Small and Simple Things

Have you ever read the book "Small and Simple Things" by Marjorie Hinckley? It is awesome! She is such a wise and real women. I love her outlook on life. She always puts things in a way that is so simple, yet so true. These are a few of my favorite quotes from her - I think about them all the time!


"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

"The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."

"We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are."

I especially like the part in this quote about "we women need to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something." That is so true! It does take a lot of maturity to stop trying to prove something to everyone else. This is something I think about a lot and try and work on. How many times have you heard women judge each other in attempts to try and prove something about themselves? We women judge the girl who got married too young as having no real dreams of her own. At the same time others can't possibly see why a woman would decide to go on a mission instead of getting married. Women roll their eyes at the couple that decides to have kids right away. Then others insist that the couple who decides to wait to have kids is not making the right choice. The girl who decides to have children instead of going to graduate school is seen as wasting her talents. And those who decide to move on to higher education are viewed as selfish. Its so ironic - but happens all the time! Life is different for everyone and it really does take maturity to be content with ourselves - like she said.

"The trick is to enjoy life. Don't wish away your days, waiting for better ones ahead"

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

What a great women she was - and still is. I miss her and President Hinckley, but am glad they are finally together!