February and Beyond

Our house has been looking something like this:

                                        

                                        

                                        

                                        

                                        

*Potty training is happening up in here, and its working out this time. Jelly beans have magical potty powers.

*I have a hard time keeping M out of P's crib. I am normally quite diligent about not allowing him in, but I didn't have the heart to deny him this cuddle time. He wanted it so badly. 

*This girl is a smiling machine

*The library is one of our frequent escapes when the walls start to close in at home. M is probably a little too comfortable there. He always has things to tell Diane, our fabulous librarian, and takes complete reign of the children's section of the building.

*I have always tried to foster M's imagination. I lived in my imagination as a child, and wouldn't want it any other way for my kids. Sometimes I am baffled at what he comes up with. Being surprised at the originality of your children is pretty neat.

*smooches

*Those little carts have been at the top of my enemy list for some time. They whisper to the children pushing them to run willy nilly through the store, and to disregard everything their parents are saying to them. All of a sudden he has been listening really well, and staying right next to me all through the store. He even pushes the heavy stuff.

*I was so happy C snapped this for me. This is what so much of my time is spent doing. This kid is obsessed with books. It makes me feel a little better about the fact that he is also crazy for television. We are SO excited for the warm weather, so we spend time outside instead of in front of a screen.

How love and belly button lint connect

Lets talk about love for a minute.

I keep seeing things in books, television, and movies, that try to suggest that love and attraction should start as an intense, irresistible chemistry, and that the intensity should never fade. 

Your skin should burn every time his skin touches your skin. Even when his elbow accidentally touches your arm because he is taking way too wide of an eating berth at the table. Smoldery burniness along side ,"please pass the salt". 

Stephanie Meyer tells lies. Hollywood tells lies. Karen Carpenter tells lies.

I love Karen Carpenter as much as anyone, but she sometimes sings untruths with that buttery voice. Lies stolen from Barry Manilow. 

I was singing this song while doing dishes the other day, and realized how awful the lyrics are:

At any moment he'll be walking through that doorBut he won't find me behind it'Cause the feeling is gone and just won't come back any moreI worked so hard to find it
I've been up, down, tryin' to get the feeling againAll around tryin' to get the feeling againThat one that made me shiverMake my knees start to quiver every time he walks in
I've read every book, looked for every meditation and poemJust to bring home that old sweet sensationBut it ain't no use to me to try to get the feelingI wanna get that feeling again

KJ Translates: (ahem) I am going to disappear mysteriously from your life because you aren't exciting anymore. I don't get all melty around you. I miss feeling melty. I haven't really liked you for a while now, so I read a couple meditation books about how to find you exciting again, but they were garbage. Ciao.

 What rubbish!


C and I never had this burning, irresistible chemistry. You may not believe it
when you see this picture from his junior year in high school....who could not feel warm fuzziness in their hearts while looking at that?!

Adorable even underneath that permed mop. I digress, as usual. 

Anyway, we were just two people who got along really well,(after a few months of me grudgingly holding on to an unfounded dislike) gave dating a try, and here we are! Love is vital to my life, and can be so exciting, but it isn't all fireworks and passion (maybe I'm missing out? But it actually sounds exhausing).

Love is eating your own pride for breakfast, and trying to keep it down for the rest of day.  

Love is NOT running when the newness and excitement wears off, and it will. I am not saying that relationships can't start with sparks and that knee quivery feeling, but realize that it wears off! Besides, you would end up with really bad knees, and probably get annoyed if it didn't wear off.  

Love is making yourself hold his hand in the car when you are super mad because you know you can't stay mad too long that way. 

Love is learning to not freak out when he throws is belly button lint into your hair because he knows it freaks you out. He kills the big bugs, so...

*disclaimer for C's benefit. He has done this only one and a half times. It was so traumatic that he will never live it down.

Point: Don't read Stephanie Meyer or watch any movie ever again. Pfff. Yeah right. Watch those delightful romantic comedies. Read those silly, books if you must. Enjoy them while recognizing that they pretty much don't portray any part of reality.

Use them to escape, and don't get too upset when belly button lint floating in front of your face pulls you back into a real and loving reality. 

This Book: Chapter Four

I finally got to the next chapter in Neal A's book. It. Is. Phenomenal. 

If it wasn't obnoxious I would just type out the entire chapter. 

If you haven't read any of the previous posts on "Meek and Lowly", click on the meek and lowly label at the bottom of this post, and start at the beginning. 

This chapter is titled "The Deadly Sin of Pride". I was cringing going in to it because I know pride is one of my problems. I'm working on it. Here are a few of my favorite excerpts. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

"Just as meekness is in all our virtues so pride is in all our sins"

"The pervasiveness of pride and the degree to which it is persistent in our lives must ever put us on guard, reminding us, as did Paul, not to be 'highminded, 'for we stand by faith.' (Romans 11:20.) Faith dissolves very quickly when meekness disappears and pride takes over."

"One reason to be particularly on guard against pride is that 'the devilish strategy of Pride is that it attacks us, not in our weakest points, but in our strongest. It is preeminently the sin of the noble mind.' Not only of the noble mind, but also of the semirighteious."

