decided to give her a valentine. Now you must understand, back then, Fundip was gold and if you got it for a valentine you were forever in their debt. 

When I gave her that Fundip, her face lit up so much. She looked at me and tentatively asked, " for me?"  She probably hadn't gotten any valentines day cards or candy yet, and watched on the side as others received gifts galore. 

She moved away a week later. I was so grateful to have shown her that small kindness, to let her know that someone cared about her. I hope she is doing better where she lives now. I hope she knows how much her Father in heaven loves her. 

I would feel so guilty if I hadn't been kind to her before she moved away. So don't procrastinate your kindness. You don't know what effect you can make on people. :)

Go make someone smile for me ;)

The Tree of Life

(copyright Intellectual Reserve and lds.org)

I'm so excited! In art class, we are having the opportunity to do self portraits in any way we like. At first I was a little unsure about it, because being the center of attention isn't too cool, but I have an idea!

I was thinking, and I realized there were not really very many widely known art pieces about the tree of life that are actually personal. They all show the grand scheme of things, but not a personal view. 

So I am going to draw myself reaching up and plucking off the fruit of the tree of life! 

For those who are unfamiliar with this story, it is found in 1 Nephi 7-11 or so (?). For those who are familiar, too bad! ;)

The tree of life was a dream that a prophet had. But I'll just describe what was in the dream. 

Many people were gathered, confused by the fog and storms and darkness of life. They were wandering, just like how we wander. Some of them found an iron rod suspended in the air, and grabbed hold of it. Looking down at their feet, they saw a straight and narrow path. If they followed that path and rod, they would reach a tree. Full of fruit and shining like the sun, the tree welcomed all to partake of its sweetness.

Across the way, a dirty river flowed. Across the river people laughed and spat and pointed fingers at the followers. They were rich and pleasurable, and some people who had reached the tree were ashamed. But those who had held fast to the iron rod were able to reach the tree and share the fruit with their families.

What did this dream mean? Well, that's what Nephi, a young man and the son of this prophet wanted to know. He prayed and asked God what it meant. An angel came to him and asked him what he thought the tree was. Nephi said he did not know the meaning of all things, but he knew that God loved his children (more on that in another post). The angel then showed him the vision and explained.

The tree of life is the love of God, and the fruit was the sweetest above all other fruits. The only way was by following the straight and narrow path and the iron rod to the tree. The iron rod was the word of God, and if we hold fast to it we can find our way through the mists of darkness to reach God's love. The word of God is found in the scriptures.

We need to make sure we find the iron rod and hold fast to it so that the people who laugh and mock us do not cause us to leave the light we've been given. As we keep progressing along the straight and narrow path, we will one day be able to bask in the light of God's love.

This past year, I have read my scriptures so much. I am so grateful to feel the love God has for me. If you want to feel it, read the scriptures. They will show you the way. God's love is the source of true happiness! I know that if you will search for him, and ask him if he loves you, you can receive a knowledge of that as well!

Crayola is Smart

(copyright Intellectual reserve and lds.org)

Okay, so it might just be the artist in me, but I just love Crayola.

So, on Sunday our lesson was on unity. They asked us how we could describe unity in an object lesson. I came up with this:

So, say everyone is assigned a color. We are all crayons, and your color is brown. That kind of stinks, you think. You can't draw beautiful rainbows, or paint a night sky. You can't make awe-inspiring sunshine like yellow, and you didn't even get a color that stands for beauty at all. But it was the luck of the draw, and you are stuck with it. 

As you continue on your career as a crayon, you notice you are the last color picked. Little children have loved and worn down all the purples to a stump, yet you've only been used once to draw a girls hair. No love for you. Soon the box is discarded and you are left alone with the other colors, only half used and unloved, while they taunt you because the only thing you are good for drawing is dung. 

Alone, you feel ugly and unwanted. Looking at the other colors, you notice red is too rash and glaring, orange too prideful, yellow is somewhat unkind. Green gets jealous often, blue is depressed, and purple seems to be hiding something. Alone, all the colors have lost their beauty. You start to wonder why the world even invented crayons, if every color alone is disgusting. 

But there is one who sees your true worth. That is Heavenly Father. The world is like a child, telling us we need to be perfect this and perfect that. It uses us for a short scribble, but quickly the trends change and you are discarded. Remember, Satan is never there to lift you up. 

Heavenly Father sees the worth in your humble color. Though you may not have apparent beauty, God sees your full potential. He is the Master Artist and Creator, he sees us as we can one day be. 

