The chapter heading to Helaman 12 says, "Men are unstable and foolish and quick to do evil...".
Verse 1 says, "And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him."
Then we read about the pride cycle in verse 2. "Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity."
Several things caught my attention in these two verses. The one that I want to talk about right now is "because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity" at the end of verse 2.
The part about "ease" makes me think about my career and that I'm about to switch jobs again. I want to put the Lord first and don't want to be greedy, though I'm not going to leave opportunities on the table no matter what form they are in. I just need to focus on keeping the Lord first and not forget him because of the many opportunities that are coming my way. I know they are coming because He is leading me along a path. I hope I never lose sight of that. I thank Him every day for giving me what he has already given me so that I can keep Him in mind and not start thinking that I'm getting any of this myself.
What are you grateful for? Have you thanked the Lord for it?
Showing posts with label priorities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label priorities. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Sunday, January 5, 2014
The Moral Force of Women
Sometimes I watch General Conference talks for my scripture study. And when I do, sometimes I read the talk along with the speaker.
Today I watched and read along with Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk The Moral Force of Women from October 2013 General Conference. In it, he praises women for their contributions in many aspects of our society, including the workplace. He teaches truths such as how women have divine gifts such as "faith, courage, empathy and refinement in relationships in cultures."
He gave examples of women who provide excellent service and are great examples of what women can do for society and especially for their families and others they are close to. One of the women he spoke of is his grandma, Adena Warnick Swenson. She taught him about priesthood service and encouraged him to memorize the sacramental prayers. He mentioned that she never learned how to drive, knew how to help boys become priesthood men.
One of his emphases was on the dual standard of morality where men were exempt from being moral citizens while women were taught to be chaste and virtuous. Instead of overcoming this low standard by having men live up to the ideal of morality, women have adopted the double standard themselves. The result has been a growing number of fatherless families and growing poverty.
Here's one of my favorite parts.
Elder Christofferson tells that there are some who belittle "the mommy track" as a career, but we should praise and appreciate any worthy endeavor or career because we all benefit from the good that comes from these lofty achievements.
And I really like this part.
Today I watched and read along with Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk The Moral Force of Women from October 2013 General Conference. In it, he praises women for their contributions in many aspects of our society, including the workplace. He teaches truths such as how women have divine gifts such as "faith, courage, empathy and refinement in relationships in cultures."
He gave examples of women who provide excellent service and are great examples of what women can do for society and especially for their families and others they are close to. One of the women he spoke of is his grandma, Adena Warnick Swenson. She taught him about priesthood service and encouraged him to memorize the sacramental prayers. He mentioned that she never learned how to drive, knew how to help boys become priesthood men.
One of his emphases was on the dual standard of morality where men were exempt from being moral citizens while women were taught to be chaste and virtuous. Instead of overcoming this low standard by having men live up to the ideal of morality, women have adopted the double standard themselves. The result has been a growing number of fatherless families and growing poverty.
Here's one of my favorite parts.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell once asked: “When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?"
Elder Christofferson tells that there are some who belittle "the mommy track" as a career, but we should praise and appreciate any worthy endeavor or career because we all benefit from the good that comes from these lofty achievements.
And I really like this part.
Former Young Women general president Margaret D. Nadauld taught: “The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.” In blurring feminine and masculine differences, we lose the distinct, complementary gifts of women and men that together produce a greater whole.
In a world that seeks to give every person every opportunity to pursue every whim and desire, may we stand for what is right and be a beacon that leads others to their Savior, and ours. Let us encourage each other in every endeavor that builds and lifts one another and our society as a whole.Sunday, June 9, 2013
Life is better living the truths in the scriptures
Yikes, my last two posts were in September and January. I have not been consistent in writing since last year. This has been partly by choice and partly because of a lot of busy things going on this last year. Let's see where this post takes us (or me).
Ya, that's right. About a year ago I thought I was going to graduate, get a job and move. It turns out that I didn't graduate, got turned down for job interviews because of it and had no reason to move. There were a whole bunch of our friend who moved out of the ward at that time and we wanted to be a part of it. There was a mass exodus of friends that moved into this ward (branch at the time) and we wanted to ride the momentum and head out of here on a wave of excitement.
Heavenly Father has other plans for us. I actually think he has different plans for Angie, but I'll tell you the plans that I think He has for me.
I have learned to slow down a lot. Not all the way. But I am able to consciously slow down about all the things I think about and pack into my schedule. It turns out that the reason I'm so busy is because...drum roll, please...I fill up my schedule with stuff!
Man, how silly is that. I was so close to the problem I couldn't even see it. My stress levels have risen over the past several years and got to the point months ago that I thought I was going to pop. I'll just say that I was very tense, almost like I was in a fight or flight situation with every little thing in my life, every thing I thought about. There was no danger, just the perception that I had to accomplish a lot in a short time. The more I worked through, the more I pressed on to do more. Did I slow down to appreciate the accomplishments?
Nope. Big mistake.
Aren't I supposed to enjoy the journey and enjoy the accomplishments? Yes, yes, yes! But I didn't. I couldn't in that state of mind. I pushed to get done, thinking I'd feel better when my load was lighter.
One of the many scriptures that has brought me to this realization is 2 Ne 2:25, which says
25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
27 ...it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.