"Pride can begin incipiently and gradually, but with frightening prospects, as Joseph Smith pointed out: 'The moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power."

"It is a heroic thing for individuals to reverse themselves, their attitudes, and their patterns of behavior in order to pursue discipleship." 

"Self-control depend upon meekness....A furious man is out of control. Individuals who are meek may not always decipher what is happening to them or around them; however, even though they do not 'know the meaning of all things,' they know that the Lord loves them.' (1 Nephi 11:17) They may feel overwhelmed, but they are not out of control. In those moments, it is important for us to remember His counsel: 'Be still, and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)"

"There are many persons just waiting to be offended; certain they will not be treated fairly, they almost invite the verification of their expectation."

"The meek man, is the man of complete self-mastery"

"Rocks of offense or stones of stumbling keep the proud from making spiritual progress. No less destructive is what might be called the gravel of grumpiness, which keeps us off balance and annoyingly turns ankles. Even though we do not fully fall or stumble, we progress more slowly, painfully, and fitfully. The meek, however, make stepping-stones of stumbling blocks."

"Those who fear losing face cannot have [Christ's] image in their countenances" (Almost 5:14).

"Arrogance and disobedience are cellmates."

"Those who boast of their independence from God are like the goldfish in a bowl who regards himself as self-sufficient."

"Nor is spiritual learning automatically at odds with secular learning; it simply goes beyond."

"Being more open to the truth, the meek are more free, while the proud are compassed about with glitzed self sufficiency."

"Those who are meek are also unthreatened in their own commitment merely because others do not make that same commitment."

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

There was SO much more I could have put here. Seriously amazing stuff. 

What do you think about these quotes from Elder Maxwell?

This Book: Chapter Three

This chapter was titled "Humbleness of Mind", which is something in which I need much personal practice. There is a lot here, but, again, it is marvelous and enlightening. 

I want to emphasize,once again, that this is different from my normal posts, but it was something that because personally important to me. We will return to light heartedness tomorrow :)

Original post and explanation of this book here.

"Meekness of mind is essential, salvationally. It is likewise vital if we are to experience true intellectual growth and to heighten our understanding of the great realities of the universe. Such meekness is a friend to, not a foe of, true education."

If we look only at the outside things, we will miss what the scriptures tell us of the process of deepening discipleship."

"The meek make way for divine data even when these can be both dislocating of pride and startling to the intellect."

"...Great stress must be placed upon the need for intellectual meekens --'humbleness of mind.' Meekness is not a passive attribute that merely deflects discourtesty. Instead, it involves intellectual activism."

"Alas, most are quite content with a superficial understanding or a general awareness of spiritual things.(Alma 10:5-6) This condition may reflect either laziness or the busyness incident to the pressing cares of the world."

"Great knowledge in response to the great questions will alter how we view both great and small things, if we are intellectually honest."

"[Jesus] was meekly and spiritually submissive because He had first been intellectually submissive. Having first made room for great knowledge and great understanding, He later made room for greater responsibilities and awesome burdens. Unlike Him, some of us run from the implications and responsibilities of the doctrines in which we believe. Even when 'the judgments of God stare [us] in the face' (Helaman 4:23), some of us 'spurn at the doings of the Lord'(3 Nephi 29:4)."

"Thus meekness is so vital -- not only to introduce us to new knowledge but also to put down pride, which could keep us from facing and submitting to the implications of that knowledge, especially when responsibilities previously agreed to and understood must be finally me and endured will to the end"

"Intellectual meekness is a particular challenge, Without it, we are not intellectually open to things we 'never had supposed'". 

"Some wish to be neither shaken nor expanded by new spiritual data. It is quite a step, for instance, to move from passive belief in an immaterial, impersonal life-force god to a belief in a God who is indeed our Heavenly Father and in whose image we have been created. This latter God, the only true and living God, behaves just like a Perfect Father, loving us, reproving us, stretching us, teaching us, and, yes, making demands of us.

"It is also a major move from using one's doubts as a cover for errant behavior to having those doubts taken away by truth with the resultant need to humbly alter one's behavior."

"Meekness emancipates us from the prison of the secular mind, the proud mind."

"Those who are proud of mind demand extrinsic evidence...On the other hand, those who are humble and meek seek, by faith, to understand truth. They are comfortable with intrinsic as well as extrinsic evidence. They know that 'faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen' (Hebrews 11:1)."

If you made it through all of that, I would love to start a conversation with all of your thoughts on meekness and what it really means.

This Book : 2

The chapter that I read for this week was titled "Leading in Meekness". As a person who has very rarely been in a leading position,it was harder for me to connect with, but it was still full of amazing things. I suggest you read the full chapter. He says some wonderful things about Churchill and some other leaders.

When I grow up, I am going to speak like Elder Maxwell.

"The pattern of having 'a form of godliness, but [denying] the power thereof' (2 Timothy 3:5) is sometimes expressed in weak faith or in a commitment to a passive god. Form Survives, but some will have nothing to do with religion as a force."

