All About the Argyles

Wanna know how to thrill an 8 year and 18 year old boy? While they are at school one day, re-decorate their bathroom with a super hero theme. Start with a cool Batman logo rug...  add a superhero themed shower curtain...  some framed photos from the internet...  a couple of cool towels ... and there you have it. They were both THRILLED, I tell you. Absolutely thrilled.

The next implication of our simple key is this:  We will live nobly, on a higher plane,  because we will constantly think above our own individual needs.  Sometimes it is easier to recognize a lack of nobility than it is to recognize nobility.  For that reason I will tell you of my less than noble conduct one afternoon.  I was in a neighborhood store, waiting for my turn and chatting with a neighbor in line next to me.  Somehow the name of a mutual acquaintance came up—actually someone we both like very  much but who is quite eccentric. My neighbor told a funny story about her; that reminded  me of another funny story; she topped that one . . . Pretty soon we were laughing  uproariously. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the clerk listening to us. It startled me into a  recognition of what I was doing. I should have stopped. I didn't. But as I finished my  transaction and walked to the car, I was overwhelmed...

I hope if I share this it doesn't come across as boastful or bragging.  I don't love it when other people do that,  However, this needs to be remembered.   Because sometimes she leaves her dirty clothes all over the place.   And I find wrappers stuffed in the couch cushions because she doesn't want to walk two feet and put them in the trash.   She has broken her phone 3 times and it's getting annoying.   Sometimes she fights with her sister.   And boy howdy if you only knew what a temper she has.   But I love her to death and this email I  just got from one of her teachers is one of the things I love most about her.   Her compassion.  I want to remember this so that next time I get frustrated with her I can remember, She's not all bad. Mr. and Mrs. Argyle, I heard the sweetest compliment about Reagan  the other day and wanted to share it with you.  After our Sky Ranch iLead progr...

Which brings us to the next implication:  We will view our daily, temporal tasks and  duties differently—as offerings, not as repetitive or meaningless drudgery.   It seems that every task I do—be it visiting teaching, carpooling, solving problems in the workplace,  changing diapers, writing memos, making arrangements on the telephone—becomes  ennobled if I do them in the spirit of an offering to God. Throughout the ages, mankind has  been confused about what giving one's life to God really means—what it looks like. Some  have thought it means renouncing physical comfort—wearing scratchy clothes and sleeping  on hard floors. Others have thought it means drawing away from earning a living or handling the things of the world, retreating from people and entangling relationships— particularly intimate family ones that require so much thought and care.  One of the startling and happy truths of the Restoration is the truth ab...

Another implication:  Our accountability to God will be clearer, and our scrambling  to meet the expectations of everyone else will be muted.  That seems to bring sweet relief, doesn't it?  One of the difficult things about life can be all of the conflicting expectations of others.  Everyone needs help; everyone has an idea of who we should be and what we should do.  What if we have submitted our life to God's will?  Then we receive direction from him and answer to him. Not that we won't accommodate and help others. Of course we will be doing that constantly. He has told us that we are to help and serve one another, but how,  where, when, etc., will be answered in the peaceful corners of our hearts—between him and  us.  Sister Marjorie Hinckley recently said:  "We each do the best we can. My best may  not be as good as your best, but it's my best. The fact is that we know when we are doing  our be...

"May Christ Lift Thee Up"  Virginia H. Pearce  Virginia H. Pearce is a former first counselor in the Young Women general presidency. She has earned a Master of Social Work and is a loving wife, mother, and grandmother.  (She is also the daughter of Gordon B. and Marjorie Pay Hinckley) © 1998 Virginia H. Pearce. All rights reserved.  "My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve  thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and  death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the  hope of his glory and eternal life, rest in your mind forever" (Moroni 9:25).  I hope you won't mind if we delay talking about that verse for a while. I'd like to take  you around the neighborhood, through some friendly streets and alleys, and then finally in  the back door, where we'll meet up once again w...