When a D&D character dies, their spirit goes to one of the Outer Planes, depending largely on that character's alignment. Many, though not all, Lawful Good characters, like Valonor Kharagon, go to The Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia, or Mount Celestia for short. As its name suggests, Mount Celestia is a great, celestial mountain, divided into seven layers. One reaches the higher layers only by ascending through the lower ones, and only if they choose to do so. At any layer, one could choose to stay and live there forever. That's what I imagine Valonor Kharagon did. His God, Bahamut, has a fortress that can be found on the second layer of Mount Celestia, second (to be specific) from the bottom, and that is where Kharagon would choose to stay - where his God is.
But this leads me to wonder, will I continue to strive to end up where my God is, or will I find myself content to live on some lower layer of heaven? I know that the highest layer of the Celestial Kingdom is the best possible afterlife, and it's the only place where one can take full advantage of all the blessings God can offer us, but still, it's an awfully long climb, and those blessings are easily passed over by those who don't know what they're missing. Besides, I've heard that the lower layers of heaven are actually still really nice - much better than here, anyway. I can easily picture myself getting comfortable on a lower layer of heaven and never progressing any farther than that.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. I want to make my Heavenly Father proud, but I also want to relax. I like blessings, but many of those blessings come with responsibilities that I would rather avoid. I value goodness, but I also value comfort. I want to progress, but I'm not sure how far I want to progress. The thought that we can progress to the same point God has reached sounds amazing, but also daunting. I'll never climb Mount Everest; it's almost unthinkable for me to climb a mountain that's infinitely taller than that.
I like Eternal Progression, but I'm not certain that I'll make full use of it. I'll strive to overcome my shortcomings, but that might be about it for me. I'm not sure I like the idea of becoming a God. And while I enjoy hikes, climbing up a figurative mountain on that scale sounds like far too much work to me. I might settle for a lower layer, though a part of me hopes I don't.
One of the problems with Eternal Progress is that it takes an eternity. I don't currently have that kind of patience and ambition. If I were to die right now, I'd probably settle for one of the lower levels of Heaven, at least for a long while. The only clincher is that I'd want to be where my family will be, and one can only by with their family in the uppermost layer(s). That might be worth striving for. But if it was just the other benefits, including godhood, I'm not sure it'll be worth the the effort.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Venting
Almost every evening, I run the dishwasher. It's a simple procedure. I load it up with dirty dishes, using the space as efficiently as I can and need to, give it a soap packet, hook it up to the outlet and the faucet, and let it run. When it's done, I unhook it, open it up again, and let it vent. Instead of letting the steam and moisture sit in the dishwasher, I let it sit open and vent out. But venting steam is one thing; venting emotions is another.
There are some mixed opinions on the subject of venting emotions. Some say that it's helpful and that it lets you get negative emotions out of your system. Sometimes, I worry that "venting" causes some people to dwell on their negative emotions and cling to them longer than they need to.
I suppose how helpful venting is depends on the situation and on exactly how one "vents." Crying is almost always acceptable, but expressing anger through acts of force usually isn't. Venting also varies in usefulness based on how much emotion there is to vent. If there is little enough emotion that one can manage the emotion without venting, venting probably won't do much good. Venting is a release mechanism, useful for when there's a lot of steam at high pressure. When the pressure isn't that high and when there's not that much steam to let out, venting would probably be more detrimental than beneficial because it'd give you the downsides without the upsides.
So, if you need to vent, vent (though you should probably try to find a safe way to do that, like crying), but if you don't need to vent, don't vent (it'd only make the situation worse). It can be hard to tell whether venting is necessary and useful. Perhaps it's best to err on the side of venting. Depending on how you do it, letting out steam when there isn't much to let out isn't as harmful as trying to hold in too much steam for too long.
Venting is important, but it's important to know when and how to do it.
There are some mixed opinions on the subject of venting emotions. Some say that it's helpful and that it lets you get negative emotions out of your system. Sometimes, I worry that "venting" causes some people to dwell on their negative emotions and cling to them longer than they need to.
I suppose how helpful venting is depends on the situation and on exactly how one "vents." Crying is almost always acceptable, but expressing anger through acts of force usually isn't. Venting also varies in usefulness based on how much emotion there is to vent. If there is little enough emotion that one can manage the emotion without venting, venting probably won't do much good. Venting is a release mechanism, useful for when there's a lot of steam at high pressure. When the pressure isn't that high and when there's not that much steam to let out, venting would probably be more detrimental than beneficial because it'd give you the downsides without the upsides.
So, if you need to vent, vent (though you should probably try to find a safe way to do that, like crying), but if you don't need to vent, don't vent (it'd only make the situation worse). It can be hard to tell whether venting is necessary and useful. Perhaps it's best to err on the side of venting. Depending on how you do it, letting out steam when there isn't much to let out isn't as harmful as trying to hold in too much steam for too long.
Venting is important, but it's important to know when and how to do it.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
One Thing that Scares Me (and the Only Way to Escape It)
One thing that scares me is that God is very good at keeping records. He knows everything. He remembers everything. And everything will come up again in the not-distant-enough future. Every dumb thing I've ever said or done, every mistake I've made, every bad decision, and every sin I've committed will all come back to bite me. God has kept painfully meticulous records.
Yet, there is one way to get God to forget about some things. There's a way to get past missteps stricken from God's records. I can make it so certain mistakes don't continue haunting me, but only if I repent. Repentance is the only way to make sure our sins, mistakes, and bad decisions don't come up during Final Judgment.
There are a few events in my past that I would rather forget, and I'd rather that God forgot about them also, and the only way yo make that happen is to repent.
Yet, there is one way to get God to forget about some things. There's a way to get past missteps stricken from God's records. I can make it so certain mistakes don't continue haunting me, but only if I repent. Repentance is the only way to make sure our sins, mistakes, and bad decisions don't come up during Final Judgment.
There are a few events in my past that I would rather forget, and I'd rather that God forgot about them also, and the only way yo make that happen is to repent.
Monday, October 28, 2019
Too Apathetic to be Preachy
Sometimes, I struggle to know the right thing to do, especially regarding the unethical behavior of others. There are times when I want to correct them and even think that doing so would be the right thing to do, but most of the time, I stay silent, if only just to keep the peace. I suppose a better man would defend the truth with boldness, but my personal philosophy says something more like "to each their own." I acknowledge that not everyone has the same belief system; most people don't think that what they're doing is wrong. And, perhaps most damningly, I generally don't care enough to try to bring people around. I know that what some people do is sinful, and I feel like I should warn them of where their actions are leading them, but I don't care enough about those peoples' well-being to raise a warning voice. I'm unfortunately content to let people make their own decisions and suffer the consequences, even when I could have warned them.
I know that this apathy is a vice on my part. I know that I should care enough to warn people about the sinfulness of their actions. But I don't care enough about people, I don't want to have any awkward conversations or heated arguments, and I certainly don't want my preachiness to come back and bite me.
So, I guess I was wrong. I don't struggle to know what the right thing to do is regarding the unethical behavior of others. I know what I should do. I just don't want to do it.
I know that this apathy is a vice on my part. I know that I should care enough to warn people about the sinfulness of their actions. But I don't care enough about people, I don't want to have any awkward conversations or heated arguments, and I certainly don't want my preachiness to come back and bite me.
So, I guess I was wrong. I don't struggle to know what the right thing to do is regarding the unethical behavior of others. I know what I should do. I just don't want to do it.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Quenching the Alloy
From the little research I've done on the topic, I've learned that quenching is the practice of suddenly cooling a sword so the carbon in the steel gets sealed into the structure of the iron, forming a harder sword. If one doesn't quench the sword and instead allows the steel to cool naturally, the result is that the iron and carbon will separate as the iron cools and solidifies. So, now that I understand the process better, let's see if we can attach meaning to some of the elements of this analogy and see what meanings we can draw from it.
We know that the sword ends up being the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Perhaps the iron can also be the Word of God, reminiscent of the Iron Rod. This could be confusing, unless the end result we're going for is an iron sword. I suppose the carbon could be some sort of addition contributed by us, people, carbon-based life forms. If the iron is the pure Word of God, and the carbon is additions introduced by people, that means that (depending on the concentration of each element) the resulting alloy is either the Doctrine of God mixed up with the traditions of men or the philosophies of men mingled with scripture. Either way you slice it, it's important to keep the teachings of those two sources separate, so we can keep track of which is which, and we certainly don't want to solidify this blend into a set of mixed up teachings that's hard and inflexible.
So, if the iron is the Word of God and the carbon is the teachings of men, then "Quench not the Spirit" essentially means to give these two elements enough time to sort themselves out and separate themselves from each other. That's a pretty good message. It's important to keep true doctrine separate from earthly teachings, and if/when the start getting mixed up, it's worth taking the time to sort them out. There are times when tradition is heralded as doctrine and when doctrine is derided as mere tradition, and both of those outcomes are potentially dangerous. It's vital that we uphold true doctrine, and that sometimes makes it necessary to break tradition. Getting those backward can be devastating for one's spiritual well-being. So let's be wary of anyone trying to pass earthly philosophy as God's Doctrine or vice versa. And, for the record, anything I write in my blog is earthly philosophy, unless I'm directly quoting doctrine from scriptures or a prophet. I've found that earthly philosophy can be helpful at times, but it's no match for True Doctrine, and it's important not to confuse the two.
We know that the sword ends up being the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Perhaps the iron can also be the Word of God, reminiscent of the Iron Rod. This could be confusing, unless the end result we're going for is an iron sword. I suppose the carbon could be some sort of addition contributed by us, people, carbon-based life forms. If the iron is the pure Word of God, and the carbon is additions introduced by people, that means that (depending on the concentration of each element) the resulting alloy is either the Doctrine of God mixed up with the traditions of men or the philosophies of men mingled with scripture. Either way you slice it, it's important to keep the teachings of those two sources separate, so we can keep track of which is which, and we certainly don't want to solidify this blend into a set of mixed up teachings that's hard and inflexible.
So, if the iron is the Word of God and the carbon is the teachings of men, then "Quench not the Spirit" essentially means to give these two elements enough time to sort themselves out and separate themselves from each other. That's a pretty good message. It's important to keep true doctrine separate from earthly teachings, and if/when the start getting mixed up, it's worth taking the time to sort them out. There are times when tradition is heralded as doctrine and when doctrine is derided as mere tradition, and both of those outcomes are potentially dangerous. It's vital that we uphold true doctrine, and that sometimes makes it necessary to break tradition. Getting those backward can be devastating for one's spiritual well-being. So let's be wary of anyone trying to pass earthly philosophy as God's Doctrine or vice versa. And, for the record, anything I write in my blog is earthly philosophy, unless I'm directly quoting doctrine from scriptures or a prophet. I've found that earthly philosophy can be helpful at times, but it's no match for True Doctrine, and it's important not to confuse the two.
