Laugh and Learn

D6 recommended a delightful book to me that I’m happy to tell you about. It was written by a woman who Lives in Truth and the delight comes from seeing how she does it. The book, Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas, describes the adventures of an Iranian immigrant encountering a foreign environment. Every incident she brings up could have been one that instilled hate or at least negative feelings of victimization, but instead she looks at the experiences with a sense of humor and is able to laugh and make us laugh with her. The added benefit is that while laughing we learn a lot about people and especially about ourselves. We learn that often the best approach to life is to be able to laugh at ourselves. 

Think about it. We don’t get upset because a toddler falls when learning to walk. As a matter of fact, we often laugh at her attempts to waddle. Likewise we are growing and struggling to “walk” in so many areas of our lives. Instead of being upset that we can’t “run” yet, we need to step back and analyze how funny this must be and enjoy the journey.

Dizzy in Disneyland!

I’m back! We spent the last few days in Disneyland in the rain. I haven’t been to Disneyland since 1991, and to be honest it isn’t my favorite place, but going with grandkids makes all the difference in the world even with the rain. Watching their faces glow with delight at the sight of Mickey Mouse or a Jedi is worth the admission price! I love how Disney has made things unreal so real! It truly is magic. 

It made me think about reality. We’ve all had the experience of sitting in a vehicle when the vehicle next to us begins to move and for a few seconds it is impossible to tell if we are moving, if the other vehicle is moving, or if both vehicles are moving. In other words, our senses are not always reliable. But we live in a world that claims you can’t know anything unless your senses can verify it. Disneyland turns that assumption upside down. It verifies the fact that we all create our own reality and that reality can be altered and adjusted and toyed with.

I think this is an especially important fact for parents to remember. There are days when we go to bed so discouraged. Our senses tell us we are moving backwards and doing more harm than good. While attending to one child’s needs, another child’s needs go unmet even though we’ve working ourselves silly trying to meet everyone’s needs. But chine up! Courage take! The reality of the situation is that there is more than meets the eye (or any of the other senses!). The Spirit is working in ways we can’t see to help us and to make up for our lack of ability and resources. The reality is that we are moving forward despite the illusion that we are moving backward! 

I’ve decided that Disneyland may be the best spot on earth to determine what reality really is!

It's the Sabbath again!

Have a great Sabbath!

I'm going away for a few days and won't have Internet access.

I'll try posting on my Iphone, but I'm not sure I can make it work!

Opportunity is Knocking

I have a young friend, Aimee Vargas, an amazing young woman who is an incredible example of Living in Truth. You can read the story of how she has overcome by clicking here. Reading her profile will brighten your day and encourage you to live up to your potential.

 By Living in Truth she has changed a hardship into an opportunity. And if you feel inclined, you now have an opportunity to help her out. I’m going to!

If you choose to donate be sure and click on Aimee's name so she gets credit for the donation! Every little bit helps her and her team!

Lessons From The Font

I love symbolism and am especially captivated by all that can be conveyed by symbols. I saw this picture of the Salt Lake Temple baptismal font as it looked in about 1912 and loved pondering and learning.

The font sits of the backs of 12 oxen. We all know that the twelve oxen represent the 12 tribes of Israel. But why 12 tribes and 12 apostles? The answer is that 12 is the number that represents the priesthood. The next question is why did the Lord require the baptismal font to be placed on oxen. Why not horses or camels or elephants? The answer is that each of the 12 tribes had a symbol that represent the tribe. The tribe of Judah is represented by the lion and the tribe of Benjamin by a wolf, but not all of the tribal symbols were animals. For example, the symbol for the tribe of Zebulon was a ship and for Asher a goblet. But the tribe of Ephraim was an animal—a work beast known to carry heavy burdens—the ox.

Therefore, as we look at a temple baptismal font the message is clear. It is the task of the tribe of Ephraim through the priesthood power to find and bring the 12 tribes of Israel into the covenant through the waters of baptism.

Symbols can teach us so much! Ponder on this a little longer and see what else you learn!

Refuge!

It is a strange thing to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ in these latter days. I say strange because of the vastly different experiences we encounter. Today I am going to attend a wedding in the temple and in that holy place I will feel absolute peace and serenity. There will be joy and love all around me as family gathers and eternal vows are made. Everything good and beautiful will be there and then I will walk out the door and while I will take much of those feelings with me, I will suddenly find myself bombarded with newspaper headlines and music and the other enmities of the world.


But I like this “strange” and feel so sad for those of the world who never, ever feel the peace and joy—the people who don’t have places of sacred refuge.

Timing

I had a student in my office the other day who said to me, “I’m beginning to realize that with the Lord timing is everything.” It was an interesting statement and one I wish more 18 year old freshmen understood. But I can’t really criticize because I was much older than 18 when I learned it. Elder Neal A. Maxwell once wrote, “Faith in the timing of God [is] to be able to say Thy timing be done, even when we do not fully understand it.”

 When we trust in the Savior we know that all things unfairly done to us will be recompensed to us. As John tells us in his great revelation, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:4).

At some point every one of us will have our tears wiped away, and the pains we have suffered unfairly will be made up to us. That probably won’t happen tomorrow. But it will happen! A great part of faith, as Elder Maxwell taught, is to trust in the timing of God. Jesus Christ will make everything fair and good and right. Our job is to remember that and live accordingly.