rehash of a trial... after a week of life.

RIALS #2

Just a follow-up to the last post, again still writing by assignment from Sunday the 21st of July. Even though i figured i had completed the essay, a hectic week of Family and work has caused much though on this matter of trials in our life, or better yet our life of trials...

The 23rd was national hot dog day and there was not a dog in town to be found...

Working the VC waiting for the RF tour to arrive four hours behind the times...

Rain arrived first with it's usual fanfare of lightning, thunder and wet...

Great wet monsoon weather this evening...

glow of the full moon through the night cloud cover...

a strange night of toss and turning dreams... what to do?

Cool almost clear morning, clouds starting to build early to the west...

pioneer day events in town, Casto & Losee wash's clear no water, wet spots

great evening/sunset cloud show to the south east, bright whites/dark grays

48degrees, wet, and sunny, doughnut Thursday, early morning buses...

reading: Alma29:3 ...i am a man,... i ought to be content with what the Lord allots me...

GWashington series #3 done "no heart"... flesh, sex, love, death.

Trials #2: when i come upon a "trigger" word that starts me thinking it usually allows me to see more clearly that which the word implies/means in my life at that given time: trials. Life quite simply is a trial to be worked/processed through... better yet... what in this life is not a trial of some sort? What appears to be not good or hard for me at any given time is assured me by the Lord to be for my good. Usually these assurances come through my daily scripture reading, it then takes some thinking and prayer to find/discover what the good of that trial is/was, and that comes in the Lord's time. The sooner i can become "swallowed up" in the Lord the better/easier this life/trial will be for me to accept. New better meanings to words that apply to me during a week of thinking. 

Trial: a test of faith , patience, or stamina, through subjection to suffering or temptation. A source of vexation or annoyance. 

Tempt: presenting of an attraction so strong that it overcomes the restrants of conscience or better judgement.

Temptation: a cause or occasion of enticement... especially to evil.

These words have come to my mind and understanding throughout this entire week as the result of my sunday school lesson at the start of this week, along with my daily reading throughout the week.

I am glad that life is a process and not a black and white change from one belief, understanding or step-up in knowledge to another. I am also grateful that i do not or can't become perfect in this lifetime, my second estate. I may have been a slow learner in my first estate because it is taking me time now to get through this life of trials/learning. 

Jolene and Siblings where clearing the Family Home this week, Home back to house...

i continue to work each day, waiting on visitors and a plumber to fix flusher valve...

fs office early today, time sheet complete and submit... Gem movie night, WWZ.

Cool cloudy saturday, week 26 prep sheet, thoughts and ideas for this space...

new additions to our home from house clearing... where to put it...

the smell of a cool rain coming through my open window...

Process debris...                                                                                  July 25 2013

 CHEERS

Life as a trial... test... challenge... and not just one.

RIALS

i write this post by assignment form my Sunday school teacher this past Sunday, 7/21/2013

there are some things that just nag at your spirit/soul... this is one of those

the sooner the task is done i will be able to get back to normal...

a trial: a person, thing, or situation that tests your endurance or forbearance.

a test: an event or situation that reveals the strength or quality of i/you under strain.

a challenge:a task or situation that tests someones abilities...

" Jesus allowed his will to be "swallowed up" in the will of the Father...

some presume we will lose our identity if we are totally "swallowed up"...

of course , our individuality is actually enhanced by submissiveness and righteousness...

it is sin that grinds us down to sameness - to a monotonous single plane."

                                                                                                                            Elder Neil A. Maxwell 1992

i have had and will, i am sure, have trials in my life, thank you very much. As can be seen in the definitions above situation appears to be a key word... "a set of circumstances in which one finds oneself; state of affairs" and i know circumstances are the result of choices made as i have gone through my life. Most of life from my point of view and belief is and has been that the glass is half full... not half empty. I prefer to see/view/confront trials as challenges... i have had this point of knowledge for as long as i can remember, even before my conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1976. So what i guess i am saying is trials, yes as difficult and trying as they are and can be, are just life as it comes at me each and every day, and this life was of my choosing. Not all challenges can be solved in minutes, hours, weeks, months or even years... but with my faith in the Lord and prayer that he is whom the Spirit testifies to me that he is... then this life is the test that it is meant to be for me. "Cowboy" up and get it done to the best of my abilities and talents.

I have had a 'blessed" life so far and i am sure there are greater challenges to come... do not by any way shape or form think it has been easy for me. Making a list of my challenges is of no value to me, like a notch on a stick... i don't believe i will be judged on how many, but on how i got through each one. I learned long ago, before 1976, that whatever challenge came my way, weather positive or negative, it was my task: work to be done, to transform the given task into something good and positive to the well being of myself and people around me. I did this through my everyday work and Art, most was successful in my eyes but i have also learned i am not perfect as yet.