"Quench not the Spirit."
This week, as we were studying this week's Come, Follow Me scriptures at Institute, one verse stood out to me in particular. If I recall correctly, it's 1 Thessalonians 4:19, "Quench not the Spirit." (I was wrong about one thing; it's in chapter 5.) This verse stood out to me because of the practice of "quenching" swords as part of the process of making them and because of the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, in the Armor of God. I have a whole theory on one possible interpretation of this verse, and I look forward to sharing that tomorrow, but first, I think it's important to acknowledge the most likely, most obvious interpretation of the verse. The Spirit is often related to a fire, so don't put out, or "quench", that fire. Don't do anything that might drive away the Spirit or dampen our sensitivity to it. It's a simple message, but an important one. We need the Spirit, so we need to be careful not to drive it away.
Friday, October 25, 2019
The Help of Family
I am thankful for my family. Today (and tomorrow), my family was (and will be) a big help to me in helping me fulfill my calling as the Building Cleaning Coordinator. My job as the Building Cleaning Coordinator mainly involves rounding up volunteers and then supervising and assisting them in cleaning the building, but this week, I wasn't able to get many volunteers, and I was feeling pretty stressed out about that, among other things. Thankfully, my family volunteered to help me. We got a good deal of the work done today, and we'll get the rest of it done tomorrow, with the help of the other volunteers. The other volunteers and I would have had a hard time getting all that work done without the help of my family, so I'm really glad they helped me when I needed them.
I'm lucky that I have the family that I have. I know that many other families aren't as helpful as mine. Yet, we're all part of the same heavenly family. We are all siblings in spirit, and we all have the same Heavenly Parents. As a family, we should help each other, and we can all call on at least a few of our heavenly family members for help. Even those who have no one on Earth who's willing to help them can call on their Heavenly Father, their Savior, and the Holy Ghost (to whom I'm sure we're related somehow) for help. Of course, that help may come in different forms, as each family member helps in their own way, but it's comforting that the help of family is available to everyone, whatever form that help takes.
My family has helped me and will help me with transportation and physical labor. I frequently help my family with physical labor as well. Families also help each other by offering each other guidance and emotional support, among many other things. I'm sure that you have family that helps you, if only because your Heavenly Father and His Son help you in ways that are absolutely necessary and that no one else can. I hope that you have a mortal family that helps you as well and that you help them in return, because that's pat of what families are for. Families are supposed to help each other. I'm glad my family does.
I'm lucky that I have the family that I have. I know that many other families aren't as helpful as mine. Yet, we're all part of the same heavenly family. We are all siblings in spirit, and we all have the same Heavenly Parents. As a family, we should help each other, and we can all call on at least a few of our heavenly family members for help. Even those who have no one on Earth who's willing to help them can call on their Heavenly Father, their Savior, and the Holy Ghost (to whom I'm sure we're related somehow) for help. Of course, that help may come in different forms, as each family member helps in their own way, but it's comforting that the help of family is available to everyone, whatever form that help takes.
My family has helped me and will help me with transportation and physical labor. I frequently help my family with physical labor as well. Families also help each other by offering each other guidance and emotional support, among many other things. I'm sure that you have family that helps you, if only because your Heavenly Father and His Son help you in ways that are absolutely necessary and that no one else can. I hope that you have a mortal family that helps you as well and that you help them in return, because that's pat of what families are for. Families are supposed to help each other. I'm glad my family does.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
A Better Person
God is a much better person than I am. He's far more patient and understanding. He's far more generous and forgiving. Sometimes, I wonder just how poorly I'm doing at trying to become like Him. Sometimes, I look at where I am and how far I need to go, and I wonder if I'll ever make it.
Thankfully, I know that I can cross that distance at my own pace. There's no deadline. As long as I keep going (however slowly) and stay committed to keep going until I get there, I will eventually get there. It's only a matter of time, and God is able to grant me an infinite amount of time.
So, yes, God is a much better person than I am, and thanks to His Eternal Progression, He always will be, but thanks to my Eternal Progression, I can become as good a person as God is now. I can become a better person; I just need to keep moving forward and not get discouraged and quit.
I'm not as good a person as I should be, but I will be.
Thankfully, I know that I can cross that distance at my own pace. There's no deadline. As long as I keep going (however slowly) and stay committed to keep going until I get there, I will eventually get there. It's only a matter of time, and God is able to grant me an infinite amount of time.
So, yes, God is a much better person than I am, and thanks to His Eternal Progression, He always will be, but thanks to my Eternal Progression, I can become as good a person as God is now. I can become a better person; I just need to keep moving forward and not get discouraged and quit.
I'm not as good a person as I should be, but I will be.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Our Unpayable Debt
This evening, my family read Mosiah Chapter 2, the beginning of the King Benjamin Address. There are many blogworthy lessons in this speech, but for tonight, I want to focus on our unpayable debt. King Benjamin points out that, in the first place, God created us and gave us everything we have, so we owe Him literally everything. And we can't even work off that debt because, whenever we serve God, He repays that service with blessings. There's no wonder King Benjamin said that, even if we served God with our whole souls, we would still be unprofitable servants.
Luckily, God doesn't care about profits. He cares about us. He gives us gifts because He loves us and wants us to be happy, even if we can't pay Him back. I thank God for being so generous and for asking so little in return. I hope that I can pay His generosity forward, even in my own, limited way, especially since I know that I can never adequately pay Him back.
Luckily, God doesn't care about profits. He cares about us. He gives us gifts because He loves us and wants us to be happy, even if we can't pay Him back. I thank God for being so generous and for asking so little in return. I hope that I can pay His generosity forward, even in my own, limited way, especially since I know that I can never adequately pay Him back.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
The Ideal Character
When I play D&D, I often speak as my character, using my best approximation of my character's voice. When I played as Valonor Kharagon, Paladin of Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, I tried to give him a voice suited to a strong and noble Dragonborn, something deep and dignified, but with a hint of a growl behind it. As a way to try to get the voice right and to practice improvisational acting as my character, I frequently practice at home. Thus, for a time, I conversed with my family with the voice of a noble, if a bit gruff, Dragonborn Paladin. I quite enjoyed practicing and pretending to be a noble paladin.
However, that character is dead now, and my current character is less worthy of emulation. Yet, perhaps I can still practice being a Paladin. I can still adopt the voice and persona of a Paladin, even if I'm not actively playing a Paladin character. And while I'm at it, I could make the Paladin I pretend to be the most ideal Paladin I can imagine, not a gruff, Dragonborn Paladin, but a more relatable Human Paladin, one who closely resembles my ideal self.
Of course, the best possible role-model is Jesus Christ, but it seems sacrilegious to try to copy Him directly. Rather, I plan to apply Christlike virtues to an imaginary character and then practice being that character. The closer that character resembles Christ, and the closer I come to resembling that character, the closer I'll get to resembling Christ. I'll work my way up to the point where I can try to be like Jesus Christ, but first I'll practice by trying to be like a Paladin, and not just any Paladin: A Paladin that's as close to my ideal self as I can make him.
He'll have to be of noble birth, sent away from home to prove himself, but with plans to return home with his honor intact so he can inherit everything his royal parents want to give him. Making his parents the King and Queen of the whole universe might be a bit much, but I can easily see them being lesser nobility or greater lords, just to make them a bit more relatable.
I'd want the Ideal Paladin to possess every Christlike trait imaginable, including His fine balance between Justice and Mercy.
The Paladin's stance on violence might be a bit tricky to work out. I don't want him to be a violent person; physical violence should be a last resort, yet I want this paladin to also represent my fight against Satan, in which violence is absolutely justified and necessary. Perhaps this Paladin should carry two weapons: a non-lethal mace, to be used, only when necessary, against other living creatures, and a sharp, lethal sword, to be used, without reservation, against evil spirits. Of course, he'll also wear armor and carry a shield.
Depending on how high-level and high-fantasy I want to make this character, he'll probably also use holy magic to protect and heal himself and others, and perhaps to smite evil as well, but I want this character to be relatable and achievable, so perhaps a low-fantasy, low-level version of the character would make a good starting point. He can grow in magical power as I grow in virtue. Perhaps my virtue (plus a more-than-generous allotment from the God whom he worships) could be the source of his power.
But speaking about the God this Paladin worships, I should figure that out as well. Again, I should avoid being too on-the-nose about it, to avoid sacrilege, but I might make up something vague about a Holy Light, perhaps with a mention of a Golden Tome, if I want to make scripture study an integral part of this character. And prayer can be how he communicates with deity and casts his spells (or rather, requests miracles which the Holy Light has already agreed to grant but has made conditional on his asking for them).
As fun as it is to imagine all that, the most important aspect of this character is his personality, which will be as close to Christ's as I can make it, so I'll have to study Jesus Christ's personality in order to work out what this ideal Paladin's personality should be.
Lastly, he'll need a name. Something respectable, yet human. Valonor Kharagon would never do. Perhaps I could give him my name, Andrew. It's manly enough, if you'll pardon the pun. I just wonder if it might get confusing. Perhaps I could call him Andrew the Paladin, as distinct from Andrew the sinner, yet as time goes on, I should become more of a Paladin and less of a sinner. That is the whole idea, after all. This whole exercise is an attempt to help me visualize and adopt the ideal character. If I succeed, I will essentially become Andrew the Paladin. Then, perhaps my name is the best name I could give him.
My goal is to become my ideal self. It may help to have a character model that lets me visualize what that ideal self looks like.
However, that character is dead now, and my current character is less worthy of emulation. Yet, perhaps I can still practice being a Paladin. I can still adopt the voice and persona of a Paladin, even if I'm not actively playing a Paladin character. And while I'm at it, I could make the Paladin I pretend to be the most ideal Paladin I can imagine, not a gruff, Dragonborn Paladin, but a more relatable Human Paladin, one who closely resembles my ideal self.
Of course, the best possible role-model is Jesus Christ, but it seems sacrilegious to try to copy Him directly. Rather, I plan to apply Christlike virtues to an imaginary character and then practice being that character. The closer that character resembles Christ, and the closer I come to resembling that character, the closer I'll get to resembling Christ. I'll work my way up to the point where I can try to be like Jesus Christ, but first I'll practice by trying to be like a Paladin, and not just any Paladin: A Paladin that's as close to my ideal self as I can make him.
