Enjoy Unique Imperfection

A few months ago I had an opportunity to take a morning walk on a mountain trail with four of my grandchildren.
We each brought a bag so we could collect treasures from nature.
As we looked for pieces to put in our collection, we found many different colors, designs, and textures in the leaves and rocks.
It was hard to choose.
I soon noticed that the children's bags were filling up.
Each leaf the children selected was unique, but because it was late fall, most of the leaves had dark weathered spots, irregular shapes, or faded and discolored parts.
Because of this, I was reluctant to add things to my bag.
I was looking for a leaf that showed the brightest colors and had no flaws.
If it wasn't perfect, I wasn't going to treasure it.
But this meant that my bag had very little in it.

Later, as I thought about this experience, I realized that I had cheated myself of much delight and happiness that could have been mine.
I didn't appreciate the uniqueness of the objects because I was looking for what I had deemed perfection.
My grandchildren had been wiser than I had been.
They had savored the odd shapes and spots on the leaves.
They giggled at and enjoyed the brittle crispness of the dying leaves, and they delighted in the soft, faded colors.
They filled their bags with happy treasures to take home.
We can fail to see and enjoy the unique happiness and beauty in each day if we are so focused on our desire for what we want instead of what the Lord has designed for us.

-Coleen K. Menlove -Living Happily Ever After -April 2000 General Conference

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Dream

I was at the bank trying to use my debit card to withdraw some money, but when I pulled out my card, I realized some of it -the part with my name- had peeled off. Which was rather crazy because I had just gotten the thing. What made it worse was that the card hadn't worked, but that was only because the older woman teller realized that I had tried to use my credit card as a debit card. So my credit card was ruined, which wasn't that big of a deal to me because I don't use credit cards. So I pulled out my debit card, all nice and good looking, and used that instead, but the teller chose to check the card to make sure it would work correctly....and somehow...I ended up never getting my money because I got distracted at that point....

Then the unholy tones of daylight pulled me away....
and I became myself again. :)

-S.N.D