Sheila Got Ran Over by a Reindeer...and When I Say Reindeer, I Mean a Car

I don't like to repeat myself. Wow, that sounded rude. But I'm being truthful. So, to eradicate me repeating this story over and over, and to keep from trying to figure out how to make it shorter and shorter each time I tell people, I will give the full blown-out detailed version. That, and this is obviously a very successful way to procrastinate studying for my final tomorrow.

Once Upon A Time...

There was a beautiful, smart, and feisty, young girl walking to class. The caffeine addict she was, she had previously purchased a Dr Pepper to keep her energized throughout the day. (Important for later...well, not really). Anyway, maintaining her position as the favorite child, she was on the phone with her mother. She stopped at the crosswalk, and waited for the pedestrian sign to flash. Once it transitioned, she started walking. Much to her surprise, to her left a blue car started pushing into her. She kept thinking it would stop (I mean heavens, that's what most cars do when they see that they're running into a person), but it didn't. Instead, she was knocked to the ground. Instants later, the wheel of the car is stopped right on top of her leg. Right above the knee to be exact. Besides some other choice words that were said, the girl yells to the driver of the car, "Back up, back up, back up!" He hears her, and slowly backs up. The girl doesn't pay attention to what the guy does next, because the student population of BYU come rushing to her. It's a little overwhelming when you've just been run over by a car. A girl approaches and asks if she should call 911. Trying to assess the situation, the girl pauses, and finally decides it would probably be a good idea. Her brain was running a little bit slowly at that moment in time. Another guy approaches and asks if there's anyone he can call. Remembering that she was on the phone with her mother she answers, "Actually, I'm kind of on the phone with my mom right now if you could talk to her." He sees the the phone she pointed to, picks it up, and says, "Hi, you don't know me, but my name is ______ (I'm not trying to keep his name anonymous, but with my track record, being run over by a car didn't exactly help my inability to remember names) and your daughter kind of just got ran over by a car. Again, she stops paying attention to what's going on until she hears him ask her, "Do you want to talk to her?" He hands her the phone and all she hears is her mother crying hysterically. So of course, girl who just got ran over by a car is trying to calm her mother. The EMT arrives, and the girl promises to call her mom once she's at the hospital.

POLiTiCS--a rant brought to you by PMS

I usually try to maintain political neutrality. Let's be honest, when it comes to opinions, most of us only like to hear those which re-affirm our own beliefs. I'm not sure about other people, but I have a habit of always thinking I'm right, so it rubs me the wrong way when I hear a declaratory opinion that differs from my own beliefs.

So WHY IN THE FREAKING WORLD do people take it on their own behalf to post strong opinions on their Facebooks? 

For example, let's say I'm a Democrat a week prior to the election, and I'm going off about why Romney shouldn't be elected President. Okay, cool, good for me. Then, as I'm scrolling through my news feed, I see all these "ignorant" citizens of the United states slamming on Obama. I'm sure that would get my blood boiling.

Can you see what's happening here? People are being intolerant of other beliefs, and we're having an Alpha Male Politics competition. We don't care what other people have to say; WE care that our opinion is heard more than anyone else's.

A little interesting fact, people. Most people already have their own opinions, so they're not going to be persuaded by yours, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU REPEAT IT. Those who are most likely to be swayed are those who are the least interested (AKA the ones who unsubscribed from your posts because you were getting on their nerves from all of your political rambling). 

So how do you get your opinion heard?

1) Look for areas of agreement. For example, let's look at something controversial like Gay marriage. Some people are for it, some people are not.

Conservative people believe that marriage is ordained of God, and should be reserved for a man and a woman. Other, more liberal people, believe in the equal rights amendment even further (Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex) and believe that marriage should be given to all. 

Before I go on, I just want to point out the whole "separation of church and state" deal. How the HECK did the government initially become involved in marriage? Lame. However, they are involved, and they give out certain benefits such as:

• Hospital Visitation Rights – Married couples have the automatic right to visit each other in the hospital and make medical decisions. 
• Health insurance – Married couples have the right to visit one another in the hospital and make medical decisions for one another. 
• Spousal Privilege – Married couples have the right to refuse to testify against one another. Everything you say, write, email, fax, etc. to your spouse can't be used against you.
• Inheritance rights – Married couples have automatic rights to inheritance in the absence of a will.
• Family leave – Married couples have a legally protected right to unpaid leave to care for an ill spouse.
• Pensions – Most pension plans pay surviving benefits to the surviving spouse. 
• Nursing homes – Married couples have a legal right to live together in a nursing home and spend their final years together.
• Home protection – Laws protect married couples from being forced to sell their homes to cover high nursing home bills.
• Retirement savings – Married people can roll over a deceased spouse's 401(k) into an IRA without paying taxes.
• Taxes – Marries spouses may inherit unlimited property from a deceased spouse, tax free.
• Social Security benefits – If you’re married, you get Social Security from a dead spouse. 

