Number 1

Of coarse Megamind

I have a special set of connections with Megamind.

I don't know all of them, but some that stick out are as follows

-Evil Genius

-Wants to be good, even though he is good at being bad

-Color Blue (different, but similar that is a story for another time)

-PRESENTATION

-Messing things up and then fixing them but not all the way

-Man with the plan

Number 2

Coveted spot 2 goes to Tangled

Really close with Number 1, but this is a great movie

-Dreams (I have a dream!)

-Finding new "adventures"

-Living a life that you create

-Humor and great music

Number 3

How to Train your Dragon

Loved the music and the storyline

-Great story about love and judging others

-I have always been the one to break my mind before my back

-I want a dragon!

-I can make just about anything come together (courtesy of my father's genes)

Number 4

Sorcerer's Apprentice

-I like magic and I believe, however in a different way, that magic is all around us

-He finds a great amount of strength through ingenuity.

-He is a geek

Number 5

Cars 2 just gets special mention because it was a great time of life and some awesome memories come with that movie.

Shoots and ladders

 So I am really picky when it come to people talking about the salvation of God and Perfection and salvation and I am also really verbal about it with others (including my teachers) when I see something that does not makes sense. 

Every single Latter-Day Saint has seen a picture of stick people looking up at this ladder trying to get to heaven.

I hate this ladder and everything that it represents

Loathe

Strongly about this ladder I cannot be

 

The main crux of what they teach is that you are saved after all that you can do and you have to be climbing on the ladder.

We are saved by grace after all we can do.

That is an amazing scripture that everyone quotes or rather many people mis-quote

After all we can do?

First off we can do nothing in the sense that most people use this. 

"Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?"

Secondly after is an interesting word, as in the English language it has 6 tenses

The Spanish version translates, después de hacer cuanto podamos or after making as we

That does not help much

Other items include the fact that "after all"

after all 
1. used to emphasize something that should be taken into consideration in spite of what has happened or been said

with the placement of punctuation this does not seem unlikely either

So bottom line. 

Obedience, or what we can do does not pay for salvation or exaltation any more that piano practice pays for piano lessons.

We as Christians hope that we can become more like the Savior, more loving, more kind, more perfect and holy.

We are in a sense practicing to become like Him.

He paid for the lessons.

We become like Him and show our gratitude for His payment by practicing. 

That is all

We can in no way contribute to our salvation through obedience

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

What does He want us to do?

"Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am."

If you do not want to be like the Savior then the answer is simple

Don't practice

If you do, then the answer is simple

Stop complaining and start practicing 

Of coarse it is hard at first

You have no idea what you are doing

The Atonement makes it possible for us to do that, to access the grace or power of God to overcome our natural, evil, carnal self.

We do everything that we do trying to consecrate out lives to Him.

If you are doing to buy a ticket into heaven and are not only saved by grace, but changed by grace, then you will no more want to live with God than you do right now.

You've got something that I want

Great song! Really Great song!

Human beings are ridiculous.

Really

I thought about the quote from Cool Runnings, "If you are not enough without it, then you will never be enough with it."

It strikes me that this is true in every sense.

A friendly exchange took place with the overall feeling being something like, "...it depends on why a miserable person is feeling miserable. It isn't always as simple as wanting to be happy. If there is a cause, that is an omission of something, then the introduction of what was missing could resolve the state of being miserable."
While we were discussing something different, but altogether related (things you can control that make you happy, I thought that it applies well, and have heard it used to address things that you cannot control)

I think that it is so incredible. 

Most people actually believe this.

The fact that something could actually affect you and who you are.

I guess I am harsh because I am a really big Holocaust junkie

I read books, watch movies, documentaries, talked with survivors, anything that I can learn.

People who literally had everything taken away and not only learned how to survive, but how to thrive in a place where there was no hope, no happiness, no life, no family, no love, no food, nothing.

And yet these amazing people had within themselves what it took to be happy. It is not as easy as wanting to be happy, but yet you do not NEED things to make you happy.

I am not saying that the survivors were happy, I do not know one person who is happy everyday. 

What I am saying is that THINGS or the lack of things will never make you happy.

People who thrived in Auschwitz, thrived after Auschwitz. 

People who barely survived went on barely surviving.

