Isn't She Lovely?

For our ward enrichment on Thursday, one of the girls in our ward took us on an art walk through UCSD campus. She was a landscape architect with UCSD before she had her children, and knows so much about the outdoor art installations on-campus. During the tour, we visited an installation called "Green Table," by Jenny Holzer. The table was made out of marble, and had what she calls "truisms" etched into the marble all over the table. There were sayings like, "A SOLID HOME BASE BUILDS A SENSE OF SELF," "EVERY ACHIEVEMENT REQUIRES A SACRIFICE, " and MUCH WAS DECIDED BEFORE YOU WERE BORN."

There was one line on the table that I haven't been able to get out of my head.

"TURN SOFT AND LOVELY ANY TIME YOU HAVE A CHANCE"

It reminded me of the 13th article of faith to seek after things that are virtuous, lovely, of good report...

It isn't hard to find loveliness all around me in San Diego -it's everywhere I look. But, sometimes it is really hard to BE lovely. Especially when our world can be tough, unforgiving and inpatient.

I love the idea of letting go of any other emotions you may feel and replacing them with soft and lovely emotions, thoughts, word and actions. I love how she used the word turn - because it really does take effort, and in a lot of cases requires a 180 degree change in what you're thinking, saying and doing.

It's my desire to learn how to turn soft and lovely...so I can help sweet Amelia preserve all the loveliness she was born with.