Ya, that's right. About a year ago I thought I was going to graduate, get a job and move. It turns out that I didn't graduate, got turned down for job interviews because of it and had no reason to move. There were a whole bunch of our friend who moved out of the ward at that time and we wanted to be a part of it. There was a mass exodus of friends that moved into this ward (branch at the time) and we wanted to ride the momentum and head out of here on a wave of excitement.
Heavenly Father has other plans for us. I actually think he has different plans for Angie, but I'll tell you the plans that I think He has for me.
I have learned to slow down a lot. Not all the way. But I am able to consciously slow down about all the things I think about and pack into my schedule. It turns out that the reason I'm so busy is because...drum roll, please...I fill up my schedule with stuff!
Man, how silly is that. I was so close to the problem I couldn't even see it. My stress levels have risen over the past several years and got to the point months ago that I thought I was going to pop. I'll just say that I was very tense, almost like I was in a fight or flight situation with every little thing in my life, every thing I thought about. There was no danger, just the perception that I had to accomplish a lot in a short time. The more I worked through, the more I pressed on to do more. Did I slow down to appreciate the accomplishments?
Nope. Big mistake.
Aren't I supposed to enjoy the journey and enjoy the accomplishments? Yes, yes, yes! But I didn't. I couldn't in that state of mind. I pushed to get done, thinking I'd feel better when my load was lighter.
One of the many scriptures that has brought me to this realization is 2 Ne 2:25, which says
25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
And, of course, my friend King Benjamin's wisdom in Mosiah 4:27, which teaches me that
The Lord is blessing me through the truths in the scriptures and the whisperings of the Spirit. I have been practicing turning off my Go, Go, Go habit and playing more with my kids or actually sitting around and doing nothing.
This week I read a nice article about productivity on LinkedIn by Ilya Pozin. It's really about unproductivity. Thing #1 hits the nail on the head - put less on the To Do list and get more things done. It's not about the amount of things you check off your "list", but what is actually accomplished. And I'm not even talking about work here. I'm talking about life in general. Life needs to be worth living and that means enjoying the journey as we were meant To Do by our Creator.
I'm becoming better off by living the truths in these scriptures.
Yes!
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Conference is in the air
The first weekend in October is coming! What an awesome time of year this is. I think I subconsciously associate General Conference with the chilly morning air of September. It's an awesome time of year for a few reasons like no more summer heat, trees change colors (well, lots of trees in this area just go to sleep, but stay green), and the dark mornings will soon brighten with the end of Daylight Savings. All cool stuff.
Of course, I've been waiting for 6 months for General Conference. Ever since the last amen by President Monson in the Sunday afternoon session in April I have looked forward to October. And for 6 months I have read conference talks and have lessons on them in sacrament meeting talks and in elders quorum meetings. I also listen to talks in my car on my way to school. There were tons of awesome talks last conference and I'm re-reading some of them now and loving them. You know what's funny? I notice a big difference in how I feel when I read talks for my morning scripture study compared to when I hear them in the car. The Spirit is stronger when I read. It's probably because it's quieter and because I'm not distracted by details of driving.
This last week or so, I read and heard some really cool talks. When I really concentrate on them, I feel the Lord reaching down from heaven and filling my mind with directions for all aspects of my life. He helps me in my research, especially when I'm stuck on something. He helps me be a loving and kind husband. He helps me see how to teach my kids the gospel so they will be happy, both in our home now and for the rest of their lives.
The most important part of listening to conference talks, of course, is to feel and recognize the Spirit and learn how to become like our Savior, Jesus Christ. There is a tasty side to General Conference for our family. You may remember that we make peanut butter popcorn! T&L, if you're watching, thanks again for that recipe. :)
We have started talking with our boys about conference weekend. This helps us to look forward to it and also to settle down and prepare our minds for the weekend. It's like a marathon mixed with a fire hose. It really takes a few months to digest all the talks properly. And I'm thinking now about ways I can adjust my scripture study to make it for efficacious. This time I want to read through all the talks and mark them up. When I've done this in the past, I get more out of them when I hear them in the car. It doesn't go the other way for me.
Last night Angie brought up taking notes as she was heading to the Relief Society session of General Conference. It is something I used to do a lot more than I do now. I was on the extreme end in my younger years, to the point that only be able to summarize the talk and the stories therein and miss the real meaning or the principles that the Lord would have me learn right then. Now I'm on the other extreme and I hardly take any notes. Today at church, my friend JO said (and if it wasn't him, it was someone else in our joined meeting) that he takes notes just so he can pay attention. The debate for Angie and me is whether or not it actually helps because we don't go back and read the notes! I know that taking a few notes will keep my mind on the talks so that's a good reason for doing it. The times I take notes on what impressions come to me are the times I take away a really important theme for me to work on. It's really important to me and I love working on things and improving myself.
Maybe taking notes like that works for you too. If you'd like to share your thoughts on how you take notes, please do. As for me, I'll have out my little notebook and watch and listen for the Lord's direction in my life.
And eat some peanut butter popcorn.
Of course, I've been waiting for 6 months for General Conference. Ever since the last amen by President Monson in the Sunday afternoon session in April I have looked forward to October. And for 6 months I have read conference talks and have lessons on them in sacrament meeting talks and in elders quorum meetings. I also listen to talks in my car on my way to school. There were tons of awesome talks last conference and I'm re-reading some of them now and loving them. You know what's funny? I notice a big difference in how I feel when I read talks for my morning scripture study compared to when I hear them in the car. The Spirit is stronger when I read. It's probably because it's quieter and because I'm not distracted by details of driving.
