Diverging Paths

I looked ahead and saw the paths.
The one I was on could lead to the past.
The one to my left could lead to my dreams.
I'd have all that I want, glory and prestige.

But the one to my right is the one that I chose.
Full, straight, and narrow is the way that it goes.
I let all things go, and just followed the Lord.
Turned my life to Him, and He helped me to soar.

What prestige on Earth could be better than this,
To pull others out of the darkest abyss?
Bring them to God and help them to see,
Why I chose to be one of God's missionaries!

Through me God preaches the Gospel to them,
And helps them receive the blessings of heaven.
A life given to God multiplies back ten-fold,
I believe in Christ! I believe and I know!


Tara J. Howard


Copyright Dec. 2014

Brown and White Buildings

Across from a park, where the sun shines from the side,
I see a white building of old mortar and stone.
In this town that is covered with snow deep and wide,
It is where I grew up, and where I have been known.

There's laughter with friends in the high school nearby.
There's dreams of our futures and how we'll play our part.
Pizza and movie nights, talking late in the night.
Or a dark night of walking when pain fills your heart.

But my mind always goes back to that white building,
And it's brown companion that also holds meaning.
Those places hold memories dark, light, and filling.
I try to hold on, but there's sadness it's bringing.

I stand in the middle, and my mind fills the room.
Memories moving like dark shadows of the past.
It's here I learned to fight, to be tough, to be true.
To stand up, to hold on, be a warrior at last.

I would kick until numb, I would punch until sore.
I would train, I would spar, I would practice all day.
Bruises on my side and arms from hitting the floor.
Taking kicks to body, the arms, head, and face.

It was like a dream, all the movements so fluid.
A fierce dance of death; I was one of the players.
If you'd take me back there, I know I would do it,
Just me and my team, days of training, and no cares.

But then, just like that, it was over all at once.
Dreams of the gold vanished into thin air.
It was all progressing, then an argument cuts,
He rips out the dreams, tears them up, doesn't care.

But if I could go back to one moment in life,
I wish I could fix that, keep things happy how they were.
But I had to stand up for myself at some time.
It needed to happen, and yet still, I'm not sure.

My thought's in the past, but I live in the present.
I bring myself back, see my life, how fulfilling!
But a piece of my heart was still left where my dreams went,
For all that I learned in those brown and white buildings.


Tara J. Howard


Copyright Dec. 2014

Miracles Still

Don't get discouraged. It is alright.
Sometimes the miracles aren't within sight.

But they are there, and the angels stand firm.
They'll walk beside you; you'll make it, you'll learn.

Never give up, you are doing your best.
You give your all, and God gives you the rest.
God loves you, He's there, and He knows how you feel.
Be not afraid! God sends miracles still.


Tara J. Howard


Copyright January 2015

A Mother's Duty

A Mother's duty is to Love.

That's practically what the word Mother means. Ideally it would mean that the mother would be able to spend her time at home with society's most important figures. Her children. They are not staying at home just to keep house. That is not what is most important. Above all, her time is most valuably spent with her children. Teaching them, nurturing them, playing with them, and above all, loving them.

A Mother's duty is to love. As women, we are born with an innate instinct and ability to love. But that ability is also partially learned from the example of the mothers before. If a child is not loved, then how can they learn to love? These pure children came to us from our Heavenly Father. They have already been taught and shown how to love by Him. We are to love them also, for their memories have been swept clean, although their hearts still feel what they felt when living with Heavenly Father.

A Mother's duty is to love. The world has become a harder and harder place. In a lot of ways it has become cold and unloving. If no one else is to love that child, at least their mother will. Hopefully. Their father will too. When they have no one else to turn to, hopefully they'll have their mother. When everyone else is tearing them down, hopefully they will still have their mother. When others break their heart and leave them lonely, hopefully their mother is still there for them.

A Mother's duty is to love. If they teach that child nothing else, they will still have succeeded. Love is the hardest lesson to teach, and even harder to get someone to believe. If the parents didn't love or show their love for their children, it can become very hard for that child to believe that anyone else could. William Shakespeare said, "They do not love that do not show their love." And no, love is not just providing for their physical needs. Another well-known saying goes like this, "Parents must fill their child's bucket of self-esteem so full that the world cannot possibly poke enough holes in it to drain it dry." Never underestimate the great power that strong self-esteem can have in a person's life. It can literally change their whole lives.

If you are going to have a child, you better be able to love them. If you cannot, think about giving them to someone who will. Love is the most important thing a child needs in their development. It does not matter if you provide them with all the nicest clothes and fanciest gadgets. The child would prefer to have someone that loves them rather than all that other useless garbage.

How do you love someone? You spend time with them. Time is so absolutely and totally critical. You talk to them. Listen to them. Treat their thoughts and ideas with Respect, and love them all the more for it. Be trustworthy. Make sure you are a solid rock that they can lean on. Do not falter. Never, Ever tear them down. They do not need that, and it will Never do them any good. They are young, precious, pure, and sensitive. Strengthen them. Build them up. Tell them they're great, and smart, and wonderful, and that you love them. Treat them with gentleness and righteous persuasion. Never should you exercise unrighteous dominion.