"The exercise of power requires an especially sharp and sensitive conscience, not a dull one."

Talking about Moroni's furious letter to Pahoran for not sending reinforcements at a difficult time in the war. (Moroni 60 & 61) :

"Pahoran's was not a resentful rejoinder lamenting the fact that Moroni was foolish without the facts. Pahoran did not engage in sarcasm or bitterness by lamenting that things were at least as rough for him as they were for Moroni and the army. He could have been sarcastic, saying he no longer had any throne to sit upon 'in a state of thoughtless stupor.' He could have justifiably boiled over at the accusation of his being a traitor, telling Moroni to do his job as chief captain and that Pahoran would do his job as governor. Instead, this exchange permitted these two leaders to rally themselves an their forces to retake the city." 

"Where individuals have said too much with too little data, meekness plays a very crucial, correcting role in what follows." 

Sidenote: Don't we wish people understood that last one when it came to politics?! And Doctor Who.

"Truly great individuals are not anxious to have themselves elevated."

"...Pride not only 'goeth before...a fall' (Proverbs 16:18), but pride also precedes a failure to ascend, spiritually."

"Leadership can call forth bossiness instead of meekness in a leader, if he is not careful."

"Perhaps, therefore, some who run away from discipleship do not do it out of badness but because of the impending demands of goodness."

"Nor does the meek leader forget the purpose of the Lord's work: to save, not count , souls. Did he who proposed to proceed so that 'one soul shall not be lost' hope to impress?(Moses 4:1)"

Chapter 1 Quotes Here

This Book

Is one that I have started multiple times. I am not sure how or why I have never been all the way through it because it isn't long, and it is so...good. 

It is the only book that I have had the urge to highlight more than is left unhighlighted. If the reader really takes to heart what good ol' Neal A. is trying to say, it can be transformational. 

As in, your life can change. 

Elder Maxwell had a way of putting things that requires a lot of dictionary use for me. He is so eloquent and thorough. 

To help myself not let this get put on the back burner again, every week I am going to share here some highlights from each chapter. I know this is a heavier topic than I usually blog about, but it is so personally important, that I would feel I was cheating if I didn't share.

.   .   .   .   .

Chapter One

"This is still the 'great queston' for mortals. Anciently, it was whether there shall be an atoning Jesus Christ. Now it is whether there was an atoning Christ who lived and who still lives. Other questions are insignificant by comparison, since an affirmative answer to the 'great question' eliminates the need even to ask certain lesser questions." 

"It is ironical even to write of the virtue of meekness, especially in a world so much taken up with assertiveness, aggressiveness, and selfish, insensitive individualism. This virtue will seem anachronistic in the world, which, ironically, is failing for want of it whether in high political places or in marriages and families." 

"It is not simply a matter of our having received mild encouragement to become meek and lowly. Rather, meekness is at the center of an astonishing invitation and commandment."

"Furthermore, in the exchange between Jesus and a righteous young man, we can see how one missing quality cannot be fully compensated for by other qualities, however praiseworthy."

"What the unmeek actually do is refuse to enter the realm of their own spiritual possibilities."

Speaking about Amulek in the Book of Mormon, "He is a classic case of an essentially good man being out of touch with the great spiritual realities; he resisted the things of the Spirit because, though he was basically good, he was preoccupied with the cares of the world."

"{This} is the Lord's church, and those who are too eager to steady it and too quick to focus upon a single issue or concern will fail to comprehend the important undergirding function of meekness that includes trust in the Lord."

"Meekness is neither alarmist nor shoulder-shrugging unconcern. It involves shoulder-squaring self-discipline, and what follows is the special composure that meekness brings."

Instadump

mark it off the list

I have several "lists" in my life. I have my man list, which I wrote over a year ago, and is desperately crying out to be updated. I have a list of movies to see, places to go, people to meet, foods to try, and books to read. 

I never actually write these things down, but when one of them comes up in a conversation I might be having, I definitely say, "Yes! That is on my list!". Sometimes they were conveniently and mentally placed on the list simultaneously with being exclaimed as on said list. In the back of my mind I am usually hoping that the exclamation actually qualifies as a truth, even thought it isn't written down, or I have a lot, A LOT, of fibs to explain to my maker.

I consider myself really lucky to have a baby who will play on the floor for over an hour at a time, multiple times a day, and have started to use some of this time to read books. Don't get annoyed with me if I talk about them all okay? 

I am reading Memoirs of a Geisha. Its been on my book list since the movie came out. I know, I am waaaaaaay behind the bandwagon. And TRUST ME, having graded a surprising amount of book reports that were definitely written from a movie, I know that one should read a book first whenever possible. In my defense I heard about the movie before the book, but I am not sorry it happened in the other order with this one. I am not sure any of the visuals would have come out right in my mind because that culture is so different than what I know. Warblings put aside, it is fanTAStic. 

I am a cooped up English teacher. It can't be helped.

I am all over the place. Point. Read it. See the movie. They're gorgeous.

*update: I wrote this post when I was still in the first half of the book. There are some parts that I ended up not caring for.