This last week or so, I read and heard some really cool talks. When I really concentrate on them, I feel the Lord reaching down from heaven and filling my mind with directions for all aspects of my life. He helps me in my research, especially when I'm stuck on something. He helps me be a loving and kind husband. He helps me see how to teach my kids the gospel so they will be happy, both in our home now and for the rest of their lives.
The most important part of listening to conference talks, of course, is to feel and recognize the Spirit and learn how to become like our Savior, Jesus Christ. There is a tasty side to General Conference for our family. You may remember that we make peanut butter popcorn! T&L, if you're watching, thanks again for that recipe. :)
We have started talking with our boys about conference weekend. This helps us to look forward to it and also to settle down and prepare our minds for the weekend. It's like a marathon mixed with a fire hose. It really takes a few months to digest all the talks properly. And I'm thinking now about ways I can adjust my scripture study to make it for efficacious. This time I want to read through all the talks and mark them up. When I've done this in the past, I get more out of them when I hear them in the car. It doesn't go the other way for me.
Last night Angie brought up taking notes as she was heading to the Relief Society session of General Conference. It is something I used to do a lot more than I do now. I was on the extreme end in my younger years, to the point that only be able to summarize the talk and the stories therein and miss the real meaning or the principles that the Lord would have me learn right then. Now I'm on the other extreme and I hardly take any notes. Today at church, my friend JO said (and if it wasn't him, it was someone else in our joined meeting) that he takes notes just so he can pay attention. The debate for Angie and me is whether or not it actually helps because we don't go back and read the notes! I know that taking a few notes will keep my mind on the talks so that's a good reason for doing it. The times I take notes on what impressions come to me are the times I take away a really important theme for me to work on. It's really important to me and I love working on things and improving myself.
Maybe taking notes like that works for you too. If you'd like to share your thoughts on how you take notes, please do. As for me, I'll have out my little notebook and watch and listen for the Lord's direction in my life.
And eat some peanut butter popcorn.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Humble pie
Today's Sunday school lesson was awesome. It was Alma 5-7, some of the most awesome chapters for self-reflection and self-analysis in light of gospel living in all scripture. They are powerful. Mega. Giga. Tera. Peta. (I'll stop there with the metric stuff.) It was a big lesson with very inspiring material.
I'll get right to the stuff that hit me the most. And I say this with the realization that I haven't been blogging so much about how stressed out I've been. Yes, I've missed some posts lately (I wrote one out of four weeks this past month). That was part of me realizing how much I am trying to do at once and figuring out what I need to let go of. There are so many cool things I want to do and work on. It's easy to come up with new ideas to work on, especially games to design. But I have to say no to new things plus I need to let go of some old and current things.
I'm still not around to Alma's point in today's lesson. Hold on a second. It's really good.
One friend of mine has taught me that I, on an energetic level, need more space. He describes the stress I hold in my neck as feeling pressured and I know I need to make more room for what really matters. At first that meant I could shuffle around how much time I spent on scripture study and give myself more to family time, but that didn't do it. I started saying no to things on my plate, like game development. It's too much right now with my work load and thinking about jobs.
I started telling myself that I'll not work on some things until after I move and settle in. It has helped. It really has. I'm past the stage of relying on the arm of flesh. There's no way I can keep up the load I put on myself so I thought I had given up my desires and was putting the Lord's will before my own. Until today's lesson.
The root of what's getting me is a twist on some of my favorite scriptures. I counsel with the Lord in all I do. Or I think I do. Maybe I've been asking to not be stressed without giving up the lifestyle that brings it on. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart? Lean not unto thine own understanding? Check, check. Really?
No. I'm fooling myself. I can see through Alma's teachings today that envy and a lack of humility have clouded my judgment (there are many more lessons that can be learned from these chapters). It kinda makes me sorrowful that I have let this happen to me. Where did I go wrong? Little by little it happened. Time for change. Again.
Long story short: I gave up radio and TV in high school because I heard in seminary it would make life better. Cut out the junk and fill the holes with uplifting things. Result? Amazing things happened in every aspect of my life. I was the happiest person I knew.
Not today.
I'm working at getting it back though. Counseling with the Lord must be accompanied by the quiet time to reflect and ponder on what He is trying to tell me. A "Go, go, go" attitude crowds out the Spirit. Perhaps I have turned that into "Go, go, slow down slightly," but really need to be "Go, slow, chill!"
Any unexpected thing to do or think about really puts me over the edge. How can I be operating at safe levels when a child's mess or crying puts me into panic mode? Answer: I actually thought I was doing ok. How? I don't watch TV or listen to the radio, but "Go, go, go" has been just as (or more) detrimental. Still, I've been deceived.
This sorta seems like I'm being really critical of myself. That's not how I mean it to come across. But I want to be honest and acknowledge my position before God. It's humbling, but that's the point. My will plus my arm of flesh will fizzle out. God's power and guidance will take me places I would never be able to see or experience. I know that's true. If bearing my soul helps out someone else then it's all worth it.
