Tuesday, September 8, 2009
dinner
Here is a picture of our first meal in the new apartment. You'll get more images of the apartment when I finish opening the last 15-ish boxes. We're close.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.
I strongly encourage you to read this article on keeping sights on what is really important.
We Are Doing a Great Work and Cannot Come Down
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
From the Ensign of the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints.
http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=fbf6230bac7f0210VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD
We Are Doing a Great Work and Cannot Come Down
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
From the Ensign of the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints.
http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=fbf6230bac7f0210VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
We recently discussed what inalienable rights are. We came up with this description (with the help of Jo)
A right is something that you have by being born. If you were born on a desert island all you would have is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Saying that the things you would not have and are not entitled to are:
Food
Shelter
Marriage
Children
Healthcare
Money
Power
These are things that you could work for. They are a privilege. They are incentive. In fact you should work for them. By working for them you get a sense of accomplishment. You should not be forced to work for them either. That takes away freedom of choice. (For those who are LDS it's the difference of Agency (with consequences) or everyone being able to get back again (force) to Heavenly Father.)
However, if they are given to you without you putting in the necessary effort you do not understand what is truly required to have them. If somehow your benefactor dies, or whatever, then you suddenly lose your benefits that you didn't really deserve in the first place because you were not willing to work for them. You are in a rut and you are screaming "injustice!" and you're right. You don't even know how to get those benefits on your own merit. That is truly injustice.
I know that there is a lot of corruption in the land. I think Democrats have Socialistic tendencies and "some" think Republicans have anarchy (no desire for any government) tendencies. With so much corruption who can tell.
So maybe I'm neither. I am for the liberty, love, the family, and all that is right and good. I believe that evil should not be called good, and good should not be called evil.
I believe people have the right to pursue their desires. I also firmly believe that we should not remove the consequences they worked so hard to receive. It is not fair to punish those who work hard and are good while rewarding the wicked or lazy.
That said. You probably think I am heartless. On the contrary. As I have researched Charities, Non-profit organizations, and donations I have discovered that American's are the most giving collection of people in the world. Why? Because we have education, religion, and family values. We desire that people do not live in terrible conditions. We want to share our education, our health, and our wealth. We want to help the less fortunate, sponsor the determined yet underprivileged, and invest in those who do not have the current means but do have the inspiration for something great.
We want to teach people to fish so they can feed themselves for a lifetime.
I am appalled at the resentment created in people, because they are taxed in order to help others, implying that they themselves are not good enough to do it on their own. So families are pulling apart and resent helping each other, because they think that the government should do it, since they are paying taxes for that sort of thing. This happens so slowly (over a series of 50-60 years) that we think it is normal not to cling together and support each other.
I believe that the founding fathers had a pretty good understanding of corruption and how government should run. The Federal, state, and city governments were to have a set of checks and balances so that no particular party or organization would get strong enough to bring in corruption. (Although Washington himself warned against separating into parties at all.) That way even though there is evil in the world people would be too afraid to put power/greedy hungry people in power because it would hurt the people.
Well, afraid to say it. FDR used the terrible conditions to open the door to socialistic thinking...with the promise that when the war was over and the people returned to normalsy that Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare would end and the powers of government would return to how they were intended. So, more power was given to the government. The people were so eager to sell out their freedom for a handout.
The power was too tempting. It still exists.
The city should take care of city dealings.
The State should take care of state dealings.
The Fed should take care of Freeways, International relations, and severe crimes.
So what can we do? Get involved.
As "Remy" said in Ratatouille, "the time to change is now." It is not inevitable if we do not make it so.
Awake from your slumber and do the research. Don't just research modern day government. Do what John Adams did. Go and research the history of the world. Read Karl Marx Communist Manifesto, Read Voltair, Candide, the history of Russia, Broken Glass Floats, the Hiding Place. Find the good-bad-ugly and sort it out. Only then will you truly understand how freedoms are slowly taken away and must be paid for again with blood.
Prevent the Pride cycle. Arise. Focus on all that you can do.
