Guest Rambings: The Zen Mormon
Sunday, December 14, 2008
My beautiful, wise, passionate, eternally optimistic, always-up-for-a-good-conversation sister Lisa had a talk at her church 2 Sundays ago.
It is an amazing talk. And it's not just for you folks of the Mormon inclination either. It has good stuff about living in the moment, being content, motherhood, and the true spirit of Christmas and generosity. The kind of good stuff that makes you teary. It will take you 5 minutes and you will be better today for having read it. So don't keep scrolling down to the next post on Google Reader. There will be a link below you will want to click and make yourself comfy.
And since it looks like most churches will be canceled in the Seattle area due to snow (crossing my fingers), I figure you all might need a little enlightenment on this Sunday afternoon. If you don't live in Seattle than you should just read it anyway because you like me and therefore you like my sister too.
Alright here is the guest ramblings for today from Lisa Nelson titled The Zen Mormon. Feel free to tell her what you thought of it in the comments. I'll pass the information on. We love commenters in this house.
9 Comments:
Yikes! I'm so embarassed. I should have checked for typos before sending this to you. You are very sneaky.
what a great talk!
it was the perfect way for me to start this morning.
dan always says, "this is the best time of our lives" and i silently think to myself, "geez, i hope not," but i'm learning to be content. i'm sure we'll long for these days of childless poverty when we're busy chasing after kids.
Yes! I love this talk too. You know it's a good talk when you think about it, days, weeks, and even years later.
Lisa ever since you sent me the talk every so often I'll think of what you said. And I hope I'm living most of what you said every day. I'm trying too! I love this time of young mothering life!
Also, my new favorite scripture is the one you mentioned in your talk in the Phil. Thanks for that!
Love you!
just what i needed to hear. its hard to not always think of what we don't have, or what we need to make our lives easier. this talk has inspired me to enjoy my life more, and not worry about whats lacking...because really we are very blessed.
thanks for sharing this beautiful talk. It is late and I cannot sleep. It was a wonderful thing to read and remind me of my personal perspective this christmas and my life in general. Thank you.
Aimee- thank you so much for posting Lisa's talk.
Lisa- This was absolutely perfect. The entire talk spoke directly to me, and in an of odd sort of way answered a fervent prayer I've been carrying in my heart for some time. Through a blog. Ha. I have been struggling with this whole idea for quite a while now. I often find myself looking into the future. When I lose 20 pounds. . . when my kids are out of diapers. . . when, when, when. This is exactly what I needed. To feel validated and hopeful at the same time. Why exactly is it, that I need "things" to make me happy? Or rather, why do I think those things will make me happy? Why can't I just rely and have faith in the Lord that what he says about giving freely of our substance, and helping the needy and the poor, is truly what will bring us happiness? Not getting, but giving?
Anyways, thankyou so much for a much needed reality check on life. I was just watching Kung Fu Panda the other day with my kids and the old master turtle guy said, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That's why they call it the present." I've been thinking alot about that. Enjoying exactly where I am. What an enormous challenge though, right?
Amazing. Finding answers and inspiration through blogging and animated movies. Isn't life awesome!
Thanks again!
Lisa, so wonderful. This talk was so refreshing to read especially this time of year. It makes me think of President Monson's talk this conference where he said "If we keep living for tomorrow it's never going to come." Thanks for letting Aimee post your talk, so we can all try a little harder to be zen mormons/people
Lisa, this was fabulous...an amazing pick-me-up this afternoon.
What a beautiful and meaningful talk. Wouldn't it be nice if all talks at church were this interesting and inspiring? I absolutely love that your mom made you give out your lemonade for free. What a valuable lesson - being a humanitarian. Fin, don't get mad at us when we make you give away your lemonade for free!
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