WORK - PRAYING

In 2011, our 5 year old granddaughter called every so often.
 She always asked for her Papa.
He was usually 'at work'.

She always asked why.  I told her he gets the money to pay for food and for gas in our car so we can drive to see her.  She seemed satisfied with that.  He works. Good things come from work.  That was OK for her.  It is OK for me too. Thanks Papa.  I like having a house.  I like good food.  I especially like to visit family.

In March 2011,while listening to a CES fireside, I heard L. Tom Perry say,
"Prayer is a form of work ..."

His statement caught my mind with force
and completely engaged my attention.
Prayer is a form of work???
I don't remember ever hearing it put quite that way.

And then he continued ...
"and is an appointed means
for obtaining the highest of all blessings."

I was astounded.
I wrote it on my bathroom mirror.
(I will tell you about the mirror another day.)

Prayer - like moving rocks?
Prayer - like digging out weeds?
(Did you ever let clover go to seed in a flower bed?)

Prayer - like separating grass roots from Irises rhizomes?
Prayer - like vacuuming? or dishes? or laundry?
Prayer - like a job? like every day? for hours?

When his talk was available I listened again so that I could be sure I was quoting it correctly. I was astonished again and felt a tiny bit foolish when I found a footnote next to his statement that indicated it came from the Bible Dictionary [page 753] in the King James LDS Bible.

I wonder greatly that I have never understood this.
Surely I have read it - probably more than once.

Perhaps studying my scriptures is another bit of 'work'.

Hmmm ...

I'll 'work' on that -
along with a few other things
AND prayer!!

FDWLD 201: HAMLET

Relate course themes of Redemption, Moral Truths, and a Just Society to Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

Hamlet’s World 

         Readers live in Hamlet’s world, a world of chaos and confusion with philosophies of conflicting values pulling some, like Hamlet, against the edges of madness with unanswered questions. Is God real? Does he guide man? Does life continue after death? Is mortality more than living, dying, and rotting to become part of earth?  Can I know? “What is man… but to sleep and feed?” asks Hamlet with inner turmoil, as he ponders man’s creation and ability to reason (Shakespeare, p.101, 4.4.33-5). Using reason and inspiration given by his maker, Hamlet concludes “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends” (p.130, 5.2.10).  Despite his mother’s cajoling to remember “all that lives must die” and pass “through nature… [in]to dust” (p.12, 1.2.71-3), and the foreshadowing counsel of his step-father uncle regarding the “common theme [in life, that] is death of fathers” (p.13, 1.2.103-4), Hamlet inherently understands that he and all people have within something everlasting. He asks, “What should be the fear… for my soul… being a thing immortal as [the ghost] itself” (p.26, 1.4.64-7)? Though difficult, Hamlet comes to accept and reference the reality of seeing the apparition of his father. Speaking for Shakespeare, to all who read or hear his words (and later for Hamlet as a witness against doubt), the ghost presents that despite every man passing through death, the spirit of man yet rises and lives.

      In the mouths of his characters, multiple times throughout the play Hamlet, Shakespeare witnesses the supremacy of God, and the immortality of souls, as well as the need for souls to seek reconciliation (redemption) with God through repentance, that being a change from wickedness in life—“Till the foul crimes (sins) done in [the] days of nature are burnt and purged away” (Ghost of King Hamlet, p.28, 1.5.12-13). After King Hamlet’s death, as Prince Hamlet mourns the “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable…world” (p.14, 1.2.133-4) of life without his father, he also affirms the existence of God as he resists a suicidal urge: “O that… the Everlasting had not fixed His canon (law) ‘gainst self-slaughter” (p.14, 1.2.131-2). Through Prince Hamlet’s interactions with his father’s ghost, the existence of souls after death and their ability to escape the “sepulcher” (p.26, 1.4. 48) for ongoing existence (whether in happiness or misery unknown) is affirmed, even though the fate of all to return to earth is rehearsed as ‘common.’ Hamlet eulogizes the similarity of beggars with even the greatest men, as maggots transform them by the cycles of nature whereby “A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm… [showing] how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar” (p.98, 4.3.27-31), or

Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,

Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.

Oh, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,

Should patch a wall t' expel the winter’s flaw! (p.126, 5.1.215-19) 

         Ophelia’s loss of reason during grief belies the moral truths she speaks about chastity and virtue as valuable for men and women (p.21, 1.3.45-51; p.104, 4.5.52-66), and the veracity of her witness that “we know what we are, but know not what we may be” (p.104, 4.5.43-4). Faced with Ophelia’s demise, and many declaring dust is the only and final end, Hamlet’s reason wavers (depicting the doubt any reasoning person may face). Pondering such future possibilities in the well known soliloquy “To be, or not to be” (p.63, 3.1.56) Prince Hamlet eventually reiterates that the unknown qualities of life after death are the “undiscovered country” encouraging all to “rather bear with those ills we have, than fly to others we know not of” (p.64, 3.1.79, 81-2). Although all truth isn’t known, each person has some light and must make choices based on the truth possessed.