A right is something that you have by being born. If you were born on a desert island all you would have is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Saying that the things you would not have and are not entitled to are:
Food
Shelter
Marriage
Children
Healthcare
Money
Power
These are things that you could work for. They are a privilege. They are incentive. In fact you should work for them. By working for them you get a sense of accomplishment. You should not be forced to work for them either. That takes away freedom of choice. (For those who are LDS it's the difference of Agency (with consequences) or everyone being able to get back again (force) to Heavenly Father.)
However, if they are given to you without you putting in the necessary effort you do not understand what is truly required to have them. If somehow your benefactor dies, or whatever, then you suddenly lose your benefits that you didn't really deserve in the first place because you were not willing to work for them. You are in a rut and you are screaming "injustice!" and you're right. You don't even know how to get those benefits on your own merit. That is truly injustice.
I know that there is a lot of corruption in the land. I think Democrats have Socialistic tendencies and "some" think Republicans have anarchy (no desire for any government) tendencies. With so much corruption who can tell.
So maybe I'm neither. I am for the liberty, love, the family, and all that is right and good. I believe that evil should not be called good, and good should not be called evil.
I believe people have the right to pursue their desires. I also firmly believe that we should not remove the consequences they worked so hard to receive. It is not fair to punish those who work hard and are good while rewarding the wicked or lazy.
That said. You probably think I am heartless. On the contrary. As I have researched Charities, Non-profit organizations, and donations I have discovered that American's are the most giving collection of people in the world. Why? Because we have education, religion, and family values. We desire that people do not live in terrible conditions. We want to share our education, our health, and our wealth. We want to help the less fortunate, sponsor the determined yet underprivileged, and invest in those who do not have the current means but do have the inspiration for something great.
We want to teach people to fish so they can feed themselves for a lifetime.
I am appalled at the resentment created in people, because they are taxed in order to help others, implying that they themselves are not good enough to do it on their own. So families are pulling apart and resent helping each other, because they think that the government should do it, since they are paying taxes for that sort of thing. This happens so slowly (over a series of 50-60 years) that we think it is normal not to cling together and support each other.
I believe that the founding fathers had a pretty good understanding of corruption and how government should run. The Federal, state, and city governments were to have a set of checks and balances so that no particular party or organization would get strong enough to bring in corruption. (Although Washington himself warned against separating into parties at all.) That way even though there is evil in the world people would be too afraid to put power/greedy hungry people in power because it would hurt the people.
Well, afraid to say it. FDR used the terrible conditions to open the door to socialistic thinking...with the promise that when the war was over and the people returned to normalsy that Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare would end and the powers of government would return to how they were intended. So, more power was given to the government. The people were so eager to sell out their freedom for a handout.
The power was too tempting. It still exists.
The city should take care of city dealings.
The State should take care of state dealings.
The Fed should take care of Freeways, International relations, and severe crimes.
So what can we do? Get involved.
As "Remy" said in Ratatouille, "the time to change is now." It is not inevitable if we do not make it so.
Awake from your slumber and do the research. Don't just research modern day government. Do what John Adams did. Go and research the history of the world. Read Karl Marx Communist Manifesto, Read Voltair, Candide, the history of Russia, Broken Glass Floats, the Hiding Place. Find the good-bad-ugly and sort it out. Only then will you truly understand how freedoms are slowly taken away and must be paid for again with blood.
Prevent the Pride cycle. Arise. Focus on all that you can do.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Here's the result
Chuckle. So, I used Photoshop...Kimberly...but it was only to make the backdrop darker and crop the picture. Torri did a really good job, and the lighting was nice outside.
Picture time!
So, as I was getting a head-shot, for my Mary Kay director, Isaac decided he wanted to come and have pictures taken of him.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
DanceCore card
This is pretty much the card we are thinking of using to represent our company. It is simple and classy while saying exactly what we do.
We teach people how to move well.
I'm excited for our future role in sharing the knowledge about our bodies and what a great gift they are!
new blog...Dancecore!
