On Duties

"How necessary it is to cultivate a spirit of joy. It is a psychological truth that the physical acts of reverence and devotion make one feel devout. The courteous gesture increases one's respect for others. To act lovingly is to begin to feel loving, and certainly to act joyfully brings joy to others which in turn makes one feel joyful. I believe we are called to the duty of delight." -Dorothy Day

It's spring. I itch to dig in the earth, to get my hands dirty, to labor for the life of some beautiful or useful plant. To weed. To prune. To nourish. To protect. I hope to help my little seedlings not only live, but thrive. And that's what I want for myself. I want not only to live, but to thrive.

As Dorothy Day points out, we must cultivate joy. I think that means dig for it. Weed around it. Prune it. Nourish it and protect it. Get in there and get our hands dirty in helping it along. Perhaps joy is tied much more closely to work than we ever realized - hard, break a sweat, task by task accomplishment- our duties. Dishes, laundry, dusting, bills... can we find delight in these duties? Can we look at them as acts of loving service for our family? as prayers of gratitude to our Father in Heaven? As we "serve" our home, won't we come to love it all the more? Won't our contentment grow?

The work our mind has to do is no less arduous, even if we won't break a sweat. Dorothy Day's words illuminate one of our mental duties. It is to choose to act. Today we have largley forgotten that the doing precedes the feeling. We must act to sow seeds of reverence, courtesy, love, and joy with faith that they will grow. We must act joyful when we feel the farthest from it and yearn for it the most. If we understood the power of acting, of choosing what it is we long to feel or be, we would already be harvesting delight.

What is Real Beauty?

Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley said:
"We are God's children, and if we ever got that through out heads thoroughly and understood that completely, we would never do a small thing, we would never say a cross word. We would not use bad language. We would not criticize anybody. We would love everyone the way the Savior loves us. 'As I have loved you, love one another.'"
I think that's what true beauty is. It's not the clothes you wear or your hairstyle or having perfectly manicured nails--it's important to take care of ourselves, but that's not what true beauty is. True beauty is realizing we are children of God and acting accordingly.
The world's perception of beauty has become really distorted. (Want to see something interesting? Watch this short film: Evolution.)
The world would have us think that physical beauty is what matters, but it's not. Cleanliness, kindness, gentleness, righteousness--those are what make us beautiful.
Roald Dahl said in his book The Twits, "A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."
Beauty is as beauty does.