He'll have to be of noble birth, sent away from home to prove himself, but with plans to return home with his honor intact so he can inherit everything his royal parents want to give him. Making his parents the King and Queen of the whole universe might be a bit much, but I can easily see them being lesser nobility or greater lords, just to make them a bit more relatable.
I'd want the Ideal Paladin to possess every Christlike trait imaginable, including His fine balance between Justice and Mercy.
The Paladin's stance on violence might be a bit tricky to work out. I don't want him to be a violent person; physical violence should be a last resort, yet I want this paladin to also represent my fight against Satan, in which violence is absolutely justified and necessary. Perhaps this Paladin should carry two weapons: a non-lethal mace, to be used, only when necessary, against other living creatures, and a sharp, lethal sword, to be used, without reservation, against evil spirits. Of course, he'll also wear armor and carry a shield.
Depending on how high-level and high-fantasy I want to make this character, he'll probably also use holy magic to protect and heal himself and others, and perhaps to smite evil as well, but I want this character to be relatable and achievable, so perhaps a low-fantasy, low-level version of the character would make a good starting point. He can grow in magical power as I grow in virtue. Perhaps my virtue (plus a more-than-generous allotment from the God whom he worships) could be the source of his power.
But speaking about the God this Paladin worships, I should figure that out as well. Again, I should avoid being too on-the-nose about it, to avoid sacrilege, but I might make up something vague about a Holy Light, perhaps with a mention of a Golden Tome, if I want to make scripture study an integral part of this character. And prayer can be how he communicates with deity and casts his spells (or rather, requests miracles which the Holy Light has already agreed to grant but has made conditional on his asking for them).
As fun as it is to imagine all that, the most important aspect of this character is his personality, which will be as close to Christ's as I can make it, so I'll have to study Jesus Christ's personality in order to work out what this ideal Paladin's personality should be.
Lastly, he'll need a name. Something respectable, yet human. Valonor Kharagon would never do. Perhaps I could give him my name, Andrew. It's manly enough, if you'll pardon the pun. I just wonder if it might get confusing. Perhaps I could call him Andrew the Paladin, as distinct from Andrew the sinner, yet as time goes on, I should become more of a Paladin and less of a sinner. That is the whole idea, after all. This whole exercise is an attempt to help me visualize and adopt the ideal character. If I succeed, I will essentially become Andrew the Paladin. Then, perhaps my name is the best name I could give him.
My goal is to become my ideal self. It may help to have a character model that lets me visualize what that ideal self looks like.
Monday, October 21, 2019
The Duality of Human Nature
Today, I was asked if I thought that selfishness is part of human nature. I don't know how well I responded to that question at the time, but I would like to try to write a better response now.
Yes, I believe that selfishness is part of human nature, but human nature has many different parts. First, there are the physical parts, largely governed by the Natural Man (except, if I mentioned this in my conversation earlier today, I would have had to explain who the Natural Man is, and I didn't want to bother with that). The Natural Man is selfish and impatient and proud and has various other negative traits. For the most part, we have the Natural Man because he's good at ensuring the survival of the species and because he's excellent at giving us opportunities to practice self-control.
That's where the other set of parts comes in: the spiritual parts. In addition to bodies, we each have spirits, and not just any spirits. The spirits we have chose to follow God's plan of happiness and fought valiantly against Satan. This means that we each have (and were) spirits who were devoted to developing the traits God has, including empathy, temperance, and generosity. That doesn't necessarily mean that we were all unselfish before we were born and were thus born with unselfish spirits to counter our selfish bodies, but the little evidence we have leans that way.
So, is selfishness part of human nature? Yes, but so (probably) is unselfishness. Cowardice and Valiance, Pride and Humility, Natural Evil and Divine Good are all elements of human nature. Humans are dual beings, and our self-conflicting, paradoxical nature reflects that fact. So selfishness is part of human nature, along with many other negative traits, but so are many of their opposites. Many contradictory traits are part of human nature. But now it's up to us to decide which of those conflicting traits we develop.
Yes, I believe that selfishness is part of human nature, but human nature has many different parts. First, there are the physical parts, largely governed by the Natural Man (except, if I mentioned this in my conversation earlier today, I would have had to explain who the Natural Man is, and I didn't want to bother with that). The Natural Man is selfish and impatient and proud and has various other negative traits. For the most part, we have the Natural Man because he's good at ensuring the survival of the species and because he's excellent at giving us opportunities to practice self-control.
That's where the other set of parts comes in: the spiritual parts. In addition to bodies, we each have spirits, and not just any spirits. The spirits we have chose to follow God's plan of happiness and fought valiantly against Satan. This means that we each have (and were) spirits who were devoted to developing the traits God has, including empathy, temperance, and generosity. That doesn't necessarily mean that we were all unselfish before we were born and were thus born with unselfish spirits to counter our selfish bodies, but the little evidence we have leans that way.
So, is selfishness part of human nature? Yes, but so (probably) is unselfishness. Cowardice and Valiance, Pride and Humility, Natural Evil and Divine Good are all elements of human nature. Humans are dual beings, and our self-conflicting, paradoxical nature reflects that fact. So selfishness is part of human nature, along with many other negative traits, but so are many of their opposites. Many contradictory traits are part of human nature. But now it's up to us to decide which of those conflicting traits we develop.
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Slowing Our Descent
Today, my mom and I discussed the parachute analogy. The premise is that we have foolishly jumped out of a plane without a parachute and are about to become subjected to the full consequences of the law of gravity. However, a Friend, sensing that we were about to do that, quickly strapped a parachute onto our backs before we left the plane, and thus we are allowed a way to "cheat" gravity. The parachute doesn't break the law of gravity or any of the other laws of physics. Rather, it works within those laws to provide us a solution. This is supposed to be an illustration of how there can be Mercy without denying Justice; however, this version of the analogy doesn't seem fully plausible to me. I hardly think that any Friend could put provide us with a parachute that quickly, no matter how skilled that Friend is. Rather, I have a different analogy that also uses the same Justice and Mercy moral, but also works in a lesson of Grace and Works.
In my version, we jumped out of the plane without a parachute, and our Friend jumped out behind us with a spare. In this version, our Friend dives quickly in hopes of catching up to us, but He needs us to cooperate in order for Him to succeed. If we're falling as fast as He is, He won't catch up with us, and we'll die. So, to survive, we need to slow our descent as much as possible. Granted, we won't be able to slow ourselves down to the point where the fall wouldn't be fatal. We cannot be saved by works alone. But our works may enable our Friend to catch us and provide us with the one tool that can help us survive, His Grace. Yet, even when we have access to the parachute, we still need to pull the cord, so a bit more work on our part is required. Still, it's the parachute that saves us, not the fact that we pulled a cord.
Ultimately, we need both Grace and Works. We need to do our part to gain access to Divine Grace, but doing our part won't be enough on its own. We need Grace in order to be saved, though it still takes some Work on our part to secure and apply that Grace. At this point, we can't stop ourselves from falling to our deaths, at least not on our own. However, it is essential that we do everything in our power to slow our descent and to take full advantage of that parachute when we get it.
In my version, we jumped out of the plane without a parachute, and our Friend jumped out behind us with a spare. In this version, our Friend dives quickly in hopes of catching up to us, but He needs us to cooperate in order for Him to succeed. If we're falling as fast as He is, He won't catch up with us, and we'll die. So, to survive, we need to slow our descent as much as possible. Granted, we won't be able to slow ourselves down to the point where the fall wouldn't be fatal. We cannot be saved by works alone. But our works may enable our Friend to catch us and provide us with the one tool that can help us survive, His Grace. Yet, even when we have access to the parachute, we still need to pull the cord, so a bit more work on our part is required. Still, it's the parachute that saves us, not the fact that we pulled a cord.
Ultimately, we need both Grace and Works. We need to do our part to gain access to Divine Grace, but doing our part won't be enough on its own. We need Grace in order to be saved, though it still takes some Work on our part to secure and apply that Grace. At this point, we can't stop ourselves from falling to our deaths, at least not on our own. However, it is essential that we do everything in our power to slow our descent and to take full advantage of that parachute when we get it.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
So Subtle a Prompting
Yesterday, my mom taught me that spiritual promptings don't always take the form of words, or even specific thoughts, but are sometimes positive or negative feelings. In this case, my mom had negative thoughts about her normal plan for Friday mornings, which is especially odd, because she goes to the temple most Friday mornings, and I often go with her. But this week, it just didn't feel right. However, when she thought about a certain sister in our ward, those negative feelings were replaced by positive feelings, and she took that as a sign that, this week, we were to serve someone on this side of the veil, rather than the other side.
I'm not sure I would have caught a prompting that subtle. In fact, I'm almost sure I wouldn't have. I can be pretty dense. If I had bad feelings about something, I might assume that I just had a bad attitude or that I was feeling bad about something else and was just projecting those bad feelings on whatever I was planning to do. Instead, my mom knew the difference between her personal feelings and feelings that came through promptings of the spirit. I hope that I someday become that well attuned to the Spirit, because He sometimes is that subtle.
If I had my way, spiritual promptings would be more obvious, perhaps even to the point of being unmistakable, but I'm sure there are good reasons why the Spirit isn't usually that blunt. Perhaps it's like a horse's reins. The Spirit doesn't want to jerk our heads around to literally make us face the right direction. He'd rather use a gentler hand. But for that to work, we need to be sensitive to even the softest pulls of the reins, and we need to be willing to turn our heads at even the faintest suggestion. Being that sensitive and submissive to the promptings of the Spirit takes a lot of effort, perhaps even a lifetime's worth, and I'm really impressed that my mom was able to detect, recognize, and act upon so subtle a prompting. As my mom taught me yesterday, some promptings are that subtle, and we need to be extremely well attuned to the Spirit to even notice them.
I'm not sure I would have caught a prompting that subtle. In fact, I'm almost sure I wouldn't have. I can be pretty dense. If I had bad feelings about something, I might assume that I just had a bad attitude or that I was feeling bad about something else and was just projecting those bad feelings on whatever I was planning to do. Instead, my mom knew the difference between her personal feelings and feelings that came through promptings of the spirit. I hope that I someday become that well attuned to the Spirit, because He sometimes is that subtle.
