Unseen Issues

This afternoon, I helped a student with a paper that was tangentially about the fact that everyone has their own issues that most people don't know about. We might notice people being irritable or seeming lazy or having any other undesirable trait, but we may not see the circumstances or conditions that led to them having those traits. As the saying goes, "everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about." Sometimes, they lose those battles in painfully visible ways, but we should try to be kind to them anyway. Be patient, if possible. We have no idea how long or how hard they had been fighting before we saw them lose.

I lost such a battle recently, and I am eternally grateful for those who still managed to respond with patience and kindness.

Nine Years of Blogging

As of today, I have blogged almost daily for nine years. Many things have changed over those nine years, and some other things haven't. Blogging has helped me in some ways, but it doesn't seem to have helped me in others. I plan to keep blogging daily for another year, to complete the decade, but after that, I'm not sure. Blogging hasn't been as beneficial as I had hoped. Perhaps I ought to consider other methods of self-improvement. Then again, blogging and seeking other methods of self-improvement aren't mutually exclusive. Perhaps I'll continue blogging while I seek for something else to do for me what I had hoped blogging would. Then again, if a practice proves to be of little benefit to a person, why continue? I don't know how long I'll keep blogging, but don't be surprised if I make some kind of change on my tenth anniversary of blogging, on 2/3/2023.

All Things in Moderation

This morning, I had a conversation with a friend of mine about the danger of excess. We ultimately concluded that too much of anything can be harmful, but too little can be harmful as well. There needs to be a balance. If we allow our lives to get out of balance, and if we leave that imbalance uncorrected for too long, we may come to regret it. So, we need to look for areas of our lives that may be out of balance and try to correct that imbalance by keeping everything in moderation, by growing in areas in which we are deficient and by pruning in areas in which there is excess. Balance is difficult to obtain and maintain, but as long as we regularly evaluate how we are out of balance and what steps we should take to gain a greater balance, we will ultimately manage to balance ourselves out. Gaining balance is a life-long pursuit, but it's worth it to continually take the steps necessary to bring our lives into balance.

A Single Step Forward

I didn't make much progress today, in almost any regard. I did some regular, essential chores, I tutored one person, and I spent hours trying to solve a problem that had plagued me for months, only to learn that the problem had a different source than I had previously thought. Yet, in all of this, some progress was made. The house and its inhabitants are being taken care of, a student had been helped, and the true nature of the problem has, hopefully, been revealed, with a solution on its way. I didn't make much progress today, but I made some.

Such is life. Every day takes us one step closer to our eternal destinations. We try, yet again, to become a little bit better, and with luck, a miracle, and a lot of perseverance, we succeed. Every day of mortal life takes us a single step closer to our heavenly home, and, for a single mortal day, that's enough. Regaining our heavenly natures isn't something that can be done overnight. It's a process. It's a miles-long journey composed of countless individual steps.

So, I shouldn't lament that I made only a little bit of progress today. Little bits of progress add up. Today, I took only a single step forward. Tomorrow, I'll take another. And eventually, after more than a single mortal lifetime, I will reach my heavenly home.

A Miraculous Natural Wonder

I studied my psychology textbook today, and at the end of today's readings, there was a message in the textbook that I thought was pretty nice. It basically offered an olive branch to theists who might have been a bit put off by the discussion of genetic variation and natural selection that had taken place a few paragraphs earlier. Essentially, the textbook argued that the universe isn't any less miraculous for our increasing understanding of it. The natural wonders of the world are no less wonderful for our understanding of how they're formed. When I studied Historical Geology, learning how some mountains were formed didn't make them any less majestic. And life is made no less miraculous by our understanding of how it evolved.

The textbook also left some room for my dominoes theory. It said that we can trace our understanding back to the Big Bang, but no further. It said that there are several factors that had to go exactly right for this universe to even resemble one that could support life as we know it. Now, those factors could have gone right by random chance, or they could have gone just right by God setting up the dominoes exactly that way. As far as I know, science doesn't say which explanation is more likely. It's entirely possible that the existence of God is the most likely explanation for the universe being the way it is, even if all He did was set up the dominoes, knock down the first one, and let the dominoes fall from there.

But whatever explanations we have for the universe, the Earth, life, and people all being the way they are, they're all amazing. Thunderstorms are awe-inspiring, whether they're created by God or by natural weather patterns. Rainbows are beautiful, whether they're a sign from God or a refraction of various wavelengths of light. Whatever natural or divine forces shaped the world we live in, it's an incredible world, one that even the staunchest scientist could consider miraculous.

The world is a miraculous, natural wonder, no matter which of those adjectives you choose to emphasize.

Family from Afar

Today, our family had a picnic together, and we all had a good time, even though not all of our family could make it. Even without some of our family members at the picnic, the rest of us were able to feel a sense of togetherness and belonging.

I imagine that this will continue to be true, even as we are (hopefully temporarily) separated by death. Some of us will die before others do. We won't all pass through the veil at the same time. There will be family on both sides of the veil who will have to make do without the family on the other side. Still, as long as there are multiple family members on each side, no one will have to be or feel alone, and even when there is only one person on a side, it won't stay that way forever. We will be able to connect with at least some of our family members, even if other family members are out of reach.

I'm grateful to know that we can still have family connections, despite separations, and that we will all be together again soon enough. Death is temporary, but family is forever. Not everyone could be at the family picnic today, but I know that our family will be together again soon enough.

A Simple Way to Show You Care

During our Stake Conference this evening, one of the speakers shared a video telling the story of a man who had been in a very dark place until his family helped him to see and feel the light again. And what I loved most about the video is that the man's family hadn't said or done anything profound or insightful. All they did was spent quality time with him and let him know they cared. They were just there for him. They talked to each other, not about light or darkness, but about things that he and they were interested in. It really doesn't take all that much to have a good, uplifting relationship with someone. You don't have to know what to do or say. All it really takes is to spend time with them and maybe chat with them.

I have a relationship that I would like to strengthen. Next chance I get (assuming I remember), I'm going to try to schedule some time to be with them, not necessarily to do or talk about anything specific, but just to spend some time with them. Sometimes, some time is all it takes.