True Self - Poem

True Self

Within any given day, week, month or year

   Our hearts and actions become very clear 

Either love, compassion and kindness is shown

   Or selfishness, hate and anger are grown

Whether felt for a parent, spouse or neighbor

   A sibling, child or a complete stranger

This world is but practice for another

   Where we will once again be living together

And who knows, when we finally get there

   To our joy or sadness we will discover

That our feelings here, toward our fellowmen

   We also feel toward our Father in Heaven

For given enough time, days, weeks, or years

   Our true self emerges in spite of our fears

And our heart is revealed for all to see

   Possessing hate and envy or love and charity

By Janice Harten

Copyright © 2012 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Christmas and Music

What would Christmas be without music?  Here are some of the wonderful moments we enjoyed this holiday season:

As we decorated our Christmas tree, we listened to Kurt Bestor's arrangements of Angels We Have Heard on High, and Prayer of the Children, among others.  His music is some of our favorite.

Another day we invited the family over for dinner.  Afterward, we bundled up and walked to some of our neighbor's homes to sing Christmas carols and leave a box of cookies.  It was touching to see the expression of appreciation in the faces of friends I have grown to love over the years.

Then, two days before Christmas, we sang with the ward choir.  I like to think we might have been part of the heavenly choir that sang to the Shepherds on the night of the Savior's birth.  And like the Shepherd's humble gift, we gave from our hearts.

Christmas Eve, I requested that Bill and our youngest son play the marimba Bill's mother gave him.  The marimba is a beautiful instrument that produces mellow sounds like a harp.  Afterward we continued singing Christmas carols and hymns around the piano.

Christmas morning has traditionally been a time when our children find clever ways of waking Bill and I up before opening presents.   For instance, one year Bill and I spotted the blinds on our window suddenly begin to wave.  Then our TV turned on unexpectedly, with no one else in the room.  Finally our adult children burst into the room to pounce on us and get us up.  We found out, the night before, they had meticulously hidden a string in the carpet that connected the window blinds to the hallway outside our door, and they confiscated our TV control so they could operate it through the window, ... such an elaborate prank and one we remember every year.  Other years they succeeded to get me bolting from the bed to the sound of wrapping paper being torn.  Preset cell phone alarms, trumpet trios, singing off key or other presentations have been equally memorable.  This year, with most of the children celebrating Christmas morning in their own homes, and with guests in our home, it was our turn to wake everyone in the house.  Bill and our son chose to play a trumpet duet for the missionaries and my father, intentionally off key.  It's guaranteed to wake every mouse in the house!

A few days before Christmas, I overheard the missionaries (from Vermont and Georgia) practicing a song for a missionary devotional.  So, after opening our presents Christmas morning, I requested they sing "Oh Come Emanuel" as a gift to us.

Then, we enjoyed a brunch at our oldest son's home.  This was followed by listening to him play the guitar while we sang Silent Night, Old King Wenceslas and other favorites.    It's a treat to blend our voices and be touched by words that keep our thoughts alive with hope and joy.  We have always loved music and the power of it's message.  I appreciate these Christmas gifts which continue to bind us together, and allow me to experience feelings of love while worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christmas Gift Giving - Experiences

For Christmas this year, our oldest daughter asked us not to send toys to their children as presents.  Instead, she asked for "experiences" that would create memories all year.  So, we bought them a family-season-pass to the Zoo.  Her mother-in-law purchased them a family-season-pass to the Science and History Museum.  

This same daughter was in charge of getting Bill and I a Christmas gift from all our children.  They pool their money together, and one of them selects the gift.  It was the perfect year to request a contribution toward season tickets to a small playhouse nearby.  Then Bill and I bought two extra season tickets, so we can invite family or friends to go with us.  Our daughter was excited to create a Christmas experience package for us.

I am in charge of giving a gift this year to my father, from all my siblings.  So, following the theme of an "experience", Bill offered to take Dad on an airplane ride.  My father was a pilot during WWII, and I recently found out he once had a comercial pilot license (but chose a different occupation), so he was excited to fly again.  And, this experience was as much a present for Bill as for Dad, because he is always looking for a reason to go flying and take someone with him.  The three of us flew from Logan over the Wasatch Mountain Range to Bear Lake.  The crisp wintry air gave a clear outline to the peaks below, and the sun cast shadows among the trees, mountain slopes, and from the clouds onto the water below.  My father enjoyed putting his hands and feet on the controls for a while.  Now, all three of us retain the gift of a treasured memory.

Drifts - Poem

Drifts-

Faith’s plow

Moves blowing drifts

Of fear and doubt

That melt away

With warm sun ray

By Janice Harten

Sept 16, 2008

Copyright © 2012 Janice Harten.
 All rights reserved

Christmas at Temple Square

Our daughter invited us to join them at the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg to attend an art show by some of the local artists, and see the Christmas lights on Temple Square.  Millions of people come from all over the world to walk around the temple and into the visitor centers.  The Tabernacle Choir practices and performs here.  I have many memories of bringing our family to this place, sometimes listening to our children sing with their high school choirs around the beautiful JSMB balcony.

Pools - Poem

Pools

What is this place of stillness?

When only moments before

Tearful and fearing

I cried out to my God

For rescue and relief

The anxiety in my heart

is eased and my sobs cease

Like water moving down

a river, travels to

the bank and gently pools

protected and momentarily quiet

Unlike the rushing

rock-dashed swirling

just moments and a

few feet away

Calmly, I ponder this new

feeling, hesitant to give

up this quiet spot for

another rush into

turbulent waters

By Janice Harten

January 2001
Copyright © 2012 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.

Fasting - Portal Into Heaven

Every first Sunday of each month is set apart as a day to fast, pray and give.  Like the Savior, who went into the mountains to pray and draw close to his father for guidance and strength, I am seeking today for blessings for myself and blessings for others who are both near and far from me.

It is early morning and my heart is filled with concern for family members who are battling for their lives in many different ways.  Some are facing life threatening cancers and illness.  Others struggle against addictions and spiritual disease.  Some face financial uncertainty or others depression and loneliness.  Seeing all these things together is quite overwhelming and I ask myself, what can I do to help or can I only look on?

For instance, my husband's niece has a 22 year old daughter with advanced brain cancer.  She has undergone two surgeries and a third was recommended this past week.  A large cyst has filled the cavity where the mass was removed in her last surgery.  Her parents have asked us to pray that this cyst would reduce on its own.  

Sitting here, I asked myself, what is the purpose of these experiences?  And immediately the answer came in the form of another question, "If we did not experience these trials would we feel the need to call on God?"

And so I pray for my own faith to grow and for blessings of health, comfort and relief to come to those I care about.  Perhaps each prayer opens a small portal into heaven where the angels sit to do God's bidding.  And one by one these ministering angels or special guardians deliver power and healing or understanding to our hands and hearts.

Feast of Gratitude

Recently I said to my family, “If I cannot be happy, then it is not possible for anyone on earth to be happy."  I am blessed with faith, family and eternal blessings.  For me to be ungrateful would be a sin. 

And so, as part of my Thanksgiving feast, I give thanks to my Father in Heaven for his delicious plan of happiness, my Savior, and the opportunity to be a part of his kingdom on earth.  I have tasted the sweet savor of the Atonement and partaken of the beauty and covenants of the temple.  

I have been given heaping servings of love from my family.  Other delicious delicacies that are part of my feast are freedom, education, transportation, communication, health and property.  Next to me is the companionship of the Holy Ghost.  And the table keeps enlarging with more and more to partake, so much that it cannot be taken in, and I am left to sit and stare at dishes filled to overflowing.