If I had my way, spiritual promptings would be more obvious, perhaps even to the point of being unmistakable, but I'm sure there are good reasons why the Spirit isn't usually that blunt. Perhaps it's like a horse's reins. The Spirit doesn't want to jerk our heads around to literally make us face the right direction. He'd rather use a gentler hand. But for that to work, we need to be sensitive to even the softest pulls of the reins, and we need to be willing to turn our heads at even the faintest suggestion. Being that sensitive and submissive to the promptings of the Spirit takes a lot of effort, perhaps even a lifetime's worth, and I'm really impressed that my mom was able to detect, recognize, and act upon so subtle a prompting. As my mom taught me yesterday, some promptings are that subtle, and we need to be extremely well attuned to the Spirit to even notice them.
Friday, October 18, 2019
Slipping
I'm slipping. I was doing great for a short while, but I'm already slipping back into the bad habit of waiting too long before I blog. I had a half-decent blog post in mind for today, or at least, I had an experience that was certainly blogworthy, if only I could find the right words. But right now, I'm tired enough that I'm having some trouble typing, let alone looking for spiritual messages and finding the right words to talk about them. Fortunately, I've realized that I'm slipping, and I'll use this as a reminder to do better next time. I'll blog earlier and better tomorrow, I promise. And I'll try to make a habit of that, instead of letting myself slip back into my old, bad, blogging habits.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Empathy
Today, I got to have a conversation with someone on the power of empathy. The funny thing is, the actual topic of conversation was climate change, and we talked about how sympathy for the troubles of others can help inspire us to do our part to fight climate change and its accompanying semi-natural disasters. However, we also discussed the benefits of practicing empathy for those who are among the greatest contributors to climate change. Change is hard, even when it's for the better, and it's even harder when people attack those who need to change and demand that they change, with little thanks for those who do. People tend to get defensive when they're attacked, and that's not likely to get us anywhere. Instead, we might make some progress by acknowledging the difficulty of what we're asking them to do and acknowledging the progress that they make. That way, they may feel inspired to keep up the good work.
Empathy is powerful. It can heal people, unite people, and persuade people to work together, despite their differences. It can break down barriers and build bridges of understanding. Empathy is uplifting. When we want to help others, and when we want to persuade them to help us, we would to well to practice empathy.
Empathy is powerful. It can heal people, unite people, and persuade people to work together, despite their differences. It can break down barriers and build bridges of understanding. Empathy is uplifting. When we want to help others, and when we want to persuade them to help us, we would to well to practice empathy.
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Armor Spells
Since I started playing D&D some years ago, I've learned that certain defensive D&D spells are a better analogy for spiritual armor than physical armor is, and there are three spells in particular that fulfill the analogy quite nicely: Mage Armor, Shield of Faith, and Shield.
Mage Armor is a spell that sets an unarmored creature's AC to 13 plus that creature's Dexterity Modifier. AC stands for Armor Class. The higher one's is, the harder one is to hit. One's Armor Class is mostly based on one's armor, though one's Dexterity Modifier (a modifier indicating how nimble a character is) is also taken into account when using Light or Medium Armor, or no armor at all.
What makes Mage Armor better than regular armor is its duration and the fact that one can sleep in it. With regular armor, once you put it on, you can keep it on until you have to go to bed at night, at which point you take it off. Mage Armor doesn't work that way. You can sleep in Mage Armor with no issues (as far as I know), but if you want to do that, you'll have to cast it right before you go to bed. Mage Armor has a duration of 8 hours. Once you cast it, your AC will go from 10+DEX to 13+DEX, and it'll stay that high for 8 hours, at which point you'll lose the AC bonus unless you cast it again. As an analogy for spiritual armor, Mage Armor is incredibly useful in that it emphasizes our need to regularly refresh the armor, even three times per day, and it facilitates our need to never willingly take it off.
With a name like Shield of Faith, one might expect that spell to be a perfect analogy for the Armor of God, or at least a part of it, but it's actually far more limited than that. Shield of Faith adds +2 to one's AC (whether they're wearing armor or not), but it only lasts for a duration of 10 minutes. 10 minutes is plenty long enough for a battle or two, but it's not going to last all day. Instead, Shield of Faith is best suited for individual battles, for when you know that you are being tempted, not for when you know that you might be tempted later.
If Shield of Faith is best for individual battles, Shield is best against individual attacks. With the shortest duration of 1 round (approximately 6 seconds), Shield hardly seems useful at all, but its value is seen in its benefit and its casting time. Its benefit is that it adds +5 to your AC for that one round, which is an incredible bonus. Few attacks can get past a Shield, especially if one's AC was already good to begin with, and Shield's casting time of Reaction allows one to use it in response to an attack that might otherwise have hit them. The other two spells I've discussed have a casting time of an Action, meaning that one has to spend their Action on their turn casting the spell in order to get the benefits for later turns. Mage Armor and Shield of Faith are mostly proactive spells. In contrast, Shield is a reactive spell. When one would get hit by an attack, one can use their Reaction to cast Shield, which increases their AC until the start of their next turn. Shield is like a prayer uttered in the face of a specific temptation. It doesn't say "I may need help later." It says "I need help Right Now."
The best part is that these spells can be stacked to combine their effects. One can cast Mage Armor at regular intervals to keep their armor on at all times, cast Shield of Faith at the start of a battle to give themselves extra defense for that battle, and cast Shield on top of that if anything gets through their already excellent defenses. Using those three spells (and a positive Dexterity Modifier), one can (temporarily) have a higher AC than that offered by any non-magical armor in the game.
But more importantly, these three spells illustrate when we ought to pray for strength to resist temptation. First, regularly (one might dare say always), at least every morning and evening, and maybe one or more times during the day. Second, when we know temptation is upon us or coming soon. And third, in the exact instant when we are being tempted. If we pray at all three of those times, we will be extraordinarily well-defended against temptation, making it much, much easier for us to get through our battles unscathed.
Of course, it will still be up to us to fight or flee. If we linger in tempting situations, those temptations will eventually get the better of us, no matter how good our armor is, but as long as we do everything in our power to end the fights quickly, we should be basically untouchable within our well-maintained spiritual armor, and the best part is that we never have to take it off. Our spiritual defenses can be formidable, and with the right prayers said at the right times, we can keep them up almost constantly.
Mage Armor is a spell that sets an unarmored creature's AC to 13 plus that creature's Dexterity Modifier. AC stands for Armor Class. The higher one's is, the harder one is to hit. One's Armor Class is mostly based on one's armor, though one's Dexterity Modifier (a modifier indicating how nimble a character is) is also taken into account when using Light or Medium Armor, or no armor at all.
What makes Mage Armor better than regular armor is its duration and the fact that one can sleep in it. With regular armor, once you put it on, you can keep it on until you have to go to bed at night, at which point you take it off. Mage Armor doesn't work that way. You can sleep in Mage Armor with no issues (as far as I know), but if you want to do that, you'll have to cast it right before you go to bed. Mage Armor has a duration of 8 hours. Once you cast it, your AC will go from 10+DEX to 13+DEX, and it'll stay that high for 8 hours, at which point you'll lose the AC bonus unless you cast it again. As an analogy for spiritual armor, Mage Armor is incredibly useful in that it emphasizes our need to regularly refresh the armor, even three times per day, and it facilitates our need to never willingly take it off.
With a name like Shield of Faith, one might expect that spell to be a perfect analogy for the Armor of God, or at least a part of it, but it's actually far more limited than that. Shield of Faith adds +2 to one's AC (whether they're wearing armor or not), but it only lasts for a duration of 10 minutes. 10 minutes is plenty long enough for a battle or two, but it's not going to last all day. Instead, Shield of Faith is best suited for individual battles, for when you know that you are being tempted, not for when you know that you might be tempted later.
If Shield of Faith is best for individual battles, Shield is best against individual attacks. With the shortest duration of 1 round (approximately 6 seconds), Shield hardly seems useful at all, but its value is seen in its benefit and its casting time. Its benefit is that it adds +5 to your AC for that one round, which is an incredible bonus. Few attacks can get past a Shield, especially if one's AC was already good to begin with, and Shield's casting time of Reaction allows one to use it in response to an attack that might otherwise have hit them. The other two spells I've discussed have a casting time of an Action, meaning that one has to spend their Action on their turn casting the spell in order to get the benefits for later turns. Mage Armor and Shield of Faith are mostly proactive spells. In contrast, Shield is a reactive spell. When one would get hit by an attack, one can use their Reaction to cast Shield, which increases their AC until the start of their next turn. Shield is like a prayer uttered in the face of a specific temptation. It doesn't say "I may need help later." It says "I need help Right Now."
The best part is that these spells can be stacked to combine their effects. One can cast Mage Armor at regular intervals to keep their armor on at all times, cast Shield of Faith at the start of a battle to give themselves extra defense for that battle, and cast Shield on top of that if anything gets through their already excellent defenses. Using those three spells (and a positive Dexterity Modifier), one can (temporarily) have a higher AC than that offered by any non-magical armor in the game.
But more importantly, these three spells illustrate when we ought to pray for strength to resist temptation. First, regularly (one might dare say always), at least every morning and evening, and maybe one or more times during the day. Second, when we know temptation is upon us or coming soon. And third, in the exact instant when we are being tempted. If we pray at all three of those times, we will be extraordinarily well-defended against temptation, making it much, much easier for us to get through our battles unscathed.
Of course, it will still be up to us to fight or flee. If we linger in tempting situations, those temptations will eventually get the better of us, no matter how good our armor is, but as long as we do everything in our power to end the fights quickly, we should be basically untouchable within our well-maintained spiritual armor, and the best part is that we never have to take it off. Our spiritual defenses can be formidable, and with the right prayers said at the right times, we can keep them up almost constantly.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Putting in an Effort
Today, I gathered four tennis balls from the tennis courts at my school. The first three were easy. One was stuck pretty low in the fence, and the other two were just lying on the ground. They were almost too easy. The last one, however, was about as high up on the fence as a tennis ball can get. To get to it, I had to roll a set of portable bleachers across the lengths of two tennis courts and stand on the highest bench of those bleachers so I could just barely reach the fourth tennis ball with a stick. But you know what? I appreciate that fourth tennis ball a bit more than the other three, mostly because of the work I had to put into it.
Life is hard. At least, the more worth-while parts of life are hard. Getting and keeping a job, raising a family, keeping covenants, and achieving Celestial Glory are all fairly difficult things to do. Yet, those things are absolutely worth doing, and we appreciate them all the more for the work we put into them.
