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.

3 comments:

  1. I love your excitment about reading the Book of Moman and I also love how you are excited to move forword with life that is the best thing you can do is not dewell on the past go forword you can do it put your faith in the lord and he will help you do great and wonderfull things in life keep up the good work :)

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  2. Good for you. I think it's normal that when we have strong feelings for someone, that those feelings last for quite a while. Our hearts aren't like on/off switches, or even like dimmer switches; they're not switches at all. Some feelings are quite involuntary. If you still have sweet feelings for someone that simply isn't going to be in your future, don't worry about it too much; just don't let those feelings keep you from progressing.

    In my case, at one point in my life a young woman wanted to marry me and I was thrilled. I had felt stronger feelings toward someone than I had ever known before, I had dedicated my heart to her entirely, and then things went very poorly. It took me a while to recover emotionally and then, with effort, get myself ready to date again. It was probably good that I made that effort, because it was not long after that I met the woman whom I later married. Specifically, during the end of 2002 I was depressed about the lost relationship, during the spring semester of 2003 I was recovering, and on 22 May of that year I met Jeri Lynn. We didn't date right off; by the end of the school year, I had determined that, though ready to date again, I should focus on school for the next year and avoid serious relationships. We began "dating" later. I guess that illustrates that I found my wife specifically when I wasn't looking for her, but I had to make myself ready first.

    Now, I consider myself to be roughly the most blessed person I can think of, and I’m sure that the best is yet to come. We all have a blessed future to look forward to, if we are faithful.

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  3. lol... Im impressed your music has expanded out to Skillet.

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