Plaasabilities

Large-flowered White Trillium (T. grandiflorum) Great Smoky Mountains National Park © 2014 Kristina Plaas, All Rights Reserved Today is the "International Day of the Bible," a multifaith celebration of the Holy Bible. I love the Bible because it testifies of Jesus Christ, who atoned for the sins of all and died that we might each have the opportunity to live forever with Him and our Father in Heaven. This is God's greatest gift to us, the gift I am most grateful for in this time of thanksgiving. I also grateful for the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Together these books guide my life, offer insight and understanding to challenging life problems, and help me to know what God wants me to do. I feel very blessed to have the word of God in my life!

I am blessed to live in the shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains and work as a National Park Volunteer at Clingmans Dome. I spend as much time as I can in the Smokies enjoying my love for nature and photography. I love the time I spend in the park and the opportunity I have to interact with park visitors. One thing I have learned as a volunteer is to watch out for visitors who might be in difficulty. It is not uncommon to find distressed visitors at Clingmans Dome, due in large part to the effects of high altitude. Looking for someone who might be having an issue has become almost second nature to me. It was a chilly and rainy day at the Dome yesterday, though it was not too terribly cold. We were in the clouds all day so we didn't have nearly the volume of visitors we might have on a clear day. Frankly, there wasn't enough activity to require the service of three volunteers and two GSMA employees. I felt prompted to go ahead and leave before the scheduled end of my shift a...

I was editing some sunrise photos last night and thinking about all the times the scriptures use the sun or light as a metaphor for Jesus Christ. This morning I did a topical search for my scripture study and was impressed by the power of the imagery of the sun in holy writ. The sun, the moon, the stars are all things the children of God can understand as they are a part of our everyday lives. I was especially impressed by this verse: " For  the Lord  God is  a sun  and shield :  the Lord  will  give grace  and  glory:  no  good thing  will  he withhold  from  them  that walk  uprightly. " Psalms 84:11 Following the Son, the Light, is how Christians are supposed to live their lives. I try my best, but I frequently fall short. I'm grateful that the grace of Jesus Christ is there for me, to make up the difference between my efforts to walk uprightly and the perfection of the Father and the Son. I'm g...