Too often, I shy away from doing difficult things because they'll be difficult, and I doubt that they'll be worth the effort, but maybe, sometimes, the effort itself is what makes those things worth doing. People don't climb mountains because it's easy. They climbs mountains, among other reasons, to challenge themselves and to prove to themselves and the world that they can do difficult things. More than that, they are willing to put in the effort required to do difficult things.
I spent at least five minutes today retrieving a tennis ball. I should be willing to put in at least that much effort to do things that are more difficult, but infinitely more worth-while.
Life is hard. At least, the more worth-while parts of life are hard. Getting and keeping a job, raising a family, keeping covenants, and achieving Celestial Glory are all fairly difficult things to do. Yet, those things are absolutely worth doing, and we appreciate them all the more for the work we put into them.
Too often, I shy away from doing difficult things because they'll be difficult, and I doubt that they'll be worth the effort, but maybe, sometimes, the effort itself is what makes those things worth doing. People don't climb mountains because it's easy. They climbs mountains, among other reasons, to challenge themselves and to prove to themselves and the world that they can do difficult things. More than that, they are willing to put in the effort required to do difficult things.
I spent at least five minutes today retrieving a tennis ball. I should be willing to put in at least that much effort to do things that are more difficult, but infinitely more worth-while.
Monday, October 14, 2019
Truth and Reason
The hymn Oh My Father includes a few lines about Truth and Reason, essentially arguing that if something is unreasonable, it can't be true, because the truth will always be reasonable. I have a few major problems with this line of thinking, and most of them stem from the fact that human beings aren't always great at reasoning.
In olden times, it seemed perfectly reasonable to think that the Earth was flat. I mean, just look at it. Look at the horizon, and you'll see what appears to be a perfectly flat line. Judging by that evidence, it would be reasonable to conclude that the Earth actually is flat, but we later learned, with the help of further knowledge, that the Earth is actually round, but so huge it appears flat from our limited perspective.
It's that limited perspective that bothers me. We can't base our acceptance or rejection of spiritual claims on what seems reasonable to us because our limited perspectives sometimes lead us to the wrong conclusions. Something may make sense to us but still be false, and something may not make sense to us but still be true. Thankfully, our perspective and reasoning are usually accurate enough for everyday use, but for spiritual matters, it's best not to take that kind of chance.
When it comes to spiritual truths, our flawed logic and human reasoning will only get us so far. So, rather than "proving" spiritual truths with mortal reason, I plan to rely on revelation, and on the subjects where revelation is scant, I'll try to have the courage to say "I don't know" instead of trying to guess what I think is most likely to be true just because it seems to "stand to reason."
In olden times, it seemed perfectly reasonable to think that the Earth was flat. I mean, just look at it. Look at the horizon, and you'll see what appears to be a perfectly flat line. Judging by that evidence, it would be reasonable to conclude that the Earth actually is flat, but we later learned, with the help of further knowledge, that the Earth is actually round, but so huge it appears flat from our limited perspective.
It's that limited perspective that bothers me. We can't base our acceptance or rejection of spiritual claims on what seems reasonable to us because our limited perspectives sometimes lead us to the wrong conclusions. Something may make sense to us but still be false, and something may not make sense to us but still be true. Thankfully, our perspective and reasoning are usually accurate enough for everyday use, but for spiritual matters, it's best not to take that kind of chance.
When it comes to spiritual truths, our flawed logic and human reasoning will only get us so far. So, rather than "proving" spiritual truths with mortal reason, I plan to rely on revelation, and on the subjects where revelation is scant, I'll try to have the courage to say "I don't know" instead of trying to guess what I think is most likely to be true just because it seems to "stand to reason."
Sunday, October 13, 2019
The Last Three Lessons of Valonor Kharagon
Valonor Kharagon, my Noble Dragonborn Paladin D&D character, is dead. He died in my most recent game of D&D last Wednesday night. There are several factors that contributed to Kharagon's death; several decisions and die rolls that the DM and I made, and two die rolls I didn't make, all conspired to seal Kharagon's fate. For the purpose of this blog post, I'd like to focus on three factors that led to Kharagon's death and on the spiritual lessons we can learn from this minor, fictional tragedy.
First, Kharagon wasn't wearing his armor. As a Paladin, Kharagon was proficient with Heavy Armor. But to gain the benefit of armor, you have to wear it, and to wear it, you have to put it on. Putting on armor takes time, so when Kharagon woke up to the sound of someone or something breaking into the tavern he and his coworkers run, he didn't think he had the time to take 10 minutes to put his armor on.
And, of course, he didn't. The moment one needs ones armor is not the moment to put it on. If you want your armor to protect you when you need it to, you need to have put it on well in advance. Thankfully, we don't have to take our armor off when we go to bed, but we do have to put it on when we wake up, and we have to regularly tend to our armor to keep it in good condition. Without that armor, the namesake of my blog, we're likely going to take some serious, perhaps fatal, damage.
This leads me to the second factor that contributed to Kharagon's death: he didn't get healing. Without his armor, he was a pretty easy mark for the intruders, and his Hit Points dropped faster than I realized. There was one point at which Kharagon had taken some heavy damage, and he had an opportunity to heal up a bit, but I had him attack instead, thinking that he'd have plenty of time to heal up after the battle. Unfortunately, Kharagon didn't last that long. If he had healed himself right then, he might not have gone down to zero Hit Points and fallen unconscious, and if any of the other characters had healed him after he had fallen unconscious, he almost certainly wouldn't have died. Now, I don't mean to blame anyone else for Kharagon's death because 1) he's a fictional character; his death is no big deal, 2) his death was almost entirely my fault, as I'll explain in a moment, and 3) most of the other characters didn't know that he had fallen unconscious, and those who knew couldn't do anything about it. The others bare no blame in this. I just wanted to make the point that, when you need healing, get it.
All of us carry some inner wounds. Some of them are from sins committed by us or those around us. Some of them came as a result of our circumstances and/or the tragic events that fall upon us or upon those we care about. I won't pretend to be able to guess what anyone is struggling with, but I will say that inner wounds need healing just as much as outer wounds, maybe even more so. So do what you need to do to get the healing you need. Take some time for yourself, if you can. Definitely pray. Maybe meditate. Listen to some good music. Heal. And if you can't heal yourself, get someone else to heal you. Friends, family members, Bishops, counselors, angels, and God Himself are all potential healers. Seek them out. Get the healing you need. If you have taken any damage at all, do whatever you need to do to heal.
Finally, and ultimately, Kharagon died because he didn't seek Divine Favor. When a D&D character drops to zero Hit Points, he or she has to spend each round after that rolling Death Saving Throws until he or she stabilizes, gains Hit Points, or dies. To make a Death Saving Throw, the player rolls a 20-sided die called a d20. If the player rolls a 10 or higher, that's a "Success," and if he or she rolls a 20, the character regains 1 Hit Point and their consciousness. However, if the player rolls a 9 or lower, that's a "Failure," and if he or she rolls a 1, that counts as two Failures. If a character gets three total Successes (and they don't have to be consecutive), the character stabilizes, they stop having to roll Death Saving Throws, and they are very likely going to survive. However, if the character gets three total Failures (again, not necessarily in a row), the character dies.
Kharagon's first Death Saving Throw rolled a 6, a Failure, but I knew that if I could increase that number by 4, I could turn it into a 10, a Success. Kharagon had an ability called Divine Favor, which would allow me to roll two 4-sided dice and add their results to a failed saving throw. However, I chose not to use that ability. He can only use it once per day, and I figured that just one Failure wasn't that bad. He had plenty of time for someone else to heal him or for him to stabilize on his own. I decided to save his Divine Favor for when he really needed it. But when his next turn came, and I had to roll another Death Saving Throw for the fate of Kharagon's life, I rolled a 1. That added two Failures to the one he had already gotten, and he died. At that point, there was nothing I could do. I could have invoked his Divine Favor, but it wouldn't have worked. Adding 2d4 to the result wouldn't change the fact that I had rolled a natural 1. Later that night, at home, out of curiosity, I rolled the 2d4, wondering if the Divine Favor would have been enough to change that first 6 into a 10. Between the two 4-sided dice, I rolled a total of 4. Kharagon died almost entirely because I didn't call upon Divine Favor.
The moral is perfectly clear: Call Upon Divine Favor. Unlike Kharagon, we aren't limited to doing so only once per day, and it's possible for that Divine Favor to help a lot more than those 2d4 could. You may think that you're not worthy of Divine Favor, but that doesn't matter. Ask anyway. God helps lots of people just because He loves them, whether they're worthy or not, and if God doesn't help you, it's probably because He knows that you don't need Him to, just like what happened the last time Kharagon almost died. The last (and only) time Kharagon called on Divine Favor, he got a pair of ones, which were almost no help at all, but he got healing later, so he was fine. I had thought that that lack of help meant that the God whom Kharagon worshiped was okay with Kharagon dying, but now I think
So those are the three lessons I have learned from Kharagon's death: Wear Your Armor, Seek Healing, and Call Upon Divine Favor. Any one of those factors could have made the difference between Kharagon's life and death, and they can still make the difference between our Eternal Life and Spiritual Death. Without his armor, healing, or calling upon Divine Favor, Kharagon passed on to his eternal reward, but if we don't use those things, we may not have an Eternal Reward waiting for us when we get there. So build up your armor, get all the healing you need, and pray for Divine Favor every chance you get. Kharagon's life depended on those three factors. Ours do too.
Saturday, October 12, 2019
The Fun of Misfortune
In D&D, dice and dumb decisions often lead events to turn out badly. When they do, we can often laugh about it. I can laugh about how my Dragonborn Paladin, Valonor Kharagon, became a were-rabbit through a series of questionable choices and unlucky rolls. Now, of course I didn't want my noble, heroic character to transform into a giant bunny rabbit after nearly being killed by a swarm of magically-animated carrots, but that's what happened, and the whole situation was hilarious. And while I don't like laughing at the misfortune of others, it's okay in this case because Valonor Kharagon isn't a real person. Laughing at him and his comically unfortunate situation is similar to laughing at the characters and situations in a sitcom. Of course it's not okay to laugh at others' misfortune unless they're laughing, too. That's why the one person whose misfortune it's a;most always okay to laugh at is yourself.