So, I haven't written anything in it. I just spent much of my afternoon making the background in Photoshop. Check it out if you'd like.
thedancecore.blogspot.com
Happy looking!
thedancecore.blogspot.com
Happy looking!
Do what is right, the daydawn is breaking...
From George Washington's Farewell Address (as cited in this booklet of the constitution)
he states:
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.... Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be concede to the influence of refined education...reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle"
So why does the separation of church and state seem so right? It is not the Atheist who founded this particular country. It is the God fearing and compassionate religious majority who escaped the tyranny of religious oppression.
Yet today we face a minority of Atheists who demand that we give up our rights so they may have theirs. In our country we are fighting just to say the Pledge of Allegiance due to the reference of God in it. A father in California said that it takes away his son's right to not believe in God to have to hear that every day in school. If it were true that there was not a God then he shouldn't have to worry that it would corrupt his son. But it is not true.
I know there is a God. I know that all science and feeling demonstrate that there is and must be a Father in Heaven who started and continues to monitor, intervene, and allow the progression of this earth. Shouldn't it be my right to be able to say that whether I walked into my home or into a school? Doesn't the freedom of speech protect that right?
In other countries Gays/Lesbians have fought for the right to call their union marriage and won. In those countries the rights of the religious population are being stripped from them. So, who is being tolerant? Not the Atheists, Gays and Lesbians.
George Washington also stated in (1792):
"I am sure there never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe, that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God, who ais alone able to protect them."
(The writings of George Washington, by John C. Ftzpatrick, GPO, 1931-44. vol. 32:2) As cited in the same booklet.
We always should do what is right. Most of the time we won't be popular. Some of the time we will be openly ridiculed and beaten. It does not change what is good and right.
This is our country and our Constitution.
We are ..."its only keepers, the people." -George Washington
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Soap Box: Rewrite the foundation of our country?!?
Obama has been saying things that sound a whole lot like communism and socialism. Today was no different.
I was watching him give a speech and heard him say that he is preparing to rewrite the foundation of our country.
Isn't the responsibility (which he swore to do) of the president of the United States of America to DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION? Now he wants to re-write it?
I think people need to start being creative in a capitalistic sense. Make jobs for yourself. Where some industries are suffering others are doing well. Find your niche.
Sometimes I feel like a "Hitler" figure is trying to raise up a depressed country. Scary. He says we deserve this-that-and the other. He is imposing socialistic ideals to try to solve other people's problems. He wants to buy out and be a secondary lender! Do you realize that means the government will own our homes, cars, etc? That is not how this government was meant to be set up. We are not here to accept everything from the government.
Some of you may say I am hypocritical. I am using Medicaid and Food Stamps to take care of my children. This is a program created to help people in need. Unfortunately it is firstly unconstitutional and secondly poorly managed. I will be the first to say that they need to change how they run such a program.
The LDS church has a very good example of how to run Food Stamps. The Relief Society President talks on an individual basis to the mother of the family. She helps set up a meal plan for two weeks time which gives them a list of food to mark off on a list. Then, when they reach the Bishop's Storehouse those are the only items they can get. NO IMPULSE BUYS.
Food stamps is helpful due to allergies that plague so many of us. Still, I know that sometimes I see things and go, "Hmmm, that would be nice..."
As for Medicaid. Well, too many Medicaid users decide it is easier to use the ER than to make an appointment and wait like normal people. Those are expensive visits that get paid for by tax payers dollars.
I understand there are many people who benefit from these programs who are perfectly upstanding people. I also know that the programs are set up to keep people stuck in them. I have only seen the housing programs set up ways for people to actually get out of being in the poor cycle.
I want to get out from underneath the governments thumb. Obama wants everyone answerable to the government. All of this government regulation will only create more problems. (Wasn't it the government who encouraged banks to get unwise people into homes they couldn't afford?)
We deserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That is what we deserve.
I was watching him give a speech and heard him say that he is preparing to rewrite the foundation of our country.