Thank you, John, for teaching the lesson today. Thank you, Alma, wherever you are. Maybe you are reading this via some Angel app. Thank you to all the ancient American prophets who wrote their testimonies and speak to me as if from the dust. Thank you good friends who have listened patiently as I spout off my problems. Your advice, wisdom and counsel has been worth more than gold. I hope you get an extra snack time in heaven when ambrosia is served in the afternoon.
My eyes have been opened. My heart has felt a change. It is now up to me to cut out a quarter of what I try to do. It's really slowing me down in the long run. I want to have the constant companionship of the Spirit. I believe that can happen if I slow down. "Go, slow, chill!" And keep praying. Prayer is a friend that I can't give up.
Thanks for following me in this journey. If you've felt similar to how I feel and want to tell me or other readers about it, please feel free. :)
I'll get right to the stuff that hit me the most. And I say this with the realization that I haven't been blogging so much about how stressed out I've been. Yes, I've missed some posts lately (I wrote one out of four weeks this past month). That was part of me realizing how much I am trying to do at once and figuring out what I need to let go of. There are so many cool things I want to do and work on. It's easy to come up with new ideas to work on, especially games to design. But I have to say no to new things plus I need to let go of some old and current things.
I'm still not around to Alma's point in today's lesson. Hold on a second. It's really good.
One friend of mine has taught me that I, on an energetic level, need more space. He describes the stress I hold in my neck as feeling pressured and I know I need to make more room for what really matters. At first that meant I could shuffle around how much time I spent on scripture study and give myself more to family time, but that didn't do it. I started saying no to things on my plate, like game development. It's too much right now with my work load and thinking about jobs.
I started telling myself that I'll not work on some things until after I move and settle in. It has helped. It really has. I'm past the stage of relying on the arm of flesh. There's no way I can keep up the load I put on myself so I thought I had given up my desires and was putting the Lord's will before my own. Until today's lesson.
The root of what's getting me is a twist on some of my favorite scriptures. I counsel with the Lord in all I do. Or I think I do. Maybe I've been asking to not be stressed without giving up the lifestyle that brings it on. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart? Lean not unto thine own understanding? Check, check. Really?
No. I'm fooling myself. I can see through Alma's teachings today that envy and a lack of humility have clouded my judgment (there are many more lessons that can be learned from these chapters). It kinda makes me sorrowful that I have let this happen to me. Where did I go wrong? Little by little it happened. Time for change. Again.
Long story short: I gave up radio and TV in high school because I heard in seminary it would make life better. Cut out the junk and fill the holes with uplifting things. Result? Amazing things happened in every aspect of my life. I was the happiest person I knew.
Not today.
I'm working at getting it back though. Counseling with the Lord must be accompanied by the quiet time to reflect and ponder on what He is trying to tell me. A "Go, go, go" attitude crowds out the Spirit. Perhaps I have turned that into "Go, go, slow down slightly," but really need to be "Go, slow, chill!"
Any unexpected thing to do or think about really puts me over the edge. How can I be operating at safe levels when a child's mess or crying puts me into panic mode? Answer: I actually thought I was doing ok. How? I don't watch TV or listen to the radio, but "Go, go, go" has been just as (or more) detrimental. Still, I've been deceived.
This sorta seems like I'm being really critical of myself. That's not how I mean it to come across. But I want to be honest and acknowledge my position before God. It's humbling, but that's the point. My will plus my arm of flesh will fizzle out. God's power and guidance will take me places I would never be able to see or experience. I know that's true. If bearing my soul helps out someone else then it's all worth it.
Thank you, John, for teaching the lesson today. Thank you, Alma, wherever you are. Maybe you are reading this via some Angel app. Thank you to all the ancient American prophets who wrote their testimonies and speak to me as if from the dust. Thank you good friends who have listened patiently as I spout off my problems. Your advice, wisdom and counsel has been worth more than gold. I hope you get an extra snack time in heaven when ambrosia is served in the afternoon.
My eyes have been opened. My heart has felt a change. It is now up to me to cut out a quarter of what I try to do. It's really slowing me down in the long run. I want to have the constant companionship of the Spirit. I believe that can happen if I slow down. "Go, slow, chill!" And keep praying. Prayer is a friend that I can't give up.
Thanks for following me in this journey. If you've felt similar to how I feel and want to tell me or other readers about it, please feel free. :)
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Journals
Do you ever miss writing in your journal? I do. I used to write in it like crazy. When I was young(er) I was in the habit of writing in it every day. There were times where I went without it being daily, but I liked it so much that I always went back to writing in it every night.
I've been in grad school for 6 years now. For the first few years I was pretty good at writing in my journal. I probably wrote a bunch of days every month. But for the last few years I have written just a time or two per month. It's easy to keep track of because I open a new document for each month and I label them by month and year. Lately, more often than not, I have skipped a month, written once in the document, then skipped a month before writing again.
Bummer.
There are lots of things about this stage of my life that I will want to remember so I feel bad for not writing about more of it. There is one redeeming claim on these memories. Besides writing for the intent of posterity reading about my life, I have a habit of writing down a list or snapshot of what's going on in my life. You know me: I try to do too many thing at once. It has been my practice to offload my thoughts onto paper or a list that I title, "What's going on." I do an emotional/brain dump and get it all out. So there is a separate record of what I've been up to.
