IT USED TO BE THAT IF I COULD DREAM IT, I COULD MAKE IT HAPPEN

                I would dream big and settle for whatever success would come of it. That’s what I did when I was a museum professional from age 24 to age 32. I dreamed of great exhibitions and made them happen; dreamed of grand annual outdoor art festivals and they happened; dreamed of quality publications and they came to pass.

                That’s what I did when the opportunity to restore an old Victorian house in Ontario, California fell into my lap. The result of that one actually stopped cars in the middle of the street to gawk at the results and helped raise $2000 for charity when we held an open house after it was finished. It still stands as a really beautiful small Victorian jewel of a house. It was one of the most delightful projects that I’ve ever undertaken. The results were beautiful.

That’s what I did in Arkansas as chairman for the Church’s area celebration for it’s 150^th birthday when I was in charge of decorations for a Grand Ball. It was a glorious success. I painted the twelve presidents of the church in oval frames; we had fake Greek columns to dance around and many, many people came in period costumes; it got covered by the local news media with rave reviews and wonderful photographs in the paper. What a blast!

That’s what I did in Tennessee when I chaired a “Tennessee Conference on Records” in Nashville when our stake center was hit by a tornado. This was the idea I came up with to help keep family history in the public eye when we no longer had a Family History Center. The Stake and Area Presidency’s supported and publicized this event making it a huge success. It was very well attended by Western, Middle and Eastern Tennessee experts from repositories of historic records.

                That’s what I did in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico after my family moved there when my husband retired….well, that will be another story. Suffice it to say that I organized a bi-cultural, bi-lingual symposium on family history records in Mexico. Twenty-five experts, from both sides of the border, attended this three day conference.

2013 Pulled the Rug from Under My Feet

                I was so discouraged at the end of this past year when I was setting goals for the New Year, that I determined that I would never do another large genealogical conference again, because of my age and physical limitations.

                I was so discouraged that I determined that I would not attend RootsTech 2014 for the same reasons. Last year I had determined to write a book and gather stories of members involved in this technology of family history where they saw God’s hand in their work. This book was to be called Elijah’s Warriors and aimed at our youth.  But, when I attended RootsTech 2013, I found out that the youth suffered from exactly the same malady that hinders our adult leaders … they don’t read books… or manuals. The youth want short five minute videos. I wouldn’t be able to produce the quality videos that would do the subject matter justice.

                I determined that I did not have the scholarship credentials to write a book, especially on my favorite topic of Isaiah or that book on Elijah’s Warriors.

SO WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE ME IN 2014?

                 You might wonder why I’ve lived my life this way: Dreaming Big. Early in my membership, I received my patriarchal blessing and have patterned by life using the blessings found there. I really sincerely desired to accomplish those things Heavenly Father sent me to earth to do. In other words, my mission in life, and I knew it had to center around family and family history. Abraham 3:25 is quoted in my blessing saying, “to see if they would do whatsoever thing the Lord commanded them.”

                This was quoted in last Sunday’s lesson from the new book, “Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith.” I had always read this verse to mean something more than just keeping the traditional commandments, which I do. I wanted to learn from personal revelation what exactly God wanted me to do at any given moment in my life. I wanted to know what I promised God that I would do while I was on the earth. Then I wanted to always be found doing just that. So I kept praying and I’d get inspiring ideas, often Big Ideas.

                God has sent his prophets, messengers and given us scriptures to help us. He has given us the Holy Ghost to lead, guide, prompt and reveal His will to each of us individually. I wish to take His yoke upon me, to work out my salvation by obedience to the laws of His gospel and all of this knowing my nothingness in the grander scheme of things. Finally that it will be by His grace, after all that I can do, that I will be saved in the Kingdom of God.

It used to be that if I could dream it, I could make it happen. But not in 2013

                 During the past six months I've felt as if I see things through a glass darkly. Is this a cloud of depression that's been hovering over me? Or is it because the most important thing I could be doing this year is something Satan doesn't want me to be doing? Hah!