Lady Cady

Faith * Family * Life

Life

A Plea to Time

I have a confession to make. I think Time is out to get me. It flies it’s merry wings quicker and quicker every year. And my life feels like it’s passing me by quicker and quicker. I try my best to hold onto the most important things in life and ignore the lesser things but sometimes I really wish I could just figure out how to stop time altogether! If you happen to have figured out the secret, please pass it on to me! 🙂

Time, please stop your ever flow –
Don’t make each of my children grow.

Let my baby always be
Cute and small and cuddly.
Let him keep that toothless grin
And want to be picked up once again.

Let my toddler always stay
As curious as he is today.
Let him pick up one more book
And ask for me to take a look.

Let my sweet and clever girl
Always love her precious curls.
Let her always want to be
Friends with someone just like me.

Let my first born always stay
As silly as he is today.
Let him always be okay
Hanging with each of us all day.

Let them each keep the wonder of
Gazing at the stars above.
The fun of playing on a beach
Or how delicious is a peach!

Let them always feel so small
When standing beneath a tree so tall.
Let them always feel glad to be
From a place so brave and free.

Let them never question love
From their Heavenly Father above.
That the Savior will always stand
Right beside them where’re they land.

And Time please keep them safe from harm
And know there’s always welcome in these arms.

But since you must keep marching on
Until each one of us is gone,
Then make this promise to me now –
These things we’ll never forget somehow.

The Critic or the Friend

I caught myself recently being critical of someone. Was there any need for me to be judging them? Nope. Maybe I was right, maybe I wasn’t but the truth is it doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what Heavenly Father thinks and He loves us all despite each one of our flaws. So I stopped myself and decided I’ll take my imperfections and try once more to be better. 🙂

It’s easy to be the critic.
It’s easy to be the crowd.
It’s easy to be a complainer.
It’s easy to be proud.
It’s harder to be different.
It’s harder to be kind.
It’s harder to look for the good
And embrace what you may find.

But at the end of the dusty road,
Or the end of one more day,
Someone will affected
By the words you chose to say.

So let the Savior be your guide
In everything you do.
Let him do the work to change your heart
From Hard to Something New.
Then little drop by little drop
Your life will change you see.
And if you quietly embrace it
Soon you’ll be who you’re meant to be.

Courage

In my humble opinion, courage takes many forms and looks different for each one of us. It’s not always what you see in movies or on TV. Most of us are much more courageous then we ever recognize or give ourselves credit for. What are the hard things you do that no one knows about? What about the hard things others do that you don’t know about? We all bravely carry burdens. We are all asked to do hard things in our own way so why not have courage and take a moment to think the best of someone else.

I might not be a person
You’d expect to do hard things.
I’m quiet and uncomfortable
If I’m ever asked to sing.

And if the crowd becomes to large
My peace gives way to fear
And I’m searching for an exit
That is never, very near.

I’d much prefer to stay at home
And wear my favorite jeans.
But sometimes what you think you see
Isn’t what it seems.

I bravely had four surgeries
To bring my babies here.
I’d bravely do it all again
To bring them all so near.

I’ve spent most of my whole life
Without having any mother.
But with my faith I know someday
We’ll again see one another.

I sacrifice much of my day
To teach each of my kids
And leave behind the list of things
That other mothers did.

I quietly sit back
And watch my family grow
While I do much of the clean up
And serve more then they know.

Carefully I carry
A sleeping baby all day long
And with my teen I listen to
“Just one more” of his songs.

I help my husband quietly
Do his best to serve the ward
As he does his best to lead them
And humbly serve the Lord.

I try to spend much of my time
Reading scriptures everyday
Even when I don’t quite
Understand just what they say.

And while I’d like to have
A lot of money in the bank
I spend much of my free time
Serving those who never thank.

Heavenly Father and the Savior
Are the only ones who know
Exactly all the hard things
Even the ones I never show.

For Bravery isn’t always
A thing you think it is
But being willing to do the work
That is His and only His.

So while I might not be a person
You’d expect to do hard things
(And I’m quiet and uncomfortable
If I’m ever asked to sing…)

And when the crowd becomes to large
My peace will change to fear
And I’ll be searching for an exit
That probably won’t be near.

And I still prefer to stay at home
And wear my favorite jeans
Sometimes what you think you see
Isn’t what it seems.