Republicans and Democrats may not agree on whether gay marriage should be permitted, but I personally feel like they should at least agree to the concept of equal rights. An agreement/compromise might be something like this: revoke the government's ability to call something a marriage or not. Leave that up to the religious factions. If the government wants to give out certain benefits to people, let them give those to all civil unions. Marriage can still be "ordained of God" and those who choose partners can still get "equal rights".

2) Avoid personal attacks. In contrast to public opinion, people don't like being called "Cotton-headed-ninny-muggins" and other such terms. Do not name call, distort what a person is trying to say, or be nasty. BE CALM.

3) Focus on the facts. This one may be a bit tricky, because everything is biased. I'm pretty sure my boss at work told me about a book he read which instructed the user how to distort statistics to show what you want them to show. A silly example could be this: 90% of the people polled prefer chocolate over other sweets. Cool, but they could have left out that all the people sampled were women. Are you catching my drift? It's very easy to misrepresent information to your benefit. So you can't believe everything you read, and then pass it on.

4) Look for signs of disagreement. If you see something getting heated, back off. It's not logical to think "if I say something more nasty than them, I'm going to win, and then they'll have to admit defeat and that I was right". In WHAT universe? Probably your own--party of one. No matter what, people aren't going to agree on everything. Agree to disagree. It's hard to find 100% truth in everything. Who's to say who's completely right and who's completely wrong?

And, with that, I'm going to class.

Falling into Fall

First off, can I share how much I enjoy rain?

(I took this picture leaving campus today)

Rain--such an evasive jewel in a desert like Utah. Yet it rained today. In autumn! Usually the cruel forces at work restrain any type of precipitation here to the winter months. So imagine my delight when I realized I was given the privilege of having such a day in which the autumn was similar to that of Indiana! And oh, the rain—it has such a soothing effect. Growing up, I would lay in bed as I listened to the rainstorms beat against my old house. I loved it. It calmed me. And the smell! It’s my personal belief that they should make candles that smell like rain. No one would buy them but me, but I don’t care. It’s weather like this that makes me want to warm up some hot chocolate (check), snuggle up in a blanket (why is the closet so far awaaaaaaaay???), and find a cute boy to hold my hand and tell me how beautiful I am (okay so maybe this one is a constant through all kinds of weather).

:)

Honesty

"Honesty is the best policy"

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"

Those seem to be words to live by.

THEN WHY DON'T WE???

To understand this, let's look at various types of lies:

1) White Lie: An often trivial, diplomatic, or well-intentioned untruth. 

Stereotypical instances include moments such as when a wife asks her husband, "Honey, does this dress make me look fat?" or when that sketchy guys asks a girl out and she replies, "Sorry, I would love to, but I'm busy." We lie because we don't want to hurt others. We feel like if we sugar-coat things, we can protect them for the hard truth. But is that really the way to go? Our dishonesty can easily make situations go sour.

Example A: The husband tells his wife that she looks just fine. They go to her company dinner as she wears her way too tight dress; revealing things she would rather hide. Behind her back, the women from her work are gossiping about her clothing choice.

Example B: Having nothing to do on a Friday night, the girl decides she's going to get some ice cream at the grocery store to eat as she watches her favorite chick flick. At the store, she runs into that guy she turned down.

I'm not saying that losing tact is the answer--by all means--USE tact. However, also be honest. A "sorry I'm not interested" or "I like your green dress better" could have sufficed in these situations.

Patterns of white lies made over time can create distance between you and others, and destroy your credibility.

2) Black lie: the opposite of a white lie.

These are the most hurtful. They're lies created out of various forms of pride: selfishness, greed, haughtiness, etc. Sometimes we lie to protect or even enhance our image. As Cooley once said, "I am who I think you think I am". [Thank you Professor Child] I'm sorry, but the truth is that if you made a choice to do/be something, own up to it. If you're afraid of repercussions that will ensue from your poor choices, then don't make those decisions. Your current choices define who will become. Not that you can't change--but if it's really in your character to make a decision you're not proud of, then you shouldn't be so defensive about people finding out.

