In Memory of My Poetic Mother

Picture of my Mom just a few years before passing away.

My mother passed away when I was only seven weeks old. A few years back my father gave me a copy of her journal. In this personal record was this poem she had written titled "BEST".  This simple poem explains how a life full of "things" is often never confused with "BAD" and "WORST", but by GOOD things. This happens when we are distracted from doing the BEST things by being caught up in GOOD things.

I enjoy reading this and other journal entries from my mother. You could tell she is pure in heart and full of love for God. 

"BEST" 

While I invest my time in Good 

Best waits 'round along with Should. 

Should grows larger with neglect 

Still BEST maintains status select. 

Bad and Worst I never touch 

For I am much too careful—much 

To let those evil imps rob me 

Of blessings in eternity. 

When Judgement calls for an account 

And I the witness chair do mount 

At my defense Good will arise 

Yet BEST and SHOULD will tell no lies. 

The sentence? 

Fair. 

Can only be 

A Good reward assigned to me. 

Yet glories I will never know 

Will be assigned and justly go 

To an investor in the BEST 

who would not be content with less. 

That Satan! Master of Deceit! 

Engineered my own defeat 

Why BAD and WORST he needn't use 

When GOOD the issues can confuse. 

By Linda Lee Stratford Anderson 

There is a story of a friend who took his family on multiple summer vacation getaways. At the end of the summer he asked his teenage son which of all the summer vacations he enjoyed most. The father learned from the reply, and was taken back to hear is son say “The thing I liked best this summer was the night you and I laid on the lawn and looked at the stars and talked.” It wasn't the fancy resorts or expensive museums, but the one-on-one time with his Dad. Perhaps an example of the GOOD contrasted against the BEST. The key is that we never let the GOOD impede us from what is BEST.

Quiet Moments that Matter

As a 10 year old my Grandpa Anderson challenged me to commit this poem to memory. He even incentivized me with a $20 bill. (That’s a lot of money for a 10 year old). I never did in fact memorize it until 16 years later after his passing I recommitted to memorizing the poem again. Now memorized, I find myself reflecting on various phrases/stanzas. Even today I rehearsed the first stanza when an unfortunate circumstance had left me quite discouraged at work. The corporate nuances of work can find oneself easily tangled up in the grapevine of gossip. Frustrated with the low measures taken by those posturing and positioning themselves for next big promotion or recognition (often at the expense of friendship or integrity/honesty), I sat in my office and quietly gazed out the window over the downtown skyline. I felt calm and quiet inside when the first stanza of this poem came to mind. After reciting the words I found myself refreshed and ready to roll with the punches -- not wasting another minute dwelling on things I cannot control. I imagined Grandpa proud to know his challenge to memorize this poem made a lasting impression on his grandson. A gift worth infinitely more than any $20 bill.


IF

If you can keep your head when all about you   
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;   
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;   
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,   
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!


                -Rudyard Kiplinger

C.S. Lewis -- Saint & Scholar

"Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It's like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course I can't trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist or anything else: Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God."

Quote of the Week

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." 

-Citizenship in a Republic by Theodore Roosevelt

Sound counsel on Discipleship from F. Enzio Busche

As part of our curriculum at Brigham Young University, all students are invited to attend a campus wide devotional on Tuesdays and an occasional Sunday. They would have guest speakers from all over the world come and present in these meetings. This 6 minute clip encompasses the main message from a devotional given back in 1996 by F. Enzio Busche. I found it a powerful message that inspires me to improve my attitude and desire to be better disciple of Christ. These are the main points bulleted out. But I would recommend viewing the actual clip.

* Embrace this day with an enthusiastic welcome, no matter how it looks. The covenant with God to which you are true enables you to become enlightened by him, and nothing is impossible for you.

* When you are physically sick, tired, or in despair, steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them, in gratitude and love, toward God.

* In your life there have to be challenges. They will either bring you closer to God and therefore make you stronger, or they can destroy you. But you make the decision of which road you take.

* First and foremost, you are a spirit child of God. If you neglect to feed your spirit, you will reap unhappiness. Don’t permit anything to detract you from this awareness.

* You cannot communicate with God unless you have first sacrificed your self-oriented natural man and have brought yourself into the lower levels of meekness, to become acceptable for the Light of Christ.

* Put all frustrations, hurt feelings, and grumblings into the perspective of your eternal hope. Light will flow into your soul.

* Pause to ponder the suffering Christ felt in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the awareness of the depth of gratitude for him, you appreciate every opportunity to show your love for him by diligently serving in his Church.

* God knows that you are not perfect. As you suffer about your imperfections, he will give you comfort and suggestions of where to improve.

* God knows better than you what you need. He always attempts to speak to you. Listen, and follow the uncomfortable suggestions that he makes to us–everything will fall into its place.

* Avoid any fear like your worst enemy, but magnify your fear about the consequences of sin.

* When you cannot love someone, look into that person’s eyes long enough to find the hidden rudiments of the child of God in him.

* Never judge anyone. When you accept this, you will be freed. In the case of your own children or subordinates, where you have the responsibility to judge, help them to become their own judges.

* If someone hurts you so much that your feelings seem to choke you, forgive and you will be free again.

* Avoid at all cost any pessimistic, negative, or criticizing thoughts. If you cannot cut them out, they will do you harm. On the road toward salvation, let questions arise but never doubts. If something is wrong, God will give you clarity but never doubts.

* Avoid rush and haste and uncontrolled words. Divine light develops in places of peace and quiet. Be aware of that as you enter places of worship.

* Be not so much concerned about what you do, but do what you do with all your heart, might, and strength. In thoroughness is satisfaction.

* You want to be good and to do good. That is commendable. But the greatest achievement that can be reached in our lives is to be under the complete influence of the Holy Ghost. Then he will teach us what is really good and necessary to do.

* The pain of sacrifice lasts only one moment. It is the fear of the pain of sacrifice that makes you hesitate to do it.

* Be grateful for every opportunity to serve. It helps you more than those you serve.

* And finally, when you are compelled to give up something or when things that are dear to you are withdrawn from you, know that this is your lesson to be learned right now. But know also that, as you are learning this lesson, God wants to give you something better.