Case in point, I went on a set of errands this afternoon. My plan was to deliver the ring I found the other day to Regional Transit's Lost and Found, go to the school to print up some papers, then meet up with friends to play D&D. None of those things actually happened. I started off on the wrong foot immediately by walking a few blocks toward the bus stop for the bus I usually catch instead of toward the bus stop for the bus I was supposed to catch. Miraculously, or maybe because the bus was late, I caught the bus anyway, or maybe I caught the next one; I'm not sure. But when I ultimately got to the Regional Transit office, I learned that they're closed on Saturdays and that I had just missed the train headed toward my next destination, so I held on to the ring and waited for the next train. I got to the school around 4 in the afternoon, only to learn that, on Saturdays, the library with the printing stations closes at 3. Fortunately, I had access to all the information I really needed through my phone, so I would still be able to play D&D with my friends. Or rather, I would have, had any other players shown up. So, instead of returning the ring, printing some papers, and playing D&D, I rode buses and trains on a wild goose chase, accomplished nothing, chatted with one (and only one) of my friends for a few minutes instead of a few hours, and caught the next bus home. This all could have been horribly disappointing, but I'm choosing to find it funny instead.
Sometimes, things go wrong so thoroughly or so badly that you just have to laugh. This was one of those times. It's funny that I walked the wrong way at first. It's funny that most of the places I went to today were closed when I got there. It's funny that I didn't accomplish even a single thing I set out to do this afternoon. Well, actually, I did accomplish one thing I had set out to do: I had fun. That's the fun of misfortune. When things go badly, it can be funny, and when we choose to see our misfortunes that way, our bad luck can be fun.
Granted, there's a good deal of misfortune and tragedy in the world that goes beyond our ability to laugh it off. I'm not talking about great tragedies like those right now. I'm talking about minor goofs and fickle winds of fate, not evil or real, painful suffering. Some misfortune can't be fun. But when your paladin turns into a giant rabbit or you realize that absolutely nothing went as planned, it's sometimes okay, and even appropriate, to laugh.
Case in point, I went on a set of errands this afternoon. My plan was to deliver the ring I found the other day to Regional Transit's Lost and Found, go to the school to print up some papers, then meet up with friends to play D&D. None of those things actually happened. I started off on the wrong foot immediately by walking a few blocks toward the bus stop for the bus I usually catch instead of toward the bus stop for the bus I was supposed to catch. Miraculously, or maybe because the bus was late, I caught the bus anyway, or maybe I caught the next one; I'm not sure. But when I ultimately got to the Regional Transit office, I learned that they're closed on Saturdays and that I had just missed the train headed toward my next destination, so I held on to the ring and waited for the next train. I got to the school around 4 in the afternoon, only to learn that, on Saturdays, the library with the printing stations closes at 3. Fortunately, I had access to all the information I really needed through my phone, so I would still be able to play D&D with my friends. Or rather, I would have, had any other players shown up. So, instead of returning the ring, printing some papers, and playing D&D, I rode buses and trains on a wild goose chase, accomplished nothing, chatted with one (and only one) of my friends for a few minutes instead of a few hours, and caught the next bus home. This all could have been horribly disappointing, but I'm choosing to find it funny instead.
Sometimes, things go wrong so thoroughly or so badly that you just have to laugh. This was one of those times. It's funny that I walked the wrong way at first. It's funny that most of the places I went to today were closed when I got there. It's funny that I didn't accomplish even a single thing I set out to do this afternoon. Well, actually, I did accomplish one thing I had set out to do: I had fun. That's the fun of misfortune. When things go badly, it can be funny, and when we choose to see our misfortunes that way, our bad luck can be fun.
Granted, there's a good deal of misfortune and tragedy in the world that goes beyond our ability to laugh it off. I'm not talking about great tragedies like those right now. I'm talking about minor goofs and fickle winds of fate, not evil or real, painful suffering. Some misfortune can't be fun. But when your paladin turns into a giant rabbit or you realize that absolutely nothing went as planned, it's sometimes okay, and even appropriate, to laugh.
Friday, October 11, 2019
"Can't Complain"
Yesterday, I overheard someone give a unique response to a fairly common question. The question was something along the lines of "how has your day been?" Many people get asked this question regularly, and people tend to answer the question with "Good," "Fine," "Alright," or any word like that. Sometimes, people offer a two-word answer, "Can't complain." But yesterday, I heard a response to this question that I don't think I've ever heard before: "Can't complain. Well, I could, but I don't want to."
How true and profound is that!
Firstly, anyone who says that they "can't complain" about something probably doesn't mean that literally. People can (and do) complain about just about everything. Very few things in life are perfect. In just about everything, there are imperfections about which we could complain. When we compare our lives to others' or even to an imaginary ideal life, we can almost always find something that we could complain about.
But why would we want to? Apart from offering constructive criticism, which complaints often aren't, what good could complaining do? I suppose it could be cathartic to get some complaints off your chest, and it can even help others by letting them know that other people also struggle with and dislike the same things they do. Okay, there are some, perhaps many, valid reasons why a person might want to complain, but there are also many reasons why they wouldn't.
Complaining breeds negativity. The more we complain, the more we dwell on the negative aspects of life. It can't be healthy. We don't want to bottle up our negativity, but we don't want to keep it inside us either. It's better to let the complaints go and to look for the good. Instead of looking mainly at the bad news and the parts that we can complain about, we should consider the good news and the parts for which we can thank God. I believe that people will tend to see what they look for. If that's true, I want to look for the good in the world.
So, yeah, nothing's perfect, and we can definitely complain about it if we wanted to, but who would want to complain about it when they could, instead, focus on the good? Complaining doesn't do much good, but counting our blessings can. In the future, I'm going to try to keep my complaints to a minimum. Sure, I could complain, but I don't want to.
How true and profound is that!
Firstly, anyone who says that they "can't complain" about something probably doesn't mean that literally. People can (and do) complain about just about everything. Very few things in life are perfect. In just about everything, there are imperfections about which we could complain. When we compare our lives to others' or even to an imaginary ideal life, we can almost always find something that we could complain about.
But why would we want to? Apart from offering constructive criticism, which complaints often aren't, what good could complaining do? I suppose it could be cathartic to get some complaints off your chest, and it can even help others by letting them know that other people also struggle with and dislike the same things they do. Okay, there are some, perhaps many, valid reasons why a person might want to complain, but there are also many reasons why they wouldn't.
Complaining breeds negativity. The more we complain, the more we dwell on the negative aspects of life. It can't be healthy. We don't want to bottle up our negativity, but we don't want to keep it inside us either. It's better to let the complaints go and to look for the good. Instead of looking mainly at the bad news and the parts that we can complain about, we should consider the good news and the parts for which we can thank God. I believe that people will tend to see what they look for. If that's true, I want to look for the good in the world.
So, yeah, nothing's perfect, and we can definitely complain about it if we wanted to, but who would want to complain about it when they could, instead, focus on the good? Complaining doesn't do much good, but counting our blessings can. In the future, I'm going to try to keep my complaints to a minimum. Sure, I could complain, but I don't want to.
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Priceless or Worthless?
While we're on the subjects of worth an worthlessness, I want to tell you about something I found the other day. Two days ago, I found a ring lying on the ground at a light rail station. The ring was silver in color and had clear crystals on it, but it didn't have any markings on it that gave any clue as to whom it might have belonged to. I thought that it could possibly be a real, silver and diamond ring, or it could be a worthless piece of plastic. It could have been priceless, or it could have been worthless, and I wasn't fully sure how to tell.
In life, it's important to be able to tell what has real value and what doesn't, not just because that ability could save you from being scammed out of a lot of money, but also because it can affect our eternal well-being. To many people value temporal things too much and spiritual things too little. Some people think that money and power and fame are worth spending a great deal of time acquiring, leaving little time left for spiritual things, which they judge to be far less valuable. Misvaluing things can be the cause of great disappointment and regret, both in this life and the next. This is why we must be careful to correctly determine what is truly priceless and what is truly worthless.
As for the ring, I figure that it's probably worthless. It's not heavy enough to feel like real metal, and there are some spots where the blemishes make me believe that the ring is fake. However, knowing the importance of not devaluing things that are truly priceless, I'm going to try to find out how to report the ring as being found, just in case anybody's looking for it. Maybe I'll take it to some light rail lost and found, maybe I'll take it straight to a police station, I'm not sure. But I am sure that, in case it truly has value, I should probably treat it as such.
In life, it's important to be able to tell what has real value and what doesn't, not just because that ability could save you from being scammed out of a lot of money, but also because it can affect our eternal well-being. To many people value temporal things too much and spiritual things too little. Some people think that money and power and fame are worth spending a great deal of time acquiring, leaving little time left for spiritual things, which they judge to be far less valuable. Misvaluing things can be the cause of great disappointment and regret, both in this life and the next. This is why we must be careful to correctly determine what is truly priceless and what is truly worthless.
As for the ring, I figure that it's probably worthless. It's not heavy enough to feel like real metal, and there are some spots where the blemishes make me believe that the ring is fake. However, knowing the importance of not devaluing things that are truly priceless, I'm going to try to find out how to report the ring as being found, just in case anybody's looking for it. Maybe I'll take it to some light rail lost and found, maybe I'll take it straight to a police station, I'm not sure. But I am sure that, in case it truly has value, I should probably treat it as such.
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Cost ≠ Worth
I was recently reminded that cost and worth are not always related. There are some things that are expensive, yet worthless, like overly fancy cars and some works of art. They cost a fortune, but they don't provide much value, and what value they do provide could be obtained at much lower costs. In contrast, some things are relatively inexpensive, but are worth their weight in gold, like good food, sturdy and useful tools, and comfortable clothing. The things that offer the greatest value aren't the most expensive things, but rather the least expensive of the things of great worth.
And, of course, the "things" of greatest worth don't even cost a dime. Good friends and family, a strong relationship with God, and the everyday blessings of nature, like sunrises, sunsets, fresh rain, and gentle breezes, are all free (though, arguably, a strong relationship with God does carry the cost of tithes and offerings, but the blessings of such a relationship far outweigh the costs).
Good things don't have to be expensive. Expensive things aren't always worthwhile, and there are many things that are worthwhile, regardless of their costs. A thing isn't valuable just because it's expensive, and a thing isn't worthless just because it's cheap. We must learn to evaluate the true worth of things, regardless of what they cost.
And, of course, the "things" of greatest worth don't even cost a dime. Good friends and family, a strong relationship with God, and the everyday blessings of nature, like sunrises, sunsets, fresh rain, and gentle breezes, are all free (though, arguably, a strong relationship with God does carry the cost of tithes and offerings, but the blessings of such a relationship far outweigh the costs).
Good things don't have to be expensive. Expensive things aren't always worthwhile, and there are many things that are worthwhile, regardless of their costs. A thing isn't valuable just because it's expensive, and a thing isn't worthless just because it's cheap. We must learn to evaluate the true worth of things, regardless of what they cost.
