Life Is the Stories You Can Tell
  • Life is the Stories You Can Tell
  • Sing His Praises
  • My Creed
  • Books I Love
  • Christmas Letters

Justice

5/31/2020

1 Comment

 
Protest is not the opposite of peace.   
Violence is not the answer.
Violence breeds violence which breeds more violence....which increases animosity and distrust which increase the likelihood that the types of situations that spawn protests will occur. 
And the downward spiral continues.
Violence exacerbates the problems it purports to protest. 

Anger at injustice is natural and right. injustice should upset us.
Violence is not the answer.
Peaceful protests have changed the world.
Gandhi.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jesus Christ.
There are non-violent solutions to the our nationś problems.

​We are a civilized society.   There are civil solutions.
Our laws are just.   And, if  they are not just, there are ways to change them.
Let us be ruled by laws, not mobs.
Give justice a chance to take her course. 
Let us contribute to the solution, not to the problem.


Picture
1 Comment

You Might Be in Quarantine If......

5/24/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture




In the spirit of Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck if…”, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Might_Be_a_Redneck_If%E2%80%A6) we have created a “You might be in quarantine if….” list.   Here goes…

You might be in quarantine if….
…..your mother is rationing toilet paper squares
…..you join weight watchers...watching your weight go up and up and up
…..you shower less frequently that a 12 year old boy
…..you see more of your family than ever before, even though family reunions have been cancelled
…..you are more excited to go on a walk than your dog is
......the virus on your mind is literal, not virtual.
…..bread machine yeast has disappeared from grocery store shelves
…..Zoom is a meeting, not a truck without a muffler
…..must have a probe stuck up your nose [COVID test] before they will stick one up your butt [colonoscopy].
…..department store dressing rooms are closed for your safety; trying on a bra is more dangerous than going without one.
.....you have named all your houseplants.
….getting within 5 feet of someone feels intimate
.....you are hoping for a vaccine instead of trying to avoid vaccinations
….you finished the sweater you started knitting 25 years ago. 
….you are watching reruns of 1972 golf tournaments on ESPN
….you get cited for going the wrong way on the grocery aisle
….you wish for a haircut more than a Hershey bar
….you don't have any unread Readers Digests in your house
….you get in trouble for NOT wearing a mask when entering the bank
....your honey-do list shrinks and your waist expands
....you run out of clean cleaning rags before you run out of clean underwear
....you have to have your temperature taken before you can check out a library book
....your social highlight of the week is a visit to the grocery store
....flattening the curve has nothing to do with losing weight or grading roads.
....your children want to go to school.

…your wish that the state would “go green” has nothing to do with protecting the environment
....you are reading this and identifying with more than 10 of the above statements!!!
 
I hope you enjoyed reading these as least partially as much as we enjoyed creating  them.   Speaking of which, I would really enjoy reading your “You might be in quarantine if….” insights.   Please share!


Picture
1 Comment

Count Your COVID Blessings Con't....

5/17/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
COVID blessings continue to accumulate on the Hislop Happy Half-Acre.    

For years (maybe four years….), every time we get a heavy rain a water spout develops right over our bed.    Because cuddling with a bucket is less than ideal (nearly impossible, in fact), nocturnal rainstorms evict us from our bedroom.   Fortuitously we live in a desert (UT is the third driest state in the USA) so this does not happen very often.    But still….

But, as an indirect result of COVID, not any more.   Motivated by a dripping ceiling and enabled by a titch of free time, Lance solicited bids from a variety of roofers.  Now, thanks to a Latino crew with a reasonable bid and a strong work ethic, we have a new roof.   

For years (more than four) our bathroom has needed painting.  The paint on the wall behind the sink was gone and the baseboards could not be cleaned.    Now, as a direct result of COVID, our bathroom is brilliant white again.   [Notice the baseboards behind the smoking toilet...They were bad!]   With his additional time, Lance found a gallon of white paint when he organized the under-the-stairs storage space.   Chick, who is awake during normal hours now because his graveyard shift at AutoLiv has been cancelled until at least June, painted the ceiling and walls.  And I, motivated by the fact I did not have to buy paint and empowered by Chickś help, tackled the baseboards.

For years and years and years (more than a decade) we have played with the idea of putting a coin-operated grain dispenser (like the ones they have at the zoo) at the bottom of our pasture.   [A well used, paved walking/bike trail parallels the south end of our property; people consistently stop to interact with our animals.]  Thanks indirectly to COVID, that happened.    Grace, who has lots of time now to scout ksl.com, found a double-sided candy dispenser for sale and brought it home.   Every day Grace puts grain in the right dispenser and big bubble gum balls in the left one.  For $0.25 trail goers can either buy grain to feed the sheep or get a gum ball.   The grain side is empty every day but it seems to be giving lots of grain for the quarter.   Saturday there were 2 quarters on the grain side and $4.75 on the bubble gum side. She is making a slight profit on the gum.  Somehow she convinced me to buy the grain so its cost does not appear on her spread sheet.  More than money, she LOVES seeing people interact with her sheep and the value of her joy far exceeds the price of the machine, the gum, and the grain.

Also for years (three years to be exact) our carpet has needed cleaning.  We have to clean the carpets when outside temperatures are at least 65 degrees F because the plants have to out to make room for the carpet cleaner to come in.  I simply did not get around to it two years ago and last year I had to cancel it because I injured my thumb and could not move the plants out.   This year my thumb works and, thanks to COVID, I also have plant-hauling helpers so, thanks to Clean Green Carpet Company, I now have clean carpets.  

