Hope

Tonight I read: "Wherefore, there must be afaith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity.
21 And except ye have acharity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope.
22 And if ye have no hope ye must needs be in adespair; and despair cometh because of iniquity.
23 And Christ truly said unto our fathers: aIf ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me." This is found in Moroni 10.

I want to focus on the word HOPE. First off I love this as a name. Maybe it's because growing up watching Days of Our Lives at 2pm in the afternoon...yes probably not the best show for an eleven year old...anyhow, Hope Brady was one of the characters and I always thought she was so pretty. I wonder if she's still on there? I loved her name and still do. If I was to have a girl ever I think I would use this name as either the first or middle name. Not to mention I think it is a very optimistic word. Hope...Hope for a brighter future, hope for a better day, hope for happiness. There are so many things to be hoped for and it's like always desiring something more. Although, not in a "never can be satisfied" type of way but in a "there can always be better" type of way. I hope for a lot of things that are already good but I know they can be better. Anyways, when I read this chapter tonight...and yes I officially finished the Book of Mormon again. Probably the quickest I've ever read it cover to cover, I learned a lot and I learned I have a lot to work on. OK back to hope...when I read this tonight it made me thing about Pres. Uchdorff's (did I spell that right?) talk a year or so ago about having hope. I've never forgotten that and if I wasn't so tired I would put a link to it but I don't have the energy to look for it. Anyways, What really stuck out to me was verse 22..."And if ye have no hope ye must needs be in adespair; and despair cometh because of iniquity." How true is that...despair cometh because of iniquity. I know this to be true. I know the better we live our lives, the harder we try, the stronger we stay during trials, the better we become and the more hope we have in this life and hope for seeing our Savior in the life to come. I pray I never give up hope. I think I've learned that the Spirit offers hope, hope for me is sometimes spiritual. And I've learned hope doesn't always mean getting what we want, but we can still can hope for help or guidance while on the path. Hope and Faith go hand-in-hand. Like chocolate and vanilla...both are good but they become great when they are put together. Awww, the insights that can be learned from the Book of Mormon.

On another note, if Crate ever wonders if he's loved he doesn't need to look for love any further than his brothers. Never an hour goes by that they haven't kissed him, held him, or coddled him. The last two days they've been signing to him and have changed the words from a primary mothers day song to include his name. It goes like this:
I know a name, a glorious name, dearer than any other.
Listen I'll whisper that name to you, it is the name of Crate.
Crate so tender and kind and true, we love you, we love you.
Crate so tender and kind and true, we love you.

I think I've heard this version 56 times...I'm not kidding. At the beginning it was cute, now it's getting to be on the annoying side.

Oh yeah, Buster is doing really well on swim team. Much better than I thought and he doesn't complain about it...yet...which is an added bonus.

P.S. Let it be said right here to my family members. The name HOPE is mine. Please DO NOT USE IT. I'm staking my claim to it now. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.