Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Magic

So you know the magic words,
Please and Thank you.
I have always wondered at the incredible meaning behind thank you.
It covers from Letting someone go ahead of you to a hug on a rotten day
Thank you I'd like to say.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Finding Christmas

I think it is interesting after finding that "Christmas is over," and talking to people Christmas Day how many people were unable to find Christmas this year.
It make me wonder how Christmas eludes them.
Then there are people, "expert gift givers and receivers," who seem to have no trouble.
They realize that the timing of December 25th has nothing to do with Christmas, the location does not have to by an open fire, and the activity of choice not roasting chestnuts.
They realize what the muppets taught us long ago.
"It is…the season of the heart, A special time of caring, The ways of love made clear. It is…the season of the spirit, The message if we hear it, Is make it last all year.
Because wherever you find love it feels like Christmas."
I hope that along with the resolve to "make Christmas better next year," is the resolve to learn today how to keep it with you all year long.
That way, come December, the Master Giver of Gifts is not someone that we "set out toward Bethlehem" to find, (That is why Christmas eludes them. He is not there)but instead, is someone with whom we have spent Christmas all year long.
Christmas will simply become a natural extension of who we have become, and you will not feel like "Christmas is only special after Thanksgiving."
The reason that it is special at all is because there are those who observe it all year long. There are those who "with the Holy Spirit as their guide" give gifts to many throughout the year out of love and compassion.
There are those who emulate the Savior and "go about doing good" as He did His whole life.
I submit that if you and I want to become more like the Savior that we need more practice at being "expert gift givers and receivers" all throughout the year.
Merry Christmas

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve

For unto you is born this day in the city if David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

geeky

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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Seriously?

So just about anybody who knows me will tel you that I don't take myself seriously.
I like being lighthearted
I think that too many people walk around with heavy hearts
They think, "I am not angry, bitter, pessimistic, etc. I am just being realistic."
Time for a reality check then
Lighthearted people are realistic, they just choose to not put heavy things in their heart.
I used to put them on my shoulders or in my "backpack" and then I realized that that was no place for them either. Life is too hard to pack heavy things.
That is partly what Christmas is about.
Letting go of heavy, hard, needless things, and helping others to do the same.
Scrooges crime was not that he carried bricks around in his backpack
It was that he loaded bricks into others.
Elder Holland says, "When a battered, weary swimmer tries valiantly to get back to shore, after having fought strong winds and rough waves which he should never have challenged in the first place, those of us who might have had better judgment, or perhaps just better luck, ought not to row out to his side, beat him with our oars, and shove his head back underwater. That's not what boats were made for. But some of us do that to each other."
I am not saying that is what all grumpy people do, but I is easier to do on days when we choose to not be lighthearted
I hope that in emptying out our heavy things we find that our heart now has room for Christ this season.
Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

One week and counting

So I love Christmas!
It is a great time of year
Something that president Uchtdorf said is still bothering me though.
"Looking back, I think my fear that I had ruined Christmas came from an incomplete understanding of what Christmas really is. And I’ve noticed that it’s not only four-year-olds who have this misunderstanding."
What is Christmas really then?
It is in smiling, being grateful, focusing on family, serving, giving, happiness...
I think it is a good sized list.
I also think that with such a good sized list it would be easier to implement all year long and not only at Christmas time.
I wish you all a merry Christmas as you find what Christmas means to you.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Car crashes

So I had a busy day and got everything done and after a party I am driving home and nearly died.
Death is interesting
We spend our whole lives trying not to die
I wonder why?
Death is really pretty wonderful, I think
It was unnerving for a little bit, but then I realized that I was going to die.
I relaxed and contemplated life and some other really stupid questions I have always had
Then I ended up not dying
But I am happy to now have new things to think about.
I am going to stop doing things to not die and start doing everything in order to live.
It is going to get interesting

Friday, December 16, 2011

Christmas Tree Joy

I have always loved laying under the tree and...you name it.
I think that most activities are naturally enhanced while doing them under a Christmas tree.
So, while I don't exactly fit under the Christmas tree anymore I still find myself underneath it as much as possible as often as possible doing whatever I love to do, because it simply makes it that much better.
Little me was obviously a genius and I am glad to have learned over Christmas' past that I need to take more lessons from little me.
Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Sunday, December 11, 2011

I am soooooo tired

Not in that way but I just realized today something about yesterday.
I was shopping all afternoon yesterday and even though it wasn't actual shopping I had lots of fun talked to a couple of people and saw a couple of others that I knew. It was a great Saturday!
Then I got in my car to go home and a very strange tiredness washed over me.
I got to thinking and could not think why I'd be tired all the sudden.
Then I thought of someone. Then I thought a weird thought, "You should let that person know how much you appreciate their modesty."
I did as much then drove home.
Then today at church we were talking about indulgences and judgement and thoughts, words and actions and I realized why I was so tired.
I had been subconsciously fighting all day.
I was not physically drained, I was mentally and emotionally drained from pornography.
Pornography is so pervasive that I don't actually recall a single instance that stands out. However, after shopping for an afternoon I got in the car and texted a friend, "Thank you for being modest."
Only later did I realize that it was so exhaustive to go out and be in the toxic that I could only find refuge in a friend, the temple, a day at church and the Spirit.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Waiting for Christmas

So I love Christmas
Which is funny, because most people with a Christmas birthday don't like it
But then again my birthday is officially moved to July or whenever in more recent years.
I think that has helped me to like Christmas more.
I just love the music, the lights, the smells and the smiles.
I love what it does to me and I love seeing what it does to others.
Waiting and watching Christmas happen.
It has little to do with the actual day
It has everything to do with what the day reminds us of all season long.
Only Jesus Christ could do for people what "Christmas" supposedly does.
Change them.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Yeah, today was better than expected.