I've been thinking about getting back into my journal more again. Honestly, it probably would have started already except there really are a lot of things going on right now with graduation and hunting for a job. ("Hunting," ha! Sounds like I'm tracking down an animal. Actually, there are similarities...) I also think of this blog as a sort of journal. I tend to write about what's going on in my life and tie it into gospel principles so it's not a comprehensive look at my life.
Let me tell you about my favorite memories of writing in my journal. In 6th grade, my teacher Mr. Abegg forced us to write in our journals during class. Yes, forced. That's what I thought back then. I still have that journal. The cover is a picture that I drew in pencil about a castle LEGO set that I had back then and I drew a moat around it with a drawbridge. The castle guards are standing around talking about how boring their job is. The lead guard overhears them and he says, "I heard that." I get a kick out of that every time I read it. There are also my favorite entries that I look for every time I open that journal. I remember a day at recess playing football with a new student named Joey. We had organized recess football teams and we were on the same team. He was also on my competition soccer team. 6th grade was the only year I play competition and we won 1st place in the league! Woo!
Another fun journal memory is of my grandma. She would pay me for writing in my journal. It sounds too good to be true for a kid, but I am grateful that she did it. Her method of payment was gummy worms. She gave me 1 worm for every 5 lines I wrote. Totally awesome. My dad also got me to write in my journal in much the same way. I felt like he got it from her. Maybe I told him about it and he kept up the good habit.
I love writing in my journal. When I read about my ancestors I feel connected to them through their words. I think the same will happen with my descendants. Who knows! There are some embarrassing things I've written in my journal, but I hope it shows that I'm a normal person with weaknesses. Maybe it will help someone out.
I've been in grad school for 6 years now. For the first few years I was pretty good at writing in my journal. I probably wrote a bunch of days every month. But for the last few years I have written just a time or two per month. It's easy to keep track of because I open a new document for each month and I label them by month and year. Lately, more often than not, I have skipped a month, written once in the document, then skipped a month before writing again.
Bummer.
There are lots of things about this stage of my life that I will want to remember so I feel bad for not writing about more of it. There is one redeeming claim on these memories. Besides writing for the intent of posterity reading about my life, I have a habit of writing down a list or snapshot of what's going on in my life. You know me: I try to do too many thing at once. It has been my practice to offload my thoughts onto paper or a list that I title, "What's going on." I do an emotional/brain dump and get it all out. So there is a separate record of what I've been up to.
I've been thinking about getting back into my journal more again. Honestly, it probably would have started already except there really are a lot of things going on right now with graduation and hunting for a job. ("Hunting," ha! Sounds like I'm tracking down an animal. Actually, there are similarities...) I also think of this blog as a sort of journal. I tend to write about what's going on in my life and tie it into gospel principles so it's not a comprehensive look at my life.
Let me tell you about my favorite memories of writing in my journal. In 6th grade, my teacher Mr. Abegg forced us to write in our journals during class. Yes, forced. That's what I thought back then. I still have that journal. The cover is a picture that I drew in pencil about a castle LEGO set that I had back then and I drew a moat around it with a drawbridge. The castle guards are standing around talking about how boring their job is. The lead guard overhears them and he says, "I heard that." I get a kick out of that every time I read it. There are also my favorite entries that I look for every time I open that journal. I remember a day at recess playing football with a new student named Joey. We had organized recess football teams and we were on the same team. He was also on my competition soccer team. 6th grade was the only year I play competition and we won 1st place in the league! Woo!
Another fun journal memory is of my grandma. She would pay me for writing in my journal. It sounds too good to be true for a kid, but I am grateful that she did it. Her method of payment was gummy worms. She gave me 1 worm for every 5 lines I wrote. Totally awesome. My dad also got me to write in my journal in much the same way. I felt like he got it from her. Maybe I told him about it and he kept up the good habit.
I love writing in my journal. When I read about my ancestors I feel connected to them through their words. I think the same will happen with my descendants. Who knows! There are some embarrassing things I've written in my journal, but I hope it shows that I'm a normal person with weaknesses. Maybe it will help someone out.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Trust in the Lord with All Thine Heart
Proverbs 3:5-6 just took on a deeper meaning for me this morning. I've been thinking tons about getting a job after graduation and have been applying to lots of jobs that sound interesting and that would use my skills I learned doing astronomy research. If you've read some of my other posts about how I stress out about things, it should come as no surprise that I have been stressing out about where to move and what job to take.
A few areas in the private sector where I'd do well are image processing, quantitative data analysis, physics modeling, problem solving, algorithm design and technical writing. From that list alone there are many different directions I could go as I take my first step into what academics call "the real world".
I'm an idea man. I'm also a perfectionist and a completion-ist (I got that word from my friend Rebecca. Thanks, Rebecca!). This spells trouble in times like this where I am free to explore ideas. There are several different avenues that any one of those skills could take me. I've spent tons of time looking up companies and job descriptions. I'm not sure that I'd call it a waste of time, but "overkill" is pretty accurate. When I see that I've spent too much time on job hunting, do I sit back and relax? No. By the time I begin any sort of relaxing technique to clear my mind, more ideas flood in and the stress level stays just the same. Nice try, self.
