*Excerpts from Elder Jorgensen's letters
Riddles
A noble father followed through
He gave his life and yet he knew
His daughters, mothers to nations would be
Across the fickle, raging sea
1. that's faithful hid for 2, the one that heard he never knew.
Sticklers for what they called heaven
Jesus taught beware their leaven!
A temple dark and without paint
A hole made man into a saint
No name its hunch-backed captives freed
In thirty nine it saw God's word indeed.
In thirty nine it saw God's word indeed.
************
Poetry
"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting.
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home."
-William Wordsworth "Intimations of Immortality"
Week 8Gainesville, FL
"I ask no dream, no prophet's ecstasies
No sudden rending of the veil of clay
No angel visitant-no opening skies
But take the dimness of my soul away."
-General Conference talk
Week 13
Starke, FL
A soft strand of sentience,
A thin thread of thought,
A wire of wistfulness,
That's all that I've got!
Week 18
Starke, FL
“Earth gets its price from what Earth gives us;
The beggar is taxed for a corner to die in. …
We bargain for the graves we lie in;
At the devil’s booth are all things sold,
Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold;
For a cap and bells our lives we pay,
Bubbles we buy with a whole soul’s tasking.
For ’tis heaven alone that is given away,
’Tis only God may be had for the asking. …”
(“The Vision of Sir Launfal,” Stanza 3.)
Nothing is free, except for everything that matters. Nothing matters,
except for that which makes us free.
One thing I AM doing is learning. Yearning and learning.
“Four things a man must learn to do,
If he would make a record true,
To think without confusion clearly,
To love his fellowmen sincerely,
To act from honest motives purely,
To trust in God and heaven securely.”
~Henry Van Dyke
Solomon said:
“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that
ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” (Prov. 16:32.)
Week 61
The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
(Success is Gauged by Self-Mastery, General Conference)
Week 61
Starke, FL
A soft strand of sentience,
A thin thread of thought,
A wire of wistfulness,
That's all that I've got!
Week 18
Starke, FL
“Earth gets its price from what Earth gives us;
The beggar is taxed for a corner to die in. …
We bargain for the graves we lie in;
At the devil’s booth are all things sold,
Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold;
For a cap and bells our lives we pay,
Bubbles we buy with a whole soul’s tasking.
For ’tis heaven alone that is given away,
’Tis only God may be had for the asking. …”
(“The Vision of Sir Launfal,” Stanza 3.)
Nothing is free, except for everything that matters. Nothing matters,
except for that which makes us free.
One thing I AM doing is learning. Yearning and learning.
“Four things a man must learn to do,
If he would make a record true,
To think without confusion clearly,
To love his fellowmen sincerely,
To act from honest motives purely,
To trust in God and heaven securely.”
~Henry Van Dyke
From the post entitled "RISE"
St. Augustine, FL
Just for Today
Lord, for tomorrow and its needs,
I do not pray;
Keep me, my God, from stain of sin,
Just for today.
Let me both diligently work,
And duly pray.
Let me be kind in word and deed,
Just for today.
Let me be slow to do my will,
Prompt to obey;
Oh keep me in Thy loving care,
Just for today.
Let me no wrong or idle word,
Unthinking say,
Set Thou a seal upon my lips,
Just for today.
So, for tomorrow and its needs,
I do not pray;
But keep me, guide and love me, Lord,
Just for today.
~Sybil F. Partridge
Week 61
Hearsay
In every town, in every street,
In nearly every house, you meet
A little imp, who wriggles in
With half a sneer and half a grin,
And climbs upon your rocking chair,
Or creeps upon you anywhere;
And when he gets you very near,
Just whispers something in your ear--
Some rumor of another’s shame--
And “Little Hearsay” is his name.
He never really claims to know--
He’s only heard that it is so;
And then he whispers it to you,
So you will go and whisper too.
For if enough is passed along
The rumor, even though it’s wrong--
If John tells Henry, Henry--Joe,
And Joe tells Mary, Mary--Flo,
And Flo tells Mildred, Mildred--Ruth--
It very soon may pass for truth.
You understand, this little elf
He doesn’t say he knows himself,
He doesn’t claim it’s really true--
He only whispers it to you,
Because he knows you’ll go and tell
Some other whisperer as well.
And so before the setting sun
He gets the devil’s mischief done,
And there is less of joy and good
Around your little neighborhood.
Look out for “Hearsay!” when he sneaks
Inside the house--when slander speaks
Just ask the proof in every case;
Just ask the name and date and place;
And if he says he’s only heard,
Declare you don’t believe a word,
And tell him you will not repeat
The silly chatter of the street.
However gossips smile and smirk,
Refuse to do their devil’s work.
Week 61
No Time for God
No time for God?
What fools we are, to clutter up
Our lives with common things
And leave without heart’s gate
The Lord of life and Life itself--
Our God.
