Musicals: a treasure trove of life's lessons

So, I have decided that musicals are a great place to learn good things about life. You learn the importance of vanilla ice cream and optometry in She Loves Me, how you can be cranky as long as your friends are cranky and then together if you work in a garden you can become less cranky together from The Secret Garden, and never to feed any of your plants blood from Little Shop of Horrors. All important lessons. The (more serious one) I have been thinking about recently comes from Aida.

Let me give you a little background. I am on a committee to help plan my stake's Relief Society Conference for which part of it we are helping to furnish an apartment that a refugee family is moving into. It has been fairly stressful and involves a lot of communicating and planning with people that I don't really know. We are down to the last week and a half before this happens and today was crazy with the amount of texting and coordinating that needed to be done.

I don't particularly love this type of planning. I don't like texting people I don't know and I don't like how much energy it takes out of me to do so. I feel lazy when all I have done all day is text people, yet I feel so tired from doing nothing. Needless to say I have been in a mood today and complaining to all the people I do know. (I'm sorry if any of you who I have been whining to read this) Then after a last little bout of whining to my mom I was laying down on her bed listening to the quiet in my parent's room and these words from Aida (with a little bit of a change) came into my head,

"If you don't like [how you are feeling] change it. You are your own master, there are no shackles on you." 

In my Psychology class I took a couple semesters ago we talked about all the things that happen to us before we feel something. First we have to have a sensation, then that sensation goes into our mind and takes into account what is happening to us now, our past experiences with similar sensations, and a myriad of other things, then we make a judgement and perceive things which produces feelings. (Or something along those lines, I mean, it was a while ago when I studied this) The point of this was to explain how we have the wonderful ability to change how we are feeling about things. 

I might hate texting people but that doesn't mean that I have to feel grumpy when I am doing a lot of it. I can choose to use other experiences to change my perception. I can think about how the refugee family my ward is trying to help would probably love to have a phone to text people with. I can remember that I had a wonderful dinner and I didn't even have to worry about it, meals just happen every day for me when I know around the world people worry every day about where their next meal will come from.

I hope that I can remember how wonderful it is that I have the opportunity to help a family in need and that this isn't about me. It is about how I can look outside of myself and see other human suffering and do my part in helping to alleviate that suffering now matter how uncomfortable or hard it feels at the time. That is what Christ did. He saw us and saw our suffering and did His part to make it better for us, even though it was hard and excruciating for Him. That is the biggest filter I can use to help me change my thinking. I am grateful that I can take this opportunity to learn more about my Savior.

In which my car got stuck...

Do you see the grossness that is my icy Rexburg parking lot? I do...I see it every day. So, I haven't had a problem with ice at all this winter until today. I have been very blessed in this as the parking lot above has looked this way since November but my no-problems-with-ice streak ended today, and no, surprisingly it wasn't in this parking lot. I drove to church today and parked on the hill next to the building where I have church not really thinking about getting out again and went to church.

 *side note, church was AWESOME! We had a lesson in Gospel principles on the Atonement where the teacher really focused on us backing up whatever we said with scriptures which brought a lot of power to the lesson. #scripturepower :D )* 

Anyways, I left church and got into my car, turned it on, started backing out when I heard the dreaded sound of my wheels spinning uselessly against the ice. My front wheels were on solid asphalt and so were my back wheels, but right behind my front wheels was a sheet of ice. I was stuck. I was also embarrassed. This quote was running through my head.

I felt so dumb for parking there and not even thinking about how I could get stuck. There were plenty of other spaces where I could have parked just fine, but because I wasn't thinking earlier my car was stuck. I was sitting there for a few minutes deciding what I should do. My pride was voting that I just leave it there for a while and then come back later that night to see if, by some miracle I could move it then, but my rational side realized that I probably wouldn't be able to move it later and there would be even less people around to help me.

So, my rational side winning out, turned off my car and was deciding to go find help when one of my ward members walked by. I got out and told him that my car was stuck. He without any teasing or fanfare asked if I wanted him to push. He tried and when that didn't work, he snagged another boy and together they pushed me out of the ice and I offered him a ride home.

I know this is really silly, but I was so grateful that Heavenly Father sent someone that I know is so kind. He gave a talk in church the other week about how he always keeps a candy in his pocket in case he sees someone that needs a snack/treat. I know that it is true too because I have been the recipient of it once. I was already feeling so embarrassed so it was a tender mercy that he was there right when I needed a push and I knew that he would help and be happy to serve.

I am so grateful for all the Christ-like and loving people that are in my life!

And, since it's Valentines Day, I wanted to share a picture of some of the people that I love the most in the whole world, my family. (This is mostly my sisters as we were preparing to ambush one of my brothers with our Christmas marshmallow shooters, but its the picture I have with the most of us in it)

I love you Mom, Dad, Loralee, Joylyn, Mike, Brookeh, Susan, Karen, Julie, Erik, Jenn, Brad, Rachel, Eric, and my nieces and nephews!

Be Still

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the noise of the world. 

Last Sunday I taught the gospel principles class in my ward and while it went well, it also went WAY faster than I had planned, we were at the end of what I had prepared and we had about 15 minutes left . . . so with no lesson material left I decided to make a list on the board of different commandments that Christ has given to us and that, by following them, will help us draw closer to him. I figured that would take at least 5 minutes and then they would have a visual for my invitation. We had a lot of different things written on the board, i.e. forgive, repent, love and serve one another, keep the Sabbath day holy, be still, etc. My invitation was to pick one to work on that week and see how their relationship with Christ grows as they did so. 

As I was looking at the list, one of them (Be still) really caught my eye. The point of my lesson was to find ways to strengthen our personal relationships with Christ. My goal from the lesson was to take more time to be still. I wanted to disconnect more from the worldly noise and tune more into the spiritual noise so I would be more available to receive promptings from the Holy Ghost. I think it has literally been the hardest week for me to do that. I didn't do very well at all, in fact, I went on a Netflix and YouTube spree. While on my endless YouTube video rabbit hole I found this video. 

*** Warning, there is some swearing*** 

In the video, in case you didn't want to watch it :) He talks about how he is always connected to something from the moment he wakes up until he goes to bed and then he goes on to talk about how rewarding it is when you disconnect from all of the entertainment and noise that can come from everywhere and just think. 

When I watched this I realized that that day I had done almost nothing but be plugged in to the noise of the world. I was very similar to this guy. I got up and was listening to an audio book, Then I walked to class with my headphones tuned into my favorite Pandora station. I went to class and then listened to Pandora some more while I did homework then repeated until my classes were done, then I walked home to the sound of my Pandora station. When I got home I got on Facebook, then watched some episodes on Netflix then got on YouTube... I had just spent my whole day drowning every other voice out with meaningless entertainment. It was a wake-up call to me that I needed to stop and let my brain think. I needed to take time to be still. This small rebuke was a tender mercy to me. It helped me remember the goals I had set earlier in the week and to do better for the rest of the week. 

I think it is amazing how God really is involved in our lives and wants to help us achieve our goals and will send us reminders of those goals when we are not on track to achieve them. This week my goal is to take time, and more than just a couple of minutes, to be still every day during the week so I can enjoy the company of my own mind more. I think I will find it to be rewarding in many ways.

Also, another tender mercy, tonight was, for the first time in almost 2 years, seeing this cute girl again! Sister Richards (now Betsy) stopped in Rexburg for a few hours and I got to hang out with her :) So fun!

Beware of Pride...part 2 :)

A couple of summers ago, when I was on my mission serving in the Catoctin ward, I made a new friend. His name was Humperdink. He was a prideful little guy and I wrote a blog post about it...which you can read here. In it I talked about a humbling experience that I had when I thought that I was above the pride cycle. Well, in my religion class my religion professor mentioned something, I can't remember what he called it, where you don't have to be in the pride cycle. The Lord blesses you, you remain humble and serve others and God blesses you more etc.

***bonus if you make it to the end there is a little before seen picture of me actually holding Humperdink***

While I don't think that I am above the pride cycle, it is nice to know that my original thoughts about people not having to be stuck in the pride cycle were right. It gives me something to strive for. Something that I will have to strive and strive for, because pride is . . . hard . . .to get away from.  I think in part it is because it rears it's ugly head in so many different ways.

Pride has been defined in many ways by the Prophets and Apostles, for example

Pride Is...

"A natural consequence of setting our hearts on the things of the world" -Gerald N. Lund April 2008

"The most deadly spiritual virus" -Boyd K. Packer April 1989

"A great obstacle in listening to the voice of the Lord" -Fransisco J Vinas October 1996

and, last but not least,

"The universal sin, the great vice" -Ezra Taft Benson April 1989

So . . . Bad right? And as if all these warnings weren't bad enough, let's take a look at what the Book of Mormon has to say about it.

We are instructed to avoid pride in Alma 38:11 "See that ye are not lifted up unto pride; yea, see that ye do not boast in your own wisdom, nor of your much strength."

2 Nephi 28:13 tell of some consequences of pride "They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart, because in their pride they are puffed up."

And in Moroni 8:27 the ultimate fate of those lifted up in pride. "Behold, the pride of this nation, or the people of the Nephites, hath proven their destruction except they should repent."

so. . . again . . . bad. But, there is a reason we are told so much about pride and I think the main reason is so we can learn to recognize it in ourselves. If we don't realize that we are prideful then we aren't going to be able to change that. So I guess the big question is, how is my pride manifesting?

Me and my friend Humperdink

That is a good question, Prince Humperdink and I are going to go think about that now, and I hope you will too :D 

The Blessing of Becoming an Instrument.

Becoming an instrument? Why would I want to become an instrument? What's the point of being a Piano or Flute! That just seems silly . . .

No, not that kind of instrument. The kind of instrument I am talking about is becoming an Instrument in the Hand of God. In my Book of Mormon class the past couple of weeks we have been talking about the Abrahamic covenant, what it is and what we are promised if we keep the covenants we make.