This morning I took a break from my Book of Mormon reading and flipped through some pages that I have bookmarked with those little tassels. I've had a tassel in Proverbs 3:5-6 for a very, very long time and I have read it at least once in the last week. Today it meant a whole lot more to me. Here's what it says.
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
I felt the Spirit tell me that I have been putting in too much effort on my own and have not used my faith in the Lord to ask Him for direction. My patriarchal blessing gave me wise counsel specifically about my career and I really do feel His direction in this important decision. However, I realize that I am trusting in my own power to fulfill the blessings promised to me. I'm overdoing what needs to be done and drowning out the Lord's will for me because I'm doing so much busy work. Instead of studying more companies and finding more job openings, I need to pause more often, pray and ponder. I need to take each day and week one at a time. I need to be actively patient and act in faith.
Then I cannot go wrong.
"Balance," I keep telling myself. Now I need to figure out how to do that.
A few areas in the private sector where I'd do well are image processing, quantitative data analysis, physics modeling, problem solving, algorithm design and technical writing. From that list alone there are many different directions I could go as I take my first step into what academics call "the real world".
I'm an idea man. I'm also a perfectionist and a completion-ist (I got that word from my friend Rebecca. Thanks, Rebecca!). This spells trouble in times like this where I am free to explore ideas. There are several different avenues that any one of those skills could take me. I've spent tons of time looking up companies and job descriptions. I'm not sure that I'd call it a waste of time, but "overkill" is pretty accurate. When I see that I've spent too much time on job hunting, do I sit back and relax? No. By the time I begin any sort of relaxing technique to clear my mind, more ideas flood in and the stress level stays just the same. Nice try, self.
This morning I took a break from my Book of Mormon reading and flipped through some pages that I have bookmarked with those little tassels. I've had a tassel in Proverbs 3:5-6 for a very, very long time and I have read it at least once in the last week. Today it meant a whole lot more to me. Here's what it says.
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
I felt the Spirit tell me that I have been putting in too much effort on my own and have not used my faith in the Lord to ask Him for direction. My patriarchal blessing gave me wise counsel specifically about my career and I really do feel His direction in this important decision. However, I realize that I am trusting in my own power to fulfill the blessings promised to me. I'm overdoing what needs to be done and drowning out the Lord's will for me because I'm doing so much busy work. Instead of studying more companies and finding more job openings, I need to pause more often, pray and ponder. I need to take each day and week one at a time. I need to be actively patient and act in faith.
Then I cannot go wrong.
"Balance," I keep telling myself. Now I need to figure out how to do that.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Setting Goals, the S.M.A.R.T. Way
For the past few years my family has had awesome home teachers. (Home teachers are the way the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints check up on each other and help out when and where they can through monthly visits and regular contact.) The past two New Years brought a really good lesson on making goals. It wasn't a lesson to put on any pressure of, "Hey, you can do more!" but was a clear message about what makes a good goal.
If you know me well then you know that I'm all for starting something important at any time of the year. New Year's Day is the time when lots of people decide to make resolutions and change their life in dramatic ways. These are usually really great ideas to lose weight, exercise, spend more time with family, etc. The problem that I see here is that people (and I've been guilty of this) make spur-of-the-moment goals and haven't really figured out what it's going to take to accomplish them. Long term success is what we're really shooting for so why not make it count? Short term effort shows itself in busy gyms and weight rooms in January that drop to typical levels in February. Diets don't work one month at a time. Neither does learning a new job skill or quitting a bad habit. (Ok, well, in some cases it might!)
Here's what I learned from my home teachers. It's pretty clever!
S.M.A.R.T.
The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound.
Specific means to be clear in what you want. Being unclear in your direction probably means you will be unclear in evaluating success or failure.
Measurable. Make it so you know if you accomplished the goal or not. "Eat less ice cream" sounds like a good idea for a healthier lifestyle, but if you don't put something quantitative on it you won't know if you ate less. And my guess is that you'll eat more just because you are thinking "ice cream" all the time. Maybe that's just me.
Attainable. Set a goal for something that you can reach. Some people say stretch for something difficult so you really work at it. That's fine. For myself, I recommend stretching a little at a time since I have my hand in so many things at once. If I set out to do something too lofty in lots of areas I'll just burn out. Just like the weight lifters who abandon the gym before February. I've done that a bunch of times.
Relevant. Do something that's important to you. Maybe you want to learn a new skill or improve one that you already know. Do you have a good reason for setting the goal? Good. Then go for it.
Time-bound. This the one that I forget. Have a time frame so that you can set a pace to sew all those quilts, finish that chain mail armor or write the last chapter in your novel. Does the end date have to be Dec 31? Nope. It can be Dec 25, July 15, April 6 or Jan 31. It could also be on your birthday, your anniversary or the summer solstice. I have a hard time working on a short term goal because there's a part of me that thinks I should keep working on important things. However, if I am S.M.A.R.T. then I'll have created an goal with an outline that improves me in some way and I should feel happy with the end result. It doesn't have to take 365 days to do that (or 366 days this year).
Another trap I get into is hanging onto old, outdated notions. The completion-ist part of me things I have to complete everything I think of starting. If I don't cut out the old, it only bogs me down. My to do list stagnates, gets lost under a pile of more recent to do lists and then gets tossed into the recycling bag once I clean off my desk and realize I don't have time for the old list.
That's no good.
