Monday, January 25, 2010

Sunday's lesson

First off, I would like to comment that this month alone I am one post short of matching the number of posts I did last year. It seems I'm am off to a good start. I hope I can continue to keep up this momentum.

Every Sunday my wife and I attend church. For Latter-day Saints(LDS), meaning members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our Sunday worship usually fit into 3 hour blocks. We have a sacrament meeting. In this meeting we partake of the sacrament and renew our covenants with God. We also worship together through song, prayer and listening to talks prepared by a few of the members(which changes every week). Then we have Sunday school where we split up into different age groups and are taught the gospel. Last, we have a priesthood and relief society. The youth are split up a little differently depending on age. Here is a good description as to what the priesthood is. Simply, we divide the men into separate classes and the women into other classes.

Now, I can get to my point. In priesthood our lesson came from the last General Conference(Bi-annual conference of all LDS members). It was a talk given by Elder D. Todd Christofferson called "Moral Discipline"(follow this link for the full talk). One of the first things he point out is the fact that the word "Disciple" shares the same root of the word "Discipline". I had never put that idea together. I feel that idea gives more meaning to to discipline. A disciple is someone who follows Jesus Christ. A disciple is associated with sacrifice and devotion. So discipline is also associated with devotion and sacrifice.

We then talked about what things determine our morals. We discussed how family, God/His messengers/Gospel, and society tend to shape people's morals. However, after our discussion we came to realize that yes these sources, and others, help shape our morals, but in the end it comes down to us and what we choose to believe and follow. We may feel that something is right or wrong, but in the end what matters is how we choose to act on that understanding.

For society, what is considered morally acceptable and not morally acceptable changes from time to time. But God is never changing and his standards are always the sa is truth and me. We can always look to him for what is truth and what is morally right. I'm grateful for that anchor in my life.

In the end we talked about how we can best teach moral discipline to others, like our own children. There were lots of suggestions but in the end I think we were all in agreement that as we live morally clean lives, that example is the best method of teaching. We need to teach our children truth, but if we are not living accordingly we are hypocrites and are children can see that. Some of the best lessons I've learned growing up have been from watching my parents live what they teach.

No one is perfect and that is why this lesson was great. It helped me to see the importance of having moral discipline in my life and how living what I know to be true is the best way I can teach my children how to be happy in this life and to be a true disciple of Christ.

I don't have kids now, but if I live now according to truth I have, these patterns will be with me when I have children, standing as an example to them of how to be happy in this life and how to live to be able to return home to our father in Heaven someday.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The end of a year of growth and learning . . . What's next?

Each day, I come to class early because Courtney drops me off on her way to work. Well, this morning I forgot that I don't have class until 9:30am. As you can see by the time of my post, I have a little bit of free time. I figured i could blog. I didn't feel any of this was appropriate to put in my last post. So now is a perfect opportunity to share some other things that are going on.

This past Sunday, I was released as Elders' Quorum President. For those of you who may not know what that is, wikipedia does a decent job explaining a little bit about what a quorum is. This opportunity to serve, or calling as we call it, has been  a great learning experience for me as I have tried to seek the Lord's will in how I can strengthen the brothers over whom I served. Serving as president caused me to stretch and grow as I stepped out of my comfort zone and reached out to others in need. It was hard and was very humbling, but I'm thankful for the chance I was given to serve in that position.

Now, for the time being, I'm without a specific calling, or specific opportunity to serve, and will look for other things I can do bless the lives of those in my congregation. However, knowing my Bishop, or Pastor, it will not be long before he has another opportunity for me to serve. 

In other news, school is going well. It keeps me busy. Courtney is still Relief Society President, President over the group of sisters in our congregation, and we enjoy each other whenever we get the free time together. Last night the club that I'm a part of for my Information Systems program had an opening social. It was way fun. They catered dinner and had Comedy Sports as the entertainment. Courtney and I won one of the raffle prizes and also got a free t-shirt. You can't be a free date with entertainment and free stuff. I paid to be in the club but I think I more than made my money back last night.

So, I still have an hour and a half left until class and I'm done with my thoughts for this post. I guess I'll find something more to distract myself with. Until next time.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A Life-Changing Weekend

I can honestly say my weekend was life changing. Let me go back to Wednesday of last week to give some background. Wednesday morning our Professor announced that we would have Thursday and Friday off in order to work on and finish our projects due Monday at midnight. I decided I would take the full opportunity of having class off to complete it so I could enjoy the three day weekend with my wife. After 14+ hours and 20 pages later I finished Friday afternoon about 4pm. What a relief that was. When I turned it in only one other person had turned theirs in. I felt sorry for the rest of the class that would start their projects over the weekend and find out that it was bigger than they thought. Anyways, I was excited to have the weekend to relax with Courtney.

Saturday morning Courtney and I slept in. I got up to make breakfast and while I was doing so Courtney came in with my phone and told me that my mom had called. I called back casually, unsure as to why she had called me. Little did I expect it to be what she would soon explain to me. My dad had a minor heart attack Friday night . . . My dad is 56 years old.  The P-90X guy is 51. How could this be? Never would I have expected to hear those words so soon. She explained that he was alright and that they were going to do some tests to see if he needed a splint put in, surgery performed or simply take medicine to prevent future occurrences. Those 3 hours of waiting seemed to take forever. Courtney and I were looking up flights to Seattle and trying to do anything to keep ourselves distracted. We talked and waited. Finally the news came. There was no heart damage it was only a small artery that was blocked and medicine would be enough to help future attacks. What a relief. I was so a mom was through the whole thing. I was amazed at how strong my mom was through the whole. She is strong and amazing woman. She was even teasing my dad about his over zealousness to eat healthy.(just a salad and water) I'd probably do the same thing if I were in his place. i could imagine how scared I'd be.

As Courtney and I talked that day I told her, and later my dad, how grateful I was that he never passed up an opportunity to tell us how much he loved us and was proud of us. I told Courtney, and later my dad, that there was never a doubt that he loved me and was proud of me. I'm grateful to the Lord that he saw fit to spare my dad a little longer. I know he has many more lives to bless with his love. When I talked to him on the phone he said something to the effect of hurry up and give me some more grand babies so I can come and spoil them. I love my dad and am grateful for him and his example of love and service.

I have learned that I will never pass up an opportunity to tell my loved ones how much I love and appreciate them. I don't want them to ever doubt that. I hope that all those who read this will take the opportunity to tell their loved ones they love them whenever they can. We never know what the Lord has in store for us. May we live each day to its fullest.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Good Bye Sweet Holiday Break . . . Hello School

I'm sitting here in class about a half hour before it starts, wondering where the break has flown. Being home in Washington was wonderful. We were able to spend a lot of time with my family and relax as well. My parents succeeded in spoiling us. This morning we finished off the last of our Washington water . . . oh how we will miss Washington water.

Courtney and I have made some New Year Resolutions and one of them is to be more healthy. With school and work keeping us so busy we haven't been very good at taking care of ourselves. We shall see how that goes.

We are excited for this new year and have lots of great plans. My time as Elders' Quorum President(it is a leader over a group of men in our church) is soon coming to an end and Courtney is to be released soon after. I could receive another opportunity to serve in our church doing something new. I'm not sure we shall see. As of now we are still serving in the temple(to learn more about temples see the Book of Nate link on my blog) and will continue to do so as long as we have the ability to do so.

Class is about to start. Hopefully, I'll post more often this year.