My Selfish Christmas

I've been selfish. I was selfish when I was eager for my presents to come. I was also selfish when I decided that being forced to wait was a good thing because it was getting me something else I wanted. But more than that, I've been selfish this whole month. It's not that I got greedy for presents (okay, maybe I got a little greedy toward the end there). How I was greedy was in how I went a whole month trying to find ways the feel the Christmas Spirit without having a single thought of how I could helps others feel the Spirit, too.

Ironically, if I had spent more time trying to bring the Christmas Spirit to others, I might have succeeded in gaining the Christmas Spirit. It's often true that when we bless others, we gain blessings ourselves, so if we want blessings for ourselves, what we should really do is look for ways to bless others. I didn't really do that this year. I may have blessed others' lives as a by-product of singing hymns or doing other Christmasy things, but that's not why I did them. I did them for myself.

Next year, I'm going to try not to be so self-centered. I'm going to try not to worry about finding ways to get the Christmas Spirit, but rather, I'll look for ways that I can share the Christmas Spirit. And I'm pretty sure that if I can get someone else to feel the Christmas Spirit, I'll start to feel it, too. So next year, assuming I remember any of this, I'm going to focus less on myself and more on others. That's one of the lessons we're supposed to learn from Christmas anyway: To give is more blessed than to get. I'm going to try to remember to give more next year, mostly because I currently, selfishly, wish to be more blessed.

Presents Pending

One of the items on my wish list this year was a book that's not coming out out until early January. Two people ordered this book for me and didn't learn of the coincidence until Christmas, at which point, one of those gift-givers cancelled their order and ordered something else for me instead (possibly multiple somethings, if I heard her correctly). I was also given some money for a CTR ring that I'll get when I figure out my ring size and pick out a style a like. Because of these events, I know that I have a fair handful of gifts pending, and that has had a few interesting effects on my emotions.

First, I'm excited. I know a few of the gifts I'm getting, and I'm super-excited to get them. There is also a gift or two I have pending that I don't know exactly what it is/they are, and the suspense I feel about those gifts is similar to that which I would feel about any wrapped gift, except that I don't have an actual physical box to guess by, which heightens the mystery. It's like looking forward to Christmas all over again, but since I don't know exactly when the packages will arrive, I'm not sure when my next mini-Christmas will be. One or more package(s) could arrive any day now, for all I know, but at least one of the packages I'm getting I know won't come until early- or mid-January, and it's exciting to not know not only what I'm getting, but also when I'm getting it.

On the other hand, it's hard to be patient. With regular Christmas gifts, you open them on Christmas and get them instantly. Some gifts may take some time after Christmas to set them up or something, but generally, you get your gifts at Christmas and get to enjoy having them right away. This situation of knowing that I have gifts coming, but not knowing when I'll get them, is testing my patience, and the fact that my patience feels like it's being tested makes me think that I don't have enough of it. I should be able to live contently without those gifts for a few days/weeks, don't you think? After all, I had been had been perfectly satisfied before learning that I was going to get those things. Why should I feel anxious to receive those gifts, now that I know that I eventually will? It's good that I feel excited, and in a sense, I'm glad that I didn't get all my gifts right away, because the delay extends my anticipation. Yet, I also feel more impatient than I'm comfortable with feeling. I didn't think I was an impatient person, but the feelings I have about waiting for the rest of my Christmas presents makes me feel like I have room to improve.

This once again makes the delay a positive thing, and for that reason, I hope it lasts. I don't feel very patient, and a part of me doesn't feel like trying to be patient, but not having those Christmas presents right now gives me an opportunity to practice being patient. This experience is testing my patience, giving me a chance to exercise and increase it, which is something that, until recently, I didn't know I needed.

By getting me gifts that I can't possess and enjoy right away, those gift-givers got me more than just the pending presents than I'm excited and eager to get. They also gave me an opportunity to practice a Christlike attribute and thus become more like Jesus Christ. They gave me an experience in delayed gratification and a parallel experience to receiving promised blessings (plus a nice analogy and something interesting to blog about).

We all have gifts from our Heavenly Father pending their arrival or our arrival to them. There are gifts that He has promised us that we cannot receive until we are worthy or until the time is right. There are great blessings awaiting us, but we must be patient until we receive them. In some cases, whether we receive those gifts at all depends on whether we can wait for them patiently. In other cases, patience merely increases our happiness and contentment while we wait. God's not going to give us any blessings early, no matter how badly we want Him to, so we might as well learn to live without them for as long as we have to and learn to be satisfied in the knowledge that we will eventually get them, when the time is right. Similarly, my patience, or lack thereof, won't make my packages arrive any sooner or later than they will, but it will affect how content I am with waiting for them to come. I hope that I can learn to be more patient as I anxiously anticipate the arrival of my remaining presents, and I hope that we can all learn to be patient as we wait for our pending gifts.

Singing With Our Hearts

Last night, I participated in a Handel's Messiah Sing-Along Concert, and I deeply enjoyed it. Part of what made the event so enjoyable is that everyone there truly appreciated the music they were singing. Everyone who sang in that concert really sang with their hearts. They focussed their minds on the power of the music and the meanings of the lyrics, and they invested the talents they had into performing that music to the best of their abilities.

Of course, we were still amateurs. The pianist and conductor were both very talented, but none of us were professionals. Many choirs have sung the Messiah better than we did last night. Still, I'd say that we sang pretty well last night, partly because we were singing with our hearts.

Physically, singing is a mechanical matter of pushing wind through carefully-shaped tubes. With enough practice, focussing on technique and training their muscles, anyone could learn to sing, but if they sang that way, just pushing wind through their tubes, would you say that they were really singing? True singing is expressive. It's something you put your heart into. In order to sing well, a person has to do more than know the words, hit the notes, and maintain the right level of volume. A person has to really feel the music in order to sing it well.

We may not have had much professionally training. There were many times we stumbled over the lyrics or lost our place in the sheet music. Ours was a very amateur, imperfect performance. Yet, it was still a good performance for the same reasons the performances at the Ward Christmas Party I blogged about were good. Our performances may not have been professional, but they were good performances mostly because we put our hearts into them. You don't have to be able to sing well in order to be able to sing beautifully. While it's important to attempt to follow the lyrics and music, what's most important is that you sing not only with your voice, but also with your heart.

The Trouble With Christmas Music

This evening, the local missionaries talked with us about how we can keep Christmas with us throughout the year. Reminding us that the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of Christ, they recommended the usual things, such as regularly studying the scriptures, especially the passages about Jesus Christ. I didn't get a chance to slip it into the conversation, but I thought another good way to keep Christmas with us is through song. Music is a great way to attract the Spirit and keep it with you, especially through songs about Jesus Christ, including those about His birth. However, there is a problem with Christmas music.

Some people dislike Christmas music, and they especially dislike hearing Christmas music outside of the Christmas season. This only gives people who like Christmas music about a month in which to play and sing that kind of song, so they tend to take full advantage of the season to play and sing as much Christmas music as they can. This over-emphasis on Christmas music at Christmastime burns people out; by the end of December, they're sick of Christmas music and they don't want to hear any more of it. Thus, Christmas music is socially banned until December, at which time Christmas music lovers go overboard.

There has got to be a way for people to enjoy the music they like, and avoid the music they don't like, without irritating each other, and there is. The answer is in moderation. Christmas music lovers shouldn't overwhelm others during the Christmas season, and those who don't love Christmas music shouldn't forbid it during the other eleven months of the year. Rather, I think we should treat the liking of Christmas music the same as any other music preference. People who like Christmas music should be able to listen to it whenever they want to, but should never cram it down other people's throats (or ears).

I think that if people were more moderate in their liking and disliking of Christmas music, those who don't like Christmas music would be able to avoid it, even at Christmastime, and those who do like Christmas music will be able to listen to it, even when it's not Christmastime. On the other hand, with headphones and MP3 players, people can already do both of those things. Those who dislike Christmas music or who feel overexposed to it can grab an MP3 player and give themselves something else to listen to, and those who do like Christmas music can get some headphones and plug in to the Christmas spirit any time they want.

Was Jesus Born Jesus?

I wonder to what extent Jesus was born Jesus. How much of the man He was destined to become was already part of Him at the moment of His birth? How much wisdom did He have then? How much did He know about Himself? Mary certainly knew who He was, but did He? Was He born knowing who He was, or did He learn later?

On the other hand, whether or not Jesus was born with the knowledge that He was Jesus somewhat detracts from the original question. Whether or not a person knows he or she possesses certain traits is irrelevant to whether or not they possess those traits. If I never saw myself, I could have blue skin and not know it, and my lack of knowledge would have no effect on the color of my skin. Whether or not Jesus was born knowing His identity would have had no effect on whether or not He possessed that identity at that time.