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has said, "Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind." There is a big difference between raising children, and being a mother to them.

These children are too precious and too pure to lose them. We really need them to be strong in the world today. We need them more than ever, and we need them stronger than ever before.

If you love them, everything else will fall into place. If you love them, everything else will come naturally. If you love them, they will never totally forsake. If you love them, they will be able to love themselves. If you don't, then they will really struggle.

A Mother's duty is to Love.
Please Love Them.

Tara J. Howard


Copyright November 2014

10 Things I Learned From My Mission

My letter home: August 18, 2014

*************************************

Dear Family and Friends,

As this may be my last real entry as a full-time missionary, I want to share a few last thoughts.

A few days ago my Mission President asked me "What do you want?" At the time, I didn't have a super solid, good answer. I've thought about it more since then, and here is what I came up with; the things I truly want.

1. I want to be someone that The Lord trusts.

2. I want to continue doing missionary work.

3. I want to become everything I can become.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ gives us that great opportunity to change and become and fulfill our potential. The closer you get to God, the more you can become like Him.

This mission gave me the opportunity to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to anyone who wanted to listen. It has been the greatest blessing in my life.

**********************************'

Now I want to share a few things that my mission has taught me.

1. People can change, and they do. All the time.

2. You cannot understand or see others clearly until you understand and see yourself clearly.

3. We are agents to act, and we must be treated that way. We are not objects to be acted upon, and we must never treat anyone that way. Don't try and force people to do things. Or belittle or mock them when they don't do things. And don't let others treat you that way either.

4. Everyone needs to be loved.

5. You need to forge your own path. You need to be who God intended you to be. Don't be an assembly line robot. Don't be like everyone else just because they say you should be. Be yourself, who you are. Branch out, be different. It's okay to be different, and to do things differently. The Lord made us that way.

6. Be open and sincere in your prayers to God. Take down all barriers and walls. You will learn and feel a lot more that way, and you will become a lot closer to Him every day.

7. Growing your testimony is really about growing closer to God. The more you pray, study the scriptures, go to church, the closer you get to God. And, the closer you get to God, the more you become like Him.

8. Everything we are doing in our lives should be helping us to get back to The Father. If it is taking you the other direction, then it's not worth it. Learn new things, gain new skills, improve your talents, strengthen your testimony.

9. "It is what it is, but it will become what you make of it."

10. Eternal things are what we are striving for. Temporal things will not last. What if everything you had was taken away from you? All your possessions, worldly things, house, cars, family, friends, and you were left with absolutely nothing but the clothes on your back. Become the kind of person that could still stand up, and people would say, "Now there goes a Great man (or woman)."

**********************'

Love you all!!!

Sister Howard

~Missionary

All Meant to Fly

I’m locked inside a great, dark room,

There’s nothing much to see.

There’s so much that I want to do,

But it’s locked inside of me.

I want to run, I want to fight.

I want to let it go,

I want to dance, I want to climb.

But I don’t know. I just don’t know.

The world has standards, rifts, and bars.

And just one path, they say.

That’s how you really will go far,

And living day to day.

Go to high school, get a job.

And then to college come.

Start your career, keep going on,

And get life’s checklist done.

Don’t go off on crazy dreams,

They all can somehow say.

They will just end eventually,

And in a quite dull way.

The world would keep you locked inside,

Of your own great, dark room,

With failure, fears, and never tried,

Telling you just what to do.

But this is not a robot world,

And we are not its slaves.

I’m meant to be a unique girl,

Instead of white-washed graves.

We are not meant to be the same,

We’re not meant for just one path.

We’ll do it different every day,

And change the world at last.

So if I run away again,

To an unusual sort of life,

Don’t be surprised, it’s all okay,

We were all meant to fly.

 Tara J. Howard

Copyright November 2, 2014

Is the "What" most important? Or the "Why"?

Are we raising a group of mindless fact machines? Or are we going to really actually teach them the way things work? Are we going to show them, or just spout it to them? It does no good for them to know the facts if they do not really understand it. They might win at trivia, but they won't win at life.


The ones that win are the ones that can ask questions, and then go get them answered. Most importantly, they can ask Why and How. If they do not understand, retention and remembering is significantly lower, and they really can't do much with what they remember anyway. But if they understand the Why and the How, then how could they forget very easily? Facts and knowledge don't just settle and stick in people's minds. It takes work. Memorization of useless things is a waste of brain space if it has no applicable meaning. On the other hand, everything can have an applicable meaning to someone's life IF it is taught properly. The internet can spout and look up facts a lot better than humans can. So can books. We are not meant to do that.


But there are some people that have an incredible wealth of knowledge, and they can tell you all sorts of things about the world. How do they know it all? Because they know the Why of it. If you understand how something works you won't have to memorize the data, you'll just already know and understand it already. The Why and How leads you easily to the What. But the What does not lead you to the Why and How. We need to be learning smarter, not harder.


And who says we need to go to college anyway. Some of the most brilliant and successful people i know obtained learning and knowledge through a variety of other means. A doctorate degree does not make you smart or successful. You make yourself that way.

At the end of the day, and at the end of a class, if a person can truly answer the question, "So what?", then they have truly learned.


Tara J. Howard


Copyright November 2014