I am Grateful for Family

It's been a while and I don't remember how to add the links to my blog, if you (any of you) could offer me a hand, I'm dying to connect to you guys!

I love whoever started this blog craze in the family and caught in on fire! I have learned so much about you guys just from all of these blogs! I have loved reading Kim's list of 100 things that she's learned about herself, I love seeing Mindy's beautiful photography, and reading all of the comments that are popping up everywhere! This is one of the few technological things that has brought me closer to my family! I'm not saying that technology is bad by any means, but I have been noticing a trend with the rise with cell phones. I think it could be summed up in two words "crowded isolation". We have the power now to connect with anyone that we want to and we use our caller ID to screen those we don't want to talk to. These advances have been created to simplify our lives and I find my life busier than ever because I can! Watch my Glennart blog for a painting of "Crowded Isolation" coming soon. It may be a few weeks or months, though, I'm busy screening my phone calls.

As I see it, gratitude is one of the greatest antidotes to Pride. I grew up thinking that humility was the cure, but now I see it as more of the opposite of Pride. When I'm feeling stubborn or jealous about something, it isn't really feasible to just "be humble". How would you just be humble anyway? It's not really something that you can do, but it's something that you are. Humility is the result of changing one's mind and heart.

Gratitude for what I do have leads me to focus on what is imortant instead of wishing I had some other circumstances. I see how the Lord has blessed me and I realize that I don't really need that thing that I was dying for or have that certain experience to make me happy. The Lord has provided me with all of my needs and my life is very comfortable on the whole. I have a very loving and amazingly supportive wife, a beautiful and healthy son, and many opportunities to grow in the gospel, education, and career. The world is mine.

I am grateful for stress. Wait, I guess I should put that in the form of a question. Am I grateful for stress, or can I be grateful for stress?

Stress helps me to get things done. I can't help but be involved. In high school I was in student government positions all three years, on my mission my motto was "Kill every day by working it to death." In college, I am heavy into directing a short film with my peers. In church, I am the Young Men's President (for the record, I didn't volunteer for that one.) with youth conference on the way. On the side, I'm working on storyboards for a national spot for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. If that wasn't enough, a few weeks ago I practically begged a publication house if I could have another illustration assignment.

If an idle mind is the devil's playground he won't have much fun here. I can find gratitude in that, I guess.