Well, I'm in a group that's studying if electronic journaling affects our health. So, I'm going to be publishing to my blog every day for the next two weeks.
I've been thinking very much about organization. I want to be able to actually accomplish things--to do some good in this world. Here are a few ideas from Preach My Gospel:
1. Keep both quantitative (numerical, summarizing, averages) and qualitative (detailed, personal, verbose) records of your goals and your efforts to reach those goals.
2. "Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish."
3. Planning and organization take time and energy.
4. "Through goals and plans, our hopes are transformed into action."
And a quote:
“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.” --– Elder M. Russell Ballard, Oct. 18, 1981
Friday, February 26, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Touched By An Angel With Love
I love this poem. It makes me think of Nikki.
Touched By An Angel With Love |
| by Meena.S.K |
| There is nothing else I cherish more in my life then have you helping me through my strife in my moments of despair you hear my cry kiss my tears away and to make me smile you try You are always near when the tide turns rough you make situations sound easy when they are tough you understand my needs even before I speak you point out my strength when I fall down weak When I shut you out and sink into my darkness tenderly you open the door and fill me with happiness when I fly into a rage and refuse to be calm you soothe me cradling me in your arms At times I say leave me alone and go away you hug me and whisper from you I will never stray there are times with my words I have hurt you you forgive and forget and say I love you When I am sick and feeling very down you take away my pain and my frown everything you do and say makes me smile listening to your voice I forget my tiring miles You care for me so much you never fail to show my heart to you it belongs I hope you know you are the one God sent to me from above I'm lucky to be touched by an angel with love http://www.poemslovers.com/love_poems/cute_love_poems/poems/9380.html |
Friday, December 11, 2009
What does it mean to love God and man?
The scriptures speak of charity, or pure love, as the supreme virtue, the ultimate spiritual gift. Where faith in Jesus Christ is the beginning of our relationship with Him, charity is its culmination. Without charity, we are nothing (Moro. 7:46, 1 Cor. 13:1).
I believe that the entire purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to make us like He is, to fashion us in His likeness. This means that we have ultimate faith in Him and in the Father, hope in His promises, trust in the Spirit, and love unlike any other. This love is the greatest healing power in the universe. Anne Pingree said, "We long to be close to the Lord, for we know that He loves each of us and desires to encircle us “eternally in the arms of his love.”1 His touch can heal ailments spiritual, emotional, or physical. He is our Advocate, Exemplar, Good Shepherd, and Redeemer. Where else would we look, where else would we reach, where else would we come but to Jesus Christ, “the author and finisher of our faith”?2" (Anne C. Pingree, “To Look, Reach, and Come unto Christ,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 113–15)
Nothing gives me greater joy than the love of God. I feel it on temple grounds. I feel it when I repent. I feel it when I recognize my weaknesses with humility and hope. I feel it whenever my wife and I show our love to each other in righteousness. I testify in the name of Jesus Christ that He is the greatest power in the universe, and that His love for every one of us, and for our Father, is His greatest defining trait.
I believe that the entire purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to make us like He is, to fashion us in His likeness. This means that we have ultimate faith in Him and in the Father, hope in His promises, trust in the Spirit, and love unlike any other. This love is the greatest healing power in the universe. Anne Pingree said, "We long to be close to the Lord, for we know that He loves each of us and desires to encircle us “eternally in the arms of his love.”1 His touch can heal ailments spiritual, emotional, or physical. He is our Advocate, Exemplar, Good Shepherd, and Redeemer. Where else would we look, where else would we reach, where else would we come but to Jesus Christ, “the author and finisher of our faith”?2" (Anne C. Pingree, “To Look, Reach, and Come unto Christ,” Ensign, Nov 2006, 113–15)
Nothing gives me greater joy than the love of God. I feel it on temple grounds. I feel it when I repent. I feel it when I recognize my weaknesses with humility and hope. I feel it whenever my wife and I show our love to each other in righteousness. I testify in the name of Jesus Christ that He is the greatest power in the universe, and that His love for every one of us, and for our Father, is His greatest defining trait.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wants
For a perfectionist and literalist, the commandment, "Ask, and ye shall receive" is a simple one. You ask God to make you perfect, and he moves you closer according to your limited faith. Keep it up, and someday you'll be a worthwhile, perfect person. Obviously, this is a messed-up view.
The obvious reason this view is messed up is because you can be a worthwhile person without being perfect. Your worth is independent of your goodness or weaknesses.
However, there as a deeper problem with this view. Even a perfectionist who recognizes their inherent worth will wonder why the commandment to ask is repeated so often. They might conclude that there is just a lot of asking and praying to be done on the road to eternal life.
They miss the real reason: God wants us to have wants, needs, desires, and passions. We are to control our desires and bridle our passions (Alma 38:12), in favor of our greater goals and greater desires. However, we cannot succeed without wanting things. We cannot succeed unless we decide what we want and go for it. As John Bytheway likes to say regarding how he pursued his wife, "I will go and do, not sit and stew. I will move unless I feel it is wrong." That is the fire, the passion, with which a celestial person pursues heaven with all its glory. Let's each find the portion of celestial desire in our own heart and then magnify it by asking God.
One of the greatest things to ask God for "with all the energy of heart" is charity (Moroni 7:48). But sometimes charity isn't developed by praying for charity with all the energy of heart. More often, it comes from praying for other people with all the energy of heart. That is, after all, how both Lehi and Nephi received their calls to the ministry (see 1 Ne 1 and 2).
The obvious reason this view is messed up is because you can be a worthwhile person without being perfect. Your worth is independent of your goodness or weaknesses.
However, there as a deeper problem with this view. Even a perfectionist who recognizes their inherent worth will wonder why the commandment to ask is repeated so often. They might conclude that there is just a lot of asking and praying to be done on the road to eternal life.
They miss the real reason: God wants us to have wants, needs, desires, and passions. We are to control our desires and bridle our passions (Alma 38:12), in favor of our greater goals and greater desires. However, we cannot succeed without wanting things. We cannot succeed unless we decide what we want and go for it. As John Bytheway likes to say regarding how he pursued his wife, "I will go and do, not sit and stew. I will move unless I feel it is wrong." That is the fire, the passion, with which a celestial person pursues heaven with all its glory. Let's each find the portion of celestial desire in our own heart and then magnify it by asking God.
One of the greatest things to ask God for "with all the energy of heart" is charity (Moroni 7:48). But sometimes charity isn't developed by praying for charity with all the energy of heart. More often, it comes from praying for other people with all the energy of heart. That is, after all, how both Lehi and Nephi received their calls to the ministry (see 1 Ne 1 and 2).
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Spirit of the Mission Schedule
On my mission, I realized I was often overliteral and had difficulty seeing the spirit as well as the letter of the law. (Sometimes the phrase "the spirit of the law" is used to rationalize wrongdoing, but the introduction to my missionary handbook said to learn and live the higher law as taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.)
I just now realized the spirit of the missionary schedule--why there are strict rules to maximize proselyting time. It is to meet the missionaries' physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional needs as efficiently as possible so that missionaries may serve as many people as possible.
Inasmuch as we want to live the law of Consecration, we should learn to manage our time so that we can meet our needs, in every area, wisely and efficiently. For example, a married couple need time together; children need time with their parents; everyone needs sleep and food, with money to pay for necessities and modest wants; everyone needs time to grow both mentally (developing talents) and spiritually (becoming more like God). If we neglect our needs, we won't feel as happy or energetic.
The better we are at filling our needs efficiently, the more we can serve. For instance, eight hours of sleep at night leaves me just as rested as seven hours of sleep at night with a two-hour nap in the afternoon. That's an hour that I can put into relationships or work. Or I could go to the Temple and do some of the shorter ordinances in that time. And all the while, I feel just as rested and peaceful.
Addictions are the opposite extreme--trying endlessly to fill a need in a way that will never satisfy it. Some wounds can only be filled with the love of Christ or through true emotional principles taught by the Holy Ghost, through friends or therapists. But we try endlessly to fill the gap by binge eating, smoking, or immorality--usually by using something good excessively or in the wrong way, or at the wrong time. If you skip dinner and binge later, you won't feel good. If you're hungry and eat a box full of treats, you may not feel good, either. If you are lonely or depressed and use sexual feelings to fill the gap, the temporary pleasure will only cover your loneliness for a moment, and then you will feel worse than before.
For me, reading books is a good balance, but it isn't perfect. It is wholesome and lets me feel the Spirit, but sometimes I could get the same emotional and spiritual strength faster by doing something else, leaving me more time to serve.