They may not have been happy, jolly all the time, but they learned that they possessed indomitable spirits that no one or thing could possess. They would not give up.

We are prone to give up until things are a certain way, until a group accepts us, until we make more money, until the person we love chooses to love us back

All of those things are superficial.

We have to decide to Carpe Diem regardless of what happens in life.

Make the most of it even if that means having waffles for dinner.

Nothing will ever make a person unhappy that is determined to live each day like they are going to die.

Nothing will make you happy. You have to choose to thrive and not be oppressed when things just don't go your way.

Take responsibility for your actions.

Stop wating.

Be happy! 

Fear

However funny when I think it is related with my soreness and tiredness from the turkey bowl. 

People can sometimes lose all sense of themselves when they are afraid. 

Like thinking that I was actually going to hurt them even though I scream like a warrior and act big.

Enough said. 

I am bemused.

Fear though seems interesting. People show have no reason to fear, or what you would expect as no reason to fear still have fear because they do not fully trust God. 

I find that funny because no matter how much you worry about a said event it either will come to pass or it will not. 

Those are the only two options.

I can strive and do everything in my power to effect my contribution and effect my personal growth or lack thereof through the process, but worrying about it much like crying about it, never really fixes anything.

Emotional value and other factors may play in, but the finality of what happens is not effected.

Early Christmas Present

So I am not going to join the Christmas in November rampage, and in all actuality this little to do with it, it just seemed fitting.

I thought that I would take the next little bit to talk about Stake Conference as it was a fantastic time and revelatory experience for me. 

It really was like an early Christmas present. I got to spend the entire day in meetings, and learning about myself. I think that it is interesting to hear people talk about meetings in different ways. They go stir-crazy, they lose focus and they get nothing out of them are common responses. I feel that I can appreciate those responses being ADD myself. 

I also find that there are ways to over come it. I probably drive some of those people crazy because I shift. 

I find that I can concentrate much better if I go in certain positions.

I can concentrate in each position for 10 minutes and then move to a new position. 

Hence it probably drives people nuts. 

Other simple things like taking notes, participating, being well rested. These all culminate in the ability to enoy a meeting.

The most important is the focus.

I go to meetings to worship the Savior and the gain revelation. 

I find that with most things in life, the less you worry about you and the more that you worry about someone else, the better off you are.

The differences between a good meeting and a bad meeting is what I take to it, what I expect to get from it, and what I do to actively participate during.

Now you can't very well participate in an extroverted manner when someone else is talking, but you can engage yourself in the topic, you can teach yourself, and you can take the Holy Ghost for your guide as to what you need to learn. 

It is easier to do things that were once hard.

I hope you enjoy these next few bouts of Stake Conference Highlights and other "Random thoughts that come throughout life."

An insturment

I hope you enjoy this video/talk

Elder Busche advice on Life

speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=7908

11-11-11

A magical day in the lives of some.

I hope. 

I like to make my own magic for the most part though.

There are places where I go to refill my magic most certainly.

But the rest of the time it is just deciding that a day is going to be magical.

Music is key. 

My music machine is like an appendage. Not that I really have to have it, but it makes life nice.

I can always find something that gets me feeling in a groove and amplifies my feelings do that they can become powerful. 

However you make you day magical, do yourself a favor and don't wait for the next 11-11-11 to have a magical day.

I felt much better since I gave up hope

I read this on a bumper sticker and thought, "that is counter-intuitive."

I hope that you never give up hope, but only hope will not bring you the happiness that you seek either.

Hope is a very powerful emotion capable of doing lots of things, but happiness is not hope. Happiness is more of gratitude mixed with hope, with a profound sense of eternal destiny and meaning, and most of all obedience to the commandments of God. 

I find that it is ironic that lots of people think that it is possible to be happy without obeying the commandments of God. 

That is counter-intuitive. 

The way to happiness is by keeping commandments designed to make us happy.

Hope makes an anchor to the souls of men. 

Gratitude gives us God's proper place in our lives.

Divine Nature gives us our proper place in our lives.

Obedience gives us meaning and something to strive for. 

"Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God..."

Let us be happy. There is truly nothing better.

Learning and learning

So I am weird. 

Not that that was news to anyone, but just to establish that for the post

There is learning and then there is learning.