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
The Mystery Lesson of the Barely-Caught Bus
The other day, I met a guy who barely caught the bus that I was riding. It wasn't that he was late. He was waiting for the bus as it approached, but the bus driver misread his body language and thought that he wasn't interested in catching the bus, so the bus rolled right past him. A few blocks later, the guy, riding a skateboard, caught up to the bus and was eventually allowed on. We happened to be getting off at the same stop, so after we got off the bus, I struck up a conversation with him and ultimately invited him to join me for a free breakfast at the LDS Institute. We talked about the church and General Conference. It's hard to say whether the conversation had any real impact on him. But he invited me to a play he's in and he lent me the book that the play is based on, so I'm sure I'll see him again, if only to return the book. Maybe we'll talk more then.
I've been trying to think of what sort of lesson we can learn from this. In theory, the guy should have been able to just catch the bus like normal. After all, he was waiting for it. It should have stopped for him. His ride would then have gone uneventfully, and we never would have talked. Maybe, just maybe, that conversation we had was important enough to God that He was willing to give the guy some undeserved grief, just to make sure the conversation happened. It's possible. I may never know for sure.
But what I do know for sure is that God never takes anything away from us without (eventually) offering us something better. They guy I met on that bus lost the opportunity to have a normal bus ride. That opportunity was taken away from him. In return, God gave him an opportunity to hear about the church. That may be a great blessing, if it goes anywhere. If not, maybe there's another reason for our meeting. That's another thing I know. There are reasons behind everything God does. We might not learn all those reasons until much later, and we can't necessarily attribute all events to the hand of God anyway. Maybe the guy missing the bus was just bad or good luck. I don't know for sure whether or not to call it an act of God.
Still, something happened, and I highly doubt that we have, or ever will, hear the end of it. I'm confident that someone's life was blessed by the events of the other day, but I have yet to fully learn whose or how.
I've been trying to think of what sort of lesson we can learn from this. In theory, the guy should have been able to just catch the bus like normal. After all, he was waiting for it. It should have stopped for him. His ride would then have gone uneventfully, and we never would have talked. Maybe, just maybe, that conversation we had was important enough to God that He was willing to give the guy some undeserved grief, just to make sure the conversation happened. It's possible. I may never know for sure.
But what I do know for sure is that God never takes anything away from us without (eventually) offering us something better. They guy I met on that bus lost the opportunity to have a normal bus ride. That opportunity was taken away from him. In return, God gave him an opportunity to hear about the church. That may be a great blessing, if it goes anywhere. If not, maybe there's another reason for our meeting. That's another thing I know. There are reasons behind everything God does. We might not learn all those reasons until much later, and we can't necessarily attribute all events to the hand of God anyway. Maybe the guy missing the bus was just bad or good luck. I don't know for sure whether or not to call it an act of God.
Still, something happened, and I highly doubt that we have, or ever will, hear the end of it. I'm confident that someone's life was blessed by the events of the other day, but I have yet to fully learn whose or how.
Monday, October 7, 2019
Music Appreciation
In my last blog post, I mentioned that one of the traits I want to regain is an appreciation for music, but not just any kind of music. Sure, I like music that has some emotion behind it and songs whose lyrics really mean something, and many hymns are good for that, but that's not really the kind of music that I need. I need music with energy and pep. I need music that I can dance or jog to. I need music that empowers me and makes me want to get moving.
Now, the lyrics of these songs may or may not mean much, but that's not really the point. For example, my so-far favorite of these peppy, energetic songs is Real Good Feeling by Oh The Larceny. The lyrics actually start out pretty decently:
Now, I know what you're thinking: "Sure, it's great that you've found music that uplifts you, but if the lyrics to the opposite, I'm not sure I can fully get behind that." And I agree. That nightclub music? Not really my thing. That's why I'm toying with the idea of "spicing up" regular hymns and primary songs. The "spicing up" process mostly involves increasing the tempo and making the notes more staccato. In layman's terms, I put a little more bounce in it.
Granted, this doesn't work for all hymns or for all verses of all hymns. The third verse of How Great Thou Art and the whole song titled Gethsemane should not be "spiced up" this way. Some hymns are too sacred to turn into dance music. Still, there are many other hymns and other songs that can be modified in this way, and they blend the benefits of good lyrics and upbeat music.
I plan to play around with this more, especially as I travel. I'll tweak lyrics of dance music to give them more or better meaning, and I'll tweak the music of more pleasant songs to give them more energy. Between those two methods, I should soon establish a collection of songs that lift my spirit in more ways than one. Music can be a powerful tool in my life, and I look forward to taking more advantage of it.
Now, the lyrics of these songs may or may not mean much, but that's not really the point. For example, my so-far favorite of these peppy, energetic songs is Real Good Feeling by Oh The Larceny. The lyrics actually start out pretty decently:
I woke up feeling like this gon' be my dayIt's optimistic. It's energetic. It's a little bit repetitive (and you don't know the half of it, since I cut a lot of the repetition out), but it's good. The second verse, however, makes it clear that the singer is in some kind of club, where I'm not sure I'd be entirely comfortable:
I've got that poppin' fire every step I take
Living that wild life, not stopping now, no way
Just seeing green lights, won't ever touch the brakes
Got a real good feeling, got a real good feeling
Like there is lighting deep in my bones
Got a real good feeling, I won't hit no ceiling
I'm going higher than I've ever known
Got a real good feeling
This place is jumping off, hot as it can getStill, the music itself is upbeat, and it's great for a pick-me-up, when I need it. I thought about making it my morning alarm, but the music is a bit too startling to wake up to. I'll have to settle for listening to it a little bit later in the morning.
No, we won't ever stop dancing on the edge
We like it dangerous, we like to see you sweat
Turn up a another notch, you ain't seen nothing yet
Now, I know what you're thinking: "Sure, it's great that you've found music that uplifts you, but if the lyrics to the opposite, I'm not sure I can fully get behind that." And I agree. That nightclub music? Not really my thing. That's why I'm toying with the idea of "spicing up" regular hymns and primary songs. The "spicing up" process mostly involves increasing the tempo and making the notes more staccato. In layman's terms, I put a little more bounce in it.
Granted, this doesn't work for all hymns or for all verses of all hymns. The third verse of How Great Thou Art and the whole song titled Gethsemane should not be "spiced up" this way. Some hymns are too sacred to turn into dance music. Still, there are many other hymns and other songs that can be modified in this way, and they blend the benefits of good lyrics and upbeat music.
I plan to play around with this more, especially as I travel. I'll tweak lyrics of dance music to give them more or better meaning, and I'll tweak the music of more pleasant songs to give them more energy. Between those two methods, I should soon establish a collection of songs that lift my spirit in more ways than one. Music can be a powerful tool in my life, and I look forward to taking more advantage of it.
Sunday, October 6, 2019
An Attainable Goal
The great thing about my current life goal is that I know it's attainable. Often, I set lofty, worthwhile goals, but then I fall short, possibly because I lack the confidence to succeed. This time, I am perfectly confident that I can regain my favorite characteristics because there was once a time when I had them. I'm not trying to become better than I can be; I'm trying to re-become as good as I once was. I know I can do it because I already did. I just need to do it again.
Applying similar logic, I suppose we can just as confidently overcome Satan's temptations and follow God's plan for our salvation and exaltation. We did it before. In theory, we've been doing it for longer than we've been alive. We overcame Satan's temptations before we were born. We can certainly do so now.
Naturally, what I say isn't completely certain to be true. Circumstances change. What was possible at one time under one set of circumstances might become impossible at a different time under different circumstances. I don't know if anything has changed in my life that would prevent me from becoming the same man I once was, but we have all undergone a colossal change since the pre-mortal council. We all have bodies now.
Still, while that change is a drastic one, it doesn't necessarily change the fact that we can, indeed, overcome Satan's temptations. In fact, we've been told by the scriptures and prophets that the power to choose good or evil still lies with us. We had the power to choose good before, and we have the power to choose good again.
Similarly, I believe that I still have the power to be as good as I was a few years ago, and I know how I'm going to do it. More physical activity, especially for fun, or for tasks in which I can find the fun. More spiritual observation, especially with an eye toward finding things to blog about before too late in the evening. And, though I havn't blogged about this yet, more music appreciation, especially the sort of music that has energy and pep in it, the kind that's energizing and easy to dance to, not just pretty or emotional or reverent. I need music that makes me smile and makes me want to move in beat with the music, but I can blog more about that later. For now, I want to take care of the dishes, maybe watch one more Youtube video, and go to bed well before I become desperately tired.
I've set a precedent. I have been a more successful person than I am now, and I can be that good again.
Applying similar logic, I suppose we can just as confidently overcome Satan's temptations and follow God's plan for our salvation and exaltation. We did it before. In theory, we've been doing it for longer than we've been alive. We overcame Satan's temptations before we were born. We can certainly do so now.
Naturally, what I say isn't completely certain to be true. Circumstances change. What was possible at one time under one set of circumstances might become impossible at a different time under different circumstances. I don't know if anything has changed in my life that would prevent me from becoming the same man I once was, but we have all undergone a colossal change since the pre-mortal council. We all have bodies now.
Still, while that change is a drastic one, it doesn't necessarily change the fact that we can, indeed, overcome Satan's temptations. In fact, we've been told by the scriptures and prophets that the power to choose good or evil still lies with us. We had the power to choose good before, and we have the power to choose good again.
Similarly, I believe that I still have the power to be as good as I was a few years ago, and I know how I'm going to do it. More physical activity, especially for fun, or for tasks in which I can find the fun. More spiritual observation, especially with an eye toward finding things to blog about before too late in the evening. And, though I havn't blogged about this yet, more music appreciation, especially the sort of music that has energy and pep in it, the kind that's energizing and easy to dance to, not just pretty or emotional or reverent. I need music that makes me smile and makes me want to move in beat with the music, but I can blog more about that later. For now, I want to take care of the dishes, maybe watch one more Youtube video, and go to bed well before I become desperately tired.
I've set a precedent. I have been a more successful person than I am now, and I can be that good again.
Saturday, October 5, 2019
Spiritual Observation
During Elder Bednar's talk this afternoon, he did what I sometimes do (and often used to do) on my blog. He took a situation he observed, pulled several spiritual lessons out of the situation, and shared those lessons with the world. He also openly encouraged us to do the same, to consider the situation with the cheetahs and the topis and see what spiritual lessons we can learn from that situation. That's something that I fully intend to do, and not just with the cheetahs and the topis.
