Patriarchal Blessing Word Cloud: Personal &

One of my favorite things I've done lately has been 
turning my Patriarchal Blessing into a "Word Cloud."

 Word clouds are simple and can usually be made in less than a minute - start to finish.

The usually look like a cloud made out of words. Kind of like this... 

This word cloud was made by a blogger to show what was emphasized most frequently at General Conference.
What a great idea!

When it comes to a Patriarchal Blessing, it is definitely something to keep personal, remember often and live always. I keep mine somewhere personal, where I can see and be reminded of it frequently. Having it helps me 1) reflect on it more frequently and 2) see in a new way the counsel and principles that have been emphasized for me personally to focus on and live up to.

Word cloud websites recognize the words in the text that occur most frequently and they emphasize those words by making them larger. The more frequently a word is repeated, the larger it will be in your cloud. There might be better word cloud companies out there, but the one that I used was Tagxedo. I liked it because, unlike other programs, you can choose the shape of your word cloud. I shaped my Patriarchal Blessing word cloud into a heart - It just seemed fitting. There are many shapes to choose from: functional themes like guitars and basketballs, nature-themes like a leaf or a lion, or simple shapes like a circle or a star. With just a few quick clicks, choose a color pallet, a shape you like, and viola - you've got something stylin' & personally significant.  

Here are a few other examples of great word clouds.

This one is on the Tagxedo website.

I used this one for a Priesthood Training meeting.

It has the words from the Doctrine and Covenants that describe the role of Home Teachers.

I first did word clouds as an elementary teacher, making collages with my students' names. Later, I did this with the Relief Society Declaration Statement and the Proclamation in my personal study and ponder time. Many months later, the idea of doing this with my Patriarchal Blessing came to mind. I love significant and meaningful to me.

Whether making a word cloud to display family names, describe a close friend's virtues or visualize your strengths, purposes and mission in life, a word cloud can be a fun way to see something in a new light. 

If you have other recommendations of word clouds to make, I'd love to hear all about them!