Why my job is the best:

Santa came to Community Action Services and Food Bank today.  I wish I had a camera.  He brought several elves and coloring books and warm socks to hand out and all was good in the world haha.  One blessing of getting to work at this organization (one of about a billion) is that on a fairly regular basis I get to see true awe on children's faces.  It's super cheesy, I know, but in a world where wants and needs are granted indistinguishably, I think it is getting rarer and rarer to see.  I stood in a corner and watched as Santa talked to wide-eyed children, who's thrilled faces reflected the fact that this will probably be one of their only Christmas presents this year.  It makes me want less.

Not only did Santa come to hand out presents, but the rest of the family read Christmas stories, played Christmas carols on the violin and just all around brought Christmas to our lobby.  Poverty is overwhelming and stressful and full of fear.  On an average day our lobby radiates those feelings as clients wait and worry.  Today though, I made any excuse I could to cross through and pause a minute to watch.    

On top of all this goodness, I received an email today from a friend who organized a fundraiser for our little food bank.  She was able to raise $543.47.  To put this in perspective with every dollar donated, we can produce up to 17 lbs of food or distribute 5 meals to a family.  So that means she helped to create 2,717 meals or 9,239 lbs of food!  That money will also go to help pay for things like providing temporary housing for families that have been evicted, providing warm winter clothes, school supplies, and hygiene items, and will help us to continue to provide our foreclosure rescue program to individuals in danger of losing their homes.

There is goodness and good people in Utah County.  I'm grateful to get a front row seat to watch it!

"It's always a mistake to settle on any explanation for anything because whatever you settle on you will be wrong, even if you're right.  Everything is ephemeral: everything is in a constant state of flux.  Thinking past any conclusion you've drawn will reward you with a more complex insight and a more compassionate world view.  This is something I am constantly trying to learn and re-learn."

-Charlie Kaufman


Ahhh the dangers of falling into a thinking trap.  That's the trouble with black and white, sometimes things shift one way or another and in the shifting, there is a shade of gray.

Good People, Good Christmas

It is no secret that Halloween stands firm as my favorite holiday.  I love it all, the costumes, the candy, the creeps.  I've taken a lot of flack over the years for this opinion.  It seems loving Halloween past the age 10 is not so cool.

Anyway, why on December 16th am I going on and on about Halloween?  Confession time.  My love of Halloween has maybe led to an under-appreciation of Christmas.  It's true.  Christmas makes me nervous.  So many expectations and complications. Halloween is so simple in comparison.

The truth is however, Halloween is simple because it is selfish.  Something that I tend to be, despite various and inconsistent efforts to overcome this flaw.  It is when I read stories like the following, click here, that I am reminded that Christmas is bigger than the meaning I associate with it.  I love this story.  Read it.  It is fantastic.  When I hear about things like this and view Christmas from this perspective, outside of myself, I can start to admit that maybe Christmas is better than Halloween after all :)

Good Enough

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

All time favorite quote ever.  Just so much wisdom packed into 3 little sentences.  For me, the key to finding the good, has always been not dwelling on the bad.  Does anyone say it better than Bobby McFerrin?

"In every life we have some trouble

But when you worry, you make it double

Don't worry, be happy Don't worry, be happy now"

 In reality, this should be how we understand the repentance process.  Finish each day, through prayer review what we have done well and the things that we have messed up on, repent for our mistakes, and then be done with them so that we can start tomorrow fresh, hopeful, and ready to be better tomorrow than we ever were today.  Logically I understand, but why is letting go of the embarrassments and guilt always so difficult?  I had a good friend who asked the question, why do we tend to define ourselves by the things that we are worst at and count our good as an anomaly?  As we work to find the good, it should probably be a top priority to find the good in ourselves.    

Change is Good

I am a firm believer that change is good.  Change is scary and often hard, but it is good.  Besides, I have never thought that hard and good were mutually exclusive terms.  Change challenges, it forces growth, it refines.  Maybe most importantly, it helps us define our priorities and discover the things we value most.  


I have a testimony that life is meant to be lived outside of our comfort zone.  I know I am at my best when I am adapting.  It is the times that I get complacent and too content that I start to turn into the worst version of myself.  It is so much easier to be selfish and self-focused when things are convenient.  That is why I love this video.  A 30 day change for the better?  Just an experiment? Doable.  Who wants an effortless life anyway?  Give me change and challenge.

A Glimpse of Good

A film contest where everyone was asked to film one second of beauty. So cool to me.

Does it get any better than this?

I'm sure everyone and there mom has already seen this, but I just can't get enough.

Sometimes you don't even have to look for good, it comes to you!

Dear mysterious stranger who snuck into my house while I was at work and left me flowers,

You are the best!  

Even better than coming home to these beauties was the suspense after Kate H. texted me to tell me that she had come home to find them.  I still had an hour and a half of work left, but it was a super exciting hour and a half as I tried to guess who they could possibly be from. 

They left this great note.

Which is fairly difficult to read, but still great.  The gift giver has chosen to continue to remain anonymous, which is killing me, but still, so good.

"Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart."- Anne Frank

I've never been a huge fan of Anne Frank.  Is that terrible to say?  It is isn't it.  It's definitely not politically correct to say that you don't really like a holocaust victim.  I remember in 3rd grade my mom had to rent the video made from the book so that I could finish my book report because I refused to read any further.  It's something about her crush on Peter or how Auguste van Pels is so rude to everyone that I don't like.


Anyway, despite my personal feelings, the overall story told by Anne in her diary is a lesson in charity, hope, and faith in the ultimate good of man.  That is something that I can get on board with.   I agree with Anne, I believe that people are really good at heart.  If Anne can see that living in a tiny, cramped, annex of an office building with 8 other people, then it should be pretty easy for the rest of us to see it as well.