When I Sit Beneath This Tree

Several years ago, my little family and I were lucky enough to find our perfect house on the outskirts of town. The best part (besides the number of bathrooms) was it is surrounded by several acres of Pacific Northwest woods. For this girl who grew up in the wide open Southwest desert, surrounded by dirt and rocks (also beautiful in their own way 🙂 ), I feel so lucky to now be living somewhere surrounded by beautiful trees. It is somewhere I always dreamed of living when I “grew up”. Whenever I’m having a bad day, all I need to do is go outside and take a walk and I feel so much better. Whatever your nature is where you live, look for its gifts and relish how much it can calm your soul and uplift your spirits.

When I sit beneath this tree
A peaceful calm envelops me.
I close my eyes, lay back my head,
And listen to what all is said.
Quiet noises can be heard:
The simple melody of a bird,
The softest rustle of the leaves,
The gentle buzzing of some bees.
The playful noise of kids nearby
As they throw a ball up high.
Quiet chatter as two friends talk
As they take an evening walk.
The gentle babble of a brook,
The quack of ducks who take a look.
And then a breeze blows across my face
And I know how much I love this place.
How lucky is the person who
Loves nature like it’s something new.
Recognizes that it’s a gift
To help and calm and give a lift.
Treats it with much love and care
And enjoys the peace that comes from there.

What is Compassion?

At times the world can be a bleak place. I for one, am an optimist and believe in the power of kindness. When you give it a chance, you will be surprised where it may take you! And not only will it change someone else’s life, it will change yours as well.

What exactly does compassion mean to you?
Is it helping someone up who is feeling rather blue?

Holding hands with someone who is feeling quite upset?
Or helping someone older do their best not to forget?

Perhaps it’s full forgiveness when someone did you wrong.
Perhaps it’s full acceptance of someone else’s song.

Is it searching for the good in a person you just met?
Or searching for the good in someone you’d rather soon forget?

Perhaps a home-cooked meal for someone lost in grief.
Or an afternoon spent raking someone else’s leaves.

Perhaps it’s patience as you quietly sit listening to a tale.
Perhaps it’s patience as you follow someone driving like a snail.

Is it seeking understanding in a world you don’t quite get?
Is it offering forgiveness to a choice you much regret?

Perhaps it’s lots of patience for someone older than you.
Perhaps it’s lots of patience for someone younger than you.

The kind place of compassion has many, many faces
And when you let it fill your heart, it will take me many places.

The kind place of compassion will never steer you wrong
For the kind place of compassion is where we all belong.

I See the Blessings

In my humble opinion, trials are not always the most enjoyable experience in life. Somedays I feel like I just travel from one Trial to another, never getting a chance for a little vacation between stops. I know someday I will look back and be grateful for each one and the person they helped me become but until then… I hold onto my faith and one of my all time favorite quotes from a talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland “If sometimes the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived.” (“The Inconvenient Messiah”, Feb. 2, 1982)

It’s easy for discouragement to creep itself on me
It’s easy to forget that God has any love for me.
At times it seems that everyone is blessed beyond belief
At times it seems I’ll never feel the kind hand of relief.
Sometimes it feels the more I try
The more the Blessing Well is dry.
Sometimes it seems the more I try
The more blessed is the Other Guy.
Sometimes I think the more I try
The more I just sit down and cry.
But before I let discouragement make its next meal out of me
I try and take a moment to see what I don’t see.
And then while sitting there, in yet another trial,
I begin to see things hidden there that make me want to smile.
Like the thirty extra minutes that the baby took his nap
And the fifteen extra minutes the toddler cuddled on my lap.
Or the simple little note I found tucked within my book
That simply said “I love you, Mom!” when I opened up and took a look.
There’s also things that can’t be seen, like how much I’ve learned to love
Or how much more time I spend now in prayer to Him above.
Or how much I’ve learned the value of serving one another
Or how much I now appreciate all the things done by my mother.
How often do we think our blessings just aren’t what we need.
How often does our Father know they’re there to grow a seed.
Sometimes it seems we only see the things we think we lack
But fail to notice that the Savior is there carrying us on his back.
No matter what, we’ll always hurt as our trials make us grow
But someday we will look back and see the value and we’ll Know.
It’s easy for discouragement to creep itself on me
But I try my best to see the love my Father has for me.
I try my best to notice the kind hand of relief.
I try my best to see that I am blessed beyond belief.