We know Jesus as a wise teacher, and we know that Jesus grew in knowledge and wisdom over time, so He couldn't have been born with the knowledge and wisdom for which He was later known. In that sense, Jesus the Master Teacher was not born the Master Teacher.

Jesus was also known for working miracles, yet His first recorded miracle took place in His adulthood. Was it that He didn't have the power to work miracles until then? Unlikely. I think He had had the ability to work miracles since long before then. Mary seemed to expect something of Him when she told Him of the problem that He miraculously solved. It's possible that He had worked miracles before then, perhaps even in his childhood. But again, it's not clear whether He was born with that power or gained it later.

The same goes for Jesus' perfection. Jesus was perfect in that He never committed sin. Even in His childhood, Jesus was sinless. Then again, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we believe that all children are sinless, in a manner of speaking. I suppose it's possible that, some time in His early childhood, before the age  of accountability, Jesus might have done something that would otherwise be considered a sin. Yet, I don't think He would have. Jesus may not have been completely perfect at first, but I don't think He was ever mean. It's not in His nature, and that's something that I think He was born with.

I don't know much about children, but I do know that they develop and display personality traits fairly quickly. In fact, some might say that children are born with their personalities, and our belief in a pre-mortal existence supports that. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we believe that people exist as spirits long before they're born. Our spirits essentially are us: our consciousness, our identity, ourselves, just without our bodies. Before Jesus was born, His spirit was all He had, yet in terms of His personality, personal traits, and identity, I'd say that He was already Jesus. And since He had His spirit inside Him by the time of His birth, baby Jesus must have been born Jesus.

Still, I'm not fully satisfied with that conclusion. When we're born, we pass through a veil of forgetfulness. We forget our pre-mortal lives, everything we had learned when we were just spirits, and even that we have spirits at all. I think that forgetting our past may alter our personalities, and perhaps even change our identities. However, the question of how much of our identity is dependent on our past experiences may be a bit too deep of a question to tackle when one is growing tired. Perhaps I'll wrestle with that subject another day.

For now, let it suffice to say that no matter which of Jesus' other characteristics were developed rather than inherited, it's clear that Jesus was born with His spirit, His heart, already fully developed and firmly in place. Everything else is secondary. Jesus was born with the soul of Jesus, and that, in my opinion, is what made Him who He was.

A New Addition to Our Tradition

This year, my family made a few modifications to the Christmas Eve tradition I blogged about yesterday. First off, because of unusual scheduling, we ended up having our Christmas Eve dinner this evening instead of yesterday evening. However, the major difference is that, this time, we had more of a production than we usually do. We usually just share testimonies and other sacred thoughts. This time, we also had a structured program in which we read Christmas scriptures and sang Christmas hymns.

We still had all the traditional things. We still ate bread, fruit, and cheese by candlelight. It was still a quiet, sacred evening. Adding the hymns-and-scriptures program gave the evening a bit more focus. However, it also made the evening less quiet, so I feel that there was a slight trade-off, but I think that the retelling of the Christmas story was nice. Some families read Luke 2 every Christmas. Ours hasn't. Maybe we should.

Then again, just because some families do something, that doesn't mean that others should. Different traditions work out well for different families. Each family is unique, so it makes sense that they'd do things differently. We may borrow ideas from each other, and those ideas we borrow may turn into lasting traditions, or they may not. Each family needs to find the traditions that work best for them, and sharing family traditions and trying out new things are how we can each discover the traditions that work best for us.

A Sacred Christmas Tradition

My family has a wonderful Christmas tradition. Each year, on Christmas Eve, we have a quiet, reverent family dinner. We eat simple foods: fruit, bread, and cheese, and we eat them by candlelight or by the light of a fire. The food and the lighting remind us of the sacred evening when Jesus Christ was born, and it helps us invite His spirit.

This traditional dinner is very special to us. I might even go so far as to say that that evening is sacred to us, in light of what Elder Nelson said in the quote above, "Family time is sacred time." Most families have holiday traditions. The best of those traditions are the ones that bring family members closer together and closer to the Lord.

If you don't have any Christmas traditions like that yet, I invite you to borrow this one. It has always been one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season, a sacred moment that I get to share with my family and that helps us focus on the true meaning of Christmas.

Empty Manger - He Is Risen

I just had a sleep-deprived thought. Looking at Christmasy images on Facebook, I wondered if anyone ever intentionally mixed up their holidays by posting a photo of an empty manger with the caption "He is not here; for He is Risen." At first, I thought this would be a silly joke. Then I thought that it was almost profound in how true it is. Jesus was born with almost nothing. Very few people knew who He was, He had little in the way of material possessions, and He didn't have, or at least didn't exercise, much of the power he had had before birth, or even the same power as a regular adult. When Jesus Christ was born, He had very little of the power and recognition He deserved. He was essentially born at the bottom, but he has risen a lot since then.

The scriptures tell us that after His birth, Jesus "increased in wisdom and stature, in in favour with God and man" (Luke 2: 52), showing that he grew up, rising to adulthood. As an adult, He performed miracles and gained a following, again rising through the ranks of mortal status. Yet, He didn't remain popular forever, and even the peak of mortal popularity and power would have been a step down for Jesus. Yet, He rose again, and having risen from mortality back up to immortality and from humanness back up to Godhood, Jesus Christ will never again be that tiny baby in a manger in Bethlehem. You won't find Him in a tomb or in a stable, for He has risen considerably from there.

When Jesus came down to earth, He came down pretty far. He temporarily gave up godhood and universal praise and worship to be a humble teacher. However, His lowness didn't last very long, and He rose back up to His former glory, perhaps now even a little more glorious for having accomplished the Atonement. Jesus isn't a poor boy from a small family anymore. In some ways, He never was. He has risen from his humble, mortal status to become, once again, a Heavenly King.

When Was Jesus Born? Late Night, or Early Morning?

Sorry I didn't blog last night. I was invited to a Christmas party that went later than I expected. I tried to blog afterwards, but I couldn't put it together. In hindsight, I definitely should have blogged in the morning. I should always try to blog in the morning. I once had a seminary teacher who insisted that many important gospel-related events had happened, or would happen, in the morning. This makes me wonder what the exact time of Jesus' birth was. Was it early enough that it was still late at night, or was it late enough that I was early the next morning? Several of the songs and stories establish the birth of Jesus as being either at night or in the morning, but they're hardly a reliable source, especially since some of them say that He was born in December, and I'm pretty sure He wasn't.

The scripture don't shed much more light on the subject than the songs and stories do. Of course, there is the mention of "shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night" (Luke 2: 8). However, when the angel told them about the birth of Jesus, he said "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2: 11). So was He born during the day, or at night? The shepherds were told about the birth at night, but depending on how much distance they'd have to travel to get to Bethlehem, it might have taken them several hours to get there. It's possible that their journey took all night, possibly placing their arrival in Bethlehem some time in the morning. However, by the time they got there, Jesus had already been born, wrapped, and laid down in the manger, implying that the shepherds arrived somewhere between several minutes and a few hours after Christ was born. The scriptures don't really seem to tell us whether Christ was born late at night or early in the morning.

This inconclusiveness seems to me to suggest that it isn't really important whether Jesus was born early in the morning or late at night. It might have been interesting to know whether it was morning or night, for symbolic reasons, but the exact timing of His birth doesn't seem to be nearly as important as the reality of His birth. What's important isn't when He was born, but that He was born. For example, many people believe that Jesus was born in April, yet we all celebrate His birth in December, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that we recognize and commemorate His birth by welcoming Him into our hearts, no matter when the recognition, the welcoming, or even the birth itself, took place.

Messiah - The Prince of Peace

Listening to Handel's Messiah this morning, I thought about how Jesus is "the Prince of Peace." When "the government shall be upon His shoulder," and He shall reign as "King of kings and Lord of lords" (in the earthly sense of those terms), Jesus Christ will quite literally be the king of the world. This will make Him royalty, making it appropriate to call Him a "prince," though it would probably be more appropriate to call Him a "king." Also, with Jesus Christ at the head of all the governments of the earth, there would be no wars anywhere on earth, and the world will experience a Millennium of peace.

However, while we can certainly look forward to Jesus' second coming and the peace the earth will experience then, we can also experience peace now, because of Jesus Christ. This is because all the things that detract from our peace can be reduced or eliminated through the power of the Atonement and the effectiveness of Christ's teachings. Sin, which robs us of our personal peace, can be avoided through careful adherence to the teachings of Christ, and can be removed through the Atonement. Other hardships can also be reduced through the Atonement and the eternal perspective the Gospel gives us.

By being both the ruler who will bring peace in the Millennium and being the source of the peace that's in our hearts now, Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace.