Granted, no one's perfect--which is a reason why we shouldn't judge others. We don't know where they're coming from. However, fear of judgement isn't a legitimate reason to lie.

"If Happy Ever After Did Exist...."

Have you ever felt like life sucked? I mean, legitimately, down to the bone, sucked? I'm not talking about just your average bad day, or even week. I'm talking about the moments when all Hell breaks loose, and every important aspect of your life gets flushed down the toilet?

Welcome to my life at the moment.

My Grandma used to say, "You can never have two bad days in a row". 

Lies, Grandma, Lies.

To demonstrate, let's make a check-list of all the things that aren't exactly going to plan:

Major= check.

Family= check.

Health= check.

Interpersonal relationships= check and check.

But you see, the point of this post isn't actually to whine about how sucky my life is. I can see where you would see otherwise. However, the point is as follows:

Hebrews 12:6-- "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

Ordinarily, when I feel like my life is crumbling into tiny pieces, I realize that it's really hard to keep an eternal perspective. However, I have to realize that I need to be grateful for my super crappy life right now.

Elder Christofferson said the following, "[We need to] willingly accept and even seek correction."

Now, I’m very aware that when I’m going through a hard time, the first place I look to for a source of refuge and peace is God. I cling to him like no needy girl does when dating a boy. Thus, in my times of need, I am constantly re-evaluating what more I can do. Can I make my personal study of the gospel more enriching? Can my prayers be more meaningful? Can I find more opportunities to serve others? These things.

I love what he says later on, "Though it is often difficult to endure, truly we ought to rejoice that God considers us worth the time and trouble to correct.  . . . The fruit of God's chastisement is repentance leading to righteousness."

“Though it is often difficult to endure…” Those few words strike such deep chords. Yes, it’s excruciatingly hard to endure. I often find myself asking for relief. Although I sometimes wish I could be left alone and be completely worry free, I know that’s not the point. We should be happy that God loves us so much that he lets us go through difficult times so that we can experience personal growth. (Easier said than done, I know).

For instance, last night as I was crying to the Lord, I was informing him that I could no longer handle what He had given me to carry. I was begging him to take away what I did not want/believe I could bear.

This morning, however, I read the words from Doctrine and Covenants Section 136, verse 31. It reads as follows:

“My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.”

Ouch, right? As Elder Paul V. Johnson said, “…we must be careful not to resent the things that help us put on divine nature.”

I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty difficult for me to swallow. If I didn’t have these things called “emotions”, that would be just fine and dandy. However, having to accept that your trials won’t necessarily be taken away from you for the shear fact that you need to go through them in order to become more like God—now that’s hard. Especially in those deepest moments of pain.

In my New Testament class on Wednesday, my teacher said something that really was impressed upon my mind. She said, “Quit trying to control outcomes.” She emphasized that if we were faithful to the end that we would be blessed. Her point was more that these blessings may not be immediate, but that they would be there, nonetheless.

Take Job. Job had a pretty sucky life. It almost seemed like the more he did right, the worse things went. However, he was blessed in the end.

My teacher also brought up the prophet Moroni from the Book of Mormon. His people basically got killed off, and he spent the remaining years of his life all by himself, trying not to get killed by the Lamanites. So here he was, lonely but yet faithful. What reason did he have to be faithful except for his love for God? Now, if you look at the top of each temple, you’ll see a statue of Moroni pointing the way to Christ. How could Moroni have known that his faithfulness to the end would cause him to be an emblem of faith in these latter days? He didn’t.

It reminds me of that popular song “I happy ever after did exist, I would still be holding you like this…” But not necessarily. Just because things aren't going to OUR plan, it doesn't mean that there won't be a "Happily Ever After" for us. God knows what’s best for us. However, sometimes the blessing won’t come until the REAL Happily Ever After. Until then, we get chastened so that we can qualify to be in God’s Kingdom.

Faith is a Choice

We, as humans, don't have the brain capacity to understand everything in the Universe. It's simply impossible. However, with the limited brain use we have, we try to understand the world around us. We try to understand things such as politics, science, and religion. Who's idea is best? Who's idea is right?

Let's talk about religion.