Isn't the responsibility (which he swore to do) of the president of the United States of America to DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION? Now he wants to re-write it?
I think people need to start being creative in a capitalistic sense. Make jobs for yourself. Where some industries are suffering others are doing well. Find your niche.
Sometimes I feel like a "Hitler" figure is trying to raise up a depressed country. Scary. He says we deserve this-that-and the other. He is imposing socialistic ideals to try to solve other people's problems. He wants to buy out and be a secondary lender! Do you realize that means the government will own our homes, cars, etc? That is not how this government was meant to be set up. We are not here to accept everything from the government.
Some of you may say I am hypocritical. I am using Medicaid and Food Stamps to take care of my children. This is a program created to help people in need. Unfortunately it is firstly unconstitutional and secondly poorly managed. I will be the first to say that they need to change how they run such a program.
The LDS church has a very good example of how to run Food Stamps. The Relief Society President talks on an individual basis to the mother of the family. She helps set up a meal plan for two weeks time which gives them a list of food to mark off on a list. Then, when they reach the Bishop's Storehouse those are the only items they can get. NO IMPULSE BUYS.
Food stamps is helpful due to allergies that plague so many of us. Still, I know that sometimes I see things and go, "Hmmm, that would be nice..."
As for Medicaid. Well, too many Medicaid users decide it is easier to use the ER than to make an appointment and wait like normal people. Those are expensive visits that get paid for by tax payers dollars.
I understand there are many people who benefit from these programs who are perfectly upstanding people. I also know that the programs are set up to keep people stuck in them. I have only seen the housing programs set up ways for people to actually get out of being in the poor cycle.
I want to get out from underneath the governments thumb. Obama wants everyone answerable to the government. All of this government regulation will only create more problems. (Wasn't it the government who encouraged banks to get unwise people into homes they couldn't afford?)
We deserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That is what we deserve.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Sleepless nights
So, about 4:00 am Katelyn woke up crying.
She woke up Sunday morning (2X) because of nightmares. Naturally I assumed this was the same reasoning. NEVER ASSUME. (I should print that on a sign and put it around my house to remind me of the ever changing world of parenthood.)
This morning she kept saying her ear hurt. Brian brought her to me and I snuggled with her in bed. She tossed and turned on the pillow, then on my arm, and what do you know the place she found most comfortable was with the pillow on my stomach and her body laying between my legs. It was kinda cute...except that I couldn't turn over. Finally she fell asleep.
The next time she woke up crying I gave her some acetaminophen to help her feel better. She was fine until about 1:00 pm. She brought up her ear again and was refusing to eat. I was convinced. We went to the local doctor and filled out all the paperwork to get her in. I was fully expecting someone who normally does "immediate care."
In came the doctor (who knows Brian's family and Bri's lightning history) to take care of Katelyn. I was really impressed that he would do instant care for her little ear ache.
He also was very clear and knew what he was talking about. He answered my questions and didn't talk down to me just because I'm a mom. He used correct terminology and explained it in layman's terms as well.
After her checkup he gave her a sucker (bright blue tongue) and a sticker from "Cars" so that she would be happier. He went one step further and gave me two free ice cream cone certificates for the local Arctic Circle.
Sometimes I get frustrated with general practitioners. This one knew his stuff and was prepared to make us as satisfied as possible.
That was cool. We will definitely go back to him in the future.
She woke up Sunday morning (2X) because of nightmares. Naturally I assumed this was the same reasoning. NEVER ASSUME. (I should print that on a sign and put it around my house to remind me of the ever changing world of parenthood.)
This morning she kept saying her ear hurt. Brian brought her to me and I snuggled with her in bed. She tossed and turned on the pillow, then on my arm, and what do you know the place she found most comfortable was with the pillow on my stomach and her body laying between my legs. It was kinda cute...except that I couldn't turn over. Finally she fell asleep.
The next time she woke up crying I gave her some acetaminophen to help her feel better. She was fine until about 1:00 pm. She brought up her ear again and was refusing to eat. I was convinced. We went to the local doctor and filled out all the paperwork to get her in. I was fully expecting someone who normally does "immediate care."