Renewing my Determination

One of the problems I have with my blog is that I'm not always very good at following the advice I give others. Recently, I shared two specific ways I could do better at drawing the Spirit of Christmas into my life, and I haven't been doing a very good job at either one of them. I've been listening to more Christmas music lately, but not as much as I should, and my other recreational pursuits haven't changed one bit. So tonight, I'd like to renew my determination to do more to develop the Spirit of Christmas, and because I know that I won't succeed in doing this unless I make a specific, measurable goal and tell you about it, I promise that tomorrow, I am going to play Christmas music all morning, blog before noon, and not play any games or videos that aren't directly related to Christmas. This way, I hope to actually focus on Christmas, and not just say that I would like to.

Good Singing

Tonight, I want to a Christmas Dinner/Party with my family. It was a nice evening, with lots of good food and good company. There was also a small program of volunteer performers, mostly singing songs about Jesus, and while I might not say that all of the performances were particularly good in terms of quality, I can definitely say that they were all good in terms of morality. There is a semantic difference in "good" as opposed to "poor" and "good" as opposed to "evil." Most of the performances I've seen tonight were the first kind of "good," and all of them were the second.

And that's what really matters. Conveying a good message, even if you can only do it poorly, is a very good thing to do. You may think you're not talented enough, but you don't have to be. If people really listen, they'll be able to look past the quality of the performance and see the quality of the message.

Some people don't like to go Christmas carolling because they think they can't sing. Personally, I don't think that's a good enough reason not to. As long as one has a testimony of Jesus Christ, I think they should feel free to sing about Him at Christmastime, even if they don't think they can sing quite as well as others. It's not how well a person sings that makes a performance good or bad; it's the message of a song that determines whether or not a song is good, and Christmas songs are about as good as songs get. I invite you to join in singing the hymns of Christmas, even if you think you can't sing. You may not be able to sing well, but you can certainly sing of good.

Two Ways We Can Focus on Christ

On Thanksgiving, I decided that I wanted to really focus on Christmas this year, so I could truly get into the spirit of Christmas and actually celebrate it the way we're supposed to. Unfortunately, up until yesterday, I was too busy with my school work and other sources of stress to actually do anything to the effect of celebrating Christmas. Now, with Christmas only a week away, I have very little time left to get myself into the proper mood if I'm actually going to appreciate Christmas this year. Thankfully, I've found a list of suggestions that will help me do exactly that.

I recently found an article titled "10 Ways Mormons Can Keep Christ in Christmas." This is an unfortunate title because any Christian can follow the article's suggestions, not just Mormons. The two suggestions I want to look at first are the Fourth and Fifth ones: "Listen to Christmas songs about Christ" and "Focus your entertainment around Christ."

Listening to hymns, particularly Christmas hymns about Jesus Christ, is a great way to attract the Spirit, especially at Christmas, and since I typically spend a good deal of my downtime on entertainment, focussing my entertainment on Jesus Christ would be a good way for me to keep Christ on my mind and hopefully put His spirit in my heart.

I've set myself the goal that I would really get into Christmas this year, and so far, I've been failing pretty badly at that, but I hope that now, while I still have a little bit of time to work on it, these suggestions will help me focus my thoughts on the Savior and help me really celebrate His birth.

Giving of Ourselves

Shortly after I found the picture quote I shared last night's blog post, I found this more complete version of the quote. I used the other version first because it was simpler and had a prettier background image, but now I want to look at the last part of the quote.

"One of the ways in which we obtain the Christmas spirit -- the Christ spirit -- is by willingly giving of ourselves to others."

I was just had a conversation about gift-giving with two of my siblings, and the general consensus between the three of us is that we don't really need any more stuff. And if we wanted more stuff, we could probably just get it ourselves. What we really wanted as gifts, if anything, was time. Time spent together, just having fun. Time spent in service to each other, helping each other with things. Things like that. The "gifts" we want most from each others are the gifts of ourselves.

This holiday season, try to spend some time with your family. Physical gifts are nice and all, but it's entirely possible that the only thing your family members really want for Christmas is you.

The Spirit of Christmas = The Spirit of Christ

I thank God that I wrote most of this yesterday, because I am literally sick and literally tired, and I really don't think I could blog very well right now if I hadn't already primed the pump, so to speak.

"To catch the real meaning of the spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable and it becomes the Spirit of Christ." - Thomas S. Monson

This makes a lot of sense to me. Honestly, I don't know how many distinct "spirits" there are, besides the spirits of individuals. Most of the spirits we read about in the scriptures, including the spirit of prophecy, the spirit of revelation, the holy spirit of promise, "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:2), and many others, I'm sure, all seem to be other names or titles for the Holy Spirit, or Spirit of Christ, better known as the Holy Ghost. Then, it shouldn't be surprising to me that the "Spirit of Christmas" is yet another name or title for the Holy Ghost.

Given the knowledge that the Spirit of Christmas is another name for the Holy Ghost, this teaches us that we can cultivate the Spirit of Christmas in our hearts the same way we cultivate the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and vice versa. Singing hymns, particularly the hymns about Jesus Christ, being charitable, and spending time with family are all great ways to get in touch with the Spirit of Christ and of Christmas. I plan to do many of those things when Finals are over and I'm not so dead tired.

Christmas in Your Heart

While I was busy blogging about other things, I started to collect blogworthy, Christmasy picture quotes from Facebook to blog about later. I'll share one of them now.

There's Christmas in the home and church,
There's Christmas in the mart,
But you'll not know what Christmas is
Unless it's in your heart.
- Thomas S. Monson

When I first saw this picture quote, I knew I wanted to blog about it, and I even started to, but I didn't really want to blog about it yet. The reason for that was that, at the time, I wasn't sure if Christmas was in my heart then. It was about a week ago, nearly two weeks into December, and I just wasn't really feeling it, you know? It was probably just the stress of schoolwork and finals and trying to figure out gifts distracting me, but I also realized, and blogged about, the need for a conscious effort to attract and cultivate the Spirit of Christmas. Fortunately, through another picture quote, I found a good way to do that, and I'll blog about that tomorrow, but also fortunately, my trouble with finals will be over soon, and I'll be able to give my full attention to truly observing and enjoying Christmas. I look forward to that. In the meantime, I should probably go to sleep so I can be rested up for continuing to write my final essay tomorrow. I will be so glad when Finals Week is over and I can focus on more important things.

Messiah - And He Shall Reign Forever and Ever

One of the lines from the Hallelujah chorus proclaims that "He [God] shall reign forever and ever." This is an interesting statement, considering that for a person to rule, that person needs subjects to be ruled by them, and that we are God's subjects, as long as we are trying to be righteous. So, in order for God to reign over us forever and ever, we would need to keep striving for righteousness forever, which implies several interesting things.

First, there's the whole Eternal Progression thing, which I pretty much covered yesterday.

Second, there's the fact that even when we're Gods, God will still our God, which I also pretty much covered yesterday.

Third, continually striving for righteousness implies that we will always have room to improve, that we will always need God to guide us. This means that no matter how good, how holy, how perfect we eventually get, we will continue to look to God for additional council and correction.

Of course, I could be getting this all wrong. The prophecy only says that "He shall reign forever and ever." It say nothing about God reigning over us. Technically, as long as God has any subjects at all (and He can always just keep making more as long as He wants to), the prophecy will be satisfied. God will go one reigning forever, whether He's reigning over us or others. In the sort-term, however, it would be wise for us to subject ourselves to God and let His wisdom guide us through mortality, if not also through the eternities.

Messiah - King of Kings

Tonight, I enjoyed a sing-along performance of Handel's Messiah. I've blogged about the Messiah a handful of times, but apparently, so far, I've only ever blogged about one song from the Messiah, "All We, Like Sheep, Have Gone Astray." Another few times, I've blogged about the hymn "Rejoice, the Lord is King," which has a message similar to "Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth," but for the most part, I haven't really gone into the lyrics of the hymns in the Messiah and the messages we can learn from them. I plan to correct that starting tonight.

Part of the Hallelujah chorus describes God as "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." We've probably all heard that title of God, but it was only recently that I thought about what that title implies. We acknowledge God as our King, but this title implies that the beings over which He is King is or will be, or at least can become, kings themselves.

This is an allusion to one of my favorite principles of the Gospel: the principle of Eternal Progression. Eternal Progression, as I'm sure I've blogged about before, means at least two things. It means that we can continue progressing forever, and that eternal progression means that our potential is literally limitless. We can ultimately become as wise, as powerful, and as great as God is. We can become Kings.

Yet, even when we become Kings, God will still be our King. Another part of the Hallelujah chorus, which I may blog about later, says that "He shall reign forever and ever," even when we become Kings ourselves. One thing about Eternal Progression that some people don't get is that our progress doesn't cheapen God's. Some say that the idea that we can become as great as God is sacrilegious, because we could never be as great as God is, but they're only half right. We can become as great as God is now, but we will never become equal with God because He has Eternal Progression, too.

