Make It A 5 Star Day | Sunday Blessings Podcast

Jay Hildebrandt interviews Kayla Cabal Hansen, author of “Make it a 5 Star Day!” and her sister Janessa Orgill about patterns taught by Jesus Christ that can enlighten our understanding as we learn five actions that can bring us peace, divine help and spiritual growth in our daily lives.

What is Sunday Blessings Podcast with Jay Hildebrandt?

The Sunday Blessings Podcast is hosted by Jay Hildebrandt and features stories of faith, hope, and inspiration. You'll hear extended interviews, musician & artist spotlights, and more. Sunday Blessings can be heard weekly on Sundays from 5am-5pm mountain standard time on Classy 97, Sunny 97, and Classy 97 Lite.

Sharing stories of faith, hope, and inspiration. This is the Sunday Blessings podcast.

Welcome to the Sunday Blessings podcast. I'm Jay Hildebrand, and we have a real treat for you today, sisters Kayla Hansen-Cabal and Janessa Orgel. Welcome to our show today. Now we're going to be talking about make it a five star day in just a minute, but first of all, Kayla, let's start with you. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your family that you grew up in, and your family now with just parents and sisters and everything. Sure.

So, Janessa and I are sisters. I'm the younger. We have five siblings, and we grew up in Idaho Falls. We love Idaho Falls. We're so grateful. And we both are married and have children. I'm married to my sweetheart.

He grew up in California. We met here in Idaho in between my travel nursing assignments. I'm a registered nurse, and so grateful for the timing of that. And we have three kids. We just had our third five months ago, and we live in Utah now. So, all right.

Janessa, give us the brief version of your story.

Well, we grew up just around the corner from Jay, and I actually moved across the street, and that's where my family lives now. And me and my husband, Josh, have eight children. And I am also a registered nurse. Right now, I'm home with the kids and do some homeschooling.

And I see those kids playing in the backfield all the time. Yeah. So, as far as your book is concerned here, where should we start?

We got to start with Janessa. That's where we need to start.

Okay. She didn't write it, but Janessa, tell us your story.

So, once the nursing program got hard, we moved from one 12-hour shift to two 12-hour shifts in the week, and I just felt very overwhelmed. Way too many things to do in a day, then I felt like I had time for. And I just felt to sit down and carefully write down a few things that I felt like should happen every single day, and that should be my biggest priorities. And in the end, I had five things on my list. And so, I wrote it on a little whiteboard and just said, make it a five-star day. And I put a little star by each of the five things, just trying to get my priorities straight. And I felt like once I did that, things in my life started falling into place.

Well, great. So, the five-star day concept came from you. Right. And how did this eventually translate into this book by Keelak?

Well, a few years later, she started the nursing program.

Yeah. No, it's so true. It's the nursing program. When we did overlap at college a little bit, and so once I got at college and I was in the nursing program, I was having the same predicaments. So much was demanding of my time.

And I too was wondering, how do I put first things first? And so, it was at that time that I had a conversation with Janessa, and she's like, you know, I had the same question, and something that helped me was this five-star day concept. And I really liked that, the simplicity of focusing on five things. And then I just felt to take it even further in terms of, you know, let's see what the Lord has to say about this.

If he had five things that we could be focusing on, what would they be? And I took it from there. I did the math the other day. It was seven years of research in the scriptures, and that even included serving a mission for a year and a half of any time that I saw repeated patterns of the same thing over and over and over again that the Lord was asking us to do. I was taking note of it, and I would say that by the end of those seven years, a lot of the original five stars that Janessa had were the same, and a few were either different or maybe a little bit more specific, but it was now backed up by scripture. And so that was really profound process, and applying it, obviously.

Yeah, I think that's amazing. I did this kind of analyzing over time, things that worked each day if you did those things, and they made you happier or more peace. Tell us how that felt. Right.

I actually was reading the back of the book, and I actually really like what it says right here. Our Savior Jesus Christ has given us answers through His holy scriptures. Pattern seen in these teachings can enlighten our understanding as we learn of five actions that can bring us peace, divine help, and spiritual growth into our daily lives. These five daily actions can be remembered and utilized and called to the five star day.

So really that peace, that divine help through our trials, and that spiritual growth, that is what happens when we strive to make it a five star day as consistently as possible.

All right, well, I were dying to hear what these dollars are who wants to start.

I'll start. So something that I always feel is important to say is that they all start with the letter S. And originally, I wasn't going in planning on them all starting with the letter S, but they do. And I just think it's wonderful that Savior starts with S too. And so just that reminder from the beginning that they're not meant to be these distinct check boxes that are just superficial that they're meant to draw us to the Savior. They're meant to help draw his power into our lives and strengthen that relationship with him. And so the first of the five stars is scripture study. That's the first S. There's often the phrase repeated throughout Christianity that when you want to talk to God, you pray, and when you want God to talk to you, you read your scriptures and come to find that reality in my life.

Just recently, we've been studying, again, the story of the Israelites and them being in the wilderness for 40 years and how the Lord rained manna or a type of bread on them. And that that reality of that it had to be a daily thing. They couldn't gather it up and save it for the next day. It was the daily bread.

