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Choosing THIS Day!

http://lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages?lang=eng&start=25&end=36#2009-09-37-choose-this-day


Today I sat in church, really paying attention. Not to what was being said, but what I was feeling to what was being said. I have been feeling a little down, and lately I have told some friends that I need a change. I have been thinking that the change was a boy, but today I realized it was me. I needed to change my attitude and the way I viewed life. Everyone around me is taking a huge step in life, and I want one too! but I saw this video on my church website and loved it. It is called, "Choose this day" by Henry B. Erying. You might have to search for it, but It is great. It took the word someday to a new level. I always heard the phrase, never put off tomorrow what you can do today! and you know what that is what I am going to do. Today I am going to make a list of my New Years Goals...or Resolutions. And I thought, wow I have to wait until January to start on them? No, the answer is start today, so by the time January does come around I will have developed a pattern and then, by that time I can start perfecting those goals. Carpe Diem....I'm seizing my day!

Life in its EPIC Proportions

            This week we talked about Epic’s and what they are and what examples we have of them in our society. We named a few in class and they were Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. All of these Epics have a system to them all have a call to adventure, a refusal of the call, they are given a mentor and or companion, they cross a threshold of a supreme ordeal, and they become master of the two worlds, and then eventually return home. As I was taking notes this week I thought about our lives as human beings, it is an epic in itself just as much as these great stories. Our lives really are, so, totally, EPIC!

            As I was reading over my notes I realized that everyone if you put it in spiritual terms has an epic life that is if you are LDS. In the pre-existence had a call to adventure. In the scriptures and from Latter-Day Saint doctrine we can see that we have accepted to come here to Earth in order to experience mortal life. They next step in an Epic is the “refusal of the call” in a sense we all have gone through this. In the pre-existence we had to choice to follow Satan and not come to earth and receive a body or to follow Christ and come to earth and receive a body and experience life to the fullest. And also we can relate it to a mission call if we decided to go on one within the church. After we turn in the required papers we receive our “Call” in the mail and in the envelope we have the chance to deny or accept the call. After the refusal or in this case acceptance of the call we are given mentors or companions. In this life our mentors are our parents the ones who teach us how to overcome adversity, teach us how to act, teach us what we need to do to get through life. They are a necessity in life, so that we do not die from “master mind tricks” or “flashbacks from the dark lord” now, of course I am joking, but I still recall many teachings my parents taught me. And they have come in handy in the real world. Just like in any epic the mentor’s skilled teachings pay off during battle scenes! Then the threshold crossing, we all go through this whether it is we have grown up and have a family of our own, or our missions to foreign places. Brother Williams called this “your not in Kansas anymore” phase. This is when you encounter your “demons” so to speak, not saying that everyone’s life is full of demonic presence, oh no! We will all encounter a “growing up stage” and we have to apply all that we have learned either by our parents or things we learned in the MTC and here is where we defend whom we are. The next stage is the Master of the 2 worlds. If you think of it in the mission sense that you have come into a world with rules, teaching requirements, and people you are unfamiliar with. But at the end of your mission you have mastered the skills that were so hard to accept when you first came out, you may not be a master, but nevertheless you have come out victorious. And in this life at the end of all that we have done we hope to have kept all the Lords commandments, taught our children well, given service, helped those in need, and become a disciple of Christ. We all hope, or at least I hope we all hope to accomplish this. Then after all is said and done we go Home back to live with our Heavenly Father and rise victorious and be seated upon a thrown.

            This may be a little far-fetched, but this is what I thought of. If we take the elements that make up an Epic and apply it to our life the Call to Adventure-pre-existence, Refusal of the call-choosing to follow Chirst, our mentors- our parents, crossing the threshold-our mission/life, mastering the 2 worlds- becoming a disciple, and going Home- to heaven. If we put that into context we can see that our lives are awesome, and so totally Epic! Who needs a made up story told in movies and books when we are living one of our very own?  

I never thought Macbeth and I would have anything in common!

This past week we read Macbeth by William Shakespeare, in my humanities class, we had to read the play in its entirety, we had to memorize lines, and watch a film.  After memorizing and reading the play I realized that I barley knew what was going on until I watched the movie. After reading the play and watching the film I realized that I should not let what people tell me get to my conscience. If I do it will cause me to underestimate my own free will.

            In the beginning of the play Macbeth encounters three witches who tell him that he will be king, and that people will “all hail Macbeth”. As we talked about this in class, one of the discussions was “Do you think he would have killed Duncan, and Macduff if the witches had not said anything?” and I have to say, no, because I know that I often put too much emphasis on what people say to me or even about me. This entire play was a huge eye opener for me. I know that I need to be more aware of what advice I hear, or even what others say about me.  I do not want to be a Macbeth! For example, it was not until after the witches said that he was going to become powerful and kill the king, did he decide to kill the king. The witches put the thought in his head. I realized that I do the same thing in my life. If someone tells me something I tend to run with the thought instead of deciding if the thought is right for me. I need to weigh the pros and cons of my life instead of letting others weigh them for me. The play is a tragedy because it ended so terribly because he did not have a conscience. In the play he lost all sense of direction or right and wrong. I do not want to become an advocate of tragedy in my own life. I want to control my own thoughts and not let what others tell me influence me to the point of “death” in any way you view the word. Now, I am not saying that I will not take advice from others, of course I will, but I need to put into consideration that I need to know who I am first. I need to discover my talents and abilities in order to think for myself and make the right decisions and then from there I can be free and think clearly. I also want to always have an open mind free from guilt and clutter. Macbeth after committing his murders had such a hard time thinking clearly. All he thought about was who to kill next, who might be the one to leak out his secret. I never want to be so tangled up in lies and deceit that I loose control of my nature as a daughter of God. That would be a horrible trait to loose.