I have yet to be "swallowed up" in the will of the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, but i work at this task each day, some days better then others. The greatest challenge for me right now is to read the scriptures each day and try to understand them and then apply them to my daily life... most days i get lost in the "world" and lose track of the test of mortality along with my purpose in life here. So i should be praying for more challenges from the Lord to help keep me on track/task.

Wow that was a great break, got my ears lowered, weekly red canyon report out, and one of the great loves of my life... a monsoon rain shower along with all its associated wet smells, flashes and noises for almost two hours now. It always takes time for my random access mind to incubate on ideas and thoughts... so here i go again maybe with a bit more sense.

Life is not fair... unless your on the Lords side then He always has your back. 
Life is a test... we must preform it to the best of our abilities.
Life has reason and purpose... thus trials must also have reason and purpose...
Otherwise how could the Lord teach us... without taking our mortal agency...
This monsoon shower we are having as i write... to some is a blessing and others a trial...
but it falls on all of us here in Panguitch this day. The Lord works with and uses the earth and all its elements that are around us each day to teach and try us. Trials are custom made and personal for each and everyone of us... even if they may come upon all of us at the same time, rain showers in town, they are intended to move us beyond the mark we are at today. The joy of learning is of great value to me and that's part of the reason i perceive trials as challenges rather then setbacks and hardships,  though they may feel that-a-way at the onset and as we progress and process through them. I take great comfort in "... for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God." (D&C 101:16). 
With trials and hardships in my life i know that God is aware of me, cares for me, and above all loves me personally.

                                                CHEERS...

brown deck... growing garden... summer clouds... the best...

summer view... red window... stone coyote...                                   June 2013

The best part of summer, this year anyway, is getting my buttocks kicked painting that brown deck in the heat and between the rain showers. 

Work is always good cause you don't know what or who's coming in the front door next.

It's always fun to watch the garden grow, city water it till the showers come and watch the plants and weeds explode, with nitrogen charged rain water!! 

Then... those summer clouds, white tops and three shades of grey to the bottoms, small to none in the morning then building till after noon with dark gray bottoms emitting lightning & thunder along with late afternoon showers, then the smell and the cooling!!

brown kick butt deck...                                                                          July 2013

Sunday morning meeting routine, 3in3...
Home for lunch... outside with dog...
gopher wants garden... hose down hole...

dislike killing small animals... like garden better...
early evening cool down setting in yard...
g washington painted like johnny  depp,s movie tonto...

water day... moving about the yard no wind yet...
fs time sheet submit cloud cover wind up...
movie night... GeM "now you see me"... good thinker...

sunny, hot, fish water day done... out to red canyon...
last of EOS interviews... bingo!! this one, this one!!
Art washes away the dust of everyday life... picasso

reading Alma, Amulek & Zeezorm... prophets & a lawyer...
19 firefighters in Az gone... wind shift, burn over...
handicap signs in place... now teach people to read...

flag in yard... 237 years... fourth of July... remember
sweet smell of rain showers this afternoon... home 
panguitch park lawn... fireworks... good show...

eye on the sky...                                                    4 July 2013

red canyon... front desk dance... rain feels good...
home to panguitch... where did the power go?? dark
four $$$$ into storage bag, wind blowing still dark...

roar shock... test... confused sound...
santa on vacation... under dark cloud rain.
fasting... rolling thunder... for rain...

water garden first... then yard migration...
measure, cut, punch, sew... three buck bags
early supper...  GEM ice cream, then sit on porch.



warm AM... hazy, breeze blowing, up & down canyon
home early , second coat on brown deck... that hurt.
more deck to finish before rains again...

smoke red orange sunrise this morning... warm.
Alma 19-20 gossip creates contention among us...
the eyes have it... last of brown deck done!!

bird into window... bag it... freezer it... then stuff it ?!
doughnut day at the VC... cloudy & warm...
power outage in red canyon... shut down... review with DR

sunny, mostly cloudy, wet... looking for more rain...
wash in canyon did run from yesterday's rain... not much.
years of navy turd chasing pays off today... damage control!!

Levi, Bailey & Layla K. came for short visit then back to sky hoopie...
flash flood warnings up today... cool breeze through windows...
evening rain showers, rainbow to the east... prayer works.

wind, clouds... lightning & thunder as i finish this post...
i smell and hear the rain... dog sleeps... time to join him.
monsoons are the best summer variety... the wet feels good on my skin (-:

Summer at its best... hot & cool... visual variety... smell & sound...                                                                    13 July2013

Thanks for stopping bye... stop and smell the wet rain & sage...
                                             Cheers