In fact, I believe that our advancement increases God's glory. Perhaps an analogy would help me explain that view. Imagine a balloon with infinite elasticity. It can hold as much air as you can pump into it, and it can grow as large as the universe itself. Pump some air into that balloon so that it grows only slightly larger than a balloon usually gets. This represents the progress God has made up to this point. Now put an uninflated balloon inside the first. This represents us. Pump some air into the second balloon. As the second balloon inflates, it pushes more and more against the air already inside the first balloon, making it grow even larger. The larger the second balloon grows, the larger the first balloon grows, and the size of the second balloon will never exceed that of the first.

Thus, as we increase in glory, God's glory also increases. Our greatness doesn't diminish God's greatness; it improves it. No matter how Godlike we become, God will always be more Godlike, because God will always be a God to us. God is already, and will always be, our King. He will only become more Kingly as His subjects become Kings as well.

What Christmas Is and Is Not All About

Earlier this evening, I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas with my family. During the first part of that movie, the film-makers go to great lengths to highlight the commercialism of Christmas, even going so far as to have one of the characters, Cindy-Lou's father, say that buying gifts for people "is what Christmas is all about."  At another point in the film, the Grinch says something similar. But by the end of the story, both characters had had a change of heart. After the Grinch steals all the gifts, and before he returns them, Cindy-Lou's father says that he's glad that the Grinch stole all the commercial trappings of Christmas, and that he didn't need anything more for Christmas than time with his family.

Christmas isn't really about the gifts we give and receive, even though some people might have us believe that that's what it's about. Christmas is a time for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ; a time to spend with family, and while gift-giving has long been a Christmas tradition, it's not the most central, defining element of the holiday. Gift-giving isn't what Christmas is all about. Jesus Christ and families are.

The Shepherd Boy's Gift

Last night, I attended a Live Nativity in Folsom, which has additional (Free!) showings tonight, tomorrow night, and I believe on Sunday night as well. The entire theatrical production was spectacular, very touching, and well-done. But while I enjoyed the Christmas hymns a messages, there was only one moment during the half-hour showing that touched me deeply enough to make me cry.

The show was a brief retelling of the Christmas story, as found in Luke, which, of course, included having shepherds come to see the Babe in the manger. One of the shepherds in the live nativity was a child, who had a sheepskin wrapped around himself for warmth, but when he saw the Holy Child, he laid the sheepskin in the manger for a blanket.

It was such a simple gift. It wasn't especially valuable or ornate, like the wise men's gifts, but it was special and important in its own way. For one thing, it had a little bit of symbolic significance, giving a lambskin to comfort the Lamb of God. For another thing, it was so practical. Jesus may have been cold, and I'm not sure exactly how comfortable it is to sleep in hay. Giving Jesus the lambskin blanket must have made Him more comfortable than He had been. And comfort is part of what made this gift so touching. In giving Jesus the lambskin blanket, the shepherd boy gave up some of his own comfort, which, in many ways, is symbolic of the gift Jesus gave us.

Jesus left His home in heaven, to walk among mortal men as a mortal man, before the days of electricity, sanitation, or even running water. He gave up a great deal of comfort to spend a lifetime in discomfort, solely for our benefit. Because of His selflessness, we now have what the Apostle Peter called "the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).

And that's not all. Jesus gave His life for us, sacrificing Himself as a sacrificial lamb, as payment for our sins. Through the agony of the Atonement and Crucifixion and the power of the Resurrection, Jesus Christ made it possible for all of us to overcome our sins and gain peace despite all our ailments. In other words, Jesus subjected Himself to intense discomfort so He could bring peace and comfort to us.

I am so thankful that that wonderful production included that special moment in which a humble shepherd boy gave that heartfelt gift of love and comfort to the Christ Child. May we each look for ways to love and serve others in similar ways, and be willing to sacrifice a small measure of our comfort, if necessary, to give comfort to others. Our gifts may be humble and simple, like the boy's sheepskin, but they may also touch hearts in ways that fancier, more valuable gifts never could.

A Conscious, Committed Effort

This season is always a busy one. There are gifts to buy or make, presents to wrap, plans to make and keep. We are always on the go, and stress levels are very high. So, this time of year especially, it's important to try to focus on Jesus Christ and to let His peace calm our hearts. It'll take a "conscious, committed effort," but for our spiritual well-being (and for our sanity), we need to try to focus on Jesus Christ so He can help us keep it all together.

Yes, Mary Did Know

Yesterday, Peter Hollens posted a beautiful a cappella rendition of Mary, Did You Know? As we were listening to it together, my mom said that she thought that Mary had known what made her child so special, and now that I've taken a moment to think about it, so do I.

When Gabriel told Mary that she was going to have a baby, he made it very clear who her child was going to be.

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Luke 1: 31-33

If Mary was at all familiar with the prophesies concerning Jesus Christ, and she probably was, she would have recognized that description. If not, this experience would certainly have piqued her interest in any talk about revelations about "Jesus," "the Son of the Highest." If she hadn't already known, it wouldn't have taken her long to find out that her child was the prophesied Messiah.

In fact, Mary knew the prophesies of the Messiah better than I do, so I'm not sure how much she knew. While she probably didn't know the specific miracles Jesus would perform, like calming the storm or walking on water, she almost certainly knew He would perform miracles, and though she probably didn't know how He would do it, she knew He would deliver mankind from their sins. While the details may have been a bit fuzzy, I think it's safe to say that, for all intents and purposes, Mary knew exactly who her child was.

The Gift of Friendship

Last night, I mentioned having received gifts from my co-workers and feeling bad about not having anything to give them. Later that evening, I was met on the bus by a good friend of mine, and we exchanged pleasantries and silliness until neither of us could have stopped smiling if we had tried (and we did try, just to be silly). At the end of the day, though I was grateful for the physical gifts I'd been given, it was the time spent with a friend that had brought me even greater happiness.

This season, we're all likely to exchange gifts with other people. Let's try to exchange some smiles and friendship, too. While the gifts we give may be good ones, and may make people happy, it's entirely possible that our friendship and spending a little time with them will make them even happier.

Reciprocity

I recently saw a commercial for the Big Bang Theory in which Penny offers Sheldon a gift, and Sheldon becomes upset. "The foundation of gift-giving is reciprocity," Sheldon explains. "You haven't given me a gift; you've given me an obligation. ... The essence of the custom is that I now have to purchase for you a gift of commensurate value and and representing the same perceived level of friendship as that represented by the gift you've given me. It's no wonder suicide rates sky-rocket this time of year."

While I don't agree with much of what Sheldon says here, I must admit to having experienced similar feelings. Earlier today, I was given gifts from my co-workers, and I immediately felt bad for having no gifts to offer them. Similarly, each year, I worry that the gifts I give my siblings won't be as good as the gifts my siblings give me. Almost any time I receive anything, I feel a sense of obligation to adequately repay the giver, followed by a sense of shame when I fail.

Fortunately, many people don't expect anything in return for the gifts they give but gratitude. This is especially fortunate in the case of everything that God has given us, including His Son, Jesus Christ.

We cannot repay Jesus Christ for everything He has done for us. We cannot repay our Heavenly Father for all the things He has given us. Heck, we can't even repay our earthly parents for all they give and do for us! It is impossible for any of us to give that much. What we can and should give them is our thanks.

God does not expect reciprocity. He knows that we could never repay Him, and He doesn't obligate us to try. In recompense for the gifts He offers us, all He asks is that we be grateful for our blessings and try to be righteous. All Jesus Christ wants in exchange for the Atonement is that we use it to become pure. Most good gift-givers are the same way. When I give someone a gift, I don't expect them to give me anything in return. All I want is for them to say "thank you" and to benefit from and enjoy whatever I have given them, whether it's a Christmas present, an act of service, or anything else.

If even I, who am far from perfect, am charitable enough to not expect gifts in return for the gifts that I give, then it shouldn't surprise me when my co-workers and family members who are more Christlike than I am feel the same way about the gifts and service they give me. Good gift-givers don't expect reciprocity; they just give out of the goodness of their hearts.

So let's all try not to worry about whether or not we owe people gifts because of the gifts they give us. Odds are, they aren't anywhere near as concerned about reciprocity as we are.

Nothing Like the First

My mom is giving a lesson in church today, on the subject of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Speculating on how she might relate the topic to Christmas, if she does, it occurred to me that the Savior's Second Coming will be nothing like His first.

The lyrics of "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth" contrast the difference fairly clearly in the first two lines: "Jesus, once of humble birth, Now in glory comes to earth." When Christ was born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, only a handful of people knew about it. He came to earth the same way that everyone else does, and He lived in much the same way that most people do. If you weren't one of the few-dozen people who were visited by angels, Jesus' birth would have seemed like a fairly normal occurrence, remarkable only in that it took place in a stable.

The Savior's Second Coming, in contrast, will be an incredibly remarkable event. At that time, Jesus Christ will descend from heaven as our Lord and Savior, and everyone will recognize Him as such. Once again, angels and astrological events will tell of His coming, but this time, I'm sure everyone will see and hear them. His life on earth after His Second Coming will be different, too. Rather than spending His days as a humble teacher, He will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When Jesus comes again, everyone will know Him for who He really is.

Thinking of the contrast between the first and Second Comings of Jesus Christ, it makes me wonder how Jesus must have felt during His mortal ministry, to know who He was, but know that almost no one else knew Him. He was the greatest person to ever set foot on this planet, yet very few people recognized that. Many people largely ignored Him. Many others reviled Him. Yes, there were also many who listened to Him, but very few people actually worshipped Him. In contrast, I'm pretty sure that everyone will worship Him when He comes the second time.

Because of His humble beginnings, only a small number of people recognized and worshipped Jesus at His first coming, and partly because of the grand entrance He'll get at His Second Coming, I think everybody will. Being somewhere between those two events, we have to decide whether we will recognize and worship Jesus or not. Will we see Him as a mortal man, a humble teacher, someone who was only a good man, and maybe even a prophet, but certainly not the Son of God, or will we give Jesus Christ the recognition and reverence He deserves? Every day, we choose whether we will listen to or read His words and hearken to His teachings. Every day, we choose to what extent we will truly worship our Savior. This Christmas season, let us think of the Savior, not just as the people of His generation thought of Him, but as all will think of Him when He comes to earth again.

Gifts for Christ - Kindness

On Facebook, I saw a picture quote that shared the same quote I shared half a year ago. The quote was from President Henry B. Eyring's  April 2015 talk, "Is Not This the Fast That I Have Chosen?": "When we offer to succor anyone, the Savior feels it as if we reached out to succor Him." On April 5, 2015, I shared that quote and the following message:

When Jesus Christ accomplished the Atonement, He took upon Himself all the pain and suffering any person would ever feel. Then, doesn't it make sense that He would also be able to feel all the relief anyone would ever feel, if only by experiencing the moment when the pain lessened or stopped? I'm not sure how I never thought of this before, but it's a wonderful thought. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus felt an extraordinary amount of pain. It's marvellous to think that we can help alleviate some of that pain by bringing comfort to anyone who suffers. In honor of Easter and all Christ has done for me, I'm going to keep my eyes open this week and hopefully find someone I can comfort or help in any way, especially now that I have a slightly better understanding of what He meant when He said "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my bretheren, ye have done it unto me." (Matt 25:40)

 I had written that with Easter in mind. Now, with Christmas in mind, and especially on the topic of giving gifts to Christ, this idea takes on a different meaning. Since it's very likely that Christ will feel anything we do for others, that makes serving others a way by which we can serve Christ. We can't serve Him personally, because He isn't here, but we can serve Him by serving others. We can be kind to Him by being kind to others. We can love Him by loving others.

I would love to give a gift of love and kindness to the Savior this year, and I know that I can do that by expressing love and kindness to others.

Giving Gifts to Christ

I was just about to blog about something that was even less Christmas-related than my last three posts had been, thinking "They can't all be Christmas-themed." Then I thought, "Why not?" Why couldn't all my posts this month be at least vaguely Christmas-related? That could be part of my gift to Christ.

I believe that, considering all the things Christ has done and does for us, we should occasionally do things for Him. These things might include being extra righteous, volunteering, donating money to charities, etcetera. Essentially, doing anything that Jesus would want us to do could count as a gift to Him. I wouldn't be surprised if He would be pleased if I devoted every blog post this month to the theme of Christmas, and I'm certainly willing to try, especially as a personal "Thank You" gift to Him.

Samuel the Lamanite - Karma

At the end of Helaman chapter 14, Samuel the Lamanite talks about agency and the principle of restoration. Speaking of the light and freedom God has given us, Samuel said, "He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you." - Helaman 14: 31.

This is such a core principle, not just of the gospel, but of morality in general, that it appears in virtually every religion in one form or another. Even many non-religious people subscribe to the Golden Rule. The idea of karma is fairly widely accepted, which is fortunate, since it gives people of many religious or philosophical backgrounds something in common.

As strange as it is, the holiday season tends to drive Christians and non-Christians apart. Despite the themes of love and brotherhood which generally prevail this time of year, some people make their celebration of Christmas too aggressive and divisive, while others distance themselves from Christianity, feeling overwhelmed. In times like this, we can try to make peace despite our differences by focussing on our common ground, including the almost universal belief that people generally get what they deserve.

Whether you believe Jesus was born in December or April, whether you believe He has come, and will come again, or hasn't come yet, but will, or whether you do or do not believe in Jesus Christ at all, we can almost all agree that, as Paul told the Galatians, "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." It's one of many commonalities we can hold on to, even when we can hardly help but notice the differences in how and what and whether we celebrate this time of year.

Samuel the Lamanite - The Other Set of Signs

I think I've got a mini-series going now. This is a good thing, since having a theme helps me think of ideas of things to blog about.

In addition to telling the Nephites about the signs of Christ's birth, Samuel the Lamanite also told them about about the signs of Christ's death. What struck me most about these two sets of signs is how much more intense the death signs were than the birth signs.

In the Americas, when Jesus Christ was born, they experienced a night in which the sky didn't darken. They had a day and a night and a day that all seemed to be one especially long day.

The death signs in the Americas included three days of darkness. It wasn't just a night and a day and a night that seemed to be one night; the effect lasted much longer than that. Also, the effect was more powerful. While you probably could have gone inside or underground to get away from the luminous birth sign, you could not have generated any visible light during the darkening death sign. All lights were extinguished and no new light could be made, so while the birth sign generated a short period of time in which I think natural shadows were still cast, the death signs included a much longer period of total darkness. And to top it all off, the three days of darkness were preceded by fires, storms, and earthquakes.

The rest of the world got the storms and earthquakes, too, but it was spared from experiencing the three days of darkness. However, it was also deprived of the night of light, and only given a new star as their birth sign, which the Americans got, too. No matter which side of the world you were on,  the signs of Christ's death were far more intense than the signs of his birth.

Why is that? Why would the signs of the Savior's death be more intense than the signs of his birth? Here, I have only speculation. Feel free to add your two cents in a comment below. One thought is that Christ's death may have been more significant than His birth, but I seriously doubt it. The birth of Jesus Christ was a pretty big deal, and though Jesus' death  was also a big deal, I don't think its deal was quite as big, mostly because the earthquakes and darkness took place a while after the Atonement, the days of darkness didn't end until Christ was resurrected. If I were to place astrological signs around the time of Christ's death, I would be just as likely to celebrate His resurrection as to lament His death.

Another possibility is that God wanted to keep Christ's birth relatively low-key so as not to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. The birth sign in Bethlehem was so subtle, people could have easily missed it, and thousands did. As a result, Jesus gained a following for the things He did and the things He taught, not because His birth coincided with a display of astrological theatrics. For Christ to fulfil His purpose in mortality, He needed to not make Himself too obvious. However, once His and His Father's purposes were accomplished, there was no longer a need to keep things under wraps, hence the signs of His death being far more intense than the sign of His birth.

However, that doesn't explain why His death signs were so much more intense in the Americas than His birth sign there had been.Since they were already in on the big secret, they didn't need a big reveal. Perhaps the intensity of the death signs in the Americas was partly to punish them for their iniquities? As I recall, they were fairly wicked at that time, though I could be remembering incorrectly.

As I mentioned, I don't know the answer here. Any guess I make now is really just a guess. I'm sure that we will someday learn why the signs of Christ's death were more intense than those of his birth, and then it will all make sense to us. But until then, I just thought that the difference would be interesting to point out and think about, if only for an hour or so.

Samuel the Lamanite - A Call to Repentance

In Mormon culture, Samuel the Lamanite is well-known for prophesying of the birth of Jesus Christ to the then-wicked Nephites, but what I had forgotten until reading Helaman 13 with my family earlier this evening was that before telling the Nephites about Jesus' upcoming birth, he gave them a much-needed call to repentance.

Christmastime is a time for the joyful celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and I hope not to detract from that joy, but in light of what I read this evening, I wonder if Christmas isn't also a good time for self-reflection and repentance. While we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, let us also remember why He was born in the first place: to show us a perfect example and to make it possible for us to repent. Let us consider how we could better follow His example, and repent, if necessary. While thinking about the Atonement is really more of an Easter thing, striving to become more Christlike is something we should certainly do at Christmastime and all year round.

Christmas is a joyous time for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. While we celebrate His birth, let us think about what His birth and life mean to us and how we might repent and become more like Him.

"Thanks for the Light"

A few days ago, I mentioned having said a heartfelt prayer of thanks to God for keeping a traffic light green long enough for me to pass through it. I think I should tell you more about that experience.

As I was biking to school one morning, I was having a mental conversation with God, something like a prayer, but more casual, and I would sometimes hear replies in my heart, just like having a real-time conversation with someone, as if over the phone. In essence, I was simply directing my thoughts to God, and He was directing some of His thoughts toward me.

One of my thoughts that morning was "I hope that light stays green." I wasn't asking God to keep it green. In fact, I think I made a point of telling Him that I wasn't asking for a miracle or anything. Whether the light stayed green or not, I would be okay with it. The light stayed green anyway, and I assumed that it was God's will that the light stay green that long, or maybe it was fate or luck, but I thought that it had nothing to do with my prayer or the blessing that I had made a point of not asking for.

Yet, as I ascended the bridge beyond the intersection, I felt the impression that I should thank God for keeping the light green. I thought that I would remember it in my evening prayer, but then I thought that I might forget about the experience by that night, if I even remembered to say an evening prayer at all (I had been slipping up lately). Besides, why wait? I decided to thank God for keeping the light green for me, while I was still climbing the bridge. Specifically, I said "Thanks for the light."

That instant, the phrase "Thanks for the light" took on a whole new meaning to me. I thought about the light of the Gospel and how much guidance it has given me in my life. I thought about the Light of Christ, and how it has led me away from temptation. I thought of light as symbolizing righteousness and purity, and I had to acknowledge that any righteousness or purity I may have now, I only have because of the influence of God. With these new meanings echoing in my mind, I reiterated my mental prayer of thanks to God. "Thanks for the light."

As we now enter the Christmas season, we will see a great number of lights. Some of them will represent the light that shone over Bethlehem when Jesus Christ was born. That light, I believe, represented the light that shines in our hearts, lighting our path to follow the Savior. This is a light that God gives to all people, so that all of us will have a light to follow that will bring us to Jesus Christ. This is the Light of Christ.

All people are born with the Light of Christ as a guiding influence in their lives. Some people call it their conscience. Whatever you call it, it is that still small feeling inside of you that encourages you to do what's right. It is your moral compass, and whether you know it or not, it points to the Savior. All people, Christians and non-Christians, have a symbolic Star of Bethlehem inside of them, pointing the way to God. All people have at least one reason to pray and tell God "Thank you for the light."

Doffing and Donning the Armor of God

While preparing for my Sacrament Meeting talk, I came across an insightful quote from my May 15, 2015 blog post: "The one weakness of the armor of God is how easy it is to accidentally, foolishly, recklessly take off. God's power can protect us, but it won't prevent us from distancing ourselves from Him and giving up that protection."

I went on to say that, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, "The armor that we may have foolishly damaged or lost can be repaired and replaced when we repent." What I failed to mention then is that putting that armor back on, or putting it on in the first place, is harder than it is to take it off, and it takes longer as well.

In Dungeons and Dragons, it takes ten minutes to put on heavy armor like plate mail or chainmail, but only half as much time to take off. Similarly, it takes five minutes to put on a breastplate or scale mail, but only one minute to take off. With the armor of God, I believe that the time difference is even more pronounced. It can take quite  some time to build up a resistance to Satan's influence but only a few moments of foolishness to give it up.

We must be vigilant to maintain and strengthen our armor consistently, and we need to be careful not to take it off when we need it most. The armor of God can help to keep us out of danger, but only when we are diligent enough to keep it on.

One of the Many Blessings of Blogging

Last night, I wrote that I had been asked to give a talk using Elder David A. Bednar's talk, "Therefore, They Hushed Their Fears." Actually, it had been last night when I was asked. (The person who had asked me had been unable to contact the person whom he had originally asked earlier in the week.) This short notice might have made the preparation of this talk difficult, but fortunately, I had already blogged about this talk at least twice. I hope not to recycle too much of the material from those two blog posts, but it certainly helps that I had already done the work of studying the topic and recording my thoughts.

I wonder if studying the scriptures could be done in the same way and produce similarly beneficial results. How hard would it be to fill a folder with word documents, with each folder representing a chapter of scripture, and each word document  representing a passage of scripture about which you had something to say? With such a system of files and notes, one could look up a scripture and view their past insights about it any time they wanted to, including at such times as when they wanted to find insights they could share with others.

Because I have already blogged about this talk, and could search through my blog posts for key words and phrases, I was able to quickly find noteworthy thoughts which I can share over the pulpit at church tomorrow. Having insights is good. Recording insights where you can quickly find them again when you need them can be even more helpful.

Green Eggs and Informed Opinions

I've been asked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting this Sunday. The subject is "Fear Not," and I was asked to use Elder Bednar's talk titled "Therefore, They Hushed Their Fears." Knowing that I had blogged about that talk before, I searched my recent posts for "fear," and when I did, I found this. It was a draft of a blog post that I had written, but not completed or posted for some reason. When and almost-fully written blog post just fell in my lap like that, I thought I'd finish it off and post it, so here it is:

On Facebook, I saw a photo showing the cover of Dr Seuess's book, Green Eggs and Ham, retitled as "How Fear of the Unknown Hinders the Development of Informed Opinions." To me, this new title and the book to which it was given seem to imply that fear of the unknown and uninformed opinions are bad things, but I'm not sure how much I agree.

In the book, Sam-I-Am persistently offers a seemingly unnamed character green eggs and ham, despite sturdy resilience to the unprovoked offers, until the unnamed character relents and partakes of the green eggs and ham. The unnamed character is pleased to discover that the strange food is actually delicious, and he ends up thanking Sam-I-Am for sharing it with him, but what if the offering hadn't been so innocent? What if the green eggs and ham were poisonous or addicting? If Sam-I-Am had been a drug dealer, offering the unnamed character substances that would create momentary feelings of pleasure and then cause his life to spiral out of control, the unnamed character's initial resistance would have been seen as wise. He didn't need to try the green eggs before he could "just say 'no'" to them. And neither do we.

Fear of the unknown may still be somewhat irrational, but we don't need to experiment with something in order to develop an informed opinion about it. We have Prophets and the experiences of others to tell us or show us what things are bad for us. They can help us gain greater wisdom than we could have gained in our own lifetimes. They can help us know to stay away from mind-affecting substances and potentially poisonous foods. Not having experienced something doesn't necessarily mean that our fears about them are completely irrational or that our opinions about them are completely uninformed. We have more sources of knowledge and wisdom than just our personal experiences, and they can help us learn of things that we haven't personally encountered yet, and help us avoid things that would have turned out to be bad for us. We don't need to experiment with everything personally; when we learn about something elsewhere, especially from the prophets, our opinions about those things are no longer completely uninformed.

How to Celebrate the Holidays

This evening, it occurred to me that, despite having the traditional Thanksgiving experience, with the food prep and the family gathering and the parade and, of course, the meal, at no point did I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. When I realised that, I said a mental prayer of thanks and for thankfulness. That's when I felt what some have called the spirit of Thanksgiving.

We have certain holidays for certain reasons. Thanksgiving is, theoretically, about giving thanks. However, observing a holiday by honoring its traditions isn't always going to fulfil the purpose of that holiday. I did all of the traditional Thanksgiving things, but I didn't feel a real sense of gratitude until I prayed. By some standards, I observed Thanksgiving better earlier in the month, while riding my bike, when I said a heartfelt prayer of thanks to God for keeping a traffic light green for me.

By some measures, I failed to truly celebrate Thanksgiving this year in the way that it was intended. That will not happen with Christmas. This Christmas season, I will make a strong effort to not just go through the motions. While I do the normal, Christmassy things like buying gifts and singing Christmas carols, I'm also going to try to really get into the Christmas spirit, to really celebrate the birth of Christ, rather than just following traditions. I basically failed to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. I'm not going to fail to celebrate Christmas.

A Familial Reception

Before I move on from Elder Holland's talk, I want to point out something that Elder Holland mentioned almost in passing that stood out to me as a confirmation of something that many people I know had already believed:

Now, I am absolutely certain that upon his passing, his mother received my friend with open, loving arms; that is what parents do.

It is my opinion that, when an Apostle says, over the pulpit during General Conference, that he is "absolutely certain" of something, we can pretty much take it as gospel truth, and this particular truth is a pretty cool one. Judging by this, the mother of Elder Holland's friend was met and embraced by his mother at or very shortly after the moment of his death. Assuming that this occurrence wasn't exceptional, we might expect that our beloved family members will be right there with us when we die, that when we pass on, those who have already done so will be there to welcome us to the other side of the veil.

This is a pretty awesome idea, and it's especially comforting for those who have lost people they deeply care about. Thankfully, we now know that this isn't just wishful thinking or something that people hope is true. If the Apostles are to be believed, and I personally believe that they are, this has happened before. We now know that at least one person has gotten a familial reception into heaven. I imagine that most people do.

Blogging at Night Isn't Working

Maybe it wasn't just that one General Conference talk, and maybe the problem wasn't just that I wanted to wait until I could do it justice. Maybe the problem, or at least part of the problem, is that I don't blog in the mornings like I should (and often don't have time to), so I end up blogging at night, before and/or after doing homework, when I'm suffering from a severe lack of inspiration. Maybe that's part of the reason why I haven't had many really interesting blog posts lately.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's much I can do about that problem. I could try to blog in the mornings, but I often don't have time to. I could try to blog as soon as I get home from school. That might work. But there will always be the question of inspiration. My daily life experiences haven't been very blogworthy, and I haven't been able to focus on the things that are. You can't force inspiration to come, so I end up spending hours trying to stimulate it or simulate it. Often, I don't do a very good job. In the future, I'll try to do better.

The Blessing of the Love of a Mother

As promised, tonight I'm going to blog about Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk, Behold Thy Mother, and as predicted, my blog post won't be anywhere near as good as the talk itself is or as my mother deserves it to be. I would have loved to have written something about the love of mothers and how Christlike it is, drawing many detailed comparisons, but I just haven't been able to find the right words. So instead, I'll use some of Elder Holland's: "no love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child."

To illustrate this, Elder Holland shared the example of a young man who was struggling with a very difficult, deeply personal challenge. The young man eventually overcame many of his struggles, and when he did, he knew exactly who he had to thank for that.

He knows he owes much to many, but he knows he owes the most to two messianic figures in his life, two who bore him and carried him, labored with him and delivered him—his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his determined, redemptive, absolutely saintly mother.

I have not yet been delivered from all my ills, and I still need frequent help from both God and others. However, I've discovered that the one thing that gives me the most strength is the love and support I get from my Heavenly Father and my earthly, but still heavenly, mother. Though she may doubt it sometimes, she is a powerfully positive influence in my life and a wonderfully Christlike woman. Everyone that knows her knows that she is a good person. I am blessed to have a mother like her.

Hidden Blessings

As I gave my lesson this afternoon, the conversation around the classroom seemed to focus on the unexpected blessings that President Uchtdorf received from having worked so hard as a laundry delivery boy. When he was hauling a heavy cart around on his bike, he didn't know that the fresh air and exercise he was getting was helping him stave off a lung disease, or that he would need to have strong lungs to pass the medical exams he'd need to take to become a pilot. He later remarked that if he had known that the work he was doing would bring great blessings into his life, it would have made the work a lot easier.

As a class, we figured that probably most of the work we do has blessings hidden in it, largely because God blesses people for doing good and He helps them use their experiences to improve their lives. Much of the work we have to do seems like drudgery, but with either a focus on the blessings we know will come from that work, or at least faith in the fact that unknown blessings will come into our lives as a result of the work we do, we can motivate ourselves to push forward in doing work that we otherwise might not be motivated enough to do. As we look for hidden blessings, or at least have faith that such blessings will come, we can increase our motivation to do what's right.

Why Work Is Important

The given subject of my lesson is "Why is work an important gospel principle?" and while I plan to spend much of my time talking about how we can make work more enjoyable, or at least more tolerable, I should probably spend at least a few moments answering the actual question. So, why is work important?

For starters, it's necessary. We need to work to make money to survive. For our temporal welfare, and that of our families, we need to work to maintain an income.

Secondly, it takes a good deal of work to progress toward our divine potential. We have to work to develop Christlike attributes and to overcome faults and weaknesses. In order for us to be successful in that endeavor, we need to be willing to work on self-improvement, not only during our lifetime, but throughout the eternities.

And thirdly, on the subject of our divine potential, I'm sure it takes a lot of work to be God. My Mom and I said the other day, not all work is physical. Work includes mental work, social work, and emotional work as well. God's job may not be physically demanding, but I'm sure it takes a lot out of Him, mentally and emotionally. If we're ever going to realize that potential, we're going to need to be willing to put in the work to make it to that point and to continue to work hard when we get there.

Developing a tolerance and a habit of working hard will help us not only succeed in life, but also succeed in our eternal endeavors. To achieve any goal takes work, and that's true for both temporal goals and for goals of a more eternal nature.

Just Write It

While studying for my lesson, I came across a portion of this quoted from President Thomas S. Monson's talk, A Royal Priesthood:

It is not enough to want to make the effort and to say we’ll make the effort. We must actually make the effort. It’s in the doing, not just the thinking, that we accomplish our goals. If we constantly put our goals off, we will never see them fulfilled. Someone put it this way: Live only for tomorrow, and you will have a lot of empty yesterdays today.

 By the way, he was quoting, or at least paraphrasing Professor Harold Hill from The Music Man.

This quote reminded me of a story I read for my literature class, in which a dying character regrets having put off his own writing because he didn't feel like he could write it well enough, only for him to die having not written it at all.

I feel that I needed to hear this lesson. The next Conference talk I wanted to blog about, Elder Holland's talk from this last General Conference, I haven't blogged about because it's about motherhood, and I have an awesome Mom, so I wanted to make sure my blog post about Elder Holland's talk was a good one. Out of my desire to blog about it well, I haven't blogged about it at all. It's time that I changed that.


Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, I'm going to need to finalize my lesson plans, so I'm probably going to blog about that on those days, but by Monday, at the latest, I will blog about Elder Holland's talk. No more putting it off until I feel ready. I'm just going to go for it, and if it ends up being a terrible blog post, at least I'll have written something. Writing about mothers and motherhood, even if the blog post isn't terrific, is better than not blogging about them at all. In this case, something is better than nothing, and I promise that you will have something about Elder Holland's talk by Monday night.

Exericising Mental Work

I think that part of my problem with work is how long it takes and how tired it makes me. I spend so much time and energy working that I get fed up with the whole idea of work.

It's strange that I get tired of school work, but I don't similarly tired of physical work. When I run, climb, clean, or even shovel dirt or rocks, sure I get tired, but I don't get tired of the idea of doing those things. I have to stop to rest sometimes, but I never feel like quitting.

Perhaps that's because I've had enough physical exercise that I can do physical work without getting as tired as social or mental work makes me. I'm strong enough, physically, to do physical work efficiently, which means that it takes me less time and energy to do physical work, so I don't get tired of it as quickly.

It may be that all I need to do to make mental work less taxing for me is to practice it, to exercise it. If I approach mental work the same way I might approach physical exercise, maybe I'll become mentally stronger and faster, so I can do mental work faster and with less effort, giving me more time, and less need, to rest from it.

While I had thought I had been over-working myself, or that I had bitten off more than I could chew, it's possible that I had just burned myself out from a strong mental workout and needed time to let my mental muscles rest. If that's the case, then I don't really need to look forward to a time when I can rest forever. As I grow stronger, mentally, my school work will become less taxing for me, and I'll be able to do it without burning myself out or taking all night and feeling like I want to quit.

The Work-Rest-Recreation Balance

This Sunday, I'm giving a lesson on why work is an important gospel principle. Coincidentally (or not. God plans things, even when I don't), a related topic has been on my mind for the past few days: How busy does God want us to be? How much time does He want us to spend on the things that matter to Him, and how much time (if any) is left over after that? I'm sure God doesn't want us to spend all our waking hours working. I'd be very surprised if God didn't set aside at least a little bit of time for recreation. But what is the recommended balance between work, rest, and play, and how can we find that balance?

This question is especially important to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for two reasons. The first is that, in this church, we are given a good deal to do. We're given numerous callings and assignments to fulfil, countless meetings to attend, and plenty of service opportunities, just in case we weren't already busy enough. The second reason balance between work, rest, and recreation in important to Mormons is that we believe in eternal progression. When a person dies, they don't become stagnant and "Rest in Peace," as the saying goes. Instead, deceased persons are expected to continue to work on their eternal progress and to help others do the same. Our work does not end when we die, which is why it's important that we eventually find a balance that we could literally maintain forever.

Finding this balance may be a process for a lifetime, but thankfully, the steps you have to take to find that balance are simple and easy to follow. First, you observe your behavior and determine whether you're pending too much or too little time and effort in any one area. Then, when you've identified the aspect of your life that's most out-of-balance,  you can take steps to bring it into balance. Once you've gotten that aspect of your life back into the balance, you should try to find another aspect of your life that's out-of-balance and fix it, too.

At this stage of my life, and particularly at this moment, I think that my life is out of balance in that I spend many of my nights staying up late, working when I really should be resting. I'm sure God doesn't want me to do that. Work is important, but rest is important, too, and I haven't been getting enough of it. That's something I should really work on: trying to manage my waking hours well enough that I can get my work done in time to get a decent amount of rest. I don't think that happened today. That hasn't been happening most nights lately. But now that I've identified the problem, I can take steps to fix it. I won't be able to fix my imbalance overnight, but I'm sure that if I continue to work on it, I can get my work-rest-recreation balance into a stable position.