One of the things that I like to do is that I really like taking classes from the same teacher over and over and over.

I know that some of you are thinking that that sounds a lot like your nightmares.

I am not talking about college classes though (my only thought, intent and purpose were to get in and get out as fast, and painlessly as possible).

I am talking about institute classes

Spiritual learning.

Most of us are adept in one form or another to learning from books, but if you haven't noticed yet there is no book for life. 

No handbook, no instruction manual, no parts list, no spec sheet. 

Nothing.

So what are we to do?

The scriptures say that we must take the Holy Spirit for our guide and go.

Great. That was super helpful.

Obviously listening to the Spirit is key. 

That is not a strong suit of mine anyway.

Still not helping.

So seriously what to do.

I decided to practice.

When you go to class and hear something new it is easy to take away something insightful.

When you go to class and hear the same thing with the same slides, and the same jokes, and the same stories....

Is it quite so easy?

That has been my personal challenge.

I take classes over and over and over from the same teachers, who teach the same thing, give or take, so that I can learn how to learn new things from old material. 

The material and the teacher no longer do the teaching.

If I am to learn anything then I have to rely on the spirit to teach me everything that I need to know.

His insight becomes priceless, not just a "bonus."

I have to learn through the spirit because the teacher can no longer teach me anything.

It forces my growth in new ways that I would have never reached.

So if you see me in your institute class and the teacher seems to know me really well. 

That is because they do.

This isn't my first rodeo.

However you do it, you need to find ways to learn from the Spirit, for "He will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance."

That is pretty amazing.

We just need to find our way in to the radio station.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Well I realize the Sherlock is not the perfect person (cocaine is not a huge plus in my book), and he acknowledges that he has faults a-plenty, I think that there is much to learn about the sleuth from Baker Street. Pick up a story and give it a read through. It just might change your outlook.

Nothing is ever as it seems

I find that life has many interesting things that people find boring simply because they have a fixed view of them. Physics is like that for me. Physics is something that i do not truly understand enough to master the subject, but I know that if I think something out without really thinking about it then make a conjecture about that thing, then take the exact opposite of the conjecture that I am really quite close to understanding physics. 

Holmes does that in a lot of ways. He takes the things that people count as obvious and then discards them. He works with what people have not considered first and then finds that the most common place answers and obvious facts, can really point in a hundred directions. The obscure facts are the one that are fast in finding the answer and the obvious facts fit that explanation as well as the truth.

Don't judge a book by it's cover, it is the intricacy of a person that defines them and you will find more often than not fits the obvious facts that you thought were their entire story.

Bridling your passions

A very Book of Mormon phrase and partially continued from my last post but not really.

Holmes has perfect control over his emotions. They never cloud his judgement. 

His eccentricities become his power because he has learned balance (except for a few things that will be in later posts).

His emotions likewise become his weapon because he has harnessed their power. 

People are very powerful, but often act like a thousand pin pricks instead of a spear.

Instead of concentrated our power and letting that concentration become our new power, we feel that our little contributions in life are sufficient. 

The truth is that we realize that in order to bridle our passion into the true force that it can be it is going to require a great amount of effort and we are lazy.

Holmes being the Master of his own emotions becomes the master of others'. 

Only as we order our passions, much like a garden that is over-grown, will our passions serve any productive purpose.

crazy

I wanted to post with full faculties as much as possible because lunacy is a fairly disconcerting topic.

Most people when they hear eccentric imagine a crazy, white-haired person who lives like a hobbit, with this weird obsession. 

That is mostly true

I am kidding.

That is not anywhere near true

Holmes is an eccentric about lots of things.

The truth is that at the core that an eccentric person has found what everyone has been searching for. They know the answer to the age old question, "What is the purpose of life?"

Asked mostly in jest, eccentric people have an answer unlike post others.

The reason that I like eccentric people is that they are passionate about something. Once you have learned to be passionate about something then you can be passionate about almost anything.

People who are not eccentric, first off are liars, and second off, have hidden the feelings of passion so they become lifeless. 

Eccentricity is a good thing, as long as it is metered in a productive way.

Just like anything your passion can kill you unless you become the master of it.