I just now realized the spirit of the missionary schedule--why there are strict rules to maximize proselyting time. It is to meet the missionaries' physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional needs as efficiently as possible so that missionaries may serve as many people as possible.
Inasmuch as we want to live the law of Consecration, we should learn to manage our time so that we can meet our needs, in every area, wisely and efficiently. For example, a married couple need time together; children need time with their parents; everyone needs sleep and food, with money to pay for necessities and modest wants; everyone needs time to grow both mentally (developing talents) and spiritually (becoming more like God). If we neglect our needs, we won't feel as happy or energetic.
The better we are at filling our needs efficiently, the more we can serve. For instance, eight hours of sleep at night leaves me just as rested as seven hours of sleep at night with a two-hour nap in the afternoon. That's an hour that I can put into relationships or work. Or I could go to the Temple and do some of the shorter ordinances in that time. And all the while, I feel just as rested and peaceful.
Addictions are the opposite extreme--trying endlessly to fill a need in a way that will never satisfy it. Some wounds can only be filled with the love of Christ or through true emotional principles taught by the Holy Ghost, through friends or therapists. But we try endlessly to fill the gap by binge eating, smoking, or immorality--usually by using something good excessively or in the wrong way, or at the wrong time. If you skip dinner and binge later, you won't feel good. If you're hungry and eat a box full of treats, you may not feel good, either. If you are lonely or depressed and use sexual feelings to fill the gap, the temporary pleasure will only cover your loneliness for a moment, and then you will feel worse than before.
For me, reading books is a good balance, but it isn't perfect. It is wholesome and lets me feel the Spirit, but sometimes I could get the same emotional and spiritual strength faster by doing something else, leaving me more time to serve.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Ki, Chi, Qi, Energy, or Light
When Joseph the Prophet wrote of his First Vision, he struggled to find the ideal word to describe the glory of God. He used the word fire in some accounts and said he was surprised that the trees did not ignite in God's presence. He also used the word glory. The word he finally settled on, and used most often, was light.
The light of God is said in D&C 88, verses 1 to about 12, to fill the immensity of space, quicken our minds, and give law and order to all things. We usually assume that this light is what gives us our conscience and holds the universe together. Perhaps this is what God meant when he said "Let there be light" to begin creation. His light began to shine--and that had to happen first. Likewise, in our personal development, we must start with the light of Christ, and built on that with positive habits and characteristics we want to have.
Anyway, I have often marveled at how similar Eastern ideas of Ki or Chi are to the scriptural idea of light from God. Eastern philosophies, and prominently in Western culture the martial arts, often teach that there is a universal energy that must be channeled through one's body for maximum effect. For instance, the Ki'ai, the shout during martial arts, is intended to channel Ki, or energy.
I believe that there is some truth to these nonscriptural practices--that Ki really can be channeled, and that it really does have a dramatic impact on your body. The first experience I ever had with Ki was with a meditation technique (I think it was called Qui Jong... maybe), in which you imagine light coursing through your body like a waterfall, from above your head through your feet. You imagine your feet holding it in your body for a while and then releasing it.
The next spiritual blessing I had from a father's hands was a special experience.
The light of God is said in D&C 88, verses 1 to about 12, to fill the immensity of space, quicken our minds, and give law and order to all things. We usually assume that this light is what gives us our conscience and holds the universe together. Perhaps this is what God meant when he said "Let there be light" to begin creation. His light began to shine--and that had to happen first. Likewise, in our personal development, we must start with the light of Christ, and built on that with positive habits and characteristics we want to have.
Anyway, I have often marveled at how similar Eastern ideas of Ki or Chi are to the scriptural idea of light from God. Eastern philosophies, and prominently in Western culture the martial arts, often teach that there is a universal energy that must be channeled through one's body for maximum effect. For instance, the Ki'ai, the shout during martial arts, is intended to channel Ki, or energy.
I believe that there is some truth to these nonscriptural practices--that Ki really can be channeled, and that it really does have a dramatic impact on your body. The first experience I ever had with Ki was with a meditation technique (I think it was called Qui Jong... maybe), in which you imagine light coursing through your body like a waterfall, from above your head through your feet. You imagine your feet holding it in your body for a while and then releasing it.
The next spiritual blessing I had from a father's hands was a special experience.
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