Things I learn from Joseph Smith

Prophets are a difficult facet of Mormonism for me for several reasons, and Joseph Smith is no exception. My favorite Joseph Smith story doesn't have much to do with him being a prophet, but has a great deal to do with him being a good person. The story goes that a poor man's house burned down, and a few men were standing around saying that they were sorry for the man who had lost his home to fire. Joseph pulled out $5 and said "I feel sorry for this brother to the amount of five dollars. How much do you all feel sorry?"

That came to mind yesterday as I responded to a friend's message about her 11-month nephew who has a high-risk cancer and whose parents can't make rent. "I'm so sorry," I wrote. And then I thought about Joseph Smith, and I couldn't just leave it at words.

unexpected expectations

It made some sense that when I mentioned to my mother-in-law that I was feeling dizzy and tired earlier this week, she wondered if I might be pregnant. It made some sense that when a waitress saw me picking at my food the other night, she wondered the same thing. But it was entirely too much today when a TOTAL STRANGER said matter-of-factly upon meeting me, "yep, you're expecting!" "Well, no," I said, and then, to alleviate the awkwardness of the situation, added, "but I did recently give birth." Yeah, if 3 months ago counts as recent enough for me to still look pregnant, which it doesn't! I am not pregnant! I even bought a pregnancy test, because all these comments were messing with my mind; negative. Thank goodness. I am so far from ready to face another pregnancy that if I really were pregnant, I would be spending copious amounts of time crying about it. But I'm not.

So why does everyone think I am?

some things I have to say about my life right now

What a good semester this is turning out to be! I'm exploring the Public Health major, Health Promotion track, and it's a joy. I have excellent professors and enjoy the class material, am thus far staying fully up to speed, and have the pleasure of live entertainment between classes; most of my classes meet on the second floor of the RB, and I get to watch the divers practice during breaks.

Jason provides constant love and support and we have adventures pretty much daily--planning the wedding, shopping at D.I., looking for housing. He taught mission prep yesterday after church, and for some reason skipped me when he was encouraging each class member to serve a full-time mission. Seems he wants to keep me around. :-) We are trying to be better about updating our joint blog, adventurescontigo.

We are flying out on Friday to visit his mom. I'm excited to meet her and to see the Alabama house, dogs, ward, friends. We plan on living there Spring term and working on his house, then coming back to UT to take advantage of Pell Grant money for Summer term. We've got an apartment lined up for Summer, and are still looking for Fall/Winter.

It's a good life, friends!

service, charity, and why we need to ask for help

Several weeks ago, the compassionate service committee of which I am a part (now under new leadership) met on the couches of our committee chair’s living room and we talked.

We discussed the possible needs of our fellow ward members, particularly of those who we know do not come to church frequently. We were successful in compiling lists of people we know are having rough times in life. We were less successful in planning ways to buoy these sisters up and share with them the joy we know this life and most especially this gospel can provide.

Perhaps, we said, some of them would like rides to church. Perhaps they would like more involvement from their visiting and home teachers. Perhaps they need friends to invite them to activities. Perhaps they need someone to wash their dishes for them, or to hold them while they cry. Perhaps they need hot dinner made for them. Perhaps their family is in crisis or they are struggling with depression. Perhaps they need someone to understand them, and perhaps we could understand. We’ve been there, all of us. We know how it feels to be human.

But we don’t know what they need, and we’re not sure how to find out, because we humans are too used to saying “no” when people ask if they can help.

We try to counter this by asking specific questions and offering specific services, but sometimes this just leads to people feeling like we are intruding into their lives, which is not our intent.

This, friends, is why we need to ask for help.

It’s my belief that most humans sincerely want to help each other. We want to reach out and be kind, but frequently we don’t know how. It’s easy to feel like to be a good person we need to constantly be offering help rather than asking for it. I think we need to do both.

This month’s visiting teaching message included the following thought from Elder Nelson:

The Lord said ‘My work and my glory [is] to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.’ (Moses 1:39.) So His devoted daughter-disciple may truly say, ‘My work and my glory is to help my loved ones reach that heavenly goal.’

By asking for the help we need, we give others the opportunity to grow through service and love, reaching closer towards the heavenly goal of immortality and eternal life. Additionally, we help them feel more comfortable approaching us when they are the ones in need.

I think the key in learning to serve others lies in developing charity towards them.

Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ. (Moroni 7:48)

the gratitude of lambs

This poem is about two years old, and it feels so applicable today. :-)


The Gratitude of Lambs

on these bright pastures, I forget
that once I fought my gentle Master’s hands,
and clung to thorns and mud and dried-dead sickly grass
and bid him let the wolves destroy
my aching lonely soul.

he spoke with softness
but I only heard the storm,
and stubbornly,
I wandered prodigal,
lost a little
more
with each abandoned foothold.

where cliff fell quick to sea I stumbled,
prayed sintossed
from rock
to
rock to
rock;
he set me free.

with love he lifted me,
with truth he taught me peace.
I joined his flock in meadows
and they welcomed me—

my shepherd knows
the gratitude of lambs.

the way things go

Several weeks ago I realized that my deodorant was giving me a rash, so I switched brands. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find unscented deodorant at regular stores (scents=skin irritants=bad idea for me) but I finally found one labeled in two places as unscented. In the store it smelled like nothing, but I had just finished sniffing Axe deodorants to help a male friend decide which one would please the ladies most, so my nose must have been overwhelmed.

It took me a few days after arriving home to realize something was up. A scent unlike sweat wafted from my underarms. I flipped the deodorant stick over and read the ingredients: right there at the end was listed fragrance. Fragrance? Are you kidding me?

So far, no rash, but I’ve learned not to trust Secret brand product labels.

 

Tattoos I drew during a lazy evening with a friend.

Entertaining dialogue between one of my roommates and the cleaning check supervisor person.

        What I found when I opened my   planner the other day. I was correct in anticipating that I would ignore my instructions to “See Anthro Syllabus. Important!” unless something was due.

Tonight I am going to see the play “Absent Friends” with my awesome friend David.

Then it will be weekend!

alienation

I've never kept a friend for long.
I like to say that it's because of so much moving but I know it's more than that.
Lately I've burned most every friendship that I have.
I don't know why I do it.
I'm not even sure how I do it.
But that's what siblings are for, eh?
Automatic friendship?
No wonder God gave me such a gloriously large family.
That's what I'm thankful for tonight.

That and fall leaves: