I suppose that at just about ANY age anyone---who had a mind to---could tell you about their life lessons so far; but, logic would share with most that the older you get, the more experience you would have about such things as LIFE'S LESSONS. At the time of this writing, I am 68 years old, and, to many, THAT'S OLD. So, here on this "my LIFE LESSONS" section, I thought that I would write occasionally about what I have come to learn as a life lesson . . . and add excerpts from time to time as time passes. I will DATE each one at the heading of a paragraph like this . . . 

 

THURSDAY; JANUARY 3rd, 2018; 3:01 PM:

 

. . . Like I would as a journal entry. It is on this above date that I enter this section. It is probably going to take me years to---bit-by-bit---build this website; for it is projected to be a very diverse and huge site covering a wide expanse of topics and writings. I will start off this LIFE LESSONS writing with a poem that I wrote this morning while still laying in bed. You see, the MOST IMPORTANT life lesson that I have learned so far in my 68 years of life is to rely on my Heavenly Father for all things . . . things of knowledge . . . things of learning . . . things of wisdom and judgement . . . things of action . . . things of thought . . . things of speech . . . and, yes, things of the morning . . . 

 

   MORNINGS . . . CHOICES MAKE

 

When each new day at dawn arrives

and opts the open of your eyes

 

The gears of mind doeth start to turn

And roll and squeak and speak and churn

 

As conscience starts to please or plague

The you that you have chose' to make 

 

From choices chosen day by day

That moves you close or far away

 

From strength of being in your mind

That "motors" of your soul do grind

 

To build in strength or weakness there

In how you live and how you care

 

As you're the sculptor of your fate

To learn to love . . . or learn to hate

 

Or smile the while or cry the tears

It's what you choose to do o'r years

 

That pass as fast as eyes to blink

With always, "You have time!" (You think)

 

But each and every choice decides

If UP you goes . . . or DOWN you slides

 

For you know not your length of days

If you will live . . . or pass away.

 

As with each choice, like bricks on wall

Your house will stand . . . or house will fall

 

For you're the mason of your fate

Can blame none else who you create

 

Excuses like the dusts on wood

Can stack and stack . . . yet do no good

 

So . . . Stand Up . . . GET UP on your FEET

And meet the TRUTH and turn it SWEET

 

By doing right . . . right here, and NOW

The path of right will show you how

 

For good breeds good . . . and bad makes bad

You cannot mix them both . . . or sad . . .

 

. . . You'll be . . . when dawn arrives

. . . 

And opts the open of your eyes.

 

January 4th, 2018;                                                                                                                           by RISH

 

Poetry has---since a young man of 21---has been a passion of mine. And, because I built my bed to be up near the ceiling---I don't even get out of my bed (using a ladder) until, FIRST, I have had my morning prayer to my Heavenly Father and I have asked Him to teach me such things as . . . how to pray . . . for what to ask in my prayers . . . how to purify my mind and the thoughts thereof . . . how to "agendize" my day so that I do what HE wants me to do over what I want to do . . . I ask for blessings upon my family, children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren . . . and I ask---among other things---to be able to see and identify my weaknesses, that I may recognize them . . . so I can try and overcome them and make them strengths. A life lesson for me is that life isn't about CONSTANTS, but rather it's about CHANGE. I try to NEVER say, for example, "Well, I am who I am, and you will just have to take me as I am!" But, hopefully, I would rather hope to be constantly changing. I'm not here to stay at a "Constance" of any level of development . . . but rather to ALWAYS be enjoying the upward movement toward differences that I seek to make in my life DAILY by and through the Spirit of the Holy Ghost that guides me and teaches me because I seek and knock and ask it to be so.

 

One important life lesson for me is that LIFE ISN'T ABOUT ME! LIFE is about what I am here to do for my Heavenly Father . . . and what I am to learn from Him and how I can purify---as Christ was pure---everything that is ME; and, as well, what goes hand-in-hand with this is that I have learned that LIFE IS ABOUT SERVING OTHERS. I have learned, for one of my favorite life lessons, to always be looking upward [figuratively speaking] and constantly being mindful of who I am [a child of God], where I am [in a place of testing] and where I want to go [to return to my Father in Heaven and my Mother in Heaven] someday. I have learned the life lesson that, in life, doing good [in action and in speaking cleanly and purely without swearing and vulgarities or immorality], brings good . . . good feelings . . . good moods . . . good experiences . . . thankfulness for the health that I have [even though it may not be perfect] . . . and a good view of life and it's meaning and value in futurity on to eternity.

 

I came to realize LONG AGO the life lesson that anyone can ask themselves . . . "What do I know about anything outside of my own cranial cavity? The sum total of all anyone knows is what they have learned or read or have been told or has seen somewhere or has experienced. That's it!! Nothing more!! But, when someone has FAITH, then he or she---through faithful actions and prayer and obedience to the commandments---has access to all that a loving Heavenly Father wishes them to know and do and be. An obedient person with faith can do anything Heavenly Father wants them to do; the faithful have outside help . . . beyond themselves . . . in FAITH, nothing is impossible. 

 

My whole entire life lesson for me . . . as far back as I can remember as a wee lad . . . is that my faith has proven itself true and real.  And, for 47 years of my life I have been amidst the membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (nick-named the Mormons) and my experiences and experiments over all these years has proven to me over and over and over again that FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ IS the answer to anyone seeking true and meaningful happiness. 

​

And, with that, I will end this days entry for life lessons.