Sunday, June 27, 2010

A little more on faith...

I don't remember exactly when it happened but I downloaded General Conference and put all five sessions on my MP3 player. I try to listen to all of conference at work during the week that I trim. Our trimmers run much quieter than the mowers making talks easier to listen to. So while I trimmed and listened to talks, one general authority cited the Bible dictionary: A lack of faith leads one to despair, which comes because of iniquity. So if iniquity leads to, as well as demonstrates, a lack of faith the opposite is also true. Faith is developed by righteous living. We show faith by living righteously and following the Spirit and this in turn builds our faith so that we can live even higher principles.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

today i had an idea...

...and I want input from my followers/random readers. I'm considering making another blog. This one will be for posting the lyrics of my favorite songs. Occasionally I'll post a video from youtube that uses the song. What are your thoughts?

Sunday, June 20, 2010

I started thinking about today's topic sometime earlier this week. I had several in mind I wished to address. Let's just say that the last week has been rough. The whole week was pretty rough. Good things did happen, but the weight of the bad has been great. This morning already something happened sadly. After reflecting on it all I proposed to not even write today. Then I saw the video that follows in the link. It's all I'll post and those few words that I've written.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nczw6xHJ0I&feature=player_embedded

Sunday, June 13, 2010

This week...

I had some ideas that started this morning. As I wrote, however, it just didn't seem right. I've decided to change the topic of the day and just write a few updates.
Monday night was Family Home Evening (FHE) for my singles ward. We had a lesson on cleanliness for entering the temple and for partaking of the sacrament. An object lesson involving some 20 singles and some 40 cans of shaving cream ensued. Once we had thoroughly covered each other in white foam the fire department came with one of their rigs and sprayed us all down so the shaving cream was gone. Clean? Yes we were. No other method removed the shaving cream from us. Just as water is really the only safe substance to remove shaving cream so is repentance the only method to clean the soul.
Tuesday I spent the day working alone. I had been sent on a special assignment to weed all the flower beds at the Harvest Hills park. If you've ever been there, you might know just how many there are. Each one was burgeoning with weeds. Since I was alone I elected to listen to General Conference. I didn't get through all of it before the end of the day, but I did listen to most of the conference. Before arriving at the temple I had finished all five sessions. It was ward temple night, which I also enjoyed.
Thursday I resumed trimming lawns. There are three on the trimming crew. Our senior seasonal (he was employed by public works last summer) was given his own special assignment so I took charge for the day. After work I attended institute where we began our "Teachings of the Living Prophets" course. I'm thrilled about this one.
Friday was another work day (for the superintendent and I) followed by a birthday bbq and an open mic night at another home.
Yesterday was yet another working day (strange since city and state workers normally work Monday through Thursday) since the Saratoga Splash was about to end. The day was fun since there was a parade, a free breakfast, and a carnival. After spending a day watching garbage cans and restrooms I cleaned, both my apartment and my car then showered and got ready for my date with a new friend. We attended the Eclipse concert and drove around visiting.
The last week was a good one. It was full of work, meetings and activities and was topped off with a fun evening out.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Stirrings and Movements

Friday, just two days ago, I was mowing the lawn of a large park. My MP3 player had been buzzing with music all morning when suddenly the playlist was over. During the course of two or three days I had managed to listen to nearly all of the 375+ songs. Having reached the end of that folder the player continued into my selection of inspiring talks and conference recordings. The first to come up was Elder Holland's "Remember Lot's Wife". I was again reminded of the beauty of living by faith and that faith NEVER lives in the past but builds on it. Faith lives TODAY with eyes set toward the future because THE BEST IS YET TO BE (emphasis added). I'll not dwell much more on the talk because I have written about it already. You can find copied sections and my response to the talk under the entry title "Lot's wife and the future".
When listening to these powerful, passionate words, a style rather distinctive to Elder Holland, I realized that I was still holding onto some of my past and refusing to believe that the Lord had better things to come than what had already been. No, this time it wasn't related to my mission. I feel as though I've reconciled myself with coming home and I'm now at peace about it. I was still holding onto past relationships believing that those are the best. The Spirit whispered, "the best is yet to come." Having reconciled myself with this portion of my life I felt hope springing up and a desire to resume dating, with more purpose this time. The overall impression left on me by listening to this talk that time was, "It's time. There's no time like today."
Oddly enough, I had been prepared for that message earlier that morning. While I'm not a fan of the band itself, they have produced at least one worthwhile song. The band Skillet was playing on my co-worker's iPod. I thought it rather ironic and strange that he would have a song that is religious in lyric by the way it encourages people to live today "because one more day might be a day too late". Honestly I find the song uplifting so I bought it from the iTunes store.
I had a small epiphany last night. I'll not describe it in detail. The things I felt and experienced are too sacred to put into such a public place. The occurrence helped put into perspective a few things I didn't understand. I'm excited for my scripture study today. I'm diving into 3 Nephi 11, the very pinnacle of The Book of Mormon. I'll offer a few comments on this portion.
It's plain to see that the coming of Christ to visit the descendants of Lehi was the most important thing recorded. The record compiler, Mormon, spent a whopping fifteen or so chapters on what came to pass in the space of two or three days. Therein are the Savior's words given to the people gathered in the land of Bountiful. He taught them and spent time with them. It's a beautiful part. These chapters are also my favorite.