So let me just ask you, personally, can you testify that it's made a difference in your life and if so, how?

Absolutely. I think a very specific example that I can share is even just recently postpartum for the third time with my third son. I was just feeling like I wasn't grounded and wasn't totally feeling myself either. And I took inventory of the five star day in my life and my scripture study was terrible. It was not.

It was not great. And which is so funny because I always say if you're going to have a one star day, I sure hope it's scripture study or sincere prayer. Get that, get you moving in the right direction. And once I realized how poor my scripture study had gotten and so insincere, I felt inspired to consecrate even just five minutes after my like three a.m. feed when I put the baby down to just sit in the chair and make sure it was a sincere five minutes of studying the scriptures, maybe jotting down a few thoughts or impressions and everything changed. And it's not like I was any less tired. It's not like my two year old was any different or my six year old having they all have their needs and they're wonderful and it's busy. However, that, that recently, that is how it's been time and time again.

Should we move on to Yeah. Number two. Right. Yes, you want to talk about that one?

Yeah. So they kind of can build on each other. Right. As we study the word of God, we can get to know who this is, his power, his tenderness, his voice, and that as we understand our relationship with this powerful being, not just us, God, but as our father, prayer can become almost instinctive, the more we understand who he is. And it becomes a great way to strengthen our relationship with God when we speak to him through prayer.

And she says, all the stars start with us. And so number two is sincere prayer. It's more than just saying a prayer, but the sincere part.

It's very important. I was just thinking about a relationship in general, like our relationship where we don't live close to each other anymore. If we stop talking to each other, our relationship wouldn't be as close, I mean, or if I called you and just said the four, four same phrases every time, then hung up.

Right. Asking for something and then hanging up. Okay.

Can you give us a personal experience or just tell us personally how that really has worked in your life?

Yeah, definitely. Two years ago, we had a twin and I've seen him come through sending angels to help and to strengthen me to do what I could not do on my own. Specifically a few months ago, I was pushing the 20s need stroller and the kids had all written their bikes up ahead. So I was alone. And I was just overwhelmed, a little bit discouraged. The morning I had gone how I'd hoped and I was just trudging along and just kind of threw up the like heavenly father.

Are you aware? And in that very moment, a car pulled off the road and someone rolled down their window and it was a neighbor. He just said, well, hello there. Good to see you. Have you been working on any songs lately? And he just asked how I was doing and it just felt like an instant answer to that prayer.

Number three, we're going to have her talk about number three, the service star. Okay.

Yeah, so building off of prayer, we can offer prayer in the morning of how we can be guided to someone to serve. And Jesus is the ultimate example of following that guidance and seeing a need and meeting those in age. If you look in the scriptures, you don't ever see how, at least I haven't found an example of him having a committee meeting and planning a service project.

I would love to build on that really quick. I just feel like there has never been a time in my life. I'm serious. There's very few things that I can say 100%, but this is one of them. If I sincerely ask the Lord, is there someone I can serve today? And I sit there and I listen, and I don't just get up and go at that point. Impression will come to my mind, whether instantly or within a very short amount of time after that prayer, somebody will come to my mind, whether to send them a quick text or to call them or to stop by, or it's somebody within my own family and within the walls of my own home.

It's not always out of the home, but it is sometimes, it is in the home other times. I cannot, I can't emphasize enough how willing the Lord is to answer that prayer, asking, is there someone that I can serve today?

Right, we want to go on to number four then?

Yeah, so the number four, we have sacred time, and it's like obviously reading the scriptures and saying prayers are sacred moments, right? However, sacred time is just a little bit more distinct. You will read about Jesus, and you see it throughout the entire New Testament, and Mark and Luke in Matthew, he takes time to, even the exact phrase I wrote down here is, amount apart to be alone. He goes to a mountain, he goes off on his own a lot to pray, and in Psalms 46-10 we are told to be still and know that I am God. And that almost takes it more into the commandment realm, and you see his example doing that so often to be still and to know that God is God. And so kind of at the base of the sacred time star, that basis of it is while having an intentional moment to be still, it is to reconnect with heaven and remember. We're remembering what God has done for us in the past. We're remembering the promises he's made to the children of men. For me, I, being on a walk outside or jogging outside with the intention to be still, to reconnect and have that still moment makes the hugest difference to my day. And yet we're all so different, so for someone else it could be writing in their journal, for somebody else it could be meditating, it could be yoga, but with that intention to be still, to reconnect and to remember.

But number five, who's going to talk about that?

So she's had a gratitude journal for a lot of years, and that kind of transitions us into the smile star, that's the last S is smile. And the smile star does include your physical pearly whites, to actually smile physically when we can is a beautiful action to take in this world.

However, the actual foundation of the smile star is deeper than our actual pearly whites. It's based on gratitude and Christ's joy. And so I'll turn the time over to her to talk about gratitude and then I'll talk about Christ's joy on that.

