Fork in the Road

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The Road Not Taken 

by Robert Frost 

Poem found here. 

Really Live

I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.

I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children.

I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.

I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.


-Marjorie Pay Hinckley
Quote found here

Befriend Your Mother-in-law

When we had special activities at church, I rode my bike to Harriet’s house and rang the doorbell. Harriet’s mother usually answered. In fact, she opened the kitchen window of their apartment on the fourth floor and asked what I wanted. I would ask if Harriet would like a ride to church on my bicycle. Harriet’s mother would say, “No, she will be coming later, but I will be happy to ride with you to church.” This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but how could I decline?

And so we rode to church. I must admit I had a very impressive road bike. Harriet’s mother sat on the top tube bar just in front of me, and I tried to be the most elegant bicycle driver over roads of rough cobblestone.
Time passed. While beautiful Harriet was seeing many other young men, it seemed that I could not make any headway with her.

Was I disappointed? Yes.

Was I defeated? Absolutely not!

Actually, looking back I recognize that it doesn’t hurt at all to be on good terms with the mother of the girl of your dreams.

-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
"Your Happily Ever After." Ensign. May 2010, pp 124-127.

"Your Happily Ever After"

Heavenly Father offers to you the greatest gift of all---eternal life---and the opportunity and infinite blessing of your own “happily ever after.”

But such a blessing does not come without a price. It is not given simply because you desire it. It comes only through understanding who you are and what you must become in order to be worthy of such a gift.

-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
"Your Happily Ever After." Ensign. May 2010, pp 124-127.

From the Thorns

My dear young sisters, you need to know that you will experience your own adversity. None is exempt. You will suffer, be tempted, and make mistakes. You will learn for yourself what every heroine has learned: through overcoming challenges come growth and strength.

It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.


-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
“Your Happily Ever After.” Ensign. May 2010, pp 124-127.

Discovery

Probably my favorite "Facebook quote":

"Discovery is a very exhausting procedure . . . you are so deep-down tired when you finish." ~Margaret Barker*

*Again, quote reposted here, just as it was found on Facebook; I cannot guarantee accuracy in wording or attribution. Just consider that the norm for Facebook quotes.

As Seen on Facebook

Every once in awhile I actually read the quotes people put on Facebook. Since this site is meant to include happy and encouraging sayings, I thought that selecting a few of the quotes others find motivating and have posted on Facebook would be a good place to start.

These quotes stood out to me because they talk about having a conqueror's spirit. Apparently we all need a little psyching up once in awhile.

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"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." ~Helen Keller

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." ~Teddy Roosevelt

To change your life:
start immediately;
do it flamboyantly;
no exceptions.
-William James

"If you avoid difficult things, great things will avoid you." -- George Brimhall

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin -- real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."
– Alfred D'Souza

"Life is worth the scary parts." -- Mr. Dungbeetle

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." -- Booker T. Washington

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The quotes have been reposted here, just as they were found on Facebook; I cannot guarantee accuracy in wording or attribution. 

The Cup

Truth will pop out at you from expected and unexpected places. It can uplift you, derail you, comfort you, strike you. It will change you. Sometimes the most arid sky will eek out a single drop. Other times the ocean is so deep you cannot hope to touch each wave.

I am not an ocean; but I hold my small cup to the sky and pray for rain. That which falls is yours to share.