How to Live a Christ-Centered, Ordinary Life

Last Sunday, our Home Teachers talked with us about how we can live Christ-Centered lives, even when we are doing non-religious things. We can do this by praying frequently throughout the day and by trying to do things the way the Lord would have us do them. For example, I tutor English. There's nothing essentially Christlike about that. However, if I try to teach English the way Jesus taught gospel principles, with compassion and wisdom, then even something as simple as teaching someone how to correct a coma splice can become as spiritual as rendering loving service. I haven't had much practice applying this principle yet, but I plan to change that. I want to be a Christlike person, even when the things I'm doing aren't inherently Christlike things. Life makes us do mundane things more than we would like it to, but if we try to follow the Savior in everything we do, even the simplest things can help to bring us spiritually closer to God.

What Is Sadness's Purpose?

I just finished watching Disney/Pixar's Inside Out for the second time, and now that my Mom has had a chance to see it to, I feel free to blog about it. The trouble is that many of the blogworthy thoughts inspired by the movie are complicated. For example, the movie is about emotions, and Joy introduces the cast by telling us what each emotion's job is. Fear keeps us out (or at least cautious) of dangerous situations, Disgust keeps us from getting poisoned, and Anger tries to keep things fair (mostly by complaining about unfairness). However, Joy couldn't think of what purpose Sadness might have, and I'm surprised to find that neither can I.

In the movie, and in real life, one of Sadness's talents is expressing compassion, which sounded like a pretty good purpose to me, until I realized that the purpose of compassion is mostly to help someone overcome or at least cope with the sadness they feel. If the purpose of sadness is to inspire compassion, then it could be said that the purpose of sadness is to help reduce sadness, which seems contradictory. There must be another purpose for sadness.

Perhaps one purpose for sadness can be found in the dichotomy between sadness and joy (which drove much of the plot of the movie). There are a few scriptural references to the relationship between joy and sadness in the Book of Mormon. The first one that comes to mind is 2 Nephi 2:23, which suggests that experiencing joy wouldn't be possible without also experiencing misery. This could make sense, given that we can't truly appreciate something unless we've experienced it's opposite.

However, I still wonder if sadness may have another purpose than just helping us reduce sadness and feel more joyful in its absence. Perhaps I'm being sentimental, but I think that Sadness must have some positive, productive purpose. There has got to be something good that sadness does for us, beside helping us console others and appreciate experiencing joy. But if sadness has that kind of purpose, what is it? Is there a proactive reason we experience sadness, or is helping us reduce sadness and enjoy joy supposed to be reason enough? I wish I had an answer to those questions, but I unfortunately don't. If sadness has its own purpose, I don't know what it is.

Not Just a Back-Up Plan

 In response to a recent blog post, my mom said that spending time with God shouldn't just be our back-up plan. Spending time with God should be our primary plan as well. It should be what we do, not just when things go wrong, but before things go wrong. When we spend time with God, He can help us overcome our problems as we face them, and He can help us enjoy life more, whether our lives are particularly enjoyable at that time or not. We should all try to spend time with God, no matter what else we're doing at the time. God wants to do more for us than just be the one we turn to when we have problems; He wants to be with us always.

Body and Soul

You may have noticed that I didn't blog yesterday. This isn't the first time this has happened, and I don't feel bad about it. (Though, that might be a blogworthy and sobering lesson about the risk of repeated infractions, but that's not what I want to blog about this morning.) The reason I don't feel bad about not blogging yesterday is that I didn't really get much of a chance. I left home before I had time to blog. I brought my laptop with me, but the only time I had a chance to use it, I was babysitting. By the time I got home, it was 1am, so instead of blogging, I just went to bed.

A large part of the reason I blog is because it's good for my spirit, but a person's spirit is closely connected to their body. Anything that affects a person's body will also have an effect on their spirit, and usually, the effect is similar in that an event or action that's positive for one will likely be positive for the other, and an event or action that's negative for one would likely be negative for the other. Blogging is good for my spirit, and it might be good for my body, too, but last night, staying up any later was definitely going to be bad for my body, which would have reduced, if not counteracted, whatever positive effect I would have gotten out of blogging.

I feel like I still owe you and God a blog post for yesterday. Thankfully, I was given another blogworthy thought I might share, so I'll probably blog about it later today, but for now, I need to quickly get ready for church so I can be on time for choir.

A Good Bad Day

Today, I am living proof that even a day that involves cleaning a filthy bathroom can be a good day if you have a good attitude and spend at least part of the day spending time with people you love. I had one or two strongly unfortunate moments today, but I had some really good moments, too. And I have my family to thank for that.

When you have a bad day, try to spend some time with family and/or good friends. They'll make the day much better. Or, when that's not possible, at least spend a moment or two talking with your Heavenly Father, who is both a family member and a good friend. Even if you have no one else to turn to, you can always turn to Him. So, when you have a bad day, reach out to the people who love you. They can turn your whole day around.

Taking Offence and Getting Angry

I've heard that being offended is a choice - that people can choose not to be offended. However, there are many things that people say and do that are genuinely offensive, and I don't think it's just that the people who are offended by offensive people have thin skin.

I think that the choice not to be offended is much like the choice not to be angry. You always have that choice, but sometimes it's a difficult choice to make, especially when other people intentionally make it difficult. I think that, if a person becomes offended, it's not entirely their fault, if someone offends them, just as it's not entirely a person's fault if they get angry when someone else "makes them angry."

Still, the ability to control such feelings as anger and offendedness is a skill that can be developed. With conscious effort, people can grow resistant to offence, though I think that some people simply don't bother to. Some people seem to think that if someone else offends them, they have a right to feel offended. Similarly, I'd guess that other people claim to have the right to be angry if someone makes them angry, but the Lord has spoken against both of those emotions. We should try not to get angry or offended, no matter how much other people offend or anger us. It won't always be easy, and we won't always succeed, but we should always try.

Some people will offend or anger you by accident; don't take your emotions out on them - they didn't mean anything by it. Others will try to offend or anger you on purpose; don't give them the benefit of the ability to influence your emotions - they don't deserve it. I think that taking offence and getting angry are choices - not easy choices, but choices we can control. If we really try, I think we can choose not to get angry or offended, and that's a choice that I think many people should try a bit harder to make.

Unrequested Blessings

I have a bad habit of not praying for blessings before I find out I need them. For example, I just took a history quiz, and I wanted to get a good grade on it. A good time to pray for help on that quiz would have been when I start studying for it. Then, with the blessing of the Lord, I could have been inspired to know what I especially needed to study and remember. However, before I begin studying for a quiz is not when I usually pray for help. I usually pray for help with my quizzes while I'm taking them, or just before I take them, if I remember to pray for help at all.
My purpose in telling you this is partly to remind myself to pray for blessings before I need them, and partly to highlight how generous God is in giving me blessings anyway. As I was taking my quiz this morning, there were a few "lucky" moments when my book happened to be open to the page with the information I couldn't quite remember (it was an open-book quiz). I wouldn't be surprised if those moments were manifestations of divine aid, and I thanked God for them, but it struck me how generous God was in giving me blessings after I had forgotten to pray for them. God is a really generous guy.

This is not to say that we can afford to grow casual in our prayers for help. We should still pray for help (and possibly "bribe" God into blessing us by being extra righteous in return) well before we need the help. I just wanted to point out how generous God was because I feel that He deserves recognition for that.

As you look over your life, and especially the parts that seem to be "lucky breaks," I think you'll find that God gives you many more blessings than you thought to ask Him for. When you notice those extra blessings, take a moment to give God extra thanks for them. Like generosity, gratitude is a divine attribute, and we should be especially grateful for the blessings that God gives us that we didn't think to ask for.

An Assuming, Assisting Invitation

On Sunday, the Ward choir director asked me to join the choir. Actually, what she had asked me was whether or not I needed a ride to choir. At that point, I hadn't been a member of the choir for some time, and the director and I hadn't talked about the notion of me returning to the choir. The question of whether or not I needed a ride seemed to assume that I'd be willing to rejoin the choir, or that I had never really left.

On one hand, this might seem slightly rude. What if I didn't want to join the choir? What if I didn't have time? The choir director didn't ask me if I was interested in joining the choir; she assumed (correctly) that I was. Though this sort of "invitation" may seem rude by mortal standards, God extends invitations to us in the same way. When He invites us to act, He doesn't ask us if we'd be willing to do something, or if we have time for it. He just asks us to do it. The choir director was following our Heavenly Father's example.

From another perspective, the choir director's invitation wasn't rude, but helpful. When she asked me to join the choir, what she specifically asked me was whether or not I needed a ride to choir. She didn't just ask me to do something; she offered me help in doing it. God does the same. Whenever God gives us a commandment, He gives us the power we need to keep the commandment, even if the help we need would take a miracle. God doesn't always make it easy for us to keep His commandments, but He always makes sure that there's a way. The choir director made sure that I had a way to come to choir in the very act of inviting me to come.

I believe that the choir director followed the promptings of the spirit when she extended that invitation to me. I don't think it's always the best method to use when inviting someone to do something, but I have to admit that it worked, and that I'm glad the director asked me to rejoin the choir, and specifically that she asked me that way.