I love when you have a day, it starts out like any old grand day.
Then things just go wonderfully.
Not that there is one specific thing that stands out in the day.
It almost seems like that day is like a dream, but more wonderful.
I love traffic jams

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Just Friends Pt. 2

"Just" friends
I was writing with one of my friends and in the coarse of writing wrote "just your friend."
She quickly corrected that with crossing out the just
In light of that movie, I think that worst thing is, like so many other things, the things that are not said.
It implies that no guy would ever be friends with a girl if he was not romantically interested.
Wow. That is terrible.
I have friends that are girls, and not only that I take good care of them like I do my sisters.
There is just no romance from one side or the other.
Friend is possibly the greatest compliment ever.
It has now been taken out of context, dragged through the mire of the English language and then twisted and reconfigured to mean something much less.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Just friends

http://youtu.be/T_lh5fR4DMA
So I imagine that you have either: heard, seen, shared, or otherwise come in contact with this video.
I disagree from lots of experience.
Guys and girls can be friends.
1. They both have to want nothing more than friendship
2. They have to respect the boundaries of friendship
3. They have to be honest with the other person.
I think that simply being friends with those you find attractive and not being willing to date and explore the possibility of love would be one of the worst decision that you could ever make. Ruining the friendship because it doesn't pan out and one or the other wants to be "just friends" is right above that though.
I would rather be friends with smart, funny, amazing people than not.
Period.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

My Life is Average

I really like that site.
But it is actually not what I'll be covering.
The correct statement is, "My life is an average of the 5 people I spend the most time with."
I won't cover extensions but food for thought; what does that say about our 5 movies, books, tv shows, songs, Internet sites, etc.
But I thought about it and you always hear things like, "You've been spending too much time around/doing..."
It is true.
You develop mannerisms, vernacular, inside jokes, lots of different things that make you naturally blend in with the people you hang around.
You don't become carbon copies of any one person but a mixture of the five.
It was easy for me because outside of work the five people were my family.
My brother passes his knowledge to me through sharing
My sister and I finish sentences for each other and could jinx each other all day every day.
My sister is brilliant
My dad is ingenious and red-yellow
My mom is blue-white which keeps me alive.

Monday, December 5, 2011

What do you want for Christmas?

A question that lots of people consider at this time of year.
A question that a very good friend asked me. 
A question that I never have a good answer for.
Do you remember me?  I sat upon your knee I wrote to you with childhood fantasies. Well, I'm all grown-up now. Can you still help somehow? I'm not a child, but my start still can dream. So here's my lifelong wish, My grown-up Christmas list, Not for myself, but for a world in need. No more lives torn apart, That wars would never start, And time would heal all hearts. Every man would have a friend, That right would always win, And love would never end. This is my grown-up Christmas list.
I love that song, but that is probably a better answer than I ever give.
The answer usually goes like, "Oh nothing, if I want something then I probably already have it."
Even though I don't have everything that I have ever wanted I also try to be rational most times, and correspond my wants with needs. If there are other times that they do not match up I still objectively weigh the options and then make a purchase.
I can probably count on one hand the number of gifts that mean the most to me (as far as material with intrinsic value).
They are a random assortment, but I look at each one and each represents a sacrifice and a person knowing me better than I know myself.
Each one has value that cannot be measured.
Each one represents someone that I love.
Gifts are simply an outer presentation of an inner feeling.
A feeling to give to others the greatest gift.
Realizing that is what we have received, 2000 years ago, and wise men seek Him still.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Mansions

Apparently mansions are not everything they're cracked up to be.
President Monson talked about mansions and heavenly treasures and one thing when he finds his hovel near the end sticks in my mind, "You didn't expect to get paid twice for it, did you?"
We don't get paid twice for anything.
I guess you just need to decide where you stand.

Temple Square

Sorry it's late but yesterday went to Temple Square to see the lights again.
It was grand as always
It did just what I expected as well
It got me in the Christmas spirit
That was all I really needed it to do
I now feel fully vested in Christmas.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Feel ings

I don't know how it happens
It just kind of happens
I wake up and have a choice
This week I decided to see what it was like to be different
I went through each day living for the weekend.
The week passed in a blur
I could not remember what I had done specifically each day other than some highlighted facts, but could not really remember what day they happened on
I have decided that living for each day is much better
Living for the weekend requires the weekend just to recuperate and go back and do it again.
No thanks
I live each day as if it were my last
I don't know why the other seemed like such a good idea in high school.
Oh I renember, I was stupid.