So don't kill the horse (eccentricities) just bridle it.

knowledge vs intellect

I do not believe that I was being redundantly repetitive using both knowledge and intellect to describe Sherlock Holmes. Knowledge is the know of something and intellect the using it. I may know that if you leave a pail with straw and food covered in a barn that there will be mice in it and no food given time. Intellect is the ability to see that the mice did not spontaneously generate from the cheese. 

I think that it is a rare thing that people have both knowledge and intellect. The reason that comes with intellect is usually subdued by greater knowledge, not enhanced. 

Sherlock Holmes mentions that he does not postulate theories without facts because you then suit theory to fact instead of taking the facts at face value and assigning them their proper place.

I think of our ability to judge. We know something about someone and start to make rash judgements about that person based upon the little that we know. Then when confronted with the truth and it no longer fits our knowledge we simply adjust the truth to fit. It prevents people from seeing the amazing person sitting next to them. I wish you knowledge and power as illustrated by 

The Serenity Prayer
God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathways to peace; Taking, as He did this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him.
Forever in the next.
Amen

How very observant

I love how there is always a bit here and there in Sherlock Holmes' tales where he makes what appear to be incredible conclusions based on absolutely nothing.

He then goes on to tell them how he deduced what he knew. 

One thing that he tells Watson on occasion is that, "You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear."

Sherlock is in the same room and hears and sees the same things as his companions but he observes. 

One of my favorite is a simple how many stairs are there to come up here? You don't know, neither did I. Then I become more observant. I have a respectable memory and started putting it to good use. I could find things that were lost because when I saw them they were not lost. But when they became lost I could find them. Seeing went from an endless flood of visual information to millions of facts coming through my optic nervous system in a constant stream. Taking notice of things around you. 

The most important part is that it taught me how to be happier. 

I went from existing to thriving. I could stop to notice things that most people take for granted, and appreciate it. That in turn helped me to appreciate life.

Elementary

"You will not apply my precept," he said, shaking his head. "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth? We know that he did not come through the door, the window, or the chimney. We also know that he could not have been concealed in the room, as there is no concealment possible. When, then, did he come?"
     The Sign of the Four, ch. 6 (1890)

I won't spoil it for you, as it is rather fantastic and I love Sherlock Holmes stories. 

Sherlock has always been for me a very good kind of role model. I love how he can observe and his keen knowledge and intellect. He is eccentric in a lot of ways. He has complete control over his emotions to the ability that he can reason in logic without interference. He can simplify things that are very complex. He finds things reversed from the way that many people see them because he knows from experience that the common conception is really a misconception.

I hope to be like him in a lot of ways and not like him in a lot of ways.

Death

I wonder some times if I am the only one that ever thinks about dying/death. It is a reality that faces all of us at one point or another. I have often thought that it is the one thing left in life that I have yet to experience and thus it would be the last epic adventure. I don't hope that I die, but I have thought that it would be cool to have one of those "die and come back to life" experiences. Just thought that I would through that out there. 

P.S.

I don't need any kind of counseling for depression, or suicide, etc. I really do love life, I just also think that death would be pretty cool too. It is really the only thing that I have never done in an eternal kind of way. I am kind of looking forward to it in a lot of ways. But again I am really happy to be here with all my great friends and my great life.

Choices

Robert Frost (1874–1963)

1. The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Ten took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The only problem is that they both look equally traveled. A good poem anyway. Have a happy day!

Charity

So I don't usually blast scathing social commentary, and you probably think that this is ironic to come after it, but that was more of just a this has been building and I see people whine and figure that none of them read my blog anyway, and even if they do, they need to be told to stop whining (girls and boys). 