I truly believe that our Father in Heaven wouldn't subject his children to an impossible test. He's not that cruel. In fact, cruel isn't in his nature. As a missionary, I would often tell the people I was teaching that God is just and wants His children to succeed. Then why is it so hard to discern the truth?

Let's take the spirit--a described feeling that is found in many religions. The bible, in 1 Cor. 12:3 says, "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." Why? Right before it says that "no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed". Analyzing that simply, I get two facts: 

1) If you are saying something by the spirit, it must be true. 

2) You cannot speak truth (such as Jesus being the Lord) without the spirit (according to the bible).

So let's look at something confusing for a moment. Other religions feel the spirit in the same manner that we do. So how are they supposed to differentiate between complete, partial, and non-truths when the spirit is there? How are we supposed to know that our religion is correct when we feel the same things as they?

I found from another blog (http://questions4mormons.wordpress.com/) this quote:

"It is useful to remember that it is not the ritual that has ever brought anyone to transcendence, but only the constant desire of an individual seeker to experience the eternal compassion of the divine. Flexibility is just as essential for divinity as is discipline.  God responds to the sacred prayers and efforts of human beings in any way whatsoever that mortals choose to worship-just so long as those prayers are sincere."

Let's be honest with ourselves. How often do you feel an overwhelming feeling of the spirit when you're taking the sacrament? Or other rituals? Yes, we believe these rituals are key in our exaltation. I'll give you that--but it's not necessarily rituals that give us spiritual experiences. Which is why so many people have felt the spirit NOT in our church buildings, NOT in our temples, and NOT with our doctrine.

Another question is WHY do people feel the spirit when they are listening to doctrine that's in contrast to ours? As much as it wounds our testimonies believe--it happens.

Here's an interesting statement from another blog (http://www.mormonthink.com/testimonyweb.htm):

"There is circular logic to the spiritual witness paradigm that is accepted in the church. How do you know that the transcendent feeling, that burning in the bosom, that feeling of calm is a witness from God? Because you have been taught that from the scriptures and from the leaders and teachers within the church. How do you know that the leaders and teachers are teaching truth? Because it says so in the scriptures. How do you know the scriptures are true? Because you have received a witness. The circle continues with no foundation.

Members of the LDS church seem to think that there is this irrevocable law established eons ago that says you can discern the truth by having a good feeling about it. That has never been established. If it was an eternally established principle then we mortals wouldn't be so confused about everything from what religion to join to deciding whether or not someone is guilty of a crime."

You can go one of two ways with this. People here are praying to know the Book of Mormon is true--and you could base it off Corinthians and deduct that if something is said in truth, it is because the spirit is there. Thus, if you are feeling the spirit, it is because it is true. However, you can also note that the bible could be potentially made up. So, Joseph Smith could have used this sort of religious background when he "wrote" Moroni's promise. If we assume this, there really is no correlation between feeling the spirit and automatically assuming that means we're reading/hearing truth. It could potentially mean we were just having a spiritual experience--or an emotional one.

So if our own method of ascertaining truth can be discredited, why believe?

Because I want to. Because I choose to. By going to church and acting upon the principles found it in, I find comfort, joy, and hope. Hope that there is something more than this short existence. Hope that one day I won't have a messed up body.  Hope that my family can be together forever. A hope that there really is a perfect type of love out there.
I once asked my mission President how I could be preaching the gospel to people when I didn't know for sure. Yes, I believed it, but I wasn't 100% sure. He responded that that was better--that meant that I had faith. If I knew, it wouldn't be a test.

But how can I just sit here with the facts against it? Like I said at the beginning--as humans we can't fully understand the world around us. I've had times in my life where I was upset because I thought something was wrong. Later on, once I had more information, I realized that it was right after all--but merely just looked wrong because I didn't have all the facts. That's how I feel about religion. There's so many things to support it, and so many things to discredit it, as well.
But God doesn't give unfair tests. So here's what I say to do: pick a religion, and live it. Live it to its fullest. Be the best possible person you can be. We are judged by our thoughts, our actions, and especially our hearts. So if we're doing our best to do what we think God would have us do, I really believe that we won't get jipped. Why? Because God is perfectly just and merciful.
So is my religion the only true church? I believe so, but I'm not sure. But if I don't live up to what I feel is right, I'm not doing my part. It's better to do all you can, than to give up.
I choose to have faith.