I'm learning to cut my ties to those old things that actually hold me back from doing bigger and better (relevant) things. Life changes and so do priorities. Let go of old ideas and don't look back.
If you know me well then you know that I'm all for starting something important at any time of the year. New Year's Day is the time when lots of people decide to make resolutions and change their life in dramatic ways. These are usually really great ideas to lose weight, exercise, spend more time with family, etc. The problem that I see here is that people (and I've been guilty of this) make spur-of-the-moment goals and haven't really figured out what it's going to take to accomplish them. Long term success is what we're really shooting for so why not make it count? Short term effort shows itself in busy gyms and weight rooms in January that drop to typical levels in February. Diets don't work one month at a time. Neither does learning a new job skill or quitting a bad habit. (Ok, well, in some cases it might!)
Here's what I learned from my home teachers. It's pretty clever!
S.M.A.R.T.
The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound.
Specific means to be clear in what you want. Being unclear in your direction probably means you will be unclear in evaluating success or failure.
Measurable. Make it so you know if you accomplished the goal or not. "Eat less ice cream" sounds like a good idea for a healthier lifestyle, but if you don't put something quantitative on it you won't know if you ate less. And my guess is that you'll eat more just because you are thinking "ice cream" all the time. Maybe that's just me.
Attainable. Set a goal for something that you can reach. Some people say stretch for something difficult so you really work at it. That's fine. For myself, I recommend stretching a little at a time since I have my hand in so many things at once. If I set out to do something too lofty in lots of areas I'll just burn out. Just like the weight lifters who abandon the gym before February. I've done that a bunch of times.
Relevant. Do something that's important to you. Maybe you want to learn a new skill or improve one that you already know. Do you have a good reason for setting the goal? Good. Then go for it.
Time-bound. This the one that I forget. Have a time frame so that you can set a pace to sew all those quilts, finish that chain mail armor or write the last chapter in your novel. Does the end date have to be Dec 31? Nope. It can be Dec 25, July 15, April 6 or Jan 31. It could also be on your birthday, your anniversary or the summer solstice. I have a hard time working on a short term goal because there's a part of me that thinks I should keep working on important things. However, if I am S.M.A.R.T. then I'll have created an goal with an outline that improves me in some way and I should feel happy with the end result. It doesn't have to take 365 days to do that (or 366 days this year).
Another trap I get into is hanging onto old, outdated notions. The completion-ist part of me things I have to complete everything I think of starting. If I don't cut out the old, it only bogs me down. My to do list stagnates, gets lost under a pile of more recent to do lists and then gets tossed into the recycling bag once I clean off my desk and realize I don't have time for the old list.
That's no good.
I'm learning to cut my ties to those old things that actually hold me back from doing bigger and better (relevant) things. Life changes and so do priorities. Let go of old ideas and don't look back.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
We Can Live with God Again
What a touching video. This short video shows families who have lost loved ones and how the gospel of Jesus Christ has strengthened them here and now. Life goes on beyond our mortal death. Through the atonement of our Redeemer all mankind has been given the gift of the resurrection and immortality after this life. That makes me so happy!
Life has been busy for the last 6-8 months with family life, a new baby, job hunting, etc. Even though I've been consistent in scripture study, I can tell that spiritual matters have been squeezed out by the mundane. My mind wanders to what I'll do after I'm done studying or what I have to do at work that day. Watching this video has brought such a sweet, peaceful feeling and the reminder that life really does go on. We have been born on earth to see what choices we will make and to see if we can live by faith and follow our Heavenly Father's plan for us. It makes me really think about what I spend my time doing and how I can change to have this feeling with me more often. The happiest times I've ever had in my life were accompanied by this Spirit.
There is nothing better. It makes good men better and I want to be a better man.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Family Home Evening: New Year's Resolutions
We have family night every Monday evening. Last night we taught our boys about working on goals and personal improvement. We talked about what talents we are each good at and what we might want to work on this year. Angie felt that we should focus on improving something that we are already good at and really excel at it. Many other years we work on things we are weak at, trying to become better at something important. Both seem like good ideas to make a well-rounded person. I was actually pretty surprised at the suggestion, but it was a very great lesson and we set some really great goals.
Part of our lesson focused on saying what talents other family members have. It's great to praise others for what they bring to the family and to the world. Everyone feels special and important. It's also easy to see that we are all different. We are all created in the image of God who gave us these talents.
Then we taught the parable of the 10 talents to our boys. Jesus gave this parable to teach that we are all given different talents, or skills, and that we are responsible how we use them. We believe that we'll one day report to the Lord on how we used our talents. Here's the parable as we told it to our boys.
A rich man went on a trip for a long time. Before he left, he gave his servants some money. One servant was given five talents, the next two talents and the other one talent. The servants knew the master would come back and ask what they did with the money. The first servant worked really hard and earned another five talents. The second worked really hard and earned two more talents. The last guy was really nervous about losing his single talent and getting in trouble. He hid his talent so he could give it back when the master returned.
When the rich man returned from his trip, he asked his servants to report. Two men doubled what they had been given and were each blessed by their master. "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things" (Matthew 25:23). The fearful servant gave the talent back to the master. He got quite the rude awakening. He thought he would be praised for not losing the money, but heard this reply. "Thou wicked and slothful servant" (Matthew 25:26).
Ouch.
The lesson we should learn from this parable is that we have all been born with different talents (and a different number of them). We will be blessed for using our talents and we should work at improving ourselves and earning/learning more talents. Imagine how amazing it will feel to hear these words from the Master, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things" (Matthew 25:23).
Part of our lesson focused on saying what talents other family members have. It's great to praise others for what they bring to the family and to the world. Everyone feels special and important. It's also easy to see that we are all different. We are all created in the image of God who gave us these talents.
Then we taught the parable of the 10 talents to our boys. Jesus gave this parable to teach that we are all given different talents, or skills, and that we are responsible how we use them. We believe that we'll one day report to the Lord on how we used our talents. Here's the parable as we told it to our boys.
A rich man went on a trip for a long time. Before he left, he gave his servants some money. One servant was given five talents, the next two talents and the other one talent. The servants knew the master would come back and ask what they did with the money. The first servant worked really hard and earned another five talents. The second worked really hard and earned two more talents. The last guy was really nervous about losing his single talent and getting in trouble. He hid his talent so he could give it back when the master returned.
When the rich man returned from his trip, he asked his servants to report. Two men doubled what they had been given and were each blessed by their master. "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things" (Matthew 25:23). The fearful servant gave the talent back to the master. He got quite the rude awakening. He thought he would be praised for not losing the money, but heard this reply. "Thou wicked and slothful servant" (Matthew 25:26).
Ouch.
The lesson we should learn from this parable is that we have all been born with different talents (and a different number of them). We will be blessed for using our talents and we should work at improving ourselves and earning/learning more talents. Imagine how amazing it will feel to hear these words from the Master, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things" (Matthew 25:23).
Sunday, November 27, 2011
We All Get 24 Hours
Our 4th Sunday lesson in Elders Quorum today was really timely for me and has given me a lot to think about. The lesson was called "A Time to Prepare" by Elder Ian S. Ardern and is from the October 2011 General Conference. It reminded me a lot of "Good Better Best" by Elder Dallin H. Oaks from the October 2007 General Conference, which I've read dozens of times. This topic is so important for me right now because of how much I try to pile on my plate and accomplish each day/week. I've overwhelmed myself and it's time to change. The Lord has been giving me hints in this direction lately and these last few weeks (since my baby was born) has given me the chance to think about the direction I need to go in life.
For the past few weeks we've had my mom and then my mom/dad-in-law in town. We know they came to see the baby, but they helped out with a whole bunch of things around the house and were an awesome support. I was able to stay home from school to be with Angie and take care of needs, big or small. There was way more to do than I expected and our parents took care of lots of stuff. I would have been a mess without them.
Now they've gone home. And here we are. There's almost no way for me to convey (in person, let alone on a blog) all the responsibilities that I have on my shoulders. So I won't try. But I feel that I have been guided by Spirit of the Lord for the past months in knowing what to set aside. My dad taught me that the order of life's priorities should be
1. Relationship with God
2. Wife and kids
3. Church callings
4. Career
5. Hobbies
and this list has aided me in my decisions my entire life. It has landed me where I am today. I'll just sum up what I've thought and felt lately by saying that #2 has gone up on my list from where it was and #5 (such as developing my board/card games) needs to take a back seat to job hunting.
Time and time again I have neglected to make time for relaxation. I'm always trying to pack each day full with what will make a better Future: teaching kids, more scripture study, better programming skills, and much more. And guess what? I missed out on the Todays that I've been creating with all my hard work from Yesterdays.
It's time to change. And I'm happy to tell you all about it as I move forward.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Forget Me Not
The petal of President Uchtdorf's talk that hit home the most for me was "Forget not to be happy now". All too often I spend time thinking of what's coming next and preparing for something later. Yes, preparation is important. However, it's been on my mind lately that when I spend all my time practicing or studying for something later I miss what's going on now. Finishing my graduate degree and preparing to get a job seems to be all I can think about...I'm talking about my spare time. It is difficult for me to sit still and enjoy the now. But I know that the Lord would have me enjoy things today that I have already worked on in the past to get to where I am. I'm selling myself short if I spend all my time thinking of the future (e.g. using all my free time to finish developing a board game for future financial gain) instead of taking some time to talk to my wife just catching up on life or playing with my kids before dinner and bedtime. Multiply this scenario by about 5-10 times and that's how much I try to cram into my schedule.
I'm trying to figure out how to put the most important things into my schedule and to not over extend myself, which is easy for me to do. I have told myself many times that I am willing to go, go, go all the time. King Benjamin taught me that it is not required to do more than I have the strength to do (Mos 4:27). I really feel that I have to cut back on how much I try to do because I'm just a man. Not Superman. I tend toward overexertion, rather than laziness, and I see that I need to change my priorities because I just cannot do everything I want to do. The Lord must come first and my family must come second...that much I know. We live in a busy world and so many things seem fun or worthy of my time. The trap I keep falling into is cramming all of it into my schedule. I push and pull, squish and twist my schedule until it's really packed full. I do that for as long as possible. Then, after I stress out and crash, I realize that I have to cut back and try again. But be smarter about it the next time. No, not smarter. Wiser.
The comparison of Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket was so good. Eating chocolate used to be a reward in and of itself. Now, the chocolate is meaningless if there's no winning ticket inside. Sad.
What was your favorite petal of the forget-me-not? and why?
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