So on to Charity 

Elder Holland said, "One [meaning of charity or ‘the pure love of Christ’] is the kind of merciful, forgiving love Christ’s disciples should have one for another.... “The greater definition of ‘the pure love of Christ,’ however, is not what we as Christians try but largely fail to demonstrate toward others but rather what Christ totally succeeded in demonstrating toward us. True charity has been known only once. It is shown perfectly and purely in Christ’s unfailing, ultimate, and atoning love for us. ... It is that charity—his pure love for us—without which we would be nothing, hopeless, of all men and women most miserable. Truly, those found possessed of the blessings of his love at the last day—the Atonement, the Resurrection, eternal life, eternal promise—surely it shall be well with them.“This does not in any way minimize the commandment that we are to try to acquire this kind of love for one another. We should ‘pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that [we] may be filled with this love’ [ Moroni 7:48 ; see also 1Corinthians 13:4–5, 7–8 ]. ... As Christ lived so should we live, and as Christ loved so should we love. But the ‘ pure love of Christ’ Mormon spoke of is precisely that—Christ’s love. With that divine gift, that redeeming bestowal, we have everything; without it we have nothing and ultimately are nothing, except in the end ‘devils [and] angels to a devil’ [ 2Nephi 9:9 ]” ( Christ and the New Covenant, 336–37). 

As Charity comes to possess us then it guides our actions on how to minister and more importantly administer. We start to become like Him.

Fair is Fair

Since it has been a while since I have written and then even longer since I have written any kind of scathing social commentary I figured that today would be just as good as any other.

Girls want to date/marry a righteous, stalwart, dedicated, "Returned Missionary" kind of guy.

All that I can say is, "Good for you, but turnabout is fair play."

You want a guy that respects women and modesty and doesn't talk about how hot other women (particularly actresses) are. Good for you.

Guys don't want to hear about how good ______ looks without a shirt on.

You want someone who doesn't swear or watch bad movies. Rightfully so.

Guys don't care if it was edited either.

Bad music ditto

The list goes on and on. 

The double standard stops here.

That is all that I have to say about it. 

I don't like it and I see it all the time.

Shape up or stop complaining. 

Both of you.

Squirrel!

So, it happens that I have ADD and it is usually not manifest in the way that most people are used to thinking of "ADD people". I don't get hyper, but I do have some weird tendencies. One of those is that I can't read in the same position for more than about 30 minutes. I get distracted extremely easily. I get distracted by life. I am going to try to not get distracted by life. Today was a really good day. It ended with ice cream.

Love verses lust

Yes as a matter of fact we had the big "C" talk today in Priesthood as presented by one of our amazing elder's quorum teachers Alex. It was not your standard chastity talk as it was more focused on the difference between love and lust and how they relate respectively to chastity and fornication/adultry.

I feel that I have come to appreciate some of the nuances of this through different relationships and was quite intrigued when our Bishop indicated that a major difference between love and lust was that love has an appreciation of the person as a whole, a healthy view about their strengths and weaknesses and how those compare with the other party involved. Lust, however, focuses on one item to objectify the person into a thing. There is no whole to enjoy because the person becomes just their; hair, or their eyes, or their ankles, or whatever it is that pleases you. It is a selfish motive and does not help you or the other person grow. 

I also found out that the cure for lust is to know what love is. 

After you taste what love is and can be then you never want to indulge in lust because it is empty and tastelesss

The Book or the Movie?

So popular opinion says that the movie is never as good as the book which is more often than not true, or is it? Is the apple better than the cinnamon apple cobbler? It came from the same start. 

Now most people would look at that and say, "Well that is not a fair comparison because they are completely different."

That is a really good point, but the book and the movie are two completely different things.

An amazing person taught me that recently.

The book is one thing and the movie is another. 

The book was better give me absolutely no information. It only tells me that this completely different, however closely related, thing was better. 

What made it better?

The soundtrack was great and the acting was terrible lets me know to buy the soundtrack and not waste the time watching the movie.

So when someone asks you how you liked a particular movie instead of offering a comparison, evaluate the movie. It will be amazing what the other person learns.

All I Ever Wanted

We interrupt this long time having not written in my blog to let you know that I am going to be more regular though nothing really regular until after Disneyland which is this week. 

I have just been thinking about a lot of different things and so I am going to try and catch up and maybe even get ahead if I can.

I am also not one to promote non-church issued churchish movies as they are more often than not wildly inaccurate at best, but if you are watching them for cinematic enjoyment then sure. 

In The Prince of Egypt, Moses sings a song about all he ever wanted in life. He has found out that he is not a Prince of Egypt, some of the lines are; All I've ever known, All I ever wanted, Now I am home, A son of the proud history that's shown Etched on ev'ry wall Surely this is all I ever wanted All I ever wanted All I ever wanted.

He then forsakes Egypt and becomes Moses, the Prophet.