In came the doctor (who knows Brian's family and Bri's lightning history) to take care of Katelyn. I was really impressed that he would do instant care for her little ear ache.
He also was very clear and knew what he was talking about. He answered my questions and didn't talk down to me just because I'm a mom. He used correct terminology and explained it in layman's terms as well.
After her checkup he gave her a sucker (bright blue tongue) and a sticker from "Cars" so that she would be happier. He went one step further and gave me two free ice cream cone certificates for the local Arctic Circle.
Sometimes I get frustrated with general practitioners. This one knew his stuff and was prepared to make us as satisfied as possible.
That was cool. We will definitely go back to him in the future.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
After move aftermath
Hi all,
We just finished our 8th move in 4 1/2 years. I'm tired. The children are moody and disobedient. Brian is gone for longer hours because it is a half hour drive to town in order to get to work so he stays at work in-between lessons and classes.
We are staying at Torri and Curtis' home. Most of our stuff is in a box sitting in a storage unit. What we do have out of the storage unit sits in the van or in a guest bedroom in a box waiting to be organized.
I am thoroughly overwhelmed and feel the immense pressure of being a burden. We continue to work on getting other jobs; but we are discovering how difficult it is to get another job. I can't tell you how many jobs Bri has applied for. He was qualified, optimistic, ready to start, even ready to work for a year or two at each establishment. The problem is that he plans on continuing to build our studio until we are self sufficient from other establishments. These businesses want him to plan on being with them for twenty years.
Realize that many people in this area stay in this area. If they graduated from a university it was probably BYUI or ISU. This is not bad. It's just that the companies are used to people wanting a career in managing, or sales, or banking, etc. All of the interviewers have been very impressed with Brian. Sigh.
So, I dwell primarily in a basement with two little ones. As the past few days have turned out I will probably have to figure something else out. The children are stir crazy and are not supposed to touch half of the items in their reach. The dog has a knack for finding dirt at this house so I have to wash her down three and four times a day. I'm tired of not feeling welcome and it's only been four days.
Sorry to gripe. I don't know if it makes me feel better or worse. I just want to be in our own home with our own food and our own space. I know Torri feels the same way.
Maybe we'll become very familiar with the mall's playland, the library's children book section, the high school's dance room, and the inside of the vehicles.
We just finished our 8th move in 4 1/2 years. I'm tired. The children are moody and disobedient. Brian is gone for longer hours because it is a half hour drive to town in order to get to work so he stays at work in-between lessons and classes.
We are staying at Torri and Curtis' home. Most of our stuff is in a box sitting in a storage unit. What we do have out of the storage unit sits in the van or in a guest bedroom in a box waiting to be organized.
I am thoroughly overwhelmed and feel the immense pressure of being a burden. We continue to work on getting other jobs; but we are discovering how difficult it is to get another job. I can't tell you how many jobs Bri has applied for. He was qualified, optimistic, ready to start, even ready to work for a year or two at each establishment. The problem is that he plans on continuing to build our studio until we are self sufficient from other establishments. These businesses want him to plan on being with them for twenty years.
Realize that many people in this area stay in this area. If they graduated from a university it was probably BYUI or ISU. This is not bad. It's just that the companies are used to people wanting a career in managing, or sales, or banking, etc. All of the interviewers have been very impressed with Brian. Sigh.
So, I dwell primarily in a basement with two little ones. As the past few days have turned out I will probably have to figure something else out. The children are stir crazy and are not supposed to touch half of the items in their reach. The dog has a knack for finding dirt at this house so I have to wash her down three and four times a day. I'm tired of not feeling welcome and it's only been four days.
Sorry to gripe. I don't know if it makes me feel better or worse. I just want to be in our own home with our own food and our own space. I know Torri feels the same way.
Maybe we'll become very familiar with the mall's playland, the library's children book section, the high school's dance room, and the inside of the vehicles.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Katelyn and Isaac have hair...
