.: Good Words to Live By :.

If you always give, you will always have.

Never suppress a generous thought.

I have been thinking a lot about these quotes lately... I can't remember where I heard them or who said them, but for whatever reason they have stuck with me. The second one I think of most. I always have some thoughts or ideas about something kind I could do for someone. Sometimes I act on them, and other times I forget about them. Other times a thought comes to mind and I know they come for a reason. I know that we are instruments in the Lords hands to help, bless and uplift others. The other day we had a special experience:

We went to the hospital to visit my mother in law who had surgery that day. As we walked down the long hallway we saw a woman leaning against the window crying. I didn't notice but Jeff said afterwards that it looked as though she may have been saying a prayer. As we passed her, Jeff and I glanced at each other. A second later he asked Brynlie if she wanted to give the woman a rose. We had a dozen colorful roses to give to Toni. We kept walking. We found Toni's room went in to see her. Then Jeff handed the flowers to put on the table, and asked for a yellow one. He handed the yellow rose to Bryn and she and I went out to the hallway to find the woman. I looked down the hall and couldn't see her. I was worried that we had waited too long and that she would be gone. So we ran to the elevator and she was at the drinking fountain nearby. We walked up to her and I said "She would like to give you this." The woman was still crying, she let out a little cry and said "Oh thank you, what is your name?" Bryn told her. She then said, "Yellow is my favorite color. This makes it much more bearable to leave the hospital. Thank you so much, you are an angel." I told her that I was sorry and that I hoped everything was ok, and we walked away. As Jeff and I talked about it later he said how it wasn't that big of a deal, but just the fact that he asked for a yellow rose, and that was her favorite color. How we didn't know what she was praying for but maybe it lifted her spirits a little.

I have heard this before, but President Uchtdorf said something similar last week during conference. He said "It is usually through another person that God meets our needs" I know this is true, and I hope that I will always listen and act on the promptings that I receive whether they are big or small things. You never know when someone needs a little help. Even just a word of encouragement, or a friendly smile. You would be surprised how much better it could make someone's day.