Best of all, thanks directly to COVID, all of my immediate family is under the same roof and awake at the same time.  Grace does her virtual receptionist job from a bedroom in our basement.   Chick helps Grandpa at his cabin, Grandad in his garden, and me paint bathrooms and roof facia as he collects unemployment.   Miles does virtual school in our living room, will start his virtual internship with Hill Air Force Base on June 1st, and runs, literally, every day in preparation for cross country season.   Lance and I teach at our respective junior highs via computer and teach each other literally via experience.  (Twenty-five years of marriage and we are still very much learning how to do it.)  And, most recently, the cancelation of Utah´s Shakespeare Festival brought Tanah home.   She is learning to love living in our basement and we already love having her here.   [Incidentally, she is actively job hunting so if you know of anyone who is hiring beautiful, talented young adults, please let me know.]

Yes, yes, yes.   We are still counting our COVID blessings and the balance is definitely in our favor.    We thank God for our blessings….and we pray for those whose COVID blessing balance is not so favorable.   God bless us all!

​

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
1 Comment

Motherhood

5/10/2020

0 Comments

 
​“Motherhood is a choice you make everyday, to put someone else's happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you're not sure what the right thing is...and to forgive yourself, over and over again, for doing everything wrong.”   Donna Ball, At Home on Ladybug Farm

AMEN!!!  I frequently feel I have failed my family in so many ways.   There are so many things I have not taught or said or done and  I am so sorry.  I so wanted to be the perfect Mom...and I am not.   I do have to forgive myself over and over and over again. 

Though I am not the perfect mom I envisioned I would be (a vision I had when I was young and had all the answers), I try to be a good mom.  I can honestly say that I have put the welfare of my children over my own and that I seek to do the right thing even though, way too often, I have no idea what the right thing is.  No idea.

When I am tempted to beat myself up for my maternal failings, I have to remember to look to the Savior, to count on His grace to make up for my failings.  His Atonement can make up for the pain my shortcomings cause my children.  His sacrifice covers all.  ALL.   

So I thank Him for His grace.   And, while thanking Him for grace, I thank Him for also for Grace...and Tanah...and Chick...and Miles.   The opportunity to be their mom is truly my greatest sources of joy.

Picture
0 Comments

Five Scriptures that Guide My Life

5/3/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
“Be a student of the scriptures,” I was told when I was in my sixteenth year.  “They will be of great value to you as you go  through life.”

How prophetic that council was!   I have been a “student of the scriptures” (sometimes a more diligent student than others...) and, as I live my fifty-sixth year, they have been a great value to me.  A very, VERY great value.

Today I share with you five verses of scripture that have been of particularly great value to me.  

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
I memorized this scripture as a high school student and, unlike most of things I memorized back then, it has stayed with me; stayed with me so effectively that it has become a part of me and has, very literally, shaped who I am.

Fear is NOT from God.  Love is from God.  So is power.  And good sense.   When I feel fear, I recognize it as a shackling feeling sent from the author of lies and reject it.   I will not be ruled, governed, or directed by fear.   Love directs me.   God’s love.   I use the sound mind He has given me, motivated by the love He has given me, to tap into the power He has given me and I move forward in faith.   Or at least I try to!   I am not completely free of fear but, thanks to this verse, I am not a slave to it either.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God…”
It will all work out.   It will all work out.  It will all work out.   I know this to be true.   If we will turn to God, if we will trust and love Him, it will all work out.  Whatever life throws at us, if we turn to God, He can transform the experience so that it works for our good.     Perhaps we will learn traits such as patience, empathy, or resilience that will bless us in times to come.   Perhaps serendipity will bring unforeseeable blessings.  Perhaps peace miraculously replaces hate in our hearts.   Who knows?   It is impossible for me to list all the possible ways He can turn things to our good but with God nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37).  He can and will turn ALL things to our good if we let Him.

John 14: 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  And this is often how He makes things work out…. He gives us peace.  It completely defies understanding (Phillipians 4:7) but it is true.  I know this because I have personally experienced it on multiple occasions.   Internal battles wage, external events are catastrophic, mental and physical health issues overwhelm, finances are red and relationships are red too...and yet peace is possible.   In situations where peace should be anything but present, it can come.   I know.  I have felt it.   There is peace in Christ.


2 Nephi 32: 3  ...feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
Christ’s words have all the answers.  All of them.  From things general, like “love one another”, to things specific such as “do not procrastinate the day of your repentance”, Christ’s words tell us all things we should do.   When I struggled in a companionship on my mission I read “Go thy way unto thy brother [companion] and first be reconciled to thy brother and then come unto me..”  (3 Nephi 12:24)  When I wondered whether or not I should marry Lance I read “by their fruits ye shall know them” (3 Nephi 14:20) and I knew that Lance was a man  whose “fruits” [works] were good. When I am unsure about whether or not I should follow my instincts I remember “that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore everything that inviteth and enticeth to do good...is inspired of God” (Moroni 7:13) and I act accordingly.   The words of Christ, if we listen to, study, feast upon them, will guide us in all things.

2 Nephi 25:26  And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. 
I rejoice in Christ.  I rejoice in His creations, I rejoice in His wisdom and guidance, and I rejoice in His atoning sacrifice that makes peace possible in this life and endless joy possible in the life to come.  And I talk of Him to all of God’s children (and especially to my own children), so that they too may rejoice.

Picture
0 Comments

    Author

    Teresa Hislop
    thislop@msn.com

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    September 2012
    August 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.