I find that more often than not we don't really know what we want until we find it. All we have ever known is that thing which we want. 

There are certain things that I want from life. There are certain things that I know are things that the Lord wants from me. Outside of those two considerations I am looking for the rest and building what I want from the things that I find in life and from what my updated knowledge brings me. 

Some things that are all we ever wanted we realize are foolish and childish. We then become the fool if we hang on to them and pass up the great blessings that the Lord has in store for us, because it is not what we have always wanted. It is different. But as the Lord presents us with more information I believe that He expects us to update our desires and see if we are willing to submit to His will and timing for our lives. 

So maybe once you decide what you want you should recognize that it may only be all you've ever wanted because it's been all you've ever known.

Miracles

So I have been thinking about his quite a bit a going over the story of Lazarus trying to pull the meaning out of it for myself. I have included some excerpts to get the general feeling and will interrupt as I have found meaningful things. The full account is found in John 11. 

Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. 

We learn from this and other areas that Martha had a good deal of faith in the Savior and of His power and had seen and heard of it's operation throughout all Israel.

Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.  ... Believest thou this?  She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. 

Again she affirms her testimony to Christ of His power and divinity and mission.

Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?  

There were many who were with Martha and Mary who doubted His power.

Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. 

Martha begins to doubt.

Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?  

The ever gentle rebuke from the Master

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.  And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.   Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.

He preforms a miracle of miracles among the Jews, based on their beliefs about spirit departure from the body and many believe on Him.

So what?

That is the difficult question that keeps the scriptures from coming alive.

I relate a lot with Martha in that, I feel that I have a fairly good testimony of the Savior, and have seen His workings in my life. Yet, whenever I go to Him and ask Him for a miracle, ask Him to intercede in some incredible way in my life, and finally come to the "gravesite" I simply want to excuse the Lord from any "obligation" to preform a miracle in my behalf. 

Looking back I have felt that if it did not turn out the way that I had hoped and was given assurances that it would I felt like it would shake my faith. There were times that I really thought that the Lord would not preform the miracle in my behalf.

And I find great comfort in the rebuke of the Master, "Said I not unto thee..." He truly is waiting to bless our lives, and sometimes, most of the time, it is us He is waiting on. So that He can show forth, "The glory of God" in our lives.

Kite Strings

I want to establish the difference between leashes and kite strings.

Leashes are self inflicted restraints that keep us from gaining out true potential. They are often unnecessary burdens that we load ourselves with.

Kite strings restrain us within our limits. They keep enough tension on our lives to keep us soaring off the ground.

I have never seen a kite fly on a leash.

Leashes

I have always been told that a cell phone is a really short leash.

I don't believe that it is, unless you feel obligated to answer every time someone calls, as soon as they call.

I think that we make leashes for ourselves.

Things that are used irrationally that we tie ourselves to; friends, computers, Facebook, phones, family, sports, job and the list goes on. Some of these things are great and some are less than. None of them should keep us from doing the important things, friends, should not keep us from family, and sometimes the other way around. Computers, should not keep us from having a life. 

I think all in all we should not be so attached to anything that we cannot do without for long enough to do what is really important now.

Alpha

Life is full of first's.

Foods, memories, crushes, days of school or jobs.

The first of the month.

I love having first experiences.

They are new and exciting. Full of the thrill of charting a course and never turning back.

I unfortunately bore quite easily with things and have found that if I can make them new again then  I don't get bored. I find new ways to do something and new ways to say something. So if I do something new and you think it's weird...you're right, but most first's are.

Have a happy first something.

Temple time

I love those times in your life when the Spirit moves and you just feel like you need to renovate your life just because. Change is underway. Watch out.

Dad, can we still be friends?

Interesting story, in church about how we do things that upset our parents and we feel that we may be cut off forever, or if you are not melodramatic you realize that things will never be the same. And how it can prompt us to want to re-establish that connection, and how with God it is similar. We sin and thereby tell God that we don't love Him, then through the Atonement are able to come back. If I discover anything poignant I will be back to share it.

Mormon Messages

Have you ever had a hard day and wanted to know how to make it better?
I recommend watching a Mormon Message. 
They are great!
You should give it a try even if you have before.
It will be well worth your time.
LDS.ORG