New place, new blog right? I need to get out of San Antonio for a while. I took a contract job in Mexia, TX for 10 weeks or so. I think it will be good.
http://nomatterhowyoupronounceit.blogspot.com/
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Kindness
For whatever reason there have been kindness-promoting posters up at one of the schools I'm at. One in particular caught my eye. "I believe in the magic of kindness" it read. Kindness is quite a magical thing. It is hard and soft at the same time. It is a little thing that sometimes comes at a great price. And Paul said of kindness' big sister charity, that without it nothing else matters. I think that kindness is important.
I want to be kind. I want to have charity for everyone all the time, but that isn't always easy. I struggle with pride. I struggle with jealousy, doubt, insecurity, fear, loneliness, and depression, just to name a few. It is hard for me to be kind to someone that isn't kind back. It is hard for me to be kind when I feel used because I feel stupid for having been so gullible as to allow someone to use me.
But I do believe in the magic of kindness. I believe that it can change hearts, even in the age when men's hearts are failing them. I believe that kindness is the path the savior walked, even when it cut his feet. Kindness is about something powerful and mighty. It is one of those small things that makes great things come to pass.
I want to be kind. I want to have charity for everyone all the time, but that isn't always easy. I struggle with pride. I struggle with jealousy, doubt, insecurity, fear, loneliness, and depression, just to name a few. It is hard for me to be kind to someone that isn't kind back. It is hard for me to be kind when I feel used because I feel stupid for having been so gullible as to allow someone to use me.
But I do believe in the magic of kindness. I believe that it can change hearts, even in the age when men's hearts are failing them. I believe that kindness is the path the savior walked, even when it cut his feet. Kindness is about something powerful and mighty. It is one of those small things that makes great things come to pass.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Conversion
This topic has come up several times the past couple of weeks. Naturally because of that it has been on my mind a little more.
Last Sunday there was a lesson on Elder Bednar's talk from October 2012 General Conference "Converted Unto The Lord".
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/converted-unto-the-lord?lang=eng
And then in Institute Wednesday, that talk was the topic, and then this Sunday the lesson from the Lorenzo Snow book was titled "Lifelong Conversion: Continuing to Advance in the Principles of Truth".
Something that struck a cord with me is that both Elder Bednar and President Snow indicated that conversion is indicated by what a person does.
"Continuing conversion is constant devotion to the revealed truth we have received—with a heart that is willing and for righteous reasons. Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion"
"So in regard to us, respecting the things which we are undertaking. If we expect to improve, to advance in the work immediately before us, and finally to obtain possession of those gifts and glories, coming up to that condition of exaltation we anticipate, we must take thought and reflect, we must exert ourselves, and that too to the utmost of our ability."
Isn't this the principle of "Never Suppress a Generous Thought"?
What I mean is, when one is converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ they have to understand what that is. The Gospel of Jesus Christ includes that the Savior came to Earth, suffered for all, and rose again. But it also includes a little more than that. You see, the Gospel, this "good news" is about a covenant relationship. The good news is more than the fact that someone loves us in spite of us not deserving it, but also that we can change and become something different than we are. And honestly, changing and becoming different is the only way to share the good news. We have to change enough to allow goodness to work through us to touch someone else. Otherwise if we don't, well we can't produce goodness in and of ourselves. That isn't possible. And because we can't that means that we can't touch someone for good, or even share the good news.
But I digress. When someone understands that the Gospel, the good news, has two parts, what He does and what I do, that's when more than a superficial smattering of the good news can be made manifest.
Christ's own words illustrate what the Gospel is and what it is all about.
"13 Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you -- that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.
14 And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil --
15 And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works.
16 And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.
17 And he that endureth not unto the end, the same is he that is also hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence they can no more return, because of the justice of the Father.
18 And this is the word which he hath given unto the children of men. And for this cause he fulfilleth the words which he hath given, and he lieth not, but fulfilleth all his words.
19 And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.
20 Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.
21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;
22 Therefore, if ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day" (3 Nephi 27:13-22).
Conversion has to do with what we do with our understanding/testimony/knowledge about Christ's role and our own role. In my personal experience many people I have encountered understand the Savior's role a little easier than they understand their own. His grace is a completely free gift. But that doesn't mean we don't have to work. We just don't have to work for that.
Because conversion is related to acting we must understand our role in the good news as well. Christ was plain; our role is to have faith, repent, be baptized and then sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and be faithful until the end.
Christ simplified our side of things further when he instructed Hyrum Smith in D&C 11:20, "Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength".
And it kind of makes sense as to why it was simplified to simply "keep my commandments". If we do that, then we will be having faith, repenting of sin (what is sin? Is it anything that draws us away from God? Is it anything that God wouldn't think or do?) and allowing the Holy Ghost to sanctify us.
Christ further simplified our part to some hard hearted Pharisees who asked what the most important commandment was.
" 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)
1. Love God
2. Love others
And of course if we love God with ALL our heart, soul, and mind we will also be loving others and keeping the second commandment.