No time for God?
As soon to say, no time
To eat or sleep or love or die.
Take time for God
Or you shall dwarf your soul,
And when the angel death
Comes knocking at your door,
A poor mishappen thing you’ll be
To step into eternity.
Week 61
Have you heard the call of the Lord,
The whispering in your soul,
The word of the Lord in your mind
As you commune with his Spirit
Which guides you and makes you whole?
Week 62
Do you fear the force of the wind,
The slash of the rain?
Go face them and fight them,
Be savage again.
Go hungry and cold like the wolf,
Go wade like the crane:
The palms of your hands will thicken,
The skin of your cheek tan,
You’ll be ragged, and weary, and swarthy,
But you’ll walk like a man.
Week 62
Just for Today
Lord, for tomorrow and its needs,
I do not pray;
Keep me, my God, from stain of sin,
Just for today.
Let me both diligently work,
And duly pray.
Let me be kind in word and deed,
Just for today.
Let me be slow to do my will,
Prompt to obey;
Oh keep me in Thy loving care,
Just for today.
Let me no wrong or idle word,
Unthinking say,
Set Thou a seal upon my lips,
Just for today.
So, for tomorrow and its needs,
I do not pray;
But keep me, guide and love me, Lord,
Just for today.
~Sybil F. Partridge
Week 61
Hearsay
In every town, in every street,
In nearly every house, you meet
A little imp, who wriggles in
With half a sneer and half a grin,
And climbs upon your rocking chair,
Or creeps upon you anywhere;
And when he gets you very near,
Just whispers something in your ear--
Some rumor of another’s shame--
And “Little Hearsay” is his name.
He never really claims to know--
He’s only heard that it is so;
And then he whispers it to you,
So you will go and whisper too.
For if enough is passed along
The rumor, even though it’s wrong--
If John tells Henry, Henry--Joe,
And Joe tells Mary, Mary--Flo,
And Flo tells Mildred, Mildred--Ruth--
It very soon may pass for truth.
You understand, this little elf
He doesn’t say he knows himself,
He doesn’t claim it’s really true--
He only whispers it to you,
Because he knows you’ll go and tell
Some other whisperer as well.
And so before the setting sun
He gets the devil’s mischief done,
And there is less of joy and good
Around your little neighborhood.
Look out for “Hearsay!” when he sneaks
Inside the house--when slander speaks
Just ask the proof in every case;
Just ask the name and date and place;
And if he says he’s only heard,
Declare you don’t believe a word,
And tell him you will not repeat
The silly chatter of the street.
However gossips smile and smirk,
Refuse to do their devil’s work.
Week 61
No Time for God
No time for God?
What fools we are, to clutter up
Our lives with common things
And leave without heart’s gate
The Lord of life and Life itself--
Our God.
No time for God?
As soon to say, no time
To eat or sleep or love or die.
Take time for God
Or you shall dwarf your soul,
And when the angel death
Comes knocking at your door,
A poor mishappen thing you’ll be
To step into eternity.
Week 61
Have you heard the call of the Lord,
The whispering in your soul,
The word of the Lord in your mind
As you commune with his Spirit
Which guides you and makes you whole?
Week 62
Do you fear the force of the wind,
The slash of the rain?
Go face them and fight them,
Be savage again.
Go hungry and cold like the wolf,
Go wade like the crane:
The palms of your hands will thicken,
The skin of your cheek tan,
You’ll be ragged, and weary, and swarthy,
But you’ll walk like a man.
Week 62
************
Some Favorite Quotes
Robert Louis Stevenson is credited with
saying, “Saints are sinners who kept trying."
saying, “Saints are sinners who kept trying."
Week 61
Plato said: "The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.” da Vinci expressed a similar thought when he told us: “You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself." and “the height of a man’s success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. … And this law is the expression of eternal justice. He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others.”
Week 61Solomon said:
“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that
ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” (Prov. 16:32.)
Week 61
As Spencer W. Kimball says,
"You are not living in the life of luck; it is a life of pluck."
"You are not living in the life of luck; it is a life of pluck."
Week 61
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
(Success is Gauged by Self-Mastery, General Conference)
Week 61
I cannot believe how many blessings I have received. The work is good and seems an awful lot like play. My companion is a blessing and support. And my God hears my prayers. He loves me. He asks me to begin or to cease, and then he waits for me to follow, and I may progress as quickly or as slowly as I choose to heed His call. I hope it is quickly. I hope to grow. I love being a missionary. I try His work to do.
Week 9
Starke, FL
We do all we can do, we love as deeply as we can love, we testify as loudly and as often as is possible, we dream as fervently as we can and sometimes, if we're lucky, we get to chase those dreams.
Sometimes we chase people.
Sometimes we chase people.
Week 11
Starke, FL
"This is the deep south, the belt buckle of the Bible belt.”
week 13
Starke, FL