             The understandings that all life is precious, and raw murder unacceptable, prevail as the body count reaches for the new understanding that every death is a sorrow, and noticed to God. Hamlet alludes to this truth when he tells Horatio, “We defy augury [the omen’s of the future]. There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow” (p.137, 5.2.220-1), specifically referencing Matthew 10:29, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father” (p.137). In context, the Biblical passage counsels all caught in the confusion of mortal sophistries to “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell… [T]he very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows” (King James, Matthew 10:28-32). Although Hamlet’s life is set in a time when it was popular to discount the reality of God or eternal existence, Shakespeare weaves into his drama the sorrow, fear, and doubt such beliefs cause, while still depicting the pervasive truth extant throughout the culture of English literature, particularly the fact that life continues beyond the grave. The same questions even now, in the time of internet-information-overload remain urgently unanswered for some, with similar confusion. Each mortal must, as Hamlet, reconcile their questions with the truth available, and seek answers for self.   

Works Cited

The Bible. Authorized King James Version, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2013, https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/10?lang=eng

Shakespeare, William, and Sylvan Barnet. Four Great Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth. New York, NY, Signet, 1982.

HOLLYHOCK DOLLS

It’s early spring here in Washington and I’m antsy for flowers.

The tulips and daffodils have tips peeking out on the sunny side of the house, but for now I must be content with memories.

Flowers create lasting memories.

 Were you ever teased that you liked butter when a dandelion was held under your chin or by your cheek so that a yellow glow appeared? If you haven’t played that old game be sure to try it with the first dandelions of spring.

Grandma Ames 'dandelion' vase

And surely you’ve made flower chains or crowns!

Children from the past made dolls with hollyhock flowers; they are simple, and no tools are necessary.  At one time these flower were found in almost every garden.

Perhaps your own grandmother (or other ancestors) grew hollyhocks. They are so common and so ancient that hollyhocks have been found buried with a Neanderthal man. 

My mother taught me to make Hollyhock dolls, and says she learned it from her mother. I asked grandma who taught her how to make them. She replied, "everyone knows how to make them - anyone could have [taught me]."

But that was a very long time ago . . .

So—perhaps  you have never made a hollyhock doll.
But ask your grandmother – maybe she did!

Some may wonder when it would be useful to know how to make a doll from flowers—trust me on this one.  It ranks next to dandelions and butter for charm, and dandelions are charming – right?

I think we’ve all blown dandelion seeds!

Children love hollyhock dolls, AND guys—listen carefully—it is a great way to impress and flirt with most girls.

Hollyhocks are a biennial, and reseed readily.

With even limited water, they grow flowering spikes 6-8 feet (or more) in height,
 and many in colors, sizes and varieties.

Hollyhocks grew near pioneer cabins and dugouts because they survive in poor soils with little care.
One of their common names is “alley orchid.”   They are also tolerant of frost and heat, and all parts of the plant are edible, as well as useful medicinally .

In the past, a bucket of water (carried from a stream or pumped by hand from a carefully primed well), had many uses. Water could be precious, with every drop doled out carefully.

After washing dishes, that water could be used to clean boots or scrub a floor. After water became so dirty it was 'almost mud,' then vegetables were watered, and lastly flowers—often hollyhocks.

To make dolls you need 2 kinds of blooms.

A fully open bloom for a 'skirt' - larger is better - after all we want a 'full' skirt – right ladies? (wink).
But if you want a more narrow skirt pick a bloom that isn’t opened as far - use your imagination.

Notice bud at top middle right

For the head or ‘bonnet’ use a smaller tighter bud.

Notice buds have 2 layers of green around the base of the flower just above the stem (see above photo). Peel away the greens, being careful to not damage the bud or deeper petal layers, and look for a small hole.

removing first green layer

 You may worry something could fall apart - don't worry so much - it won't—

The layers pop right off (with only the guidance of a thumbnail).

Here is a close-up so you can see it coming apart

Remove the second layer of green, and hidden underneath, several indentations are visible at the base of the petals.

If you can’t see a little hole in the middle yet, that’s OK— use your fingernail to remove a tiny bit more of the white soft part in the very center of the flat 'base.’

Note indentations by base of petals - these will be eyes

Right in the middle, there will be a tiny little hole.

Position the stem of the 'skirt' to go into the 'head.’ If the stem is too long it may resist pushing into the hole. Shorten it a tiny bit to make it stiffer.

Skirt stem above is too long, Adjust as needed. Shorter a little bit is stiffer. 

Gently push the stem of the 'skirt' into the small hole in the bud until they are pressed snugly together.

Never use dangerously pointed objects to poke holes or hold these together.
That is entirely unnecessary.

The sap from the plant acts like a seal.
This will also keep them fresh.
I have left these in the sun several hours and they were not wilted.

OHH! Look!

A dolly with eyes, a green collar, and a huge headdress!

 Sometimes we pinched off or added on other flower parts for aprons, bustles etc.

Curious oddities can give unique personalities.

See this bustle from leaves that haven't separated

Imagination is the key ingredient here.

That’s it!!
That’s all there is to it.
Simple.

And no tools are needed.

Give it a try this summer.

HAPPY IMAGINING!