In essence the summation of our part in the gospel and what Christ said to Hyrum, is to love God with our everything. That doesn't mean to love God when it is easy, or convenient, or most beneficial to me. It doesn't mean I love God when I remember, when I feel like it, or when it is what I want to do. By extension, it doesn't mean to love his children when convenient, easy, beneficial to me, when I feel like it, or only when I remember. It means to love Him with everything, it means to love them with everything. Obviously this isn't an overnight kind of thing but a line upon line kind of process. And like all gospel processes it starts out with a desire, with wanting to Him and to love people with ALL your heart, soul, might, strength, and might.
"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40)"
Which is why conversion is about never suppressing a generous thought.
Last Sunday there was a lesson on Elder Bednar's talk from October 2012 General Conference "Converted Unto The Lord".
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/converted-unto-the-lord?lang=eng
And then in Institute Wednesday, that talk was the topic, and then this Sunday the lesson from the Lorenzo Snow book was titled "Lifelong Conversion: Continuing to Advance in the Principles of Truth".
Something that struck a cord with me is that both Elder Bednar and President Snow indicated that conversion is indicated by what a person does.
"Continuing conversion is constant devotion to the revealed truth we have received—with a heart that is willing and for righteous reasons. Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion"
"So in regard to us, respecting the things which we are undertaking. If we expect to improve, to advance in the work immediately before us, and finally to obtain possession of those gifts and glories, coming up to that condition of exaltation we anticipate, we must take thought and reflect, we must exert ourselves, and that too to the utmost of our ability."
Isn't this the principle of "Never Suppress a Generous Thought"?
What I mean is, when one is converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ they have to understand what that is. The Gospel of Jesus Christ includes that the Savior came to Earth, suffered for all, and rose again. But it also includes a little more than that. You see, the Gospel, this "good news" is about a covenant relationship. The good news is more than the fact that someone loves us in spite of us not deserving it, but also that we can change and become something different than we are. And honestly, changing and becoming different is the only way to share the good news. We have to change enough to allow goodness to work through us to touch someone else. Otherwise if we don't, well we can't produce goodness in and of ourselves. That isn't possible. And because we can't that means that we can't touch someone for good, or even share the good news.
But I digress. When someone understands that the Gospel, the good news, has two parts, what He does and what I do, that's when more than a superficial smattering of the good news can be made manifest.
Christ's own words illustrate what the Gospel is and what it is all about.
"13 Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you -- that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.
14 And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil --
15 And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works.
16 And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.
17 And he that endureth not unto the end, the same is he that is also hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence they can no more return, because of the justice of the Father.
18 And this is the word which he hath given unto the children of men. And for this cause he fulfilleth the words which he hath given, and he lieth not, but fulfilleth all his words.
19 And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.
20 Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.
21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;
22 Therefore, if ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day" (3 Nephi 27:13-22).
Conversion has to do with what we do with our understanding/testimony/knowledge about Christ's role and our own role. In my personal experience many people I have encountered understand the Savior's role a little easier than they understand their own. His grace is a completely free gift. But that doesn't mean we don't have to work. We just don't have to work for that.
Because conversion is related to acting we must understand our role in the good news as well. Christ was plain; our role is to have faith, repent, be baptized and then sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and be faithful until the end.
Christ simplified our side of things further when he instructed Hyrum Smith in D&C 11:20, "Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength".
And it kind of makes sense as to why it was simplified to simply "keep my commandments". If we do that, then we will be having faith, repenting of sin (what is sin? Is it anything that draws us away from God? Is it anything that God wouldn't think or do?) and allowing the Holy Ghost to sanctify us.
Christ further simplified our part to some hard hearted Pharisees who asked what the most important commandment was.
" 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)
1. Love God
2. Love others
And of course if we love God with ALL our heart, soul, and mind we will also be loving others and keeping the second commandment.
In essence the summation of our part in the gospel and what Christ said to Hyrum, is to love God with our everything. That doesn't mean to love God when it is easy, or convenient, or most beneficial to me. It doesn't mean I love God when I remember, when I feel like it, or when it is what I want to do. By extension, it doesn't mean to love his children when convenient, easy, beneficial to me, when I feel like it, or only when I remember. It means to love Him with everything, it means to love them with everything. Obviously this isn't an overnight kind of thing but a line upon line kind of process. And like all gospel processes it starts out with a desire, with wanting to Him and to love people with ALL your heart, soul, might, strength, and might.
"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40)"
Which is why conversion is about never suppressing a generous thought.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
2013 Theme
But seriously, part of what I wanted to introduce this theme with is a talk by Elder Jeffery R. Holland called "Remember Lott's Wife".
Apparantly the second shorted verse in all scripture is when the Savior counseled his disciples to "remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32). What exactly did they need to remember? Elder Holland says it nicely:
"The original story, of course, comes to us out of the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, when the Lord, having had as much as He could stand of the worst that men and women could do, told Lot and his family to flee because those cities were about to be destroyed. “Escape for thy life,” the Lord said, “look not behind thee . . . ; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed” (Genesis 19:17; emphasis added).