I want to go back to my roots with my blog. I want to blog about situations I've seen and the lessons that can be learned from them. I want to keep my spiritual eyes open and see more of the spiritual messages God scatters along our path. Like the guy I met the other day, who only barely managed to catch the bus. I'm sure there are a few spiritual lessons to be learned from what happened to him. I'd like to find some of them and blog about them. Not only would that help me become a more spiritual person, it would also help me find things to blog about faster, so I won't end up staying up as late as often, which might help me be less cranky and irritable, which is a win for everybody.
This, combined with more physical activity and another one or two suggestions I've picked up from elsewhere, might help me feel more like myself again. I've been in a slump lately. Actually, I don't know how long I've been in it. But getting more physically and spiritually active might help me get back out of it. I've got a real good feeling about this. I've rediscovered several traits I love about the way I used to be. With a little effort, and a lot of diligence, I can regain those traits and become a better person for it. I don't want to count my chickens, but it's possible that I'm on the right path toward rebecoming the best version of me I've ever been. It's encouraging and exhilarating, and I partly have Elder Bednar and his cheetahs to thank for it.
I want to go back to my roots with my blog. I want to blog about situations I've seen and the lessons that can be learned from them. I want to keep my spiritual eyes open and see more of the spiritual messages God scatters along our path. Like the guy I met the other day, who only barely managed to catch the bus. I'm sure there are a few spiritual lessons to be learned from what happened to him. I'd like to find some of them and blog about them. Not only would that help me become a more spiritual person, it would also help me find things to blog about faster, so I won't end up staying up as late as often, which might help me be less cranky and irritable, which is a win for everybody.
This, combined with more physical activity and another one or two suggestions I've picked up from elsewhere, might help me feel more like myself again. I've been in a slump lately. Actually, I don't know how long I've been in it. But getting more physically and spiritually active might help me get back out of it. I've got a real good feeling about this. I've rediscovered several traits I love about the way I used to be. With a little effort, and a lot of diligence, I can regain those traits and become a better person for it. I don't want to count my chickens, but it's possible that I'm on the right path toward rebecoming the best version of me I've ever been. It's encouraging and exhilarating, and I partly have Elder Bednar and his cheetahs to thank for it.
Friday, October 4, 2019
Physical Activity
Yesterday, as part of turning my day around, I jumped across a bench. I am, or at least was, a spry, athletic, young man. Granted, I am not actually an athlete, but I am or was the kind of person who might jump on something or balance across things, just because I can.
At some point, I stopped doing that. Maybe it's just that my pants were too tight, or maybe I just caved and fell in line with the expectations of society, but I stopped running (unless I was late for something), I stopped jumping, and I stopped balancing. That may be part of the reason I've been so out-of-balance - I'm out of practice. I sit too much. I sit when I'm at work, when I'm in a class, and when I'm on a computer. Between those three things, I'm sitting most of the time, and most of my movement is just to get from one seat to another.
In the future, I'd like to change that. I'd like to move more, to run more, to jump and balance more. And if that means that people look at me funny, tough. I need more physical activity in my life to help me balance out all the physical rest I get. I'll invest in looser, more comfortable pants if I have to, but I will find a way to get back to having more physical activity in my life.
At some point, I stopped doing that. Maybe it's just that my pants were too tight, or maybe I just caved and fell in line with the expectations of society, but I stopped running (unless I was late for something), I stopped jumping, and I stopped balancing. That may be part of the reason I've been so out-of-balance - I'm out of practice. I sit too much. I sit when I'm at work, when I'm in a class, and when I'm on a computer. Between those three things, I'm sitting most of the time, and most of my movement is just to get from one seat to another.
In the future, I'd like to change that. I'd like to move more, to run more, to jump and balance more. And if that means that people look at me funny, tough. I need more physical activity in my life to help me balance out all the physical rest I get. I'll invest in looser, more comfortable pants if I have to, but I will find a way to get back to having more physical activity in my life.
Thursday, October 3, 2019
I Made a List
This morning, I felt stressed. I felt that I had too much going on, crammed into too little time, and I thought I couldn't handle it. Then, after being a hopeless wreck for a few minutes, I made a list of things I had to take care of, then I mentally sorted the list.
I put on the back burner everything that I couldn't do anything about yet. I considered the deadlines of each task. I identified tasks that could wait. I picked out tasks that I could take care of relatively quickly and easily. I set lower-priority items aside and accepted that, if I didn't have time to do everything, some lower-priority items might not get done on time. In short, I reminded myself that I don't need to worry about everything at once, since I can only ever do one thing at a time anyway.
Then I chose a few of the quickest, simplest, most important, and/or most urgent things, and I did them. And I remembered that self-care tasks should be ranked among the other important tasks.
All in all, it turned out to be a half-decent day. I got several things done, and I'm confident that they were the tasks that most needed to get done today. The others can and will have to wait, perhaps even indefinitely, and I okay with that. I didn't do everything. I can't do everything. But I did the right things.
I put on the back burner everything that I couldn't do anything about yet. I considered the deadlines of each task. I identified tasks that could wait. I picked out tasks that I could take care of relatively quickly and easily. I set lower-priority items aside and accepted that, if I didn't have time to do everything, some lower-priority items might not get done on time. In short, I reminded myself that I don't need to worry about everything at once, since I can only ever do one thing at a time anyway.
Then I chose a few of the quickest, simplest, most important, and/or most urgent things, and I did them. And I remembered that self-care tasks should be ranked among the other important tasks.
All in all, it turned out to be a half-decent day. I got several things done, and I'm confident that they were the tasks that most needed to get done today. The others can and will have to wait, perhaps even indefinitely, and I okay with that. I didn't do everything. I can't do everything. But I did the right things.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Fuel and Change
My favorite verse of Smash Mouth's All Star is the last one:
I think we can accept the fact that we all need to change. None of us is perfect. We all have areas where we can improve. However, changing isn't easy. It takes effort, and it takes energy to make the effort. The energy that's needed in order to effect change differs from person to person. The "fuel" in this case is whatever "fuels" or motivates you. What's universal is that, since we all need to change, we all need to find out what fuels us and get enough of that fuel to bring about the needed change.
So, that's what I'm going to focus on this General Conference: What sort of fuel to I need and how can I get it? Because, most days, I feel like I've run ought of gas, and I know better than anyone that something has definitely got to change.
I like that this verse pulled some blogworthy insights out of a casual conversation with a stranger, and I especially like these particular insights, except that I think the singer got them backwards. We don't need change to buy fuel; we need fuel in order to change.Somebody once asked,
"Could you spare some change for gas?
I need to get myself away from this place."
I said yep, what a concept.
I could use a little fuel myself,And we could all use a little change.
I think we can accept the fact that we all need to change. None of us is perfect. We all have areas where we can improve. However, changing isn't easy. It takes effort, and it takes energy to make the effort. The energy that's needed in order to effect change differs from person to person. The "fuel" in this case is whatever "fuels" or motivates you. What's universal is that, since we all need to change, we all need to find out what fuels us and get enough of that fuel to bring about the needed change.
So, that's what I'm going to focus on this General Conference: What sort of fuel to I need and how can I get it? Because, most days, I feel like I've run ought of gas, and I know better than anyone that something has definitely got to change.
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Practicing Explaining Conference
Today, I got an opportunity to explain General Conference to a stranger, and I'm glad to say I took it. While I was riding the bus to school, a guy just barely caught the bus I was riding, and we chatted about how much of a close call that was. He was out of breath because he had ha to run to catch the bus, so I offered him some water, and when he refused that, I offered him some breakfast. The Institute building across the street from campus offers free breakfast on Tuesdays, so I extended that offer to my new friend, and he accepted. We chatted on our way to the Institute, and it turned out that he is in a play at school, and he invited me (and everyone else at Institute) to come and see it. However, opening weekend is this weekend, Conference weekend, and thankfully, when I told him that I already had plans for this weekend, he asked me what they were.
I told him that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (I used the forbidden nickname because I didn't want to open another can of worms) believe that God still speaks through prophets and that those prophets regularly relay those messages from God. He asked me how new prophets are chosen, and I stumbled a bit over my answer because I don't know the details, but I eventually answered that the remaining Apostles and Prophets pray about it until they get a name. In hindsight, I probably should have phrased that differently, saying that God chooses the new Apostle and then tells the remaining Apostles who the new guy will be. I think I'll do a better job answering that question next time.
I'm glad that I blogged about explaining Conference before meeting the guy from the bus, because that helped me prepare for that conversation, and I'm glad I had that conversation before tomorrow night, because it was good practice for the next Conference explanation I may have to make. Having had one conversation on that topic should make the next one easier, and I'm looking forward to that.
I wonder if all missionary work might be like that. Previously, I felt that, as a missionary, I had switched into Missionary Mode, where it was normal, natural, and easy to try to share the Gospel as often as possible, but now I think it might have just been practice. Talking about the Gospel didn't become harder because I'm not a missionary anymore; it became harder because I stopped doing it and fell out of practice.
As simple as it sounds, the more anyone practices anything, the easier it becomes for them. This morning, I had an opportunity to practice sharing my beliefs and explaining our traditions. I hope that practice pays off for me tomorrow night.
I told him that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (I used the forbidden nickname because I didn't want to open another can of worms) believe that God still speaks through prophets and that those prophets regularly relay those messages from God. He asked me how new prophets are chosen, and I stumbled a bit over my answer because I don't know the details, but I eventually answered that the remaining Apostles and Prophets pray about it until they get a name. In hindsight, I probably should have phrased that differently, saying that God chooses the new Apostle and then tells the remaining Apostles who the new guy will be. I think I'll do a better job answering that question next time.
I'm glad that I blogged about explaining Conference before meeting the guy from the bus, because that helped me prepare for that conversation, and I'm glad I had that conversation before tomorrow night, because it was good practice for the next Conference explanation I may have to make. Having had one conversation on that topic should make the next one easier, and I'm looking forward to that.
I wonder if all missionary work might be like that. Previously, I felt that, as a missionary, I had switched into Missionary Mode, where it was normal, natural, and easy to try to share the Gospel as often as possible, but now I think it might have just been practice. Talking about the Gospel didn't become harder because I'm not a missionary anymore; it became harder because I stopped doing it and fell out of practice.
As simple as it sounds, the more anyone practices anything, the easier it becomes for them. This morning, I had an opportunity to practice sharing my beliefs and explaining our traditions. I hope that practice pays off for me tomorrow night.
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