Above Yourself

Tonight as I rocked my daughter to bed, we sang “Families Can Be Together Forever“. Even though it’s a children’s song, it has the effect of bringing a feeling of peace to the room. What a great reminder it was of basic truths that are so important. It’s great that such a powerful message can be conveyed through simple music. It also serves as a reminder, do I personally follow God’s plan so that I can share my life with my family for all eternity?

My apologies for the cheesy title, but apparently you’re still reading. In the past several days, we’ve started a major decluttering project. This is certainly easier now that I’m done with school, but it still takes some motivation to get started. For the past couple of months, Julia and I have been casually looking around at houses “just to see what the market is like” and “for fun”. I put those in quotes because that’s what I always said when we went around doing it, but before too long I started daydreaming about having a big house with lots of room for all our stuff and plenty of space for our little girls to play.

Eventually I realized that we’re not ready for a house yet, and we don’t really need one. What we need for all of our stuff is a home. For some of our stuff that home is not our home. With too much stuff around, things tend to get in the way and make the whole house seem smaller. We plan on storing some of our things and getting rid of lots more. We’re learning that “guilt is not a reason to keep something“.

Although it’s still underway, we’ve made lots of good progress. Our food storage area is much more manageable, and now everything that had been there is in its proper home. We’re looking forward to making more progress on this in the coming weeks.

Last week I had a chance to finish the Book of Mormon Challenge Anniversary. Even with lots of other distractions like school and Holidays, I managed to finish a little bit early, which I am really proud of myself for. The first time I did this challenge, back when President Hinckley issued the challenge to everyone, I spent a lot of Christmas break reading, but this time I felt less rushed and it went really well. I regret that I didn’t post updates here more often, because I really learned a lot. I can share with you, though, that my testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown. I know that it is true, and I know that reading it daily has helped me considerably.

One of the final books in the Book of Mormon is actually written by a prophet named Mormon (he compiled many records together, so that is why the whole work also bears his name). As I was reading through his writings, I was impressed by the fact that he was faithful when all others around had forgotten about God. I have thought a lot recently about wickedness in the world, and it seems like fewer and fewer people believe in God, and those who don’t are very adamant about their ideas. Mormon’s writings help me recognize that living the gospel is possible in a godless world.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Book of Mormon Challenge with me! I’d love to hear more about your experiences reading the Book of Mormon again.

When we remember to heed God’s counsel, we can be blessed with more of that counsel. Who isn’t up for a little free advice from someone who knows just what we need?

For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.

-2 Nephi 28:30

This is one of my favorite scriptures. In some ways it’s very intimidating; I know that I could always improve at “lend[ing] an ear to [His] counsel”. In other ways, it’s very reassuring. The essence of this scripture is that God will bless us with continual understanding if we look to Him. If we don’t wish to learn more, then he won’t give it to us. General Conference is coming up in a little over a week. Now is a great time to prepare for the messages that we will receive.

Life is busy, and moving by at a rapid pace. In a way, it’s good, because it means I’m getting through some stretches of hard work right now, which is hopefully my final Fall semester of graduate school. There are all kinds of projects and other work to do, which means that it’s easy to neglect other things. In that way, life moving so quickly can be bad, or at least challenging. There are all kinds of voices everywhere calling for attention, and I learned last week that I need to widen my focus away from my studies.

Last Wednesday, I was in the middle of working on a big programming project. I’m a decent programmer, but I was a little rusty. I spent all day staring at a few pages of code, and I was tearing my hair out over the smallest things. I called a classmate to figure out what I was doing wrong, and when it was time to go home, I was exhausted, but still worried about my program. He suggested that I take a little walk or find some way to think about some other stuff for a bit, which I finally did. When I got home I took a little break and played with our daughter. A few hours later, I went back to look at my program, and something just clicked that hadn’t before. I realized that our own abilities are magnified when we take little breaks and just keep working hard at something.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I can do in case we’re at the beginnings of some sort of global depression. I don’t have the power to personally stabilize the stock markets, but I do have some power to stabilize my own life. In fact, the reminder that Helaman related to his sons in the Book of Mormon applies to all of us:

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the ^arock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your ^bfoundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty ^cstorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

-Helaman 5:12, The Book of Mormon

It’s up to me to live on a foundation based on Christ. Life is still busy and it’s still stressful, but there is a certain calm that comes into my life as I remember this. That’s a big part of the reason that I haven’t given up on The Book of Mormon Challenge Anniversary. How is your reading going? There’s still plenty of time to finish the challenge! I’m currently finishing 2 Nephi, so I’m a bit behind where I’d like to be, but things are still moving forward. Thanks to all of those who are reading along with me!