Sunday, November 06, 2011

The Miracles of Life

I have tried to capture
a good photo of the moon
for as long as I can remember.

I have never had a real nice camera
and keeping it steady enough
to get a focused photo
is really tricky at night.

On Halloween,
I finally got my shot.
I looked and looked for
an inspiring quote to go with it
but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

So I made my own.



I loved the story that I read by
Thomas S. Monson.
He is an inspired man of God
and his address titled
Finding Joy in the Journey
from 2008
is something that will get you
looking at your life
from a whole new perspective.
Many years ago I was touched by the story of Borghild Dahl. She was born in Minnesota in 1890 of Norwegian parents and from her early years suffered severely impaired vision. She had a tremendous desire to participate in everyday life despite her handicap and, through sheer determination, succeeded in nearly everything she undertook. Against the advice of educators, who felt her handicap was too great, she attended college, receiving her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota. She later studied at Columbia University and the University of Oslo. She eventually became the principal of eight schools in western Minnesota and North Dakota.
She wrote the following in one of the 17 books she authored: “I had only one eye, and it was so covered with dense scars that I had to do all my seeing through one small opening in the left of the eye. I could see a book only by holding it up close to my face and by straining my one eye as hard as I could to the left.”
Miraculously, in 1943—when she was over 50 years old—a revolutionary procedure was developed which finally restored to her much of the sight she had been without for so long. A new and exciting world opened up before her. She took great pleasure in the small things most of us take for granted, such as watching a bird in flight, noticing the light reflected in the bubbles of her dishwater, or observing the phases of the moon each night. She closed one of her books with these words: “Dear … Father in heaven, I thank Thee. I thank Thee.”
Borghild Dahl, both before and after her sight was restored, was filled with gratitude for her blessings.
We have so much for which to be grateful.
I know a God of miracles.
And I love Him with all my heart.
Dear Father in Heaven,
I thank thee also.
For all the miracles in my life.

1 comment:

Holly said...

I spent all day pondering Miracles and the miracles that are all around me that I often take for granted. Thanks for your great post.
(And rest assured that I DO still read your blog, and now that marching band season and band season are both over, I may even manage to comment more often.) After all, isn't it a miracle that through the world of blogs we found each other again and have become good friends :)