With less than immediate obedience and more than a little negotiation, Lot and his family ultimately did leave town, but just in the nick of time...
Then our theme today comes in the next verse. Surely, surely, with the Lord’s counsel “look not behind thee” ringing clearly in her ears, Lot’s wife, the record says, “looked back,” and she was turned into a pillar of salt.
In the time we have this morning, I am not going to talk to you about the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, nor of the comparison the Lord Himself has made to those days and our own time. I am not even going to talk about obedience and disobedience. I just want to talk to you for a few minutes about looking back and looking ahead."
Waiting on the Lord is looking ahead. I've been thinking the past several days about looking back and looking ahead. True, our human experiences create in large part who we are. This is part of why Adam and Eve had to leave the garden of Eden, they needed a full human experience with all of its opposition. They could not become without the experience. And neither can we. But how do we separate, and sometimes reconcile, looking back and looking ahead?
For Lot's wife "it isn’t just that she looked back; she looked back longingly. In short, her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future. That, apparently, was at least part of her sin.
So, as a new year starts and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone, nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives. So a more theological way to talk about Lot’s wife is to say that she did not have faith. She doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she already had. Apparently she thought—fatally, as it turned out—that nothing that lay ahead could possibly be as good as those moments she was leaving behind."
"We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences, but not the ashes." Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ we have the beautiful opportunity to come to this mortal life and have all the experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly (and some people get a lot more bad and ugly than others!) but only retain those glowing embers of light and goodness (because we all get some of those too). The Atonement makes it possible to come to this fallen world but not stay in a fallen state.
"Faith is always pointed to the future." Waiting on the Lord means not doubting the Lord's ability to give me something better than I already had. Waiting on the Lord means believing that things which lay ahead can be as good as moments left behind, and in many instances better than what's been before.
Faith pointed to the future does not include being tied to past mistakes (your own or those of others). Repent and forgive, with sincere and whole-hearted repentance and a belief that people can change and improve.
I often find myself asking, "Is there any future for me? What does a new year or a new semester or a new major or a new romance hold for me? Will I be safe? Will life be sound? Can I trust in the Lord and in the future? Or would it be better to look back, to go back, to go home?"
"To all such of every generation, [Elder Holland] call[s] out, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the “high priest of good things to come.”
Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord.
Themes are not without planned activities...
1. Read the entirety of Elder Holland's BYU devotional "Remember Lot's Wife"
2. Read 2 Nephi 2 from the perspective of looking back and looking ahead
3. Record your thoughts
4. How do you demonstrate faith in your everyday life? Decide how you will be conscious about your efforts to develop/use faith.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
The Theme
I have a friend who recently described to me that each year she creates a theme for herself. This is something I would like to try this year. I personally think that New Year's resolutions are a bit over rated as they usually run out of steam almost as fast as they are decided upon. I'm all for setting goals, so it isn't that, but I'm also realistic when it comes to goal setting, and I think goals should be SMART.
Its funny because a lot of things that I, and people in general, want to achieve aren't usually something that follows the above pattern. Usually it is Measurable and Time-Bound that kick things out, but that is the beauty of a theme. A theme can be a foundation behind some of the goals I set for myself this year. A theme can actually encompass those immeasurable and timeless things like having greater charity, learning to love, learning to forgive, being more kind, etc.
Picking a theme took careful thought. What do I want to focus on for a whole year? And what is something I can have enough stamina for through the course of a whole year. I want to be more grateful, I want to learn from my mistakes and stop repeating them, I want to get married, I want to have a family, I want to do something meaningful and important, I want to matter to people in my everyday life, I want to be good, I want to feel the love of my Heavenly Father and my Savior, I want to be happy. How do you put all that in a theme?
After careful thought, reading through several talks, some studies on gratitude, heart, and strength, and reviewing some of the mutual themes and activities for those themes, my heart settled on Psalm 27:14:
"Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord.
I plan on doing a lot with this theme. And you are invited to read and complete suggested activities throughout the year. Better yet, come up with a personal theme for yourself and focus on it for a whole year!
Picking a theme took careful thought. What do I want to focus on for a whole year? And what is something I can have enough stamina for through the course of a whole year. I want to be more grateful, I want to learn from my mistakes and stop repeating them, I want to get married, I want to have a family, I want to do something meaningful and important, I want to matter to people in my everyday life, I want to be good, I want to feel the love of my Heavenly Father and my Savior, I want to be happy. How do you put all that in a theme?
After careful thought, reading through several talks, some studies on gratitude, heart, and strength, and reviewing some of the mutual themes and activities for those themes, my heart settled on Psalm 27:14:
"Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord.
I plan on doing a lot with this theme. And you are invited to read and complete suggested activities throughout the year. Better yet, come up with a personal theme for yourself and focus on it for a whole year!
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