I keep my journal right by my bed, so it's just become a habit over the years to pull it out, and even if it's just a couple of sentences, I try to list either something I'm grateful for, something that went well, or something that brought me joy that day. And it trains your mind to be looking for it throughout the day. And even if I didn't necessarily smile during the experience afterwards, I can laugh about it. I'm writing about it that night. It helps me to keep a joyful perspective on my life and realize that there really are a lot of things going well.

I heard one religious leader say, this should be the church of joy. Right. You should reflect that in our countenances. Yeah. I love that.

And transitioning to the other part of the smile star being Christ's joy, which is exactly what you just said. I love this quote by Russell M. Nelson when he says, when the focus of our lives is Jesus Christ and his gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening or not happening in our lives, because there are some times where it might not be so easy to physically smile. Or as a nurse, maybe you have something going on where you literally can't physically smile, but you can still fulfill the smile star through that gratitude and striving to focus on the Savior and his joy through the ups and downs of life. So that's the smile star.

So we've touched on all five. Right. Yes. Now, should people feel guilty if they don't do it L5 every day? How do you justify that in your lives?

Maybe I'll touch on that really quick. And then I think you have a comment on that too. I'm really confident. So let me just review it really quick. So scripture study, sincere prayer, service, sacred time and smile. These five simple but important, just vitally essential daily acts that makes such a huge difference to our spiritual lives and our just lives in general. I would say that a good example that I feel like in the physical world is that several years back, my mom and I had the goal to walk or jog a mile a day. And our hope was eventually to be able to jog the entire mile. But when we started, the mile was pretty rough. We tried to jog for a little bit and it was, let me emphasize a little bit. And when we finished our jog portion, we were panting like dogs. We were so tired and we're just like, wow. And so we walked and finished the mile. We were proud of ourselves. And yet we had made the goal to try to do a mile a day. And as we did that day by day, it turns out that the mile got easier.

We even with jogging, we were able to jog a little bit longer and not feel like we were panting and totally exhausted. And I feel that way with the five-star day, that perhaps if we haven't been exercising our spiritual muscles in a while, it might feel like that first jog of it might not feel quite as natural as we would hope. Maybe we haven't prioritized our schedule in such a way to accommodate for some of these sacred actions. Because again, it's not meant to be superficial checklist. It's meant to be a part of who we are and who we're becoming in Christ. And so I feel like that mile challenge is a good example, though, that with time it gets easier. And even if starting with just one star, whether it's scripture, tell your sincere prayer, which I would recommend being one of the first, however, they're all important.

But starting there with initiating that relationship with him through scripture study and or sincere prayer, I promise you that it's going to start to impact the rest. And obviously the goal is to have a five-star day. That is the goal, to get all five in as often as possible.

And life happens and we need to be full of grace for ourselves because God, it has grace for us. But to start somewhere with that quote, unquote, mile challenge or to start somewhere with the five-star day, it will make a difference over time.

Yes, some final comments from you, Janessa.

I think what it comes down to is less about checking these five boxes, but seeing it as five ways that we can create a relationship with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. And we do that in the right spirit. We can be learning about Him, hearing His voice. We can speak to Him when we serve or acting as His hands. When we smile, we're feeling what He feels in His heart. And that's our hope, is to draw close to them.

So why don't you hold up the book for us so people could... Oh, sure. ...and tell us if people are interested where they could get one. Sure.

And so make it a five-star day, five daily acts that change everything by Kayla Hansen. That's my maiden name. And so the publishing company I went through actually got bought out by Amazon. And so you can find it on Amazon now. Just look it up, make it a five-star day by Kayla Hansen and you should be able to buy it on Amazon. So that's where it's at right now.

So any final thoughts from you, Derby, on the five-star day and what this has meant to you? Do you want to go then? I'll finish. I should feel...

If you're just getting started, maybe try to stack this new habit with something you're already doing. You brush your teeth in the morning thing. Use that as a chance to also...

They could reconcerve that day. Yeah. Right. Yeah, that's not... Hey, Kayla.

I... One of my favorite scriptures of all time is Alma in the Book of Mormon. And it's Alma 37.6. And it says, by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. And that is what I have come to find with the five-star day, that it really is small and simple things.

And yet it brings about great things in our lives. And so I just know from personal experience, I know that Janessa as well has learned from personal experience. And anybody that we know who has applied to these things, that God is aware of us.

And he really loves it when we put these five things to practice. And you will feel a difference in your life. And so that's just my invitation is to not take our word for it, but to give it a shot and to see how your relationship with the Lord grows and how you have that divine help and that strength and that peace increase in your life.

It would be a life-changing experience for people if they do that. Yeah. I know it has been for me. So... Well, thank you so much. We've been talking with sisters Kayla Hansen-Cabal and Janessa Orgel. And we can't thank you enough for sharing your insights with us.

And we just hope that everyone is uplifted and edified by what they've heard from you today. Thanks so much. Thank you. This has been the Sunday Blessings Podcast. I'm Jay Hildebrand.

For more information or to contact the show, visit RiverbendMediaGroup.com.