Abraham 2:9-11

9 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations;

10 And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father;

11 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal.

What stood out to me most was that God told Abraham, while telling him of the blessings to him and his seed, that all the families of the earth will be blessed with the blessings of the Gospel. As I did the reading a couple other scriptures really stood out to me.

2 Nephi 2:3 "Wherefore, thy sou shall be blessed, and thou shalt dwell safely with thy brohter, Nephi; and thy days shall be spent in the service of thy God. ..."

2 Nephi 3:7-8, 14

7 Yea, Joseph truly said: Thus saith the Lord unto me; A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers.

8 And I will give unto him a commandment that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work

14 And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise;

and finally (bear with me, I know it is a lot of scriptures),

Mosiah 26:20 Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep

The overall theme that I kept seeing over and over again as I was reading all the scriptures about the promises that God grants to his children was, it is a blessing, not a burden or obligation or something undesirable to become an instrument in God's hands. When we are keeping our covenants it is a blessing in our lives. We are blessed to help our friends and family and neighbors to come unto Christ and to make the same covenants that we have made and to receive the same blessings that we have received.

When I think of people who really understood the joy of becoming a tool that God can use I immediately think of the sons of Mosiah. In Mosiah 17 they fast and pray MUCH that the Lord would grant them that blessing, and when they had received it they were overjoyed! They rejoiced! Ammon's words in Alma 26:15-16 "...we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work. Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever."

In Elder Nelson's 2011 October Conference talk he explained how important this part of the Abrahamic covenant is. He said,

 "Ours is the responsibility to help fulfill the Abrahamic covenant. Ours is the seed foreordained and prepared to bless all people of the world. That is why priesthood duty includes missionary work. After some 4,000 years of anticipation and preparation, this is the appointed day when the gospel is to be taken to the kindreds of the earth. This is the time of the promised gathering of Israel. And we get to participate! Isn't that exciting? The Lord is counting on us and our sons -- and He is profoundly grateful for our daughters -- who worthily serve as missionaries in this great time of the gathering of Israel.

I know that one of the greatest blessings we have in life is to be a blessing in someone else's life. I know how wonderful it feels and how much sense of purpose it can give to know that I am here for a purpose, that I can be a blessing someone else's life and how much meaning there is in life as I strive to do this. I know that as we strive to live our covenants we will have opportunities to become an instrument in the hand of God and bless the lives of others and in the process see how much of a blessing it is to us to do so.

God is Good!

Sometimes I receive the clearest revelation when I am in the shower...I don't know why, maybe because there are basically no distractions and I am usually singing hymns...yes I do sing in the shower...don't judge :) Any-who. . . Last night when I was in the shower I was thinking about how good God had been to me that day, seeing all the things that he helped me with (homework especially and being generally productive) and I just realized that God has always been good to me. Always. And, if He always HAS been good to me, then He always WILL be good to me. Just a nice reminder that I can trust God. He has always been trustworthy, so even though it is hard sometimes, I can trust Him now and I will always be able to trust Him!

How to be Filled

You know that feeling, where you feel kind of empty inside? A kind of loneliness that doesn't really go away, but it isn't REALLY loneliness because you can feel it even when you are surrounded by the ones you love the most? Where there is a place that you want to be filled but isn't? You try to fill it with more social activity or more study, or any manner of things, but it just doesn't quite work? Well sometimes I feel that way, and sometimes there are times when that part of me is completely filled and I am simply happy. A inner happiness that does fill that part of you.

Recently in my Book of Mormon class we have been studying how the Book of Mormon teaches the Doctrine of Christ, namely Faith, Repentance, Baptism, partaking of the Sacrament, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End.  As I have been doing the reading I have noticed something that I absolutely love about the scriptures relating to these different parts of the Doctrine of Christ. What I love is the word 'fill'. In so many scriptures it talks about how these simple principles and ordinances will FILL you, for example . . .

Alma 36:20 "And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" This is what Alma described feeling after he had excercized faith and repented.

and...

3 Nephi 19:13 "And it came to pass when they were all baptized and had come up out of the water, the Holy Ghost did fall upon them, and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and with fire." ***

I love the fact that there is a part of me that is just waiting to be filled by the Holy Ghost, that I can literally have a member of the Godhead with me at ALL times. I know that by striving to adhere to the simple teachings of Jesus Christ and growing in our faith in him, we will be filled. We don't have to be empty or lonely and having the gentle influence of the Holy Ghost filling us makes everything more bearable. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I am so grateful that he inspired so many of his Prophets in the Book of Mormon to teach His simple truths so that we may have a more perfect fullness of joy in life.

*** for more scriptures about being filled through the Gospel of Jesus Christ see...

3 Nephi 18:9
Alma 29:10
Alma 19:30
3 Nephi 26:17
3 Nephi 12:6
3 Nephi 20:9
Moroni 8:17
Mosiah 21:28