Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Commitment
I heard a talk from a BYU professor where he asked a question about marriage: “What’s more important in a good marriage: love or commitment?”
...I pause for you to consider your answer...
The professor answered the question stating commitment was more important than love in a marriage. When I heard this I had to digest it. His statement was counter intuitive to me.
This may sound crazy; there are times, I’m sure, when Mela doesn’t have happy/loving feelings towards me. And, this may sound even crazier; there are times when I don’t have happy/loving feelings towards Mela. It is at these times when our commitment to each other overcomes our negative feelings and brings back our happy/loving feelings.
Does this make sense?
Now this brings me to my real topic...
I think commitment is an essential component of our faith in our Heavenly Father and in His church. In part, our faith is manifested by our commitment to the Lord.
I know lots of people who love the Lord. I think that’s great and I’m not trying to take away anything from those people. However, I know people who love the Lord but aren’t committed to the Lord. People need to be committed to following the Lord and His commandments. How could I really love Mela if I wasn't committed to her? How can one really love the Lord without being totally committed to Him?
Personally, and this may sound crazy, there are times when I really don’t want to attend my meetings on Sunday. I may be too tired, the kids are grumpy, my diet coke levels are too low, or whatever. My commitment to my calling and to the covenants I have made to the Lord drag me kicking and screaming to my Church meetings.
I remember reading a story about Brigham Young and how he was publicly chastised by Joseph Smith. Brigham was committed to following Joseph no matter what. Many of the early saints were like this – they were committed to following Joseph. If Joseph asked them drop everything and to go on a three year mission to who-knows-where, they went. They may have had a hard time with what Joseph was asking but they were committed to Joseph and therefore committed to the Lord.
If a similar request was made of me, I would have a really hard time. If the Prophet called me right now to drop everything (my job, my family, my house, my truck, my iPod) and go preach the gospel in Iran, would I say yes? I don’t know. It would be an amazing act of faith and commitment to follow the Prophet.
Fortunately, I am only being asked to attend my meetings, obey my leaders, follow the commandments, be a good husband and raise my kids. Sometimes I have a hard time doing even the easy stuff let alone the hard stuff. I need to be more committed!
Commitment is the glue that binds us to our faith.
...I pause for you to consider your answer...
The professor answered the question stating commitment was more important than love in a marriage. When I heard this I had to digest it. His statement was counter intuitive to me.
This may sound crazy; there are times, I’m sure, when Mela doesn’t have happy/loving feelings towards me. And, this may sound even crazier; there are times when I don’t have happy/loving feelings towards Mela. It is at these times when our commitment to each other overcomes our negative feelings and brings back our happy/loving feelings.
Does this make sense?
Now this brings me to my real topic...
I think commitment is an essential component of our faith in our Heavenly Father and in His church. In part, our faith is manifested by our commitment to the Lord.
I know lots of people who love the Lord. I think that’s great and I’m not trying to take away anything from those people. However, I know people who love the Lord but aren’t committed to the Lord. People need to be committed to following the Lord and His commandments. How could I really love Mela if I wasn't committed to her? How can one really love the Lord without being totally committed to Him?
Personally, and this may sound crazy, there are times when I really don’t want to attend my meetings on Sunday. I may be too tired, the kids are grumpy, my diet coke levels are too low, or whatever. My commitment to my calling and to the covenants I have made to the Lord drag me kicking and screaming to my Church meetings.
I remember reading a story about Brigham Young and how he was publicly chastised by Joseph Smith. Brigham was committed to following Joseph no matter what. Many of the early saints were like this – they were committed to following Joseph. If Joseph asked them drop everything and to go on a three year mission to who-knows-where, they went. They may have had a hard time with what Joseph was asking but they were committed to Joseph and therefore committed to the Lord.
If a similar request was made of me, I would have a really hard time. If the Prophet called me right now to drop everything (my job, my family, my house, my truck, my iPod) and go preach the gospel in Iran, would I say yes? I don’t know. It would be an amazing act of faith and commitment to follow the Prophet.
Fortunately, I am only being asked to attend my meetings, obey my leaders, follow the commandments, be a good husband and raise my kids. Sometimes I have a hard time doing even the easy stuff let alone the hard stuff. I need to be more committed!
Commitment is the glue that binds us to our faith.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Easter Picnic 2009
Snow!!So...
I put the pictures of the Easter Picnic on a link on the left-hand side of this site.
Camping for Easter weekend is a tradition on Mela’s side of the family going way back (I don’t know exactly how far back). I look forward to it every year.
This year we FROOZE! There was some freak snow/wind/rain/hail storm that blew in Friday night. Mela and I had approximately 1 hour of sleep the whole night in our tents.
Saturday morning as we were huddled in Lon & Karen’s trailer Mela and I both realized why the Lord saw fit to bring us to this world in the 20th century - freezing in the wilderness isn’t our thing. We packed up the kids and went to Denny’s for breakfast.
We came back to the campground a couple of hours later only to decide there was no way we were going to spend another night freezing our A__’s off, so we packed everything up.
I know we are wimps... kudo’s to the rest of the family who sucked-it-up through the cold and the rain. I bet your comfortable trailer’s and fifth-wheel’s helped...
Despite the cold and general grumpiness, we had a great time. On Friday and on Saturday we were able to ride Quads and hike. And, being with the ones you love will make all the difference no matter how cold it was.
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