Katelyn had her hair in two french braids and decided to take a nap. As you can see the two did not combine terribly well, unless you're into fad hairdos of course!
I got Isaac to sit still long enough to get a small portion of his new haircut on "film". Amazing how most of what whey have on film is really just a bunch of lights on a computer screen.
I can't seem to figure out the images option, so they are on the side...
I got Isaac to sit still long enough to get a small portion of his new haircut on "film". Amazing how most of what whey have on film is really just a bunch of lights on a computer screen.
I can't seem to figure out the images option, so they are on the side...
Atonement
Capture your memories. The more I look on the past the more I realize that I have forgotten so much of what I thought I could never forget. Live for today, that’s for sure.
Most of the people you meet are probably like myself...living in yesterday or tomorrow. Having nastalgia about the past and excitement for the future. I don’t think those things are bad; I do think that a healthy appreciation of the moment right now, and now, and now, etc. will make myself and a lot of people a lot happier.
I’ve been reading Believing Christ, written by Robinson, and I think I finally understand the atonements role in our worthiness. Indulge me by reading on.
Say you have a negative balance on your debit account because you made a few small mistakes. No matter how small they were the bank is not happy with you.
Now, If you were to marry someone who had a healthy savings account (an infinite amount of resources) then no matter how negative your account is the debt is repaid.
When Christ atoned for our pains and sins he had the infinite mercy and paid all of justice in full. When we think that we need to be perfect and others need to be perfect in order to be worthy to talk to Father in Heaven, or think that we are worth anything, we are refusing to allow Christ to pay our balance.
If we instead choose to be baptized and confirmed, and take on the covenant with Christ, we say that we will allow him to make up for our weaknesses until we learn how to be perfect. The problem is that because we beforehand thought we had to be perfect to return to the father we still kind of think that way. We have to have a desire. We have to try. We have to forsake our wrongs over and over. When we choose to return to Him we can. It is only our own desire for independence that keeps us from being interdependent with the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. I don’t know how to better say what is in my heart.
The people you teach will not be perfect when they join the church. They will not be perfect when they die. But if they allow a broken heart and a contrite spirit to fill them and truly forsake their sins (as tempting as they are) they will find happiness. Each sin we forsake brings us more happiness, less dependence on Satan hollow incentives, and an less difficult path to conquer the next vice. Knowing that Christ makes them perfect lets them know of their infinite worth. No matter what they do, no matter what they think, no matter how poorly they feel they are infinitely worthy to him. He loves them when they have committed the blackest of sins. So it is their choice, once they know they are making it, to turn and progress towards Him or turn and digress away from Him.
It is that simple. Either you are “trying to be like Jesus” or you are not.
You are beautiful and full of life! Keep sharing that with those who you serve. Lose your life in the work and you will discover a greater deeper life than you ever imagined. Remember that you are there to bring all people the greatest happiness you can. That does not mean baptize everyone, (for you’ve obviously learned they will make their own choices whether or not that makes them happy), it means that you love them for who they are. When they are ready they will receive it like a runner drinks water after a race, or a freshly tilled garden receives water and sunshine. Tell that to the members who feel discouraged about missionary work. That way they won’t feel like they have to change their friends. Instead they will live in glorious truth and love their neighbors; and their lights cannot be hid.
Most of the people you meet are probably like myself...living in yesterday or tomorrow. Having nastalgia about the past and excitement for the future. I don’t think those things are bad; I do think that a healthy appreciation of the moment right now, and now, and now, etc. will make myself and a lot of people a lot happier.
I’ve been reading Believing Christ, written by Robinson, and I think I finally understand the atonements role in our worthiness. Indulge me by reading on.
Say you have a negative balance on your debit account because you made a few small mistakes. No matter how small they were the bank is not happy with you.
Now, If you were to marry someone who had a healthy savings account (an infinite amount of resources) then no matter how negative your account is the debt is repaid.