The Artist finds the discarded colors and is sad. The world has degraded and belittled us. But he knows how to guide us to become a beautiful masterpiece. We just need to put our crayon in his hand and let him do his magic. 

This picture of deer is what a true Master can do. And look! Your humble brown is the main event! No longer can blue and red belittle you, for you were made to do amazing things!

 I guess I strayed a little from the unity aspect. The truth is, our self worth is so important when we work together. We each have our own strengths and weaknesses, but when we come together and work together, led by a loving Heavenly Father, we can do incredible things. 

Remember there is always someone who loved you!

<3 eliza

A Peach Tree

It's a new year, time for a rejuvenation of our goals and good intents, time for a remembering of what is truly important. A time to turn our hearts over again.

I was watching Kung Fu Panda today. One of my favorite things in the whole world is finding metaphors for truth in everyday life. Joseph Smith once said that "we accept truth wherever it is found, no matter the source. For this is a gospel of truth." I didn't quote that completely, but you get the gist (jiste, jist, giste?).

What does this have to do with Kung Fu Panda? Well.

Po is a panda who finds out that he is the Dragon warrior, a hero of legend destined to save the world. But no one believes in him, not even himself. Just like us, he puts words like fat, dumb, ugly, short, tall, skinny, unskilled, untalented, and clumsy in front of his true name. In reality, our Heavenly Father sees us as beautiful, graceful, learning, growing, honorable, and of great worth.

But he still doesn't believe it. Even when we know all those things, we love to say "there's nothing special here. Move on to what others can offer."  With a sigh, we leave it at that.

There was one wise old turtle who knew the worth of souls, though. He compared it to peach trees. You see, we all start out as a seed. As we grow, there may be knots in our journey, but as long as we are growing heavenward, we are moving towards our destiny and potential. Someday, we will be clothed in beautiful blossoms, a foreshadowing of the even greater joy to come. And one day, we will be able to taste the fruit of our labors, the warm, enveloping peace and love of a peach. ( I kinda mixed my two metaphors together. Hope it makes sense! ;)

Another thing the tortoise said was even if we want apples or oranges, we will still get peaches. There are incredible things, incredible potential within each of us, and it is never the same for anyone. That is the beauty of it. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and we all have our own path to discovering them. I think that must be one of our Heavenly Father's favorite things, helping us discover our true worth and potential. Can you imagine what amazing things he has in store for us when we take our place at his side?

You can't force yourself to be something you are not, and you cannot force the timing of your destiny. The secret ingredient is yourself, and believing in who you can become. Christ has promised that we can become as he is!

So this new year I hope we all try a little harder, reach a little higher, and do the things that it will take to get closer to that fruit. Have a little more faith, love a little harder, and always remember that you are worth so much to your Father in heaven. My favorite quote from general conference was the one by President Thomas S. Monson. He truly is a prophet of God:

“Your Heavenly Father loves you—each of you. That love never changes, it is simply always there.”

I'm Ready

Alright. Blogging world of unexpected delights and exquisite wonders, here I come.

So. To all my girls in Virginia, for that trek family, for my Efy company scattered across California to Brazil, for people I've met on this World Wide Web. To the girl who I loved that had to leave us for a a short time, for the boy that I saw that I wished would give me the time of day, for the cousins who are crazy smart in Hawaii. For the Young Women teachers, counselor a, mentors, examples, friends. To my friend whose getting baptized (I'm so proud of you!) to the girl who is struggling, to the bishops who have helped get me through these teenage years. To that one out there who could use a pick me up, to the brother watching me type. To my Sunday School teacher who told me that i was the type of person who grew where she was planted, who would love life no matter where I was. You were right. To my elementary teachers who told me to keep dreaming, to my middle school teachers who told me to never quit. To the boy that keeps annoying me :). To those ladies who were never "old" just ripe, to the kids that threatened to throw me off the plank. To those less than perfect people who are perfect examples of faith, the people featured on the Mormon channel. To the one that always had to be right. Most of all, to my parents who have led me and guided me through the thick and thin, always keeping the goal in sight.

Thank you for getting me this far. It means more to me than you will ever know.


And thank you to my Heavenly Father. Everything I have, everything I know is because of Him. I hope that in all the eternities I will have the chance to pay you back. For now I will try my best to love.

This blog is not cute yet. It doesn't have all the tags or special features in the margins. But it does have my heart in it.


My favorite song is I Will. I named my blog after it :).

I made my choice, you can mark this day,
The day I pledge, to take his name.
I will be strong, I will be brave,
Standing for Him, as i take my place.

I will have fun with this song later. It is my New Years resolution. :)


So be expecting more from Eliza, world.


I will take my place at His side.