After working at ANASAZI for 2 1/2 years I noticed a very interesting pattern appear. First of all, let me explain what happens when teens first show up at ANASAZI. They are given the opportunity to use their gift of choice to change their clothes, give up all their possessions (most of the time), and walk…
Category: Inspiration
Together We Are Perfect
Six years ago, I was serving as a Mormon missionary. It’s something I did full-time for a year and a half of my life before getting married or finishing school. I learned some of my most valuable life-lessons in those short, cherished 18 months. I made friendships that will last forever and came to know…
Commitments of a Better Kind
About a year ago, I began asking myself questions about commitment. I wondered why I was still single and what it really meant to be truly and wholly committed. Wasn’t there anyone out there who I could be truly happy with? What would it take for me to finally commit to a long-term relationship? I…
What is "Giving Up"?
In 2010, Sara Jarman decided to give voluntary and charitable service for her Church in Vladivostok, Russia. For a year and a half, she was isolated from family, friends, and her previous life – for the good cause of serving others. In Sara’s religious community, serving a mission is an honorable act. However, even the…
Team Hoyt and A Love Made of Iron
Team Hoyt is a father-son triathlon team unlike any other. Rick and Dick Hoyt have participated in over 1,100 races together (check out this Chart of Events!) and have received a myriad of awards for their efforts. Yet what makes this team unique is the fact that Rick (the son) was diagnosed with cerebral palsy—a…
To Know Your Children
Janene was a nanny for a married couple who didn’t seem to have any interest in raising their child. The mom wanted a career, and the father didn’t want anything to do with rearing his son. Janene worked 21 hours a day, seven days a week, caring for and teaching their son from the time…
Reconciling Courage and Surrender
I remember the day, 20 years ago, that my mom came home from the hospital for the last time. She’d been diagnosed with breast cancer five years earlier, and it had spread to her liver, her bones, and her brain. The doctors told us she had only a few weeks left to live, but I…
Why haven't you (____) yet?
“Why haven’t you finished writing your book yet?” the man asked patiently. “I don’t have time,” I replied. In response, he replied, “That isn’t true.” He then smiled broadly and continued. “That’s a cop-out answer. Why don’t you really write it? We all have the same amount of time. We don’t have time; we make it. What…
Receiving the Goodness of Life
I’d always thought that to be blessed by the hand of the Creator in life was an effortless thing. Being blessed was being given a gift that I didn’t have to work for. Being blessed was to be handed what I needed in the moment I needed it. And I couldn’t have been more wrong……