When Christ atoned for our pains and sins he had the infinite mercy and paid all of justice in full. When we think that we need to be perfect and others need to be perfect in order to be worthy to talk to Father in Heaven, or think that we are worth anything, we are refusing to allow Christ to pay our balance.
If we instead choose to be baptized and confirmed, and take on the covenant with Christ, we say that we will allow him to make up for our weaknesses until we learn how to be perfect. The problem is that because we beforehand thought we had to be perfect to return to the father we still kind of think that way. We have to have a desire. We have to try. We have to forsake our wrongs over and over. When we choose to return to Him we can. It is only our own desire for independence that keeps us from being interdependent with the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. I don’t know how to better say what is in my heart.
The people you teach will not be perfect when they join the church. They will not be perfect when they die. But if they allow a broken heart and a contrite spirit to fill them and truly forsake their sins (as tempting as they are) they will find happiness. Each sin we forsake brings us more happiness, less dependence on Satan hollow incentives, and an less difficult path to conquer the next vice. Knowing that Christ makes them perfect lets them know of their infinite worth. No matter what they do, no matter what they think, no matter how poorly they feel they are infinitely worthy to him. He loves them when they have committed the blackest of sins. So it is their choice, once they know they are making it, to turn and progress towards Him or turn and digress away from Him.
It is that simple. Either you are “trying to be like Jesus” or you are not.
You are beautiful and full of life! Keep sharing that with those who you serve. Lose your life in the work and you will discover a greater deeper life than you ever imagined. Remember that you are there to bring all people the greatest happiness you can. That does not mean baptize everyone, (for you’ve obviously learned they will make their own choices whether or not that makes them happy), it means that you love them for who they are. When they are ready they will receive it like a runner drinks water after a race, or a freshly tilled garden receives water and sunshine. Tell that to the members who feel discouraged about missionary work. That way they won’t feel like they have to change their friends. Instead they will live in glorious truth and love their neighbors; and their lights cannot be hid.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Stephen R. Covey did 200 years of reasearch!!!
I am reading for pleasure these days! It is so wonderful to truly delve into a work and be able to read a paragraph twice with out a debt of time. (No finals pressing or homework dependant on the works read.)
One of the books I am reading is the THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE; though I'm not exactly sure why it is in all caps. Maybe that makes it more readable. How do they decide on things like that? Anyway, so, I have been feeling warm fuzzies as I read the pages of the first chapter. It speaks of the very things I have been trying to incorporate into my family's life and my own.
..."almost all the literature in the first 150 years or so focused on what could be called the Character Ethic as the foundation of success--things like integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule. Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is representative of that literature. It is, basically, the story of one man's effort to inegrate certain principles and habits deep within his nature." (pg. 18)
I am realizing that I need to have these essential characteristics more ingrained in my person. An "Aha!" moment hit me that I also need to have my personal validation based on myself and not the accomplishments of my children. Etc.
The best thing about reading this book is that I feel like I've already started down the road that 150 years of experience says will lead to a successful and happy life. Though flawed, I am on the right path moving in a good direction. I also feel more equipped to help others find that path and blossom in their own capacities.
One of the books I am reading is the THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE; though I'm not exactly sure why it is in all caps. Maybe that makes it more readable. How do they decide on things like that? Anyway, so, I have been feeling warm fuzzies as I read the pages of the first chapter. It speaks of the very things I have been trying to incorporate into my family's life and my own.
..."almost all the literature in the first 150 years or so focused on what could be called the Character Ethic as the foundation of success--things like integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule. Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is representative of that literature. It is, basically, the story of one man's effort to inegrate certain principles and habits deep within his nature." (pg. 18)
I am realizing that I need to have these essential characteristics more ingrained in my person. An "Aha!" moment hit me that I also need to have my personal validation based on myself and not the accomplishments of my children. Etc.
The best thing about reading this book is that I feel like I've already started down the road that 150 years of experience says will lead to a successful and happy life. Though flawed, I am on the right path moving in a good direction. I also